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BOOK REVIEW Twice as Good: Condoleezza Rice and Her Path to Power by Marcus Mabry Modern Times/Rodale Books - May 2007
Reviewed by Dr. Jonathan Dolhenty It has always seemed to me that writing a biography about a living person is fraught with intellectual risk and potential embarrassment. After all, living human beings are never static and one can well imagine that on the very day a particular biography is published, the subject of the work has undergone a recent metamorphoses and is no longer the person written about. (By the way, I admit to having the same fear about making statements which I deem to be "absolutely certain"; I just know that if I absolutely deny the existence of unicorns, one will show up in my backyard the next day!) Anyway, I have to admire Marcus Mabry's willingness to tackle a biography of Condoleezza Rice. She is still alive and well and, moreover, holds a very controversial political position in very controversial times. Not only is Rice one of the most powerful public figures in the world; she is also a Republican, more or less politically "conservative," a person of the female gender and, most notably I think, a person of "color" -- a Black leader in a predominately White establishment. She is, in fact, the first Black woman to hold an office as high as U.S. secretary of state. No mean feat, that. There are two important points that need to be emphasized at the outset. First, this is the first biography of Rice to be written since she assumed her role as U.S. secretary of state. Second, it is apparently the first biography with which she has cooperated and, also apparently, without putting any editorial restrictions on the author. As far as I can judge -- admittedly from a distance -- Mabry is as "fair and balanced" (as the popular saying goes) as can be expected. I found no particular "agenda" on his part nor any specific bias in dealing with the subject at hand. I am well aware that it is suspected that mainstream journalists are "modernist liberal" in their orientation and critical of political conservatives and Republicans, but I found no obvious attempt on Mabry's part to skew his writing negatively toward Rice's political views, even though he does now and then critique them. But rational critique is fair play and, for that matter, there are many points upon which I disagree with Rice and especially her boss, the current president of the United States. The heart of Mabry's book, as far as I am concerned, is not his presentation of Rice's evolution as a political and academic luminary, which she surely became, but his telling about her upbringing, her childhood, her family, her early relationships, and so on. One can only admire Rice's mother, Angelena, and her father, Rev. John Rice, who planted the first aspirations in their daughter to rise above the circumstances in which she was born and raised, which was, of course, the American deep South where to be Black was to be not only endangered, but to be considered less than a full member of the human community. She was encouraged by her parents to dismiss the thought that she was a lesser person than Whites simply by virtue of her race. She was encouraged to reject the "victim" label and to set her own goals and achieve them regardless of the environment surrounding her. Furthermore, her parents saw to it that Condoleezza was provided every opportunity possible to enhance herself as a person, including the dream of becoming a concert musician. And this was during the heyday of the civil rights movement when even young girls were targets of terrorist bigotry resulting in death (e.g., the Birmingham church bombing which killed four little girls in 1963 and is described in Mabry's book; Rice felt the blast as she sat in the pew of her father's church two miles away). It may be difficult for some readers to understand how Rice could dismiss and overcome the minority status she was supposed to recognize and accept and go on to become the exceptional person and high official that she has become. I do not find that difficult to understand at all. I grew up during the 1940s and 50s as a "member" of two minority groups which were also discriminated against, although my personal situation was not as drastic or obvious. I can recall the taunts that I and my Native American cousins were subjected to by some of our contemporaries in those days, some of the sneers ethnic in nature and some of them religious since many of us were also members of a religious minority. Don't get me wrong here: I am not equating being female and Black (which are obvious features) with my situation where the minority status was not obvious and could be hidden. Also, without doubt, Condoleezza Rice faced many more difficult obstacles to overcome. Nevertheless, one does have a choice, and Rice truly exemplifies what a person can do to defeat any hardships one encounters. One decides, as she must have done, to ignore the negatives and to seek the positives. I was the first member of my family to graduate from college and -- surprise! -- earn a doctoral degree, then go on to live a so-far satisfying and successful professional life. It can be done. Marcus Mabry has written an excellent biography of this amazing woman and that is not hyperbole. His book is well researched (over thirty-five pages of notes and references in fine print!) and includes fascinating interviews with Rice's family, friends, and colleagues. And, by the way, not all of them are flattering. It is, moreover, a revealing look into the private and public soul of a very complex individual, including many of the internal contradictions one would expect to see in a person as intelligent, dedicated, and complicated as Condoleezza Rice obviously is; furthermore, Mabry's book does not, fortunately, descend into that morass of tabloid biographical "journalism" which has become so commonplace in this day and age. In my judgment, Mabry, a journalist who is now chief of correspondents at "Newsweek" magazine, conducts himself as an objective observer in every way and can now proudly add the title "professional biographer" to his résumé. Postscript: As I was preparing this brief review, Dr. Condoleezza Rice was named as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine. Good choice! Mabry's book will certainly provide the rationale for that citation. Also, I just received my June 2007 copy of The Atlantic magazine today. Can you guess who's on the cover? Condoleezza Rice, of course, with a story about her ventures into resolving the Middle East situation. So, is Mabry's biography of Rice timely? I should think so. Highly recommended; don't miss reading it. 
Read an Excerpt from this Book Order at Amazon.com Twice as Good: Condoleezza Rice and Her Path to Power, by Marcus Mabry Order at Powell's Books Twice as Good: Condoleezza Rice and Her Path to Power, by Marcus Mabry |
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