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Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice, one of most powerful and controversial women in the world, has until now remained a mystery behind an elegant, cool veneer. In this stunning new biography, New York Times reporter Elisabeth Bumiller peels back the layers and presents a revelatory portrait of the first black female secretary of state and President George W. Bush’s national security adviser on September 11, 2001. The book relates in more intimate detail than ever before the personal voyage of a young black woman out of the segregated American South and also tells the sweeping story of a tumultuous half-century in the nation’s history.
In Condoleezza Rice: An American Life, we see Rice’s Alabama childhood under Bull Connor’s reign of terror in “Bombingham,’� the name given to Birmingham when it was the central battleground of the civil rights movement; her education in foreign policy under Josef Korbel, a charismatic Czech intellectual who also happened to be the father of Madeleine Albright, the only other female secretary of state in U.S. history; and Rice’s confrontations with minorities and women while she was provost at Stanford University in the 1990s.
Examining the current administration, Bumiller explores in depth Rice’s extraordinarily close relationship with George W. Bush, her battles with Vice President Dick Cheney, and her indirect but crucial role in the ousting of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Bumiller shows us Rice missing clues to the September 11 attacks, waging war against Saddam Hussein, and counting election returns with Karl Rove in 2004. In addition, we watch Rice’s recent attempts to salvage the ruins of the Iraq policy she helped create and to avoid war with Iran.
Drawing on extensive interviews with Rice and more than 150 others, including colleagues, family members, government officials, and critics, this book offers dramatic new information about the events and personalities of the Bush administration. With great insight, Bumiller explores Rice’s effectiveness as national security adviser and secretary of state, her attempts to revive classic American diplomacy, her longtime political ambitions, and her future on the world stage.
From the Hardcover edition.
In Condoleezza Rice: An American Life, we see Rice’s Alabama childhood under Bull Connor’s reign of terror in “Bombingham,’� the name given to Birmingham when it was the central battleground of the civil rights movement; her education in foreign policy under Josef Korbel, a charismatic Czech intellectual who also happened to be the father of Madeleine Albright, the only other female secretary of state in U.S. history; and Rice’s confrontations with minorities and women while she was provost at Stanford University in the 1990s.
Examining the current administration, Bumiller explores in depth Rice’s extraordinarily close relationship with George W. Bush, her battles with Vice President Dick Cheney, and her indirect but crucial role in the ousting of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Bumiller shows us Rice missing clues to the September 11 attacks, waging war against Saddam Hussein, and counting election returns with Karl Rove in 2004. In addition, we watch Rice’s recent attempts to salvage the ruins of the Iraq policy she helped create and to avoid war with Iran.
Drawing on extensive interviews with Rice and more than 150 others, including colleagues, family members, government officials, and critics, this book offers dramatic new information about the events and personalities of the Bush administration. With great insight, Bumiller explores Rice’s effectiveness as national security adviser and secretary of state, her attempts to revive classic American diplomacy, her longtime political ambitions, and her future on the world stage.
From the Hardcover edition.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
25 people are currently reading
235 people want to read
About the author
Elisabeth Bumiller
11Ìýbooks3ÌýfollowersElisabeth Bumiller (born May 15, 1956) is an American author and journalist who is the Pentagon correspondent for the New York Times.
Born in Aalborg, Denmark, to a Danish mother and American father, Bumiller moved to the U.S. when she was three years old. She moved to Cincinnati, where she graduated from Walnut Hills High School in 1974, and was inducted into their Alumni Hall of Fame on April 30, 2011. She is a 1977 graduate of Northwestern University and in 1979 of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
She was a reporter for the Washington Post in Washington, New Delhi, Tokyo, and New York, before joining the New York Times.
(from Wikipedia)
Born in Aalborg, Denmark, to a Danish mother and American father, Bumiller moved to the U.S. when she was three years old. She moved to Cincinnati, where she graduated from Walnut Hills High School in 1974, and was inducted into their Alumni Hall of Fame on April 30, 2011. She is a 1977 graduate of Northwestern University and in 1979 of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
She was a reporter for the Washington Post in Washington, New Delhi, Tokyo, and New York, before joining the New York Times.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
September 8, 2016
Condoleezza Rice was America's first black National Security Adviser and first black female Secretary of State. One of this biography's strengths is its focus Rice's early life as the daughter of a minister in Birmingham, Alabama under Bull Connor. Her childhood was somewhat secure in a striving, middle class black home in the severely segregated city. Condoleezza was unusually mature for her age and incredibly dedicated. Her early love was classical piano. I hadn't known she was personally touched by the Civil Rights era violence in "Bombingham." A friend was one of the four girls killed by white racists' heinous 16th Street Baptist Church bombing and her next door neighbor's house was bombed. White "night riders" drove through her black neighborhood at night with shotguns at the ready. She personally experienced discrimination in Birmingham stores, though her parents shielded her as much as possible. Certain notable traits of Condoleezza’s, especially her immaculate attire, grammatically careful English and her poise were products of her parents' push for her to be better than everyone else. That was the only hope of advancement in those days. The author speculates Rice's modern day concern about Islamic terrorism may have come from a Bombingham childhood.
Rice went to the University of Denver and happened upon International Relations in political science. She developed an extremely close father-daughter-type relationship with Professor Korbel, who happened to be Madeleine Albright's father. He would later serve as her thesis adviser. Rice learned Russian in those Cold War days. Though she was a pretty young woman, courted by several professional football players, she was perhaps married to her career. She worked stints in the Washington foreign policy establishment and completed a PhD at Stanford, later becoming a young, controversial provost of the university.
She met George W. Bush and advised his campaign on foreign policy. Eight months after joined the new Bush Administration as National Security Adviser, the catastrophe of September 11, 2001 changed everything.
This biography is well-researched by a journalist, but it is quite negative about Condi Rice. The Iraq War seems sure to go down in history as a first order mistake. That said, I felt the author went overboard in negativity, even in trivial matters. An example is even mentioning the supposed embarrassment of the single Condi not knowing who children’s' TV character Elmo was at a stop in Australia. On one trip to Liverpool, the local soccer team had rescheduled its game and British Foreign Minister Jack Straw showed Secretary of State around an empty stadium, followed by Paul McCartney missing a planned Liverpool meeting with her. So what? Similarly, there is a lot of probably unnecessary he-said/she-said about her time at Stanford. Like many, the author felt the Bush Administration's foreign policy was 'disastrous' and thinks so pretty much across the board, though the focus here is 9/11 intelligence failures and Iraq. I did find the inner workings of Bush foreign policy interesting, and Rice's battles with Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney are covered in detail.
Rice went to the University of Denver and happened upon International Relations in political science. She developed an extremely close father-daughter-type relationship with Professor Korbel, who happened to be Madeleine Albright's father. He would later serve as her thesis adviser. Rice learned Russian in those Cold War days. Though she was a pretty young woman, courted by several professional football players, she was perhaps married to her career. She worked stints in the Washington foreign policy establishment and completed a PhD at Stanford, later becoming a young, controversial provost of the university.
She met George W. Bush and advised his campaign on foreign policy. Eight months after joined the new Bush Administration as National Security Adviser, the catastrophe of September 11, 2001 changed everything.
This biography is well-researched by a journalist, but it is quite negative about Condi Rice. The Iraq War seems sure to go down in history as a first order mistake. That said, I felt the author went overboard in negativity, even in trivial matters. An example is even mentioning the supposed embarrassment of the single Condi not knowing who children’s' TV character Elmo was at a stop in Australia. On one trip to Liverpool, the local soccer team had rescheduled its game and British Foreign Minister Jack Straw showed Secretary of State around an empty stadium, followed by Paul McCartney missing a planned Liverpool meeting with her. So what? Similarly, there is a lot of probably unnecessary he-said/she-said about her time at Stanford. Like many, the author felt the Bush Administration's foreign policy was 'disastrous' and thinks so pretty much across the board, though the focus here is 9/11 intelligence failures and Iraq. I did find the inner workings of Bush foreign policy interesting, and Rice's battles with Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney are covered in detail.
June 21, 2017
Though this was published in 2007 and is therefore in need of an update I consider it pretty much essential and that's not only because of Condoleezza Rice herself. What's even more fascinating is the scarily intimate look at the inner-workings of the most dangerous American administration (by circumstance and by choice) since maybe ever. We go from 9/11 to the Iraq war and beyond and it's a revelatory and extremely tense experience. Condi Rice's story is very well laid out, from segregated Birmingham, Alabama, to the most powerful woman in the world, Madame Hawk. There's some criticism about author bias but I don't know, I thought it was pretty fair to the best of my knowledge which is not much anyway. She made horrible mistakes and chose unwisely but she also had the guts to fight people who were as devious and as hard to control as you can possibly imagine. Her well-documented loyalty to Bush is present and lightly touching and her work during the Soviet collapse news for me. Condi Rice is no genius, there's nothing really extraordinary about her, but there is something, several somethings, that when added up make up for someone who is clearly made to matter. And, as people around her sooner or later (most sooner) came to understand she matters.
September 8, 2020
I listened to the audio book and it's pretty good and tells some great stories about Condaleeza Rice and how she rose to her positions of prominence.
I learned many things about Condaleeza that I did not know.
I definitely recommend this book.
I learned many things about Condaleeza that I did not know.
I definitely recommend this book.
January 16, 2019
My Dad gave me a couple of Condoleeza Rice's books, so I read this one first to have some context and understanding of her thought over the term of her public service during the Bush administrations. (I think there'd be a significant evolution of her positions from the National Security Advisor years to the end of her tenure as Secretary of State, for example.) Bumiller provides a lot of helpful details about Rice's upbringing and formative years, the intersection of the civil rights era in Birmingham, Alabama with the evolution of her political views, and her Soviet studies mentor and how his guidance shaped her thought. What struck me the most throughout was Rice's unassailable confidence. When she was wrong, she tried to do what she could and keep moving right along, rather than dwelling on what she could have done differently. (At least, that's what's publicly available/presented -- any inner agonizing was not available to her biographer.) I look forward to reading the books that Rice herself wrote, and seeing how her polished product and views compare to how she's presented by an external author.
February 18, 2022
It's unfortunate to read this book in 2022, nearly fifteen years after its publication, because we know how things turned out. We know that Rice's legacy is a complicated mix; we know that she has not run for office, despite the significant hints at the end of the book (though she did agree to be Pence's VP if Trump was removed from the 2016 GOP ticket after the Access Hollywood tape; she has stayed at Stanford, even though the book suggests her return would be short-lived.
Nonetheless, this is an interesting look at Condoleezza Rice; together with Marcus Mabry's fellow 2007 Rice biography Twice as Good, I think we get a pretty good picture of Rice at the time. I would be interested to read an account of her career in total, at least to date. (Rice is nearing 70; one doubts a political return but one never knows.)
Nonetheless, this is an interesting look at Condoleezza Rice; together with Marcus Mabry's fellow 2007 Rice biography Twice as Good, I think we get a pretty good picture of Rice at the time. I would be interested to read an account of her career in total, at least to date. (Rice is nearing 70; one doubts a political return but one never knows.)
November 21, 2019
I was fascinated by the life of this remarkable woman. She had such great parents who gave her ever opportunity for success. She was a hard worker to say the least. I was very impressed when she was quoted as saying that she realized that she could have handled some situations in her life better. She realized she could be too abrupt. Her humility to accept responsibility instead of making excuses was a breath of fresh air in today's political climate. Condoleezza is an excellent pianist and even performed in a concert with Yo Yo Ma once. She has a Christmas tradition of inviting other politicians (even some of those she doesn't politically get along with) to her home for a Christmas sing a long, with herself at the piano.
February 12, 2018
I'm a huge fan of Condoleeza, she's a brilliant scholar with the distinct ability to distill democracy in an impressive way using her knowledge/experience as a practitioner and intellect. If you enjoy history you will like this book, it is "dry" at times but straightforward. I didn't enjoy it as much as her 1st book but it's worth the read.
July 30, 2018
This was an interesting read. Condi is a fascinating woman and this book shed more light on her role as Secretary of State. The most interesting parts detailed cabinet meetings during the Bush Administration and the tensions between Rice, Cheney and Rumsfeld.
July 4, 2018
Audiobook performed by Kimberly Farr
July 18, 2019
Fasinating
January 11, 2021
An amazing book about an amazing woman who lets us know how amazing the US is. Read this!!
January 23, 2021
Interesting to read, especially having lived during this time in history.
May 12, 2021
audio
April 13, 2011
I chose this book for several reasons, one being that I had wanted to read a biography, another that I spotted this book at the library in February (and thought I could do something in honor of Black History Month), and most of all because Condoleeza Rice has been a person who has fascinated me and in some ways has reminded me of my mother with her apparent class and grace.
I was a bit disappointed with this book, however. The accounts of Rice's childhood and family background and education are indeed interesting, but after that I found it was difficult to keep going (I renewed the book from the library twice and have had some marathon reading these last two evenings just so that I can return it before it's overdue.).
In some ways I still learned a lot about what was going on politically during the time period when I was living abroad; nevertheless I found the chapters long and tedious, and at times I couldn't figure out whether the author was biased or prejudiced (generally, not racially) against certain persons who showed up in the biography. For me, that caused the work to be imbalanced.
I was a bit disappointed with this book, however. The accounts of Rice's childhood and family background and education are indeed interesting, but after that I found it was difficult to keep going (I renewed the book from the library twice and have had some marathon reading these last two evenings just so that I can return it before it's overdue.).
In some ways I still learned a lot about what was going on politically during the time period when I was living abroad; nevertheless I found the chapters long and tedious, and at times I couldn't figure out whether the author was biased or prejudiced (generally, not racially) against certain persons who showed up in the biography. For me, that caused the work to be imbalanced.
April 27, 2015
An even-handed and engaging narrative about someone very different from myself. While I wouldn't want to emulate Rice's ambition, she does inspire me to pursue my own interests with more determination. As a child, Rice was a gifted pianist who devoted many hours to practicing. But more striking than that to me was her skating which she had no skill for at all, but continued to practice devotedly anyway.
Rice once told an eight-grade girl, "Don't ever let anybody set expectations for you of what you want to be and what you want to do. Those should be completely up to you."
Another theme that really struck me is that we tend, in the United States, to think so much in terms of individuals that we assume the President is responsible for domestic and foreign policy. But really, as Rice's story demonstrates, there is a whole group of people shaping that policy, people that often don't agree. I came away with the impression that Cheney and Rumsfeld were responsible for a lot of the most heinous aspects of the Bush presidency, but also that Bush wasn't a mere puppet in their hands like many people claim.
Rice once told an eight-grade girl, "Don't ever let anybody set expectations for you of what you want to be and what you want to do. Those should be completely up to you."
Another theme that really struck me is that we tend, in the United States, to think so much in terms of individuals that we assume the President is responsible for domestic and foreign policy. But really, as Rice's story demonstrates, there is a whole group of people shaping that policy, people that often don't agree. I came away with the impression that Cheney and Rumsfeld were responsible for a lot of the most heinous aspects of the Bush presidency, but also that Bush wasn't a mere puppet in their hands like many people claim.
December 29, 2008
I was fascinated to read that Condoleezza Rice was taught by Madeline Albright's father, Josef Korbel - and I would like to read more about him now!
The Elisabeth Bumiller book provided me with some knowledge about Condoleezza Rice. I was particularly interested in reading about her family background and early life. This material was handled well.
The book did not however, deliver the same level of understanding to Condoleezza's career in National Security and as Secretary of State. The close relationship with the President, and Condoleezza's loyalty to this office obscures analysis and understanding of her own character.
In my reading of the material presented, it is disappointing, but also fascinating that Condoleezza Rice appears to conform to the sterotype of silent, submissive (but effective) female. I look forward to reading more about Condoleezze in the coming months.
The Elisabeth Bumiller book provided me with some knowledge about Condoleezza Rice. I was particularly interested in reading about her family background and early life. This material was handled well.
The book did not however, deliver the same level of understanding to Condoleezza's career in National Security and as Secretary of State. The close relationship with the President, and Condoleezza's loyalty to this office obscures analysis and understanding of her own character.
In my reading of the material presented, it is disappointing, but also fascinating that Condoleezza Rice appears to conform to the sterotype of silent, submissive (but effective) female. I look forward to reading more about Condoleezze in the coming months.
November 11, 2016
As far as biographies go, this was a winner. And since this was the season for politics, I felt like this would be an interesting political read. I appreciated Rice's childhood information, the way her family raised her (despite segregation swirling around her ), her teenage life in Denver (as an ice skater and pianist as well!), while Provost at Stanford, and certainly during her tenure under President Bush. It is all too common when great people are given incredibly challenging circumstances to deal with. While I do think that mistakes were made during the Bush administration, I still feel like the country's best interest were in Rice's heart.
The author does a great job at showing both sides of Condoleezza. I felt like she gave her a fair shake but didn't shy away from some of her negatives. This was a very interesting and inspiring read for me.
The author does a great job at showing both sides of Condoleezza. I felt like she gave her a fair shake but didn't shy away from some of her negatives. This was a very interesting and inspiring read for me.
October 15, 2013
I was really excited to read this book. Condoleezza Rice was someone I admired and of whom I wanted to know more. When I first began the book, I almost gave up. The author took a very negative view of Rice right from the beginning. It seemed like the author was intent on slandering Rice because of her closeness with the Bush family. I pushed through the introduction and was mildly surprised to see that the portrayal wasn’t as negative as it sounded like it might be during the preface. It still came off as unbalanced, but I felt like I could see through much of the bias. I learned a lot about Rice and came to associate her with Clarence Thomas as someone who embraced conservative ideals as a means for liberating those held down by racial prejudices. She is a very accomplished woman.
March 14, 2008
Condoleezza Rice is a historical figure in her own right as well as a formidable fixture on the current political scene. Her accomplishments are so significant, numerous and far reaching that they are difficult to completely assemble into recognizable categories. Unfortunately, this author could not appreciably fathom the stature of the individual before her and this book, lacking much original thought, falls far short of any recommendation to read it. Condoleezza Rice is an intriguing individual and I had been looking forward to learning about her fascinating life story and so I yet continue to await a much better attempt to capture that story than this effort could provide.
October 7, 2016
This biography traces Condoleeza's life as a young girl in Birmingham, Alabama, growing up in Denver, Colorado, her career at Stanford, and finally her work in George Bush's administration. The book was not a glowing endorsement of Condoleeza Rice's work in the White House. Her parents worked hard to shelter their only child's childhood. Education and working was very important to her parents. I found her life in Birmingham most interesting. She lived there during the fight against segregation and the bombing of the church that killed the young Black girls, yet Condoleeza was an observer from a distant, despite living in the community.
April 9, 2012
Author tried to be balanced, which makes her assessment of Condi Rice a little too wishy-washy. While there was a good lead up from Rice's academic history to her decisions as Secretary of State, explaining her involvement in 9/11, I wished there was more analysis of how she fared compared to other Sec of States before her. Perhaps more of her personal emotions and political views could have been surfaced, as opposed to just boxing her as a political realist. Or maybe, Rice is really rather impenetrable emotionally.
November 9, 2009
I picked this book up because I wanted to know what makes Condoleezza Rice tick. Unfortunately, this biography doesn't provide a lot of revealing information beyond what we all know. The early chapters describing Rice's childhood as a minister's daughter in segregated Birmingham are interesting. But the book soon devolves into an analysis of all the missteps leading up to 9/11 and the Iraq war. I'm glad I read it, but still feel like something is missing.
December 28, 2014
Bumiller put this book together in a way that really helped me understand the Bush Administration's decision-making. I would give her a fifth star but I think the book worked so well for me because of all the previous reading I've done on this. Maybe she relied too heavily on Powell. Plus, Tolstoy gets 5 stars from me and Bumiller is no Tolstoy. (But she's a very good investigator/analyst/explainer.)
August 7, 2011
As if I don't say it enough, I really enjoy biographies. And I prefer a biography over an autobiography if I have mixed feelings about the subject. So I enjoyed Bumiller's story of Rice's life. She had sufficient access and cooperation of Rice as well as many of those who worked and lived closely with her, those who have been supportive and those who have been critical.
July 24, 2012
Good basic book about Secretary Rice. A great deal of background of her upbringing, early life and time inside the Bush Administration. The book took a great deal of info from other books and offer very little analysis of her decisions. The writer did a fair job of pointing out the good as well as the warts. Not a strong bio, but a fair one.
January 25, 2015
I loved the book! I learned a lot about her and I have a new respect for her. The way she tied the civil rights to her past was beautiful. I cannot help but think that she was at one point intimate with Georg Bush. I am disappointed, however about how she does not seem to appreciate her black heritage.
February 9, 2016
I've always been impressed with Condoleezza Rice and learning about her life was very interesting. It was a bit frightening to hear how some decisions were made in the Bush administration. I'd like to read her account, though because there were indications in this biography that there was some bias.
June 4, 2016
This was a really good book. Frightening, of course, snapshot of this administration--but really no big surprises there. I'm interested to see Condi's response to the book--I picked it up to try to prove that I'm not a die hard dem. and keep an open mind, but they didn't paint her in a very positive light!
March 22, 2008
Very interesting, though biased (I thought) at times. I enjoyed learning about what Rice did before she became NSA and Secretary of State. I wasn't aware of how close she was to the bombing victims in Birmingham, AL.
July 12, 2010
This is probably the best biography on her to date. She actually conducted some interviews with her and her colleagues. If you want to learn more about her and the Bush administration, it is worth a look.
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