Audition, Barbara Walters
Audition, Barbara Walters
54 Rating(s)
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Audition
A Memoir

Author: Barbara Walters

Narrator: Bernadette Dunne

Unabridged: 26 hr 46 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/06/2008


Synopsis

Young people starting out in television sometimes say to me: “I want to be you.” My stock reply is always: “Then you have to take the whole package.”

And now, at last, the most important woman in the history of television journalism gives us that “whole package,” in her inspiring and riveting memoir. After more than forty years of interviewing heads of state, world leaders, movie stars, criminals, murderers, inspirational figures, and celebrities of all kinds, Barbara Walters has turned her gift for examination onto herself to reveal the forces that shaped her extraordinary life.

Barbara Walters’s perception of the world was formed at a very early age. Her father, Lou Walters, was the owner and creative mind behind the legendary Latin Quarter nightclub, and it was his risk-taking lifestyle that made Barbara aware of the ups and downs that can occur when someone is willing to take great risks.

The financial responsibility for her family, the fear, the love all played a large part in the choices she made as she grew up: the friendships she developed, the relationships she had, the marriages she tried to make work.
Ultimately, thanks to her drive, combined with a decent amount of luck, she began a career in television. And what a career it has been! Against great odds, Barbara has made it to the top of a male-dominated industry.

She has spent a lifetime auditioning, and this book, in some ways, is her final audition, as she fully opens up both her private and public lives. In doing so, she has given us a story that is heartbreaking and honest, surprising and fun, sometimes startling, and always fascinating.

About The Author

Barbara Walters is an award-winning journalist and the first woman to ever cohost a network news program. She is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. She is an ABC News correspondent, host of The Barbara Walters Specials, and the creator of ABC Daytime's The View. She resides in New York City.Bernadette Dunne has been narrating for Books on Tape since 1997. She has been twice nominated for The Audie Award and has won six Golden Earphones awards. She studied at the Royal National Theatre in London and The Studio Theatre in Washington, DC. She has appeared at The Kennedy Center, The Washington Shakespeare Company, and Woolly Mammoth in Washington, DC. As a playwright, her work has been produced in New York, Seattle, and Washington, DC. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Sharon on October 01, 2024

Earlier this year, I read Barbara Walter's biography, The Rulebreaker: The Life and Times of Barbara Walters. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I listened to Barbara Walters' memoir, Audition: A Memoir, on audiobook. It is magnificently narrated by Bernadette Dunne. The title, Audition, is based on Barbara al......more

Goodreads review by Holly Weston on June 21, 2022

Barbara Walters is a very interesting person but not a very good writer. Audition is fun, light, name-dropping, and dishy - certainly not a chore to read - so I’m giving it 3 out of 5 stars on a “would I keep this book and ever read it again”? measure. In the hands of a gifted writer, this could hav......more

Goodreads review by Laurel-Rain on May 04, 2010

Barbara Walters' memoir encompasses her more than forty years of television journalism interviewing heads of state, world leaders, movie stars, criminals, murderers, inspirational figures, and celebrities of all kinds. Finally she turns her gift for examination onto herself to reveal the forces that......more

Goodreads review by Koren on March 04, 2019

Well, Barbara has certainly led an interesting life. She has met kings and queens, every president since Richard Nixon, and hundreds of the most famous actors and actresses. The beginning of the book talks about her early life and after she gets into the news business she talks about many of her exp......more

Goodreads review by Karynn on July 01, 2008

I really enjoyed this book. I am not a huge fan of non-fiction but found Barbara's story both informative and entertaining. She really had to work to get to where she is today and personally gave up a lot on the way. The peak back into history was also very interesting and as she points out in the b......more


Quotes

Audition is brutally honest, both about Walters and those she's worked with. Readers won't be left wondering what she thinks of anything, or anyone, for that matter. . . . It's a fascinating look at a woman who has lived a fascinating life.”
–Laura L. Hutchison, The Free Lance-Star

“[Walters’] heartfelt candor lifts this book above mere titillation. . . . blended with this personal drama is a delightful tale of the golden age of television . . . Through 50-plus chapters, you feel as though you’ve enjoyed a year of weekly lunches with Walters . . . She regales you with the juicy behind-the-scenes details of the celebrities she’s interviewed, mixed in with stories of her own trials and tribulations. In the end, you envy her a little less and admire her more.”
–Kathleen Matthews, Washington Post

“…the book is a triumph!”
—Caitlin Flanagan, The Atlantic

“…the grande dame of TV news has written a blockbuster. . . . Readers will gobble up the excerpts from scores of interviews with world leaders, politicians, celebrities and murderers.”
–Kathleen Daley, New York Sun

“an indispensable book along with a surefire monster best seller…intensely readable…She’s TV’s original monarch and superstar where power, show business and journalism converge. It’s Barbara Walters’ world, and the rest of us just live in it. [Her] mammoth memoir, doesn’t just touch chords, it’s a 600-plus page oratorio.”
–Jeff Simon, The Buffalo News

“…compulsively entertaining…”
–Rebecca Traister, Salon.com

“Ms. Walters’s story is greatly humanized by the family memoir that colors her long litany of professional successes.”
–Janet Maslin, The New York Times

“an unusually ambitious and successful book. …suffused with an emotional intensity…it belongs to a part of American culture that Walters helped invent.”
–Nicholas Lemann, The New Yorker

“She doesn’t shy from the tough stuff… Nor does Walters, an entertainer as much as a ground-breaking journalist, skimp on the fun bits.”
–Allison Adato, People

“…the crowning glory of a remarkable career…”
–Liz Smith, New York Post

“…sizzling…”
–Jo Piazza, New York Daily News

“…compulsively readable… [Walters] gives us an entertaining panorama of a full life lived and recounted with humor and bracing honesty. Alternating between tales of her personal struggles, professional achievements and insider anecdotes about the celebrities and world leaders she's interviewed, this mammoth memoir's energy never flags.”
Publishers Weekly (starred)
 
“A smart, funny, fascinating book in which Walters captures possibly her most elusive subject: herself.” 
–Ilene Cooper, Booklist (starred)