From Publishers Weekly
Carroll is known to Dynasty viewers as the ruthless, glamorous Dominique Devereaux, but her own story reveals that the actress-singer failed to capitalize on her own initial successes. Men and racial politics frustrated her early promise, she suggests, even though she was showered with Tony and Emmy awards and Oscar nominations before she was 40. Her intelligence, sophistication, elegance and middle-class background enabled her to become a breakthrough black performer in the Civil Rights era, but because she was a pioneer, she maintains, she suffered criticism from the black community when she starred in Julia, the first TV sitcom to present a black professional woman. Marriage and romantic liaisons with both black and white men failed to bring her stability, and diverted her from her career, according to Carroll. Engrossing and frank, her autobiography shows why even the most talented black performers often fail to have power. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Diahann offers what is best about the genre: a chance to closely examine an interesting life as well as reap the insights gained by the author during the writing process. Carroll does a fine job of showing how her current Dynasty success is based on a lifetime of hard work and achievement. Although she does discuss the important men in her life (Monte Kay, Sidney Poitier, and David Frost), she does not "kiss and tell." She is frank about her romantic failures, most often laying blame on her own insecurities and shortcomings. Carroll at 50 seems to have become the mature success her early talents meant her to be. Rebecca Sturm, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
