Dr. Laura: The Unauthorized Biography [Hardcover]

Vickie L. Bane (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 21, 1999

Dr. Laura Schlessinger is the hottest thing to hit national radio since Rush Limbaugh. Sixty thousand people call in to The Dr. Laura Show every day to get abused and berated for admitting their flaws and imperfections. Nearly twenty million people tune in across the country to listen to the humiliation, and more than 2.5 million have bought one of her bestsellers-with the latest book hitting bookstores this September. Dr. Laura has been the subject of countless articles, including features in Vanity Fair and New York magazine. And she recently announced that she has signed an exclusive deal for an hour-long, daily, innovative daytime TV program showcasing her unique insights into today's issues and problems, which will begin airing in the fall of 2000.

Catering to a nearly spellbound cult following, Dr. Laura has built a veritable media empire by spreading moral wisdom and commonsense advice. But what the enchanted public doesn't know is that Schlessingers' own life is a labyrinth of contradictions-from her own divorce (she openly and adamantly chastises divorcees on the air) to her estrangement for her sister and mother (she is known for her supposedly emphatic adherence to family). And is the doctor really a licensed physician? Find out what classmates, colleagues, patients, and pals have to say about the real Dr. Laura! This book turns the tables on America's number-one moral drill sergeant and professional perfectionist, revealing the personal inconsistencies that define the guru himself.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

"It is hard to express the venom and the nasty, hurtful body language, the silence, the judgmentalness that actually comes from this little woman" says one of Dr. Laura's many colleagues in this telling biography of the radio talk-show host. Bane, a staff reporter for People, portrays a life lived hypocritically and in perpetual self-inflicted loss; Schlessinger has terminated most of the meaningful relationships in her life, including contact with her mother and sister, her first husband, and any patients who questioned her. To understand Schlessinger's popularity, Bane includes comments by a psychologist who has studied radio talk-show hosts. He proposes that one attraction is that she presents herself as a moralist at a time when people are looking for a sense of ethical structure. The current campaign against ALA is typical of the angry attacks Dr. Laura is known for, as reported by Bane. [Dr. Laura has called for listeners to cut public funding for libraries because she disagrees with ALA's Internet filtering policy; see Inside Track, LJ 6/15/99.AEd.]ASusan E. Burdick, MLS, Reading, P.
-ASusan E. Burdick, MLS, Reading, PA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The word unauthorized pretty much guarantees that a biography isn't going to be flattering, and, no surprise, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, radio's finger-wagging "shrink" (her doctorate is in physiology), gets a pretty good drubbing here. In this case, though, the author didn't have to work all that hard to dig up the dirt; Schlessinger's well-publicized antics over the years give Bane plenty of fodder. Those who have read the unflattering piece about Dr. Laura in a 1998 issue of Vanity Fair will find much of this material familiar: Schlessinger hasn't spoken to her mother and sister for years, she is notoriously thin-skinned, and she seems to have used a stiletto on almost everyone she has ever worked with in radio. (Many of those former colleagues were more than willing to be quoted by name in these pages.) Bane, whose writing style can best be described as clunky, does make attempts at even-handedness: she confirms that Schlessinger is bright, a quick study, and a natural on the radio, and she includes comments by those who have a more favorable opinion of Dr. Laura. But what will attract readers, especially those who don't like Laura, are the many dishy details that expose where Schlessinger's public persona and private actions clash. Expect requests. Ilene Cooper

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; 1st edition (August 21, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312205309
• ISBN-13: 978-0312205300
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,840,365 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dr. Laura: The Unauthorized Biography, December 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Dr. Laura: The Unauthorized Biography (Hardcover)

Great read! I found the information in this book to be fairly presented and without the snide comments the subject is famous for. Very interesting that "the most famous mother in America" was working after her child was born, verified by college pay registers listed in the appendix. Also interesting that she (1 had affairs with a married men(Bill Balance, Lew Bishop); 2) cohabited prior to marriage with Lew Bishop; 3) was trying to get pregnant while not yet married to Bishop; 4) Bishop was a dead-beat dad who had to be taken to court by his ex-wife to support his then 16-year old child. Puhleese! Although I don't dislike Dr. Laura entirely, I find her obnoxious when she tries to sound like a prophet from the Old Testament. This book captures the real Dr. Laura.

25 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, Could Have Been Better, March 14, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Dr. Laura: The Unauthorized Biography (Hardcover)

This book connects the dots and shouldn't come as a surprise to people who have followed her radio show. Whatever else one wants to say about Dr. Laura the truth is she's passionate and manichean (only recognizes shades of black and white). Now we know why. Every time she berates a caller it seems she's harping on some aspect of her past life which, she feels in hindsight, was unworthy. In this she resembles most authors who write popular self-help books (eg. Barbara DeAngelis, John Grey, it's quite striking).

Emile Zola once wrote how every autobiographer, from Saint Augustine down, is at least somewhat intrigued by his or her sins. I suspect we're not going to get a memoir from Doctor Laura, who is too ashamed of her past. This book could have been written better but the author captures her subject. Those who think such books are "unfair" would have a point if Dr. Laura hadn't turned the Disneyland version of her life into a cottage industry.

While I think Dr. Laura's advice, stripped of meanness and sanctimony, is still generally on the mark (with a few glaring exceptions), what the sum of her life shows, ironicly, is that a women who does the ten stupid things she wrote about in a previous book isn't destined to ruin. Some become quite successful. Some even get nationally syndicated radio programs.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A blockbuster in '98, now woefully out of date, November 2, 2003

By 

Maddi Hausmann Sojourner "madhaus" (Silicon Valley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dr. Laura: The Unauthorized Biography (Paperback)

When this book was written, Dr. Laura was a rising radio star. Schlessinger's show was still on its way to a zenith of 470 radio stations across the United States and Canada. Controversies had erupted here and there, but nothing that stayed on national radar. The only place those sorts of things were discussed was the Usenet newsgroup alt.radio.talk.dr-laura (still going strong after 7 years). Leslie Bennetts had written a critical piece in Vanity Fair, and other cover stories also raised eyebrows with suggestions that the Queen of Preach, Teach, and Nag did not Do As She Said.

The Bane bio, written without any contact with Schlessinger or her husband, brought in all this backstory. Bane met with plenty of Schlessinger's former colleagues who were willing to complain about their run-ins with Schlessinger. The result paints a very disturbing picture of the woman who had the second biggest radio audience after Rush Limbaugh. Read the book for some fascinating insight into Dr. Laura Schlessinger, but realize that the juiciest bits happened well after the book went to press.