THIS BROADS LIFE: RAUCIUS RIVETING AUTOB MOST OUTRAGEOUS RADIO-TALK SHOW HOST: The Raucous, Riveting Autobiography of the Most Outrageous Radio Talk-Show Host in America Today (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The second word in the subtitle is beyond dispute: Minneapolis radio talk-show host Carlson lets it all hang out here. Her alcoholism and her binge eating. The first time she stabbed someone. Her boozy mother. The crib death of her first daughter. Her first marriage, to Arne Carlson, who would become Minnesota's current governor but who "never put his hand on my vagina." Her stints in varied asylums and rehabs. Her status as a mother, grandmother and pro-choice Republican. Her penchant for misplacing her glasses. Even so, Carlson?aided by Entertainment Weekly senior writer Cagle?casts her story in the form of a conventional autobiography. And while she never seems to pass up the chance to recount some dysfunction, obscene episode, mania or destructive compulsion, behind the brass glows some gold: her vulnerability after her daughter's death, her friendships with other recovering alcoholics, her community involvement. Readers will get just what they might expect from a shock jock: provocation, titillation and, occasionally, emotional truth. Photos not seen by PW. Author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

She's raw, she's real, she's Barbara Carlson, flying high as host of the #1 radio talk show in Minneapolis. "KSTP wanted a shock jock, a female Rush Limbaugh, a hormonal Howard Stern, someone who could rile the generally conservative 25-to-54-year-old males who would become my audience." Barbara Carlson more than rivals Oprah as she rides the rough road of her life through rape, emotional incest, domestic violence, alcoholism, the death of a child, Valium, obesity, marriage to the future governor of Minnesota -- and now she's rocking the world of talk radio.

"CARLSON WARY OF EX-WIFE'S BOOK-TO-BE," trumpeted the Star Tribune headline. Minnesota Governor Arne Carlson had good reason to be concerned. Barbara, his ex-wife, had already revealed the pet name for his most private part ("Oscar"). She has subsequently dubbed the penile implant of Pete Anderson, husband number two, "Dupont." Make no bones about it -- Barbara Carlson, all decked out in her trademark pearls, is up front and here to stay.

"Even at my most outrageous and most opinionated, I wasn't threatening. I mean, for heaven's sake, how much damage could an overweight, middle-aged woman on Prozac do?" Thus began The Barbara Carlson and Friends Show on KSTP radio, whose call letters, with a zippered crimson mouth, are now tattooed on her right buttock. "Who could be a more unlikely centerpiece than an aging, round-bodied wild thing who took on the boys' club that is talk radio with her grasp of politics and her knack for throwing almost everyone off guard?" The convent-educated, pill-popping socialite turns talk radio on its ear with steaming interviews from her hot tub every Friday morning, and a daily dish of sex and politics from the governor's ex-wife.

A suburban rich kid from a proper Minneapolis family, Barbara Jane Duffy waged a lifelong battle with her own elegant Mommie Dearest, who once confronted her daughter from the barrel of a shotgun, and a father who made her a stand-in for his alcohol-and-drug-ravaged wife. "I saw my first shrink at the age of six." Barbara herself became an alcoholic at thirteen, and lost her virginity to rape. Marriage to Arne came later, but wedded bliss was short-lived; they were devastated by the tragic death of their first child from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. They then adopted a son, Tucker. After giving birth to their daughter, Anne, Barbara began to transform herself into the "hostess with the mostess" whose passion was reserved for politics and booze.

With lusty humor, Barbara gives the lowdown on her own political career in the Minneapolis City Council, her sexual adventures in -- and out of -- wedlock, and her second marriage to businessman Pete Anderson. "Pete and I accept each other, rather than own each other....That's love. That's caring."

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Atria (August 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671523058
• ISBN-13: 978-0671523053
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,119,278 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Barbara Carlson is one of a kind, June 25, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: THIS BROADS LIFE (Hardcover)

I worked with Barbara Carlson for 5 years at KSTP. I am a part of this book. If you want to laugh. If you want to cry. If you want to learn. This is the book for you. This woman has achieved such incredible highs and low lows. Barbara is a study of addictions and the ability to talk about them is a frank way. Barbara is one person that you would want to meet after reading this book. The book is an accurate look at her life and deserved to be a best seller. Do yourself a favor, read this book. Barbara Carlson is one of the most dangerous people in America, she is willing to reveal all. I love her and you will too after you read it.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Rich Broad's Self -Aggrandizement, January 24, 2004

By	Geoffrey Halston (Woodbury, Minnesota) - See all my reviews

In these days when shock value is considered tasteful content, or at least a sellable commodity, it is not surprising that this rich socialite would jump on the bandwagon. Other people have grown up in dysfunctional families, but I suppose since they do not originate from the rich and the privileged, they are just somehow not as interesting. However, it doesn't really interest me to view anothers airing out of dirty laundry.
Having met Mrs. Carlson once, when the company I work for was on strike, I remember her commenting to one of the strikers that "You should be happy to get $6.00 an hour." My response to this is that $6.00 an hour, at twenty-four hours per day, wouldn't cover her food bill. This is the typical social darwinistic view of such people that the rich deserve to be rich and the poor deserve to be poor. Awe-inspiring vulgarities may make good sales, but there is enough of that in the world without parading it as entertaining.