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Marcus Mabry

Twice As Good: Condoleezza Rice and Her Path to Power Hardcover – May 1, 2007

by Marcus Mabry (Author)

4.5 20 ratings

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Perhaps no American leader is better known and less understood than Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Beyond the dramatic story of her past--her ascent from segregated Alabama to the halls of power--and the controversy of her present, little is known about her as a woman, and while she has broken barriers and achieved extraordinary success, she is also one of the most polarizing figures of our time. As an African American girl growing up in the South when the civil rights movement was at its most tumultuous and inspiring, her own views on race are complex. While she has benefited from advances in civil rights legislation and evolving acceptance of blacks, hers has been a singularly individualistic rise, the product of her parents' determination to make her "special."

TWICE AS GOOD: CONDOLEEZZA RICE AND HER PATH TO POWER, is the first biography of Rice to reveal the private woman behind the public image that has become so familiar to people around the world. Bringing his superlative skills as a journalist to bear on this most intriguing of subjects, Newsweek Chief of Correspondents Marcus Mabry chronicles the fascinating story of Rice's life so far, from her childhood in Alabama and Colorado--where she loved ice skating and playing the piano---to her discovery of international affairs at the knee of Madeleine Albright's father Josef Korbel to her role in taking America to war in Iraq. What drove her to the fateful decisions that the United States and the world are now living with? How will history judge her and what awaits her after her service to George W. Bush?

Mabry answers these questions in a deeply nuanced portrait of a driven woman of many contradictions whose power is vast-and still growing...

Print length

360 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Modern Times
Publication date

May 1, 2007
Dimensions

6.62 x 1.25 x 9.13 inches
ISBN-10

1594863628
ISBN-13

978-1594863622
See all details

Condoleezza Rice
442
Paperback
35 offers from $1.35

Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker

President George W. Bush has said of Condoleezza Rice, "Whatever she says, its like talking to me." Mabry writes that many of Rices sponsors, from Brent Scowcroft to a Marxist professor, have felt the same affinity, each to be "left scratching his head as he saw Rice make a 180-degree turn away from the core beliefs he thought they shared." Mabry, who had Rices coöperation here, succeeds in giving coherence to her character, from her roots in segregated Birminghamwhere her middle-class parents were both inspired and mortified by Martin Luther Kings radicalismto her broken engagement to the 1975 N.F.L. Rookie of the Year and her bond with George Bush. On Iraq, Mabry has less to offer, in part, perhaps, because of his subjects detachment; her supreme self-confidence, he writes, has made it hard for her to recognize the disaster unfolding on her watch.
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Review

“Marcus Mabry uncovers what has never been shown before, what some suspected didn't exist, the personal Condoleezza Rice. A tour de force!” ―Richard Ben Cramer, Author of Joe DiMaggio and What It Takes

“If you think you know superstar Condi Rice, think again, and read this book. Marcus Mabry has dug into her past and present and found someone stronger as a person and weaker as a foreign policy strategist than the usual mythologies. This Condi is pure superhuman steel and a true believer in whatever cause she marries, almost no matter how contradictory the causes. All this is told by a real reporter with old-fashioned fairness.” ―Leslie H. Gelb, former foreign affairs columnist for The New York Times and President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations

“Marcus Mabry has given us a remarkable portrait of one of the most remarkable figures of our time, or of any time: a woman who rose from the segregated South to command the world stage as America's emissary to the globe. Deeply reported and vividly told, Mabry's new book offers us an indispensable window onto Condoleezza Rice, an American original whose story is far from over. This is a vital work for anyone who wants to understand modern foreign policy and its makers.” ―Jon Meacham, author of Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship and Founding Fathers

“Twice as Good is a riveting, deeply revealing portrait of the woman who became 'the face of America' around the world - Condoleezza Rice - arguably one of the most powerful, complex and enigmatic black women of our times. With rare access, solid reporting and deft writing, Mabry chronicles Condoleezza Rice's extraordinary strengths, as well as her sometimes surprisingly blinding weaknesses, including her fierce loyalties to those she cares about, including George W. Bush. Marcus Mabry's books may be as close as anyone gets to knowing how a black girl from the segregated South traveled the road not taken and re-drew the map.” ―Charlayne Hunter-Gault, author of New News out of Africa: Uncovering Africa's Renaissance

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Modern Times; First Edition (May 1, 2007)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 360 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1594863628
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1594863622
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.25 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.62 x 1.25 x 9.13 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,805,699 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #12,338 in Political Leader Biographies
- #26,613 in Women's Biographies

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4.5 20 ratings

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Chuckles

and Three Times Better

Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2015

Verified Purchase

This is just a marvelous book and excellent view of Ms. Rice accomplishments. Also appreciated the knowledge of Dr. Rice's [father of Condo as he called her) and his philosophy of how to get ahead in the world; hard work and education, education, education! This should be mandatory reading for every one in the country as should the biographies of the presidents.

2 people found this helpful

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Jo

Product was in good condition

Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2012

Verified Purchase

Good condition - although I'm not completely sure yet but it almost sounds like the author may not be a fan of Condoleezza Rice which if that's the case I'll end up donating it to a second hand store.

One person found this helpful

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queen

Very good read

Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2012

Verified Purchase

I learned a lot about Condi. She seem quiet and introverted but she really was outgoing. It was interesting to learn how much she did at such a young age.

Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2017

Verified Purchase

Wonderful.

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Dr. Jonathan Dolhenty

An Exceptional Biography About A Complex Political Figure

Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2007

It has always seemed to me that writing a biography about a living person is fraught with intellectual risk and potential embarrassment. After all, living human beings are never static and one can well imagine that on the very day a particular biography is published, the subject of the work has undergone a recent metamorphoses and is no longer the person written about. (By the way, I admit to having the same fear about making statements which I deem to be "absolutely certain"; I just know that if I absolutely deny the existence of unicorns, one will show up in my backyard the next day!) Anyway, I have to admire Marcus Mabry's willingness to tackle a biography of Condoleezza Rice. She is still alive and well and, moreover, holds a very controversial political position in very controversial times. Not only is Rice one of the most powerful public figures in the world; she is also a Republican, more or less politically "conservative," a person of the female gender and, most notably I think, a person of "color" -- a Black leader in a predominately White establishment. She is, in fact, the first Black woman to hold an office as high as U.S. secretary of state. No mean feat, that.

There are two important points that need to be emphasized at the outset. First, this is the first biography of Rice to be written since she assumed her role as U.S. secretary of state. Second, it is apparently the first biography with which she has cooperated and, also apparently, without putting any editorial restrictions on the author. As far as I can judge -- admittedly from a distance -- Mabry is as "fair and balanced" (as the popular saying goes) as can be expected. I found no particular "agenda" on his part nor any specific bias in dealing with the subject at hand. I am well aware that it is suspected that mainstream journalists are "modernist liberal" in their orientation and critical of political conservatives and Republicans, but I found no obvious attempt on Mabry's part to skew his writing negatively toward Rice's political views, even though he does now and then critique them. But rational critique is fair play and, for that matter, there are many points upon which I disagree with Rice and especially her boss, the current president of the United States.

The heart of Mabry's book, as far as I am concerned, is not his presentation of Rice's evolution as a political and academic luminary, which she surely became, but his telling about her upbringing, her childhood, her family, her early relationships, and so on. One can only admire Rice's mother, Angelena, and her father, Rev. John Rice, who planted the first aspirations in their daughter to rise above the circumstances in which she was born and raised, which was, of course, the American deep South where to be Black was to be not only endangered, but to be considered less than a full member of the human community. She was encouraged by her parents to dismiss the thought that she was a lesser person than Whites simply by virtue of her race. She was encouraged to reject the "victim" label and to set her own goals and achieve them regardless of the environment surrounding her. Furthermore, her parents saw to it that Condoleezza was provided every opportunity possible to enhance herself as a person, including the dream of becoming a concert musician. And this was during the heyday of the civil rights movement when even young girls were targets of terrorist bigotry resulting in death (e.g., the Birmingham church bombing which killed four little girls in 1963 and is described in Mabry's book; Rice felt the blast as she sat in the pew of her father's church two miles away).

It may be difficult for some readers to understand how Rice could dismiss and overcome the minority status she was supposed to recognize and accept and go on to become the exceptional person and high official that she has become. I do not find that difficult to understand at all. I grew up during the 1940s and 50s as a "member" of two minority groups which were also discriminated against, although my personal situation was not as drastic or obvious. I can recall the taunts that I and my Native American cousins were subjected to by some of our contemporaries in those days, some of the sneers ethnic in nature and some of them religious since many of us were also members of a religious minority. Don't get me wrong here: I am not equating being female and Black (which are obvious features) with my situation where the minority status was not obvious and could be hidden. Also, without doubt, Condoleezza Rice faced many more difficult obstacles to overcome. Nevertheless, one does have a choice, and Rice truly exemplifies what a person can do to defeat any hardships one encounters. One decides, as she must have done, to ignore the negatives and to seek the positives. I was the first member of my family to graduate from college and -- surprise! -- earn a doctoral degree, then go on to live a so-far satisfying and successful professional life. It can be done.

Marcus Mabry has written an excellent biography of this amazing woman and that is not hyperbole. His book is well researched (over thirty-five pages of notes and references in fine print!) and includes fascinating interviews with Rice's family, friends, and colleagues. And, by the way, not all of them are flattering. It is, moreover, a revealing look into the private and public soul of a very complex individual, including many of the internal contradictions one would expect to see in a person as intelligent, dedicated, and complicated as Condoleezza Rice obviously is; furthermore, Mabry's book does not, fortunately, descend into that morass of tabloid biographical "journalism" which has become so commonplace in this day and age. In my judgment, Mabry, a journalist who is now chief of correspondents at "Newsweek" magazine, conducts himself as an objective observer in every way and can now proudly add the title "professional biographer" to his résumé.

Postscript: As I was preparing this brief review, Dr. Condoleezza Rice was named as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by "Time" magazine. Good choice! Mabry's book will certainly provide the rationale for that citation. Also, I just received my June 2007 copy of "The Atlantic" magazine today. Can you guess who's on the cover? Condoleezza Rice, of course, with a story about her ventures into resolving the Middle East situation. So, is Mabry's biography of Rice timely? I should think so. Highly recommended; don't miss reading it.

38 people found this helpful

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A. McIntyre

In Publishing, Timing is Everything

Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2007

Marcus Mabry would seem the right person to write a book about Condoleezza Rice: African American with degree in political science from Stanford, overseeing the domestic and international bureaus of Newsweek. In fact, Mabry exhaustive research and interviews with family members, friends and Rice herself gives him an unique opportunity to explain Rice's childhood in Birmingham and extraordinary performance at various universities (mainly Stanford) as a teacher and administrator. Mabry is also very good on Rice's entry into government service under the first President Bush.

Mabry even makes sense of Rice's total devotion to President George W. Bush. But, this stage of the war in Iraq and the aftermath of Katrina call into question Mabry contention that Rice is unable to admit mistakes (because of her unique upbringing) and, at the same time, be totally devoted to the truth, as she sees it. Like Robert McNamara and Henry Kissenger, Rice is tied to a failed president and a failed policy/foreign war and she is incapable of admitting any mistakes, apparently even to herself. I also thought Mabry's dismissal of Senator Boxer's tough questions and Rice's non answers (during Rice's confirmation hearing as secretary of state) in Rice's favor was outdated and just plain wrong.

This book is way of control at the end when the author speculates on Rice's political future as a vice presidencial candidate for the GOP in 2008. She may have brought something to the ticket at one time, not anymore. I saw Mabry on TV taking phone calls about this book recently. He seemed very surprised at the anger in the African American community directed against Rice. Maybe Marcus Mabry was the wrong person to write this book once he interviewed Rice; she seems to have charmed him beyond reason.

16 people found this helpful

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K. Vestal

Fascinating Biography but Very Biased

Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2009

My immediate impression of this book was the extreme bias of the author, an impression that increased as I continued reading. Mabry is almost never invisible here, and his personal political voice and attempts to psychoanalyze Condoleezza Rice are intrusive to an otherwise fantastic biography.

The personal stories of Rice's roots and childhood, the fantastic collection of photos, and the description of Jim Crow Birmingham make it well worth the effort of wading through the writer's commentary. I laughed out loud at some of the stories of Rice's childhood, and I cried at the story of the church bombing. I enjoyed reading her speeches and her personal quotes. I enjoyed reading of her years of education and her "path to power." I felt I knew her.

This book had the potential to be a five-star publication had it stuck to the biography genre, with an invisible author. Excellent personal interviews, excellent research, and excellent story-telling. But as a reader I want to make my own interpretations. Just tell me the story.

8 people found this helpful

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