
Twice as Good: Condoleezza Rice and Her Path to Power
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by Marcus Mabry
In the first biography of Condoleezza Rice since her
appointment as secretary of state, award-winning Newsweek editor Marcus
Mabry explores the contradictions-personal and political-of the most
powerful black woman in the history of American politics
Condoleezza Rice is an unprecedented woman. Before becoming the first
female African-American secretary of state, she was the first woman to
be national security advisor to the president of the United States. And
before that, she was the first woman, the first minority, and the
youngest person ever to be named provost of Stanford University. Yet for
all her ceiling-shattering accomplishments and historic rise to
prominence and power, Condi Rice remains enigmatic, even sphinx-like, a
major player on the American political scene who has somehow escaped the
in-depth personal scrutiny characteristic of contemporary politics.
Who is Condoleezza Rice? In this multilayered portrait, Marcus Mabry
penetrates the mysteries surrounding one of the most controversial and
fascinating women of our time and explores what price she has paid for
her success. While researching this biography, Mabry interviewed her
family, friends, and neighbors from her childhood in Birmingham; peers
from her years at the University of Denver and Notre Dame; colleagues,
allies, and adversaries from Stanford and Washington-and Condoleezza
Rice herself. The author, who has had a similar background to his
subject-like her, he is African American with roots in the South, a
product of Stanford, and a student of international relations-uses this
perspective in his interpretation of her life and work, drawing on his
personal and professional background as well as his skills as a
journalist to uncover a Condoleezza Rice the world has never known. The
result is the most comprehensive portrait ever reported of this powerful
woman.
MARCUS MABRY, now chief of correspondents at
Newsweek, was formerly a State Department and foreign correspondent for
the magazine and has written on foreign policy for more than a decade.
Mabry has also written extensively on race and class in America,
including the memoir
White Bucks and Black-eyed Peas: Coming of Age Black in White America.