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We Are Our Mothers' Daughters by Cokie Roberts
William Morrow & Co. $19.95
Review by Wendy Brandes
Web posted on: Friday, May 22, 1998 4:48:53 PM EDT
(CNN) -- The life of TV newswoman Cokie Roberts has all the triumphs and tragedies you'd find in a thick novel of the Southern Gothic persuasion. So how did such a smart, worldly woman write such a wan little book? "We Are Our Mothers' Daughters" is full of good intentions ... a book that answers the question, "Where is a woman's place?" with an empowering "Everywhere."
But the book, brief as it is, wanders all over the map. In her effort to provide a kind of Cliff's Notes to the political history of feminism, Roberts diverts herself from her potentially fascinating personal story and drains it of its passion. And whether discussing the disappearance of her father, Congressman Hale Boggs, or the founding of the American Red Cross by Clara Barton, she gives her subjects the high-school history book treatment, heavy on resumé-type dates and achievements, light on insight and compelling detail.
The first chapter is the best. "When my older sister died she was younger than I am now," begins Roberts. Barbara Sigmund's losing battle with cancer was waged with fortitude and the kind of style that demanded color-coordinated eye patches for every outfit. And one's heart goes out to Roberts, who is full-grown but still a baby sister. "For all the wonderful expressions of sisterhood from so many sources," Roberts writes, "for all of the support I both receive and provide ... it's not the same. I only had one sister."
Alas, the rest of what we learn about Roberts' place in a glamorous political family -- father and mother in Congress, sister a mayor and candidate for governor, brother a megalobbyist -- is tantalizing but thin.
There is some fun stuff. Mother Lindy Boggs, today the U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican, was first elected to Congress in 1973 after her husband's plane disappeared over Alaska. Roberts described Boggs' inserting the words "or sex or marital status" into legislation that barred banks from denying loans for discriminatory reasons. Years later, when Roberts refinances her house, her lawyer asks her to sign a "nothing" truth-in-lending document. "That's not nothing," Roberts snaps. "That's my mother's legislation."
Ambassador Boggs winds up looking like Superwoman, dictating a speech while cooking a wedding feast for 1,500 guests. But there's little to explain how she became so amazing. Maybe the transition from political spouse to single parent, congresswoman and breadwinner was as easy as her daughter makes it sound, but it seems likely there's more to it.
Similarly, husband and fellow newshound Steve Roberts remains an enigma. His wife tells us they struggled and learned to cope while bringing up their two children, but she glosses over the changes and compromises she praises her husband for making over the years of their relationship.
In sum, women may take heart from the optimism of this book, as in "Women are tough, we've managed to keep all the balls in the air for a very long time." But most readers will yearn for a book as gutsy and forthright as its author is on the air.
Wendy Brandes supervises coverage of the financial markets for CNNfn in New York.
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