Rating: 
Summary: Exemplary
Review: Madam Secretary is a wonderful capsule of a remarkable life and highly recommended for anyone who is as much of a current affairs geek as I am. While most will be drawn to read this book because of the insights Ms. Albright provides into the Clinton Administration's roles in the Middle East conflict, Kosovo, and North Korea - all of which are discussed in fascinating detail - some of the most compelling (and poignant) sections of the book have to do with her pain associated with the sudden dissolution of her marriage, the discovery of her Jewish ancestry, and her life in Czechoslovakia as a young girl.Ms. Albright's narrative voice is warm and inviting and utterly without pretension. This is my vote for the best non-fiction book of 2003.
Rating:
Summary: Madam Secretary - Fortunate America
Review: Witty, bright, insightful, wise, intuitive, multi-lingual - This Memoir serves as a superb insight to the workings, the details, the trials and tribulations of the U.S. State Department under Bill Clinton's second term. It becomes apparent that the two of them are on the "same page" - but Secretary Albright was no "lackey". She pulls no punches in her Memoir - admitting to failures, misjudgments - while at the same time highlighting the successes which far outnumbered the shortcomings. Bill Clinton, and, indeed, all of America owes this brilliant statesperson, daughter of the Holocaust, a debt of great respect and honor for her service to this nation. Great Memoir!
Rating:
Summary: An inspirational life told beautifully
Review: I have no words that would do this book and woman justice. Just buy and read it! Madeleine, thank you for your hard work and inspiration. I dream of someday speaking with you.
Rating: 
Summary: BRILLIANT BIOPIC FROM HIGHLY CHARGED POLITICAL ANNALS
Review: So I find myself a bit disagreeable when it comes to extolling Madeleine Albright. So what. ... I am still fascinated by the chequered career of "Madam Secretary", who came from a Czech refugee family that first fled Hitler and then the communists. After reaching America, her zigzagging life eventually landed her in the upper echelon of American diplomacy and policy-making. This path alone makes this memoir worth every little centimeter of every frayed penny you spend on it. This is an outspoken work, and it provides a ringside view of a world in unprecedented turbulence. No, I do not think the authors were fawning a political celeb. It contains a colorful portrait of several other big tykes -- the Clintons, Colin Powell, Jesse Helms, Vaclav Havel, Yasser Arafat, Ariel Sharon, King Hussein, Vladimir Putin, Slobodan Milosevic, and North Korean Dictator Kim Jong-Il. All this tirade, whether your polemical filter reconciles with it or not, makes for quite an interesting read. As regards weaving an intimate and panoramic tapestry of Madeleine's character, well the writing is fluent, tight, and very interesting. I seldom devour politically charged reminiscences with such zeal. It is clearly self-billed as a "memoir, so I did not expect it to be a highly objective analysis of political stances, if there were such a beast to begin with. In my book, this comes highly recommended. Will definitely not bore you if that is any consolation. Come to think of it, I guess it also makes for a great movie theme.
Rating:
Summary: The candid memoirs of the first woman Secretary of State
Review: "Madam Secretary" presents the memoirs of Madeleine Albright, the highest ranking woman in the history of U.S. government (despite what conclusions you might have reached about some of the First Ladies, Edith Galt Wilson in particular). During the eight years of the Clinton administration Albright served as U.N. ambassador and then, following the resignation of Warren Christopher, as Secretary of State. Half of "Madam Secretary" is devoted to that period of her life, while the rest tells the story of how a refugee from Czechoslovakia eventually became the first woman Secretary of State in American history and one of the most admired public figures of recent years (she was confirmed 99-0 by the Senate). The result is a book that is both candid and insightful. The memoirs of any Secretary of State are going to be of importance, but "Madam Secretary" is actually a good read. Madeleine Korbel Albright was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1937. Her father was an official in the Czech government-in-exile who fled to London, where she remembers enduring the blitz. Her father served in several diplomatic posts after World War II and when the Communists took over Czechoslovakia in 1948 he sent his family to the United States, where he ended up running the School of International Studies at the University of Denver (where one of his prize students was Condolezza Rice). On the personal side of the ledger Albright talks about her marriage to "Newsday" scion Joe Albright, which ended in divorce, raising her three daughters, and learning late in her life that her Jewish grandparents had died in Nazi concentration camps. Earning her doctorate from Columbia, Albright worked her way from being Edmund Muskie's senior legislative assistant to work for National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brezinski in the Carter Administration. When the Democrats returned to the White House in 1992, Albright moved into the upper stratosphere of American diplomacy where she proved herself to be a Wilsonian moralist whose hero was Dean Acheson. In the most important parts of her memoir Albright provides commentary on all of the foreign policy crises with which she was involved, from Rwanda and Serbia to North Korea and Iraq, with NATO's humanitarian intervention in Kosovo being the episode that stands out most in my mind as the one she wants to present as being paradigmatic of what the Clinton administration was trying to accomplish in terms of foreign policy. Not coincidentally, it was also the specific policy on which she was the biggest advocate and primary architect. She does not make the explicit argument, but when you read of how her family came to the United States the policy seems a logical extension of her personal story. Clearly the goal was to avert a humanitarian catastrophe and not as sign of support for the Albanian guerrillas. You will also find Albright's views on the national and world figures with whom she had to deal, including Bill and Hillary Clinton, Colin Powell, Vaclav Havel, Vladmimir Putin, Ariel Sharon, Benjamin Netanyahu, Yasser Arafat, Slobodan Milosevic, and even Kim Jong-Il. Of course, a recurring theme of Albright's book is how she had to prove herself in the male-dominated world of power politics, which lends a certain power to the scene where she describes waiting for the phone call from President Clinton where he told her he wanted her to be his Secretary of State. Albright consistently places the emphasis on presenting her side of the record rather than going out of her way to defend particular policies and actions. Her position on American foreign policy is clearly implicit in her accounts, but she does not go out of her way to be an advocate. Obviously this volume will be a primary document for assessing the foreign policy of the Clinton administration. Albright comes across as being candid and self-efacing, while also provided insights into the goals of the Clinton foreign policy. Having long ago grown tired of the public statements of any and all government officials, it was refreshing to read what it was like to play this came from someone who was actively involved and has never been burdened by being an elected official. Ome of the biggest compliments I could pay to Albright would be that this memoir comes across as being written by a real person. She might have been a diplomat, but she was not a politician (an assessment that I think applies to her successor at the State Department as well). Of course she touches on issues, such as terrorism and relations with Iraq, that are of even more importance today. "Madame Secretary" includes a pair of 16-page color and black & white photo inserts and a chronology of Albright's personal and political life. This 562-page volume will be of interest to not only Albright's personal admirers, but anyone interested in the machinations of American foreign policy in the past decade (especially if they have read Michael Dobbs' "Madeline Albright: A 20th Century Odyssey," the obvious companion volume for a presumably more objective look at the same subject).
Rating: 
Summary: Filling in What the Media Neglects
Review: If your interesting in knowing the truth about one of the 1990s most important foreign policy personalities, this book won't necessarily help. While it is an easy read with lots of details about what was happening behind closed doors, Ms. Albright also spun it to her own advantages. But that is to be expected. Considering her harsh handing at the hands of the right wing, it is good to get her point of view.
Rating:
Summary: Well-written, informative, attention-holding
Review: I was pleased to find this book full of interest, both from the standpoint of one who wants to know more of Albright's very unusual and in some ways amazing career and personal life and for one who wants a good review of foreign affairs during the Clinton administations. She does not fail to tell of her in some respects sad personal life, including her moral failings, (e.g., her affair with a Georgetown law professor, named in the book) and outlines in readable and convincing style her activities as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and as a very active and successful Secretary of State. I was happily surprised by how much I enjoyed the whole book.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating book, frank and entertaining
Review: I don't normally read autobiographies (another member of my book club recommended this)-- but I really enjoyed Madam Secretary. She has a gift of making history understandable and interesting. Her story of struggling for excellence, working hard, trying to juggle family life with work, really resonated. I appreciated her frankness and her sense of humor. A lot of historical figures came alive as people, prior to her book I remembered them vaguely as photos in a newspaper. This book does not deserve the vicious attacks by some conservative reviewers who are merely venting their fury at the Clinton administration. It's a great book and great read. Albright deserves her reputation as a stateswoman -- also a good writer.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting read
Review: Very interesting. Shows the inside workings of top decision makers, insights to her travels and experiences, and mixes the professional with the personal. Alos good is the detail provided behind the peace process for the mid east and the Balkans. Her personal insights make the material personable.
Rating:
Summary: Candor
Review: There is nothing ordinary about her: her heritage, her history, her family, her career... Every single part of her life is so amazing... But this book offers you the most fascinating feature that makes her: candor.... Especially the part, where all the glorious days of office are over, strikes the reader with this candid definition of feelings which, I am sure, requires a great deal of courage... I wish, those who based their reviews here on their own political agenda, could be fair enough to acknowledge at least this courageous effort immune of any political or personal ambitions... Anyway, congradulations Madame Secretary!!!
|
