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Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful work by Ms. Roberts
Review: Beautiful work by Ms. Roberts. A treasure for all women to read and enjoy. The essays are poignant and well documented. This is a book that should live on through history and handed from one woman to another.
recommending also: Founding Mothers,Secret Life Of Bees,Three Junes,Lonely Hunter,Nightmares Echo
Rating: 
Summary: As flavorless as a rice cake
Review: Catchy title and format (every chapter is a different woman's role), but fails to deliver anything of real substance. Although this is not a true memoir, at times it reads like one. Some of the autobiographical sections are very interesting. Cokie comes from a privileged background. She grew up in a very educated family, and she had lots of contact with a very large and loving extended family. The second fact is not very common to find nowadays, and i read in envy. I think some people dislike reading about happy childhoods, and criticize anything that strays away from Angela's Ashes. But i digress. Cokie talks about facts and people that i had never heard about, and to me that is the main benefit of the book. I plan to read the autobiography of Esther Peterson, for example. However, as interesting as some of these facts were, i don't think they can save the book. What i found most annoying about the book is the crude generalization that takes place when she writes about how women are connected through time. Where did she find that soundbyte? It's hard to connect to women in their 50's who make $500,000/year if you are a 24-year old high-school dropout on welfare (and that's not even including race into the equation). Also, all that talk about women being superwomen is empty of any true value. While i have to admit it is admirable that her mother cooked the entire banquet for Cokie's wedding by herself while taking care of a toddler grandson and dictating a speech (i freak out when more than 4 people come over for dinner), not everybody is made that way. In fact it is very good that not everybody is so capable. Cokie herself admits defeat when she acknowledges how she has missed many important occasions in the lives of her children. She, like millions of women out there, did it the best she could, but instead of admitting that, she proceeds to gloss over it, like it was no big deal after all. Contradictions abound, so caveat emptor. Do not expect deep commentary or analysis.
Rating: 
Summary: Surprisingly lightweight
Review: I bought this book because it was written by Cokie Roberts, whose TV and radio political commentary I admire and enjoy. But I was surprised at this book's light weight. I enjoyed reading about her family and herself, but ended up knowing very little in depth about any of them (including her mother's name), although her stories about her aunts are hilarious. They reminded me of the Ya Ya Sisterhood. I found the other women Roberts wrote about a little dull. I'm sure they are not dull, but Roberts' writing is. Come on, Cokie, you can do better than this. Readers should get in-depth thinking in books, not sound bites or a two-minute feature TV story. Happily, the book is an easy reader and can be zoomed through in no time, allowing women to get on with their busy lives. No new insights here.
Rating:
Summary: For all Women
Review: This is a gentle book of celebration. Cokie Roberts is an attractive lady from a large family of achievers. She shares part of her life story with the reader and writes valuable information in the form of essays, about amazing women past and present; many of whom we have not been aware of. I thoroughly enjoyed this easy to read book. I recommend it as encouragement to all women especially those hiding their talents.
Mostly though, it is a reassuring book in that we women are reminded to appreciate each other, ever learning, ever discovering new ways to contribute, even if our best efforts go unnoticed for a time; willing to step back or go forward as the need arises, and always share the credits. With all due respect to the author, I find the title to be unworthy of this fine book. I am my daughter's mother; some women have no daughters, some daughters have no mother to encourage them - anyway perhaps I haven't gotten the point. Do read this book, enjoy it, and give it your own title!
Rating:
Summary: We Are Our Mothers' Daughters
Review: Veteran journalist Roberts intersperses her memoir with vignettes of women she's gotten to know in three decades of political reporting. She grew up in Washington and Louisiana, the daughter of U.S. Reps. Hale and Lindy Boggs, with an extended family that provided strong female role models. Two of the women she profiles here are Esther Peterson, a consumer advocate in the 1970s, and Dorothy Height, former president of the National Council of Negro Women. Roberts also speaks of her career and motherhood in the years before employers provided maternity leave and subsidized daycare. Finally, she asks, "What is a woman's place? For most women it's many places, different places at different times." This lively recording will be popular among public library patrons
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