Cokie

July 1, 2021

Liberated of both job and relationship, journalist Lasley moved from London to Aberdeen and, as she relates in Sea State, worked on an oil rig--the better to understand how men behave with no women around and to witness masculine culture suddenly in crisis (50,000-copy first printing). In Cokie, Roberts recalls distinguished journalist Cokie Roberts, his wife of 53 years (150,000-copy first printing). A two-time All Pro Linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Shazier suffered a spinal-cord injury during a game and had to learn to walk again before he could finally dance with his wife at their wedding--a Walking Miracle that required the perseverance and strength he now applies to his post-game life (50,000-copy first printing). Having immigrated to the United States as a toddler, been paralyzed owing to gunshot as a gang member, and become an English professor after earning a master's degree in medieval literature, Silva addresses The Death of My Father the Pope, recalling a man who was an abusive alcoholic (originally scheduled for August; 30,000-copy first printing). As beloved British novelist Thomas relates in 41-Love, at age 41 she was healthier than ever and happily ensconced with a partner yet faced painful obstacles--the death of loved ones, the realization that she would never have children--that compelled her to return to an early love of her life: tennis. In A Calm Chaos, Walker, the psychiatrist on Bravo's Married to Medicine series and one of Essence's "Woke 100," relates life with a distant, addicted father, her own struggles with depression, and the later-in-life realization that her immigrant grandmother was bipolar, all contributing to her commitment to work with people who are mentally ill in inner cities (40,000-copy first printing).

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Starred review from September 6, 2021
Roberts (My Fathers’ Houses) offers a moving testimony of the remarkable life and legacy of his wife, trailblazing journalist Cokie (1943–2019). Through depictions of her faith, family, work, writing, and friendships, Roberts shares engrossing anecdotes about his partner from their over 50 years together, as she “crash through glass ceilings... with her impressive mind, impish wit, and infectious laugh.” As the daughter of powerful Louisiana politicians—her mother, Lindy Boggs, succeeded her husband, Hale, in Congress in 1973 after his death in a plane crash—politics and current events were a second language for Cokie. She later parlayed that fluency into a career as a highly respected journalist who covered Washington, D.C., for NPR and ABC and was unafraid to speak truth to power and ask tough questions. In addition to the early challenges he and Cokie encountered dating as an interfaith couple—in the face of resistance from their Jewish and Catholic parents, respectively—Roberts describes with admiration how, notwithstanding the constant demands and stresses of work, Cokie managed to be a devoted friend in times of need, as well as an attentive wife and mother, and bestselling author of histories that restored significant women to their merited prominence in the U.S.’s founding. This loving tribute is likely to gain the celebrated journalist a whole new crop of fans.

September 1, 2021
In this adoring tribute to award-winning journalist, analyst, and writer Cokie Roberts, his multitalented, multifaceted wife of 53 years, veteran journalist Steven Roberts extols the skills and exposes the strengths she developed throughout her personal life and career. Readers learn of the bedrock values that supported Cokie in every endeavor, lessons gleaned as the child of the politically dynastic Claiborne family of Louisiana and from the marriage of her parents, Hale and Lindy Boggs, both of whom served in Congress. NPR listeners and Sunday morning show viewers long admired the uber-professional journalist and pundit who could provide keen insights based on her on-the-ground observations of war and legislative battles. What also emerges is her feminism and humanity and a rare blend of tough and tender that won her legions of loyal fans and the love of friends who counted on her heartfelt guidance through any crisis. An expansive personal companion to Lisa Napoli's Susan, Linda, Nina & Cokie (2021), Roberts' portrait demonstrates most clearly both the painful loss and the rich and enduring legacy of this pioneering journalist and compassionate human being.

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September 15, 2021
An adoring look at the trailblazing journalist who relentlessly promoted the women around her in a male-dominated field. Breast cancer claimed the life of Roberts, nee Boggs, on Sept. 17, 2019, a week after she and the author, her husband, celebrated their 53rd anniversary. Both of them were journalists--he had a long career at the New York Times and elsewhere--but Cokie's life was often more public, especially since she was the daughter of two influential members of Congress, Lindy and Hale Boggs. A graduate of Wellesley College, from whose ranks many other journalists would emerge, Cokie was staunchly Catholic. In the cultural milieu of the mid-1960s, her romance with the young, Jewish journalist Roberts was seemingly doomed, yet they persevered in the face of conservative families. At the time, it was assumed Cokie would follow her husband's career, which took them to New York and then Los Angeles. In LA, Cokie cut her teeth in a "one-man journalism school" run by her husband, who had to travel constantly while she took care of their children. Working as a stringer for CBS in Greece in the 1970s, she was on hand to cover the invasion of Cyprus, and TV executives began to show interest. She got her first full-time journalist job at NPR largely through the support of fellow Wellesley alumna Nina Totenberg and Linda Wertheimer. Eventually, Cokie turned her attention to politics on Capitol Hill, which was in her blood. She and her cohort changed the entire dynamic of the newsroom, insisting that it mattered how male politicians treated women. Her later career as an author of histories involved correcting the record about the Founding Mothers and Ladies of Liberty. The book is essentially a one-dimensional portrait, larded with quotes by friends and colleagues, very few of whom detract from the elegiac narrative, but it doesn't cloud the luster of Cokie's many accomplishments. An upbeat portrait of a productive life that was so important to journalists and women everywhere.

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