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Condoleezza Rice: A Memoir of My Extraordinary, Ordinary Family and Me
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Condoleezza Rice: A Memoir of My Extraordinary, Ordinary Family and Me Hardback - 2010

by Condoleezza Rice

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Reader reviews for Condoleezza Rice: A Memoir of My Extraordinary, Ordinary Family and Me

From the publisher

Condoleezza Rice has excelled as a diplomat, political scientist and concert pianist. Her achievements include working to protect the U.S. in the aftermath of 9/11 and becoming the first black woman to serve as Secretary of State. But Rice's early life growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, was very different. This is her story.

Details

  • Title Condoleezza Rice: A Memoir of My Extraordinary, Ordinary Family and Me
  • Author Condoleezza Rice
  • Binding Hardback
  • Edition First Edition
  • Pages 319
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Delacorte Press
  • Publication date 2010-10-12
  • Illustrated Yes
  • ISBN 9780385907477 / 0385907478
  • Weight 1.02 lbs (0.46 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.18 x 5.78 x 1.14 in (20.78 x 14.68 x 2.90 cm)
  • Age range 08 to 12 years
  • Grade levels 3 - 7
  • Category Biography / Autobiography
  • Library of Congress subjects African American women, Alabama
  • Library of Congress Catalogue Number 2010029878
  • Dewey Decimal Code B

Excerpt

Chapter One

By all accounts, my parents approached the time of my birth with great anticipation. My father was certain that I'd be a boy and had worked out a deal with my mother: if the baby was a girl, she would name her, but a boy would be named John.

Mother started thinking about names for her daughter. She wanted a name that would be unique and musical. Looking to Italian musical terms for inspiration, she at first settled on Andantino. But realizing that it translated as "moving slowly," she decided that she didn't like the implications of that name. Allegro was worse because it translated as "fast," and no mother in 1954 wanted her daughter to be thought of as "fast." Finally she found the musical terms con dolce and con dolcezza, meaning "with sweetness." Deciding that an English speaker would never recognize the hard c, saying "dolci" instead of "dolche," my mother doctored the term. She settled on Condoleezza.

Meanwhile, my father prepared for John's birth. He bought a football and several other pieces of sports equipment. John was going to be an all-American running back or perhaps a linebacker.

My mother thought she felt labor pains on Friday night, November 12, and was rushed to the doctor. Dr. Plump, the black pediatrician who delivered most of the black babies in town, explained that it was probably just anxiety. He decided nonetheless to put Mother in the hospital, where she could rest comfortably.

The public hospitals were completely segregated in Birmingham, with the Negro wards--no private rooms were available--in the basement. There wasn't much effort to separate maternity cases from patients with any other kind of illness, and by all accounts the accommodations were pretty grim. As a result, mothers who could get in preferred to birth their babies at Holy Family, the Catholic hospital that segregated white and Negro patients but at least had something of a maternity floor and private rooms. Mother checked into Holy Family that night.

Nothing happened on Saturday or early Sunday morning. Dr. Plump told my father to go ahead and deliver his sermon at the eleven o'clock church service. "This baby isn't going to be born for quite a while," he said.

He was wrong. When my father came out of the pulpit at noon on November 14, his mother was waiting for him in the church office.

"Johnny, it's a girl!"

Daddy was floored. "A girl?" he asked. "How could it be a girl?"

He rushed to the hospital to see the new baby. Daddy told me that the first time he saw me in the nursery, the other babies were just lying still, but I was trying to raise myself up. Now, I think it's doubtful that an hours-old baby was strong enough to do this. But my father insisted this story was true. In any case, he said that his heart melted at the sight of his baby girl. From that day on he was a "feminist"--there was nothing that his little girl couldn't do, including learning to love football.


From the Hardcover edition.

About the author

Condoleezza Rice was the sixty-sixth U.S. secretary of state and the first black woman to hold that office. She was also the first woman to serve as national security advisor. She has served as provost of Stanford University and was the Soviet and East European Affairs advisor to the president of the United States during the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

"From the Hardcover edition."

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Condoleezza Rice: A Memoir of My Extraordinary, Ordinary Family and Me
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Condoleezza Rice: A Memoir of My Extraordinary, Ordinary Family and Me

by Rice, Condoleezza

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  • Hardback
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9780385907477 / 0385907478
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Delacorte Press, 2010. Hardcover. Very Good. Former library book; May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
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Condoleezza Rice : A Memoir of My Extraordinary, Ordinary Family and Me
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Condoleezza Rice : A Memoir of My Extraordinary, Ordinary Family and Me

by Rice, Condoleezza

  • Used
Condition
Used
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780385907477 / 0385907478
Quantity available
3
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Description:
Used - Good. Former library copy. Pages intact with minimal writing/highlighting. The binding may be loose and creased. Dust jackets/supplements are not included. Includes library markings. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good.
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A$24.88
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Condoleezza Rice: A Memoir of My Extraordinary, Ordinary Family and Me
Stock photo: cover may vary

Condoleezza Rice: A Memoir of My Extraordinary, Ordinary Family and Me

by Rice, Condoleezza

  • Used
  • Good
Condition
Good
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780385907477 / 0385907478
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1
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Description:
library. Good. Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book.
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A$68.03
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