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"Audition — A Memoir," by Barbara Walters (Knopf, 609 pages, $30)

Barbara Walters is a television legend. Her image has been beaming into American living rooms for 44 years and counting. Over the course of her long career she has shattered one glass ceiling after another.

She tells her story in "Audition — A Memoir."

Her dad made and lost several fortunes, first as a vaudeville promoter, then as the operator of glitzy nightclubs in Boston, New York and Miami. Financial problems and his habitual absenteeism were hard on the family.

Walters had a tough time growing up. She says that "looking back now, I realize that I was never young."

Her childhood was muted by the strains in her family.

 "Audition" traces the steps that led her to the fledgling medium of television. She got her big break on "Today" on NBC when they offered her a 13-week contract. They hired her because "she'll work cheap." She stayed for 13 years. "Today" gave her the boost that made her a force in broadcasting, and by the time she left the program she was the first woman co-host of a network news show. 

Walters interviewed almost every famous politician and movie star. "Audition" enumerates the amazing circumstances that surrounded some of these interviews. She snagged, for example, a five-hour interview with the Cuban dictator Fidel Castro at the site of the Bay of Pigs invasion. The next day he picked her up in a jeep and took her through the mountains of Cuba for six hours. "He drove with one hand, waving his cigar with the other." 

She interviewed Yasser Arafat when he was considered the leading Palestinian terrorist. Walters wasn't intimidated. But the interview that meant the most to her was the one she had with the Egyptian president Anwar Sadat.

Walters' anecdotes about her guests are marvelous. Mamie Eisenhower told her that the success of her 50 years of marriage to president Dwight Eisenhower was due to the fact that "we have absolutely nothing in common." Barbra Streisand was such a control freak that Walters never again allowed a guest to dictate conditions for an interview. 

When Gilda Radner began doing a characterization of Walters for "Saturday Night Live," Walters was devastated. She didn't appreciate the humor of it until she found out that her daughter thought it was hilarious. One of the highlights of the audiobook version of "Audition" is when Walters does her own imitation of Gilda imitating her as "Baba Wawa" from "SNL."

Walters doesn't hold back. She describes her love affairs and divorces. Her career has made her personal life a challenge. Relationships have suffered. Her daughter became involved with drugs. Walters admits her failures. "I'm sick of telling you how guilty I feel."

This is a courageous book.

Book reviewer Vick Mickunas blogs about books daily at www.DaytonDailyNews.com/booknook. Contact him at vick@vickmickunas.com.

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