Book Review: The Rulebreaker

Barbara Walters was a force from the time TV was exploding on the American scene in the 1960s to its waning dominance in a new world of competition from streaming services and social media half a century later. She was not just a groundbreaker for women (Oprah announced when she was seventeen that she wanted to be Barbara Walters), but also expanded the big TV interview and then dominated the genre. By the end of her career, she had interviewed more of the famous and infamous, from presidents to movie stars to criminals to despots, than any other journalist in history. Then at sixty-seven, past the age many female broadcasters found themselves involuntarily retired, she pioneered a new form of talk TV called The View. She is on the short list of those who have left the biggest imprints on television news and on our culture, male or female. So, who was the woman behind the legacy?

The Rulebreaker: The Life and Times of Barbara Walters by Susan Page will be published April 23, 2024. Simon and Schuster provided an early galley for review.

By the age I became aware of network news, somewhere in my childhood in the early 70's, the name and face and voice of Barbara Walters was known to me. As far as I knew, she was always there. I never questioned a woman in a high profile position of journalism. I just took it as a fact of life. When she shifted over to the weekly 20/20 or any one of her specials through out the year, it was something I found myself watching. She was a source to be trusted and admired.

When I saw the solicitations for Page's book, I knew this was one I and my library patrons would hopefully want to read.

The book moves right from the start with short chapters on family and growing up. One quote from Barbara I found illuminating was that she valued "interesting" over "normal". That certainly makes a lot of sense given how her professional life would play out.

One thing that also jumps out right from the start is that Barbara came up in a world that is vastly different than the one of the 21st Century we now how. This was a world of sexism and deal-making - often the price of doing business and getting ahead. It is very much a world I remember from the earliest half of my life. This might very well serve as an uncomfortable eye-opening experience for younger modern readers, but we learn from the lessons of the history of others.

It also becomes obvious as to why Page chose the title that she did. Barbara very much broke the rules, often doing whatever it took to make her way to the top and to stay there. She was very cut-throat indeed. I really found I learned a lot from reading this biography.