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The Woman at the Washington Zoo: Writings on Politics, Family, and Fate
Marjorie Williams knew Washington from top to bottom. Beloved for her sharp analysis, elegant prose and exceptional ability to intuit character, Williams wrote political profiles for the Washington Post and Vanity Fair that came to be considered the final word on the capital's most powerful figures. Her accounts of playing ping-pong with Richard Darman, of Barbara Bush's stepmother quaking with fear at the mere thought of angering the First Lady, and of Bill Clinton angrily telling Al Gore why he failed to win the presidency — to name just three treasures collected here — open a window on a seldom-glimpsed human reality behind Washington's determinedly blank façade. Williams also penned a weekly column for the Post's op-ed page and epistolary book reviews for the online magazine Slate. Her essays for these and other publications tackled subjects ranging from politics to parenthood. During the last years of her life, she wrote about her own mortality as she battled liver cancer, using this harrowing experience to illuminate larger points about the nature of power and the randomness of life. Marjorie Williams was a woman in a man's town, an outsider reporting on the political elite. She was, like the narrator in Randall Jarrell's classic poem, "The Woman at the Washington Zoo," an observer of a strange and exotic culture. This splendid collection — at once insightful, funny and sad — digs into the psyche of the nation's capital, revealing not only the hidden selves of the people that run it, but the messy lives that the rest of us lead.
384 pages, Paperback
First published November 6, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 125 reviews
September 4, 2012
I originally wrote this in 2008 BBO (before Barack Obama), back when the clamor for Hillary Clinton to concede the race for the presidential nomination was growing bitter and shrill, and I found myself wondering what my friend Marjorie Williams would think. Now Senator Obama is President Obama, and more than ever I wish I could hear her incisive commentary of the state of the Union, so I have revised it to fit the new year and new administration.
* * *
Without a doubt the most brilliant person, bar none, I have ever had the privilege of knowing was Marjorie Williams, whose opinions were unfailingly rational, well informed, and incisive, delivered with a deliciously wry wit. She wrote so fluidly as to make it seem effortless, and perhaps it was, for I saw her do it often enough in person: draw instantly upon some vast internal mental filing system for just the right fact, the right quote, the right word, then deliver a word-perfect analysis that left me in awe—and often in hysterics as well. She could toss off gems from obscure corners of the lexicon without ever seeming pretentious (feckless! insouciant! comity! encomium!), and listen to or read the most obtuse information and instantly synthesize a keen summary or commentary. She was amazing.
Her opinion on the Democratic nomination process and the electric zeitgeist of the Obama inauguration would hold great weight. As an op-ed columnist for the Washington Post and the author of numerous trenchant political profiles for Vanity Fair on people in and around the DC political scene, she would have had no trouble sizing up this unprecedented situation and penning a clever, concise, and illuminating opinion. I'd be particularly interested in hearing her riff on the roles that gender and race played in this particular election.
Before the nomination was a done deal, presidential historian (and alleged serial plagiarist) Doris Kearns Goodwin was quoted as saying, "When people look at the arc of the campaign, it will be seen that being a woman, in the end, was not a detriment and if anything it was a help to [Clinton]." Marjorie wouldn't have repeated the oft-repeated, egregious contradictions to this (the men in New Hampshire asking her to iron their shirts, McCain calling her a bitch) and found a string of instances proving that Ms. Goodwin may have been spending a little too much time copying off the papers of her C-student subjects. She would certainly have reminded us how Hillary was staked out for the jackals for her husband's transgressions, and pilloried for failing to play her part as the wronged wife, neither falling tearfully to pieces and blaming herself nor filing for divorce.
Instead Hillary behaved with stoic dignity. For this she was accused of being cold and brittle—not to mention a lesbian. (Trust me, not all lesbians can pull off the "stoic dignity" thing. I'm proof of that.) Stoic dignity earns praise in men, scorn in women. When Hillary teared up with joy after winning the NH primary (deservedly so), she was being a typical, emotional woman. Tsk tsk, said everyone, including the apocryphal liberally biased media. Real presidents don't cry.
Marjorie being Marjorie, however, she would have had a dozen perfect examples of blatant sexism, ones gleaned first- or second-hand and never before seen in print, and they would have inspired the proper amount of outrage among voters. But she would not have presented a one-sided condemnation of the prevalence and apparent sanctioning of woman-bashing in politics. She was always even-handed. In the late 1990s, she and her husband Timothy Noah wrote a back-and-forth email feature for Slate magazine called "At the Breakfast Table" in which they commented on the latest news. Marjorie wrote, "Smart feminists never strove (nor even wanted) to accomplish the impossible task of taming the male id, only to make it think twice before disporting itself in the public sphere." She herself was the ideal feminist: strong, independent, and unafraid to leap into a traditionally male bastion (in this country at least, the world of politics—even political commentary—is still populated for the most part by white men), and at the same time an adoring mother to two small children and passionately in love with her husband and the challenges and gifts of raising a family.
Fortunately, you don't have to take my word for any of this. You can actually read about it in her book. The first half of The Woman at the Washington Zoo (PublicAffairs/Perseus Book Groups, 2006), you'll find some of her elegant political profiles. The second half of the book, though, is pure Marjorie: family vignettes, personal glimpses into her life, and—most heart-wrenching—the story of her own battle with the rare form of liver cancer that finally ended her life at age 47 in January 2005. It's a rare talent that allows someone to write in such poignant detail about her own diagnosis, her treatments (though told she had only several months, she nevertheless lived another three and a half years), and her realization that she would never see her children grow up, and yet never sound morbid or self-pitying.
Oh, just read the book. You, too, will feel the loss. There will be so many things you'll wish you could ask her…and not just about politics.
* * *
By the way, in her piece on weddings, Marjorie mentions having been the "best man" at a wedding; she stood up for the groom, her high-school sweetheart and my then husband-to-be (I was young, okay? If she'd been gay, it might have been him playing bridesmaid for her; I loved her that much. He and I divorced almost two decades ago, but she was no longer single by then).
* * *
Without a doubt the most brilliant person, bar none, I have ever had the privilege of knowing was Marjorie Williams, whose opinions were unfailingly rational, well informed, and incisive, delivered with a deliciously wry wit. She wrote so fluidly as to make it seem effortless, and perhaps it was, for I saw her do it often enough in person: draw instantly upon some vast internal mental filing system for just the right fact, the right quote, the right word, then deliver a word-perfect analysis that left me in awe—and often in hysterics as well. She could toss off gems from obscure corners of the lexicon without ever seeming pretentious (feckless! insouciant! comity! encomium!), and listen to or read the most obtuse information and instantly synthesize a keen summary or commentary. She was amazing.
Her opinion on the Democratic nomination process and the electric zeitgeist of the Obama inauguration would hold great weight. As an op-ed columnist for the Washington Post and the author of numerous trenchant political profiles for Vanity Fair on people in and around the DC political scene, she would have had no trouble sizing up this unprecedented situation and penning a clever, concise, and illuminating opinion. I'd be particularly interested in hearing her riff on the roles that gender and race played in this particular election.
Before the nomination was a done deal, presidential historian (and alleged serial plagiarist) Doris Kearns Goodwin was quoted as saying, "When people look at the arc of the campaign, it will be seen that being a woman, in the end, was not a detriment and if anything it was a help to [Clinton]." Marjorie wouldn't have repeated the oft-repeated, egregious contradictions to this (the men in New Hampshire asking her to iron their shirts, McCain calling her a bitch) and found a string of instances proving that Ms. Goodwin may have been spending a little too much time copying off the papers of her C-student subjects. She would certainly have reminded us how Hillary was staked out for the jackals for her husband's transgressions, and pilloried for failing to play her part as the wronged wife, neither falling tearfully to pieces and blaming herself nor filing for divorce.
Instead Hillary behaved with stoic dignity. For this she was accused of being cold and brittle—not to mention a lesbian. (Trust me, not all lesbians can pull off the "stoic dignity" thing. I'm proof of that.) Stoic dignity earns praise in men, scorn in women. When Hillary teared up with joy after winning the NH primary (deservedly so), she was being a typical, emotional woman. Tsk tsk, said everyone, including the apocryphal liberally biased media. Real presidents don't cry.
Marjorie being Marjorie, however, she would have had a dozen perfect examples of blatant sexism, ones gleaned first- or second-hand and never before seen in print, and they would have inspired the proper amount of outrage among voters. But she would not have presented a one-sided condemnation of the prevalence and apparent sanctioning of woman-bashing in politics. She was always even-handed. In the late 1990s, she and her husband Timothy Noah wrote a back-and-forth email feature for Slate magazine called "At the Breakfast Table" in which they commented on the latest news. Marjorie wrote, "Smart feminists never strove (nor even wanted) to accomplish the impossible task of taming the male id, only to make it think twice before disporting itself in the public sphere." She herself was the ideal feminist: strong, independent, and unafraid to leap into a traditionally male bastion (in this country at least, the world of politics—even political commentary—is still populated for the most part by white men), and at the same time an adoring mother to two small children and passionately in love with her husband and the challenges and gifts of raising a family.
Fortunately, you don't have to take my word for any of this. You can actually read about it in her book. The first half of The Woman at the Washington Zoo (PublicAffairs/Perseus Book Groups, 2006), you'll find some of her elegant political profiles. The second half of the book, though, is pure Marjorie: family vignettes, personal glimpses into her life, and—most heart-wrenching—the story of her own battle with the rare form of liver cancer that finally ended her life at age 47 in January 2005. It's a rare talent that allows someone to write in such poignant detail about her own diagnosis, her treatments (though told she had only several months, she nevertheless lived another three and a half years), and her realization that she would never see her children grow up, and yet never sound morbid or self-pitying.
Oh, just read the book. You, too, will feel the loss. There will be so many things you'll wish you could ask her…and not just about politics.
* * *
By the way, in her piece on weddings, Marjorie mentions having been the "best man" at a wedding; she stood up for the groom, her high-school sweetheart and my then husband-to-be (I was young, okay? If she'd been gay, it might have been him playing bridesmaid for her; I loved her that much. He and I divorced almost two decades ago, but she was no longer single by then).
July 1, 2011
What to say now that I've finished this book. I've been reading it slowly, using it as my "appointment" book sometimes, since it can be broken up easily.
This is a wonderful compilation of the author's writings, put together posthumously by her husband, Thomas Noah, also a writer. The first section consists primarily of a series of profiles of Washington, D.C. movers and shakers of various stripes. The second is essays on daily life and people large and small that Williams encountered in her work as a newspaper columnist. The last third deals with her life after her cancer diagnosis.
The writing is wonderful throughout but absolutely glows as one progresses into part 2 then into part 3. This is a woman that I would have loved to continue to read as she and I continued to age. As that is not possible, I'm so glad her husband organized this tribute.
My rating is 4 to 4.5 for the first section, 5 for the rest of the book.
This is a wonderful compilation of the author's writings, put together posthumously by her husband, Thomas Noah, also a writer. The first section consists primarily of a series of profiles of Washington, D.C. movers and shakers of various stripes. The second is essays on daily life and people large and small that Williams encountered in her work as a newspaper columnist. The last third deals with her life after her cancer diagnosis.
The writing is wonderful throughout but absolutely glows as one progresses into part 2 then into part 3. This is a woman that I would have loved to continue to read as she and I continued to age. As that is not possible, I'm so glad her husband organized this tribute.
My rating is 4 to 4.5 for the first section, 5 for the rest of the book.
October 24, 2018
An excellent collection of the works of the late Marjorie Williams, lovingly curated by her husband, Tim Noah. Williams was a favorite commentator of mine in the late 90's and I was deeply saddened by news of her death in 2005 at the age of 46. I bought this not long after it came out after hearing an NPR interview with Noah. It has been sitting on my shelf since, and I had all but given up on reading it since I thought the majority of the book would be so dated. I was wrong.
Noah has split the book into three parts, profiles of DC power-brokers, columns on politics, parenting, and other matters, and Williams short and utterly perfect memoir of dying in what should have been the middle of her life and leaving behind a family that desperately needed her. I read this book over the course of 9 months, dipping in and out, and leaving it on the shelf for weeks at a time. I think it is the right way to read it. The political profiles and columns are mostly excellent, but simply not intended to be read one after the next. For me at least, the shortest part of the book by far, the cancer memoir, was a single evening's read. I could not pull myself away and it affected me deeply. It is important reading not only for those facing illness, but those who have or will walk that road with someone else. I learned a lot from Williams' frankness. This is subject matter that will never go out of date. The other parts though, also proved timely.
Just as the sexual assault allegations arose against the latest addition to the Supreme Court I was coincidentally reading the columns in this book that focused on the Clarence Thomas hearings. I am old enough to clearly remember those hearings, I was a young lawyer by that time and I was obsessed, but time changes the way we think about these things. These columns were like the Trump ice bucket challenge (except not funny and no one benefits.) It was shocking to see Chuck Grassley and Orrin Hatch once again celebrate sexual misconduct with no movement forward. In fact this iteration was possibly more blatantly misogynist, than 1991. Amazing. As Stormy Daniels elbowed her way into the awareness of Americans I was reading a piece where Williams railed about American feminists giving Bill Clinton a pass as evidence of his serial sexual misconduct piled up. Some of those same feminists have shouted about DJT's grab em by the pussy mentality, but gave a pass to a President (hell any supervisor) who got blow jobs from his 22 year old intern with his wife and daughter essentially down the hall. (I include myself in this group of feminists, and I feel chastened.) A few weeks later when Hillary said Bill's blowjobs were not an abuse of power (they were) these columns written in the 90's still hit hard. There are other examples of the how timely these pieces proved to be, but these spring to mind.
This was close to a 5-star for me, but the second section -- the columns -- included a little chunk of stuff (mostly from Slate) not up to the caliber of the rest of the book and it pulled it down a little. Let's say 4.25 and leave it at that. Recommended for those interested in seeing how modern history repeats itself, and how a smart and able commentator can help us understand the world better and to those who just appreciate freaking great writing.
Noah has split the book into three parts, profiles of DC power-brokers, columns on politics, parenting, and other matters, and Williams short and utterly perfect memoir of dying in what should have been the middle of her life and leaving behind a family that desperately needed her. I read this book over the course of 9 months, dipping in and out, and leaving it on the shelf for weeks at a time. I think it is the right way to read it. The political profiles and columns are mostly excellent, but simply not intended to be read one after the next. For me at least, the shortest part of the book by far, the cancer memoir, was a single evening's read. I could not pull myself away and it affected me deeply. It is important reading not only for those facing illness, but those who have or will walk that road with someone else. I learned a lot from Williams' frankness. This is subject matter that will never go out of date. The other parts though, also proved timely.
Just as the sexual assault allegations arose against the latest addition to the Supreme Court I was coincidentally reading the columns in this book that focused on the Clarence Thomas hearings. I am old enough to clearly remember those hearings, I was a young lawyer by that time and I was obsessed, but time changes the way we think about these things. These columns were like the Trump ice bucket challenge (except not funny and no one benefits.) It was shocking to see Chuck Grassley and Orrin Hatch once again celebrate sexual misconduct with no movement forward. In fact this iteration was possibly more blatantly misogynist, than 1991. Amazing. As Stormy Daniels elbowed her way into the awareness of Americans I was reading a piece where Williams railed about American feminists giving Bill Clinton a pass as evidence of his serial sexual misconduct piled up. Some of those same feminists have shouted about DJT's grab em by the pussy mentality, but gave a pass to a President (hell any supervisor) who got blow jobs from his 22 year old intern with his wife and daughter essentially down the hall. (I include myself in this group of feminists, and I feel chastened.) A few weeks later when Hillary said Bill's blowjobs were not an abuse of power (they were) these columns written in the 90's still hit hard. There are other examples of the how timely these pieces proved to be, but these spring to mind.
This was close to a 5-star for me, but the second section -- the columns -- included a little chunk of stuff (mostly from Slate) not up to the caliber of the rest of the book and it pulled it down a little. Let's say 4.25 and leave it at that. Recommended for those interested in seeing how modern history repeats itself, and how a smart and able commentator can help us understand the world better and to those who just appreciate freaking great writing.
October 16, 2012
I don't think a day goes by at the Washington Post, even now, where someone doesn't remember a Marjorie Williams piece and wish she was still here.
November 9, 2009
I was excited about this book initially. It is the collected works of Marjorie Williams, a former Washington Post political correspondent, who recently died from cancer. I loved the dedication to the book, which quotes the poem "The Woman at The Washington Zoo" and draws similarities between Washington D.C. and a zoo :-) That was the best part of the book though.
If you do pick up this book, skip the entire first section unless reveling in memories of the 1990s political scene is your idea of fun! Although I enjoyed sections 2 and 3 of the book more (they were her personal essays and notes about having cancer), they still grated on me a little. It's the whole feminism thing for me all over again! Why is the voice of this movement allocated so regularly to women who have neither practical, day-to-day experience living with/raising children (I don't think that struggling to find the best au pair is that big of a problem in the grand scheme of life), nor the practical work-a-day experiences that most ordinary women face (shift work with no benefits, for instance). And yet, these Ivy League educated, successful-career-before-children types seem to be the ones doing the writing about family life and women's experiences. Williams assumed a particularly grating voice in these essays, believing (or wanting her readers to believe) that she "gets it" when it comes to the daily work/take care of children grind. She writes about topics like motherhood and careers with an assumed familiarity that I find bewildering. I wanted to say "No, Marjorie, you really don't 'get it'!" That being said, the last section on her struggle with cancer was well written, frank and sincere. The final essay, in which she talks about playing dress-up with her daughter right before she entered the hospice stage of care, was particularly poignant.
If you do pick up this book, skip the entire first section unless reveling in memories of the 1990s political scene is your idea of fun! Although I enjoyed sections 2 and 3 of the book more (they were her personal essays and notes about having cancer), they still grated on me a little. It's the whole feminism thing for me all over again! Why is the voice of this movement allocated so regularly to women who have neither practical, day-to-day experience living with/raising children (I don't think that struggling to find the best au pair is that big of a problem in the grand scheme of life), nor the practical work-a-day experiences that most ordinary women face (shift work with no benefits, for instance). And yet, these Ivy League educated, successful-career-before-children types seem to be the ones doing the writing about family life and women's experiences. Williams assumed a particularly grating voice in these essays, believing (or wanting her readers to believe) that she "gets it" when it comes to the daily work/take care of children grind. She writes about topics like motherhood and careers with an assumed familiarity that I find bewildering. I wanted to say "No, Marjorie, you really don't 'get it'!" That being said, the last section on her struggle with cancer was well written, frank and sincere. The final essay, in which she talks about playing dress-up with her daughter right before she entered the hospice stage of care, was particularly poignant.
October 24, 2007
Of her own strengths as a writer, Williams observes at some point that she is better at studies of character than mappings of plot. This is not exactly true; it's amazing how propulsive and engrossing her character studies can be, and how they seem to enfold decades of plot within them. This book collects Williams' shrewd but understanding profiles of remote political figures like Barbara Bush, Vernon Jordan, and Al Gore, as well as shorter personal essays on her family life. The last set of essays includes heartbreaking and honest accounts of her experiences after receiving a diagnosis of late stage liver cancer; this collection was published by her husband, after her death. It is an intellectually and emotionally invigorating read.
June 11, 2024
Excellent writing, even if I don’t always agree with her views. The last section on dealing with her awful cancer was heart wrenching.
January 17, 2022
4.5 stars. (3 for the political essays, 5 for the columns and 5* for the cancer memoir).
Unbelievable sharp and original observations, a keen wit, and a crusader. I would have loved being friends with Marjorie, or at the very least read her take on the political situation in the last 5 years.
Unbelievable sharp and original observations, a keen wit, and a crusader. I would have loved being friends with Marjorie, or at the very least read her take on the political situation in the last 5 years.
December 28, 2013
I had never heard of Marjorie Williams until I ran across this book, probably because she mainly wrote about Washington, D.C. politics and for publications like The Washington Post and Vanity Fair, which I never read. Now I'm sorry that I hadn't been introduced to her before.
This book was published posthumously by Williams' husband. It contains a sampling of her writings on a variety of topics, including the excellent "Hit By Lightning: A Cancer Memoir."
Because Williams died of liver cancer when she was only 47, leaving behind her husband and two young children, some of these essays are especially poignant. But they are not sentimental and I liked them all the better for that. She was a meticulous researcher and her writing is rich in detail and to the point (she didn't mince any words). Being an analytical person myself, I could relate to and appreciate her writings and the mind that created them.
I have to admit, however, that I skipped some of the essays because, knowing almost nothing about the political scene or Washington society, I got a little bored trying to read them. I would highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in politics and/or is familiar with Williams' writing. But even if you're not, I would recommend this book for its insights into topics as diverse as Barbara Bush, feminist issues, parenthood and living with a death sentence.
This book was published posthumously by Williams' husband. It contains a sampling of her writings on a variety of topics, including the excellent "Hit By Lightning: A Cancer Memoir."
Because Williams died of liver cancer when she was only 47, leaving behind her husband and two young children, some of these essays are especially poignant. But they are not sentimental and I liked them all the better for that. She was a meticulous researcher and her writing is rich in detail and to the point (she didn't mince any words). Being an analytical person myself, I could relate to and appreciate her writings and the mind that created them.
I have to admit, however, that I skipped some of the essays because, knowing almost nothing about the political scene or Washington society, I got a little bored trying to read them. I would highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in politics and/or is familiar with Williams' writing. But even if you're not, I would recommend this book for its insights into topics as diverse as Barbara Bush, feminist issues, parenthood and living with a death sentence.
August 14, 2016
Excellent read. The political pieces on Barbara Bush and the Clinton/Gore relationship unraveling are top notch. Damn, Marjorie, you could write.
AND THEN.
Marjorie. You made me cry. The pieces about dying from cancer are devastating. But beautiful. I have been down this road with a friend. She also left children behind. I was blown away by the similarities in your thoughts and worries. The unfairness of it all.
Ef you, cancer.
AND THEN.
Marjorie. You made me cry. The pieces about dying from cancer are devastating. But beautiful. I have been down this road with a friend. She also left children behind. I was blown away by the similarities in your thoughts and worries. The unfairness of it all.
Ef you, cancer.
August 28, 2007
Williams is the consummate profile writer who bring to life an entire panorama of details like the great Flemish renaissance painters. Her political portraits are brilliant and nuanced -- and best of all she doesn't take the conventional wisdom, so to speak, of the Washington press corps' for anything more than what it really is.
April 13, 2024
Gem of a book - Incisive, poignant, vulnerable, honest, witty!
The book is sectioned in 3 parts - part 1 is all about politics - profiles of some of the noted politicians during the Clinton/Bush era. I didn't expect to enjoy this section as much as I did, considering I didn't follow a lot of politics back then and wasn't familiar with some of the profiles she covered. Nevertheless, it was funny and revelatory.
part 2 - is a collection of short essays, everything from feminism, her childhood memories to parenting. This was equal parts relatable, funny and poignant!
Finally part 3 is about her cancer discovery and years and months following that until the end of her days.
Even though its 20 years old, the writing is so relevant. The politics were clearly of simpler times but some themes are commonplace. I'm glad to have read this book and get a glimpse into this remarkable woman's thoughts.
The book is sectioned in 3 parts - part 1 is all about politics - profiles of some of the noted politicians during the Clinton/Bush era. I didn't expect to enjoy this section as much as I did, considering I didn't follow a lot of politics back then and wasn't familiar with some of the profiles she covered. Nevertheless, it was funny and revelatory.
part 2 - is a collection of short essays, everything from feminism, her childhood memories to parenting. This was equal parts relatable, funny and poignant!
Finally part 3 is about her cancer discovery and years and months following that until the end of her days.
Even though its 20 years old, the writing is so relevant. The politics were clearly of simpler times but some themes are commonplace. I'm glad to have read this book and get a glimpse into this remarkable woman's thoughts.
June 15, 2019
I wish I had known about Marjorie Williams’ work when she was an active staff writer at The Washington Post.
She had a pungent, penetrating style, and she carefully offered reasoned judgment as well as what we can nostalgically think of today as “facts.”
Her personal memoirs about her life and her cancer are wholly human, and they remain as a sustaining emotional roadmap for an engaged reader.
Read more of my book reviews and poems here:
www.richardsubber.com
She had a pungent, penetrating style, and she carefully offered reasoned judgment as well as what we can nostalgically think of today as “facts.”
Her personal memoirs about her life and her cancer are wholly human, and they remain as a sustaining emotional roadmap for an engaged reader.
Read more of my book reviews and poems here:
www.richardsubber.com
August 17, 2020
The second half of the book, where Marjorie Williams shares her thoughts on work, family, feminism, and her devastating cancer diagnosis is precise, funny, and candid. I found it much more compelling than the first half, which featured her pointed political profiles about Clinton, Gore, George W. Bush, and others. Perhaps it’s just the effect of time; given today’s current political situation, I’d take any of those former presidents—or presidential candidates—in a heartbeat right now.
September 27, 2023
I found this book by chance. It has my favorite Halloween story ever from the Washington Post. It also was her last column before her death at age 47. But there are scores of reasons to read this book. And you will love it so that you will be sad when you finish.
December 14, 2017
Wow! Beautiful words still relevant today.
June 21, 2018
So, so wonderful. The personal essays about the author’s cancer diagnosis were especially beautiful - but the political profiles and essays on feminism and motherhood were wonderful as well.
February 26, 2022
Excellent writer - strong journalist
April 22, 2022
It was really good, especially the profiles and the parts on cancer.
March 14, 2023
Exquisite!
Thank you!
Thank you!
May 1, 2024
A bit dated but very interesting. Such a great writer.... her death came too soon,
August 5, 2025
Insightful but less interesting as profiles very dated / known by now
August 16, 2017
She captures the essence of what it means to be a mother and wife with cancer.
April 23, 2016
I can't recommend this book highly enough. It was published over ten years ago and includes columns written as early as 1988 but like all excellent writing it absolutely stands the test of time. I lived my first 33 years in the suburbs of the greatest city (Washington DC!) so some of this was nostalgia for me. I don't remember reading Marjorie Williams in the pages of the Washington Post (or other publications) but I wish I had. The profiles in the book are fascinating. Most notably I enjoyed reading about the Cafritzes (seems like everyone had worked for Cafritz at one time or another growing up). The other profiles were so spot-on (even twenty years later): Barbara Bush (and by association, her husband), Vernon Jordan, Tony Coelho (blast from the past - anyone remember him?), Jeb Bush, and "Scenes from a Marriage (Bill and Al)" was so enlightening. I cannot possibly reiterate all that Marjorie expressed but the entire book is worth a read. Her skewering of Hillary Clinton (Bill's "beard") and all the feminists who supported this man (do you remember how bad it was? poor Paula Jones? Monica Lewinsky?) is inspiring. (Marjorie's insights will make it very difficult to remain a Hillary supporter, even if you do just want to get a woman elected to the WH.) Her analysis of the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings was a history lesson that those who didn't live through it should review. She writes about so many things (the S&L crisis, the Keating 5, Jim Wright's ouster as House Speaker, Al Gore and the Buddhist temple, campaign finance reform, etc) that I had forgotten. She does an amazing job of reiterating why politics and ethics MATTER. The middle part of the book covers a lot of subjects but resonated with me repeatedly. Marjorie was a fan of Stephen King (me too!) and references one of my favorite books (Ladder of Years) when discussing "time-outs" for mothers. Finally, the last section of the book deals with Marjorie's battle with the cancer that would kill her at the age of 47. You will cry and you will rage that such a beautiful voice was quieted so soon.
February 21, 2017
collection of writings of Williams a long time journalist commenting on politics, family and fate
March 28, 2012
The writing in this book is 5-star and literary. You can read more about the book in other places, that the author died of cancer and this book was published later, a sampling of her wise and elegant writings.
I found it a little hard to get excited about this book when I started reading, and I don't know why. I skipped a story here and there, scanned some, and read some with relish. Soon I settled in and read. The book is divided into Profiles, Essays, and personal writings of the author's life and cancer. Once I reached essays and the personal section, I wanted to go back and read every word she wrote. The stories about famous people of DC are astonishing in details we never knew, and oh so humanizing. I was struck by how many intimate interviews, dinners, and gatherings Marjorie must have attended and by her intelligent observations. Her personal observations were no less beautiful and honest. The reader will learn tidbits about people like Barbara Bush that would never have been written about were it not for Marjorie. Unless the reader is part of the Washington DC scene or perhaps a journalist, he will learn about other characters that are virtually unknown outside DC.
The book won a Penn/Martha Albrand Nonfiction Award. It's for intelligent readers, not for readers who relish dime-a-dozen romance novels and the like. Mature readers will enjoy it more than very young readers because it has a level of sophistication and history about it that the average young reader won't appreciate. However, young readers interested in literary works, the political scene, and journalism may enjoy it. I love books that send me to the dictionary and this one did.
Marjorie's death is a great loss to all who read her columns and articles and to all who may discover her later through this book.
I found it a little hard to get excited about this book when I started reading, and I don't know why. I skipped a story here and there, scanned some, and read some with relish. Soon I settled in and read. The book is divided into Profiles, Essays, and personal writings of the author's life and cancer. Once I reached essays and the personal section, I wanted to go back and read every word she wrote. The stories about famous people of DC are astonishing in details we never knew, and oh so humanizing. I was struck by how many intimate interviews, dinners, and gatherings Marjorie must have attended and by her intelligent observations. Her personal observations were no less beautiful and honest. The reader will learn tidbits about people like Barbara Bush that would never have been written about were it not for Marjorie. Unless the reader is part of the Washington DC scene or perhaps a journalist, he will learn about other characters that are virtually unknown outside DC.
The book won a Penn/Martha Albrand Nonfiction Award. It's for intelligent readers, not for readers who relish dime-a-dozen romance novels and the like. Mature readers will enjoy it more than very young readers because it has a level of sophistication and history about it that the average young reader won't appreciate. However, young readers interested in literary works, the political scene, and journalism may enjoy it. I love books that send me to the dictionary and this one did.
Marjorie's death is a great loss to all who read her columns and articles and to all who may discover her later through this book.
May 21, 2014
This compilation of published and unpublished articles was compiled posthumously by Williams' husband following the writer's failed struggle with liver cancer. Divided into three parts, the volume begins with a number of political profiles Williams wrote for the Washington Post during the George H. Bush and Clinton years. Though I found many of the details of these pieces fascinating (they certainly showcase Williams' eye for character and nuance), this section of the book doesn't really stand the test of time as well as it might. In contrast, I found the shorter columns and think pieces on family life and/or feminism that make up the book's second part fascinating. In particular, Williams' musings on the uneven feminist response to the Anita Hill/Lewinsky scandal really highlights a lot of the partisan and personality politics that shaped responses at the time, and Williams herself did an excellent job distancing herself from this fray to offer critiques that would have taken other writers years to make. The power of the insights offered in this section make the book's final section on Williams' struggle with cancer all the more devastating. Here, she not only writes about the emotions and realities surrounding the disease with candor and wit, but also punctuates the unique blend of personal and political writing that characterizes the entire collection. Readers would be hard pressed to not agree with her husband's (admittedly biased) suggestion that Williams was a woman who had several smart books in her and far more insight to share with the world. This collection both pays her a beautiful tribute and stands as a sad testament to the writing that Williams was never able to do.
September 6, 2012
This book has been on my "to read" list for a long, long time, so I was delighted when a book club friend passed it along to me.
This is the kind of book you might buy and have sitting around your house for a year or so (or have installed on your ebook for a year or so). It is not a book to be consumed in one sitting. The book is divided into three sections - the first provides the reader with the political profiles for which Marjorie Williams was best known; the second section leads the reader into Marjorie's personal life with various essays, magazine articles and snippets of blogs, etc. which highlight her as a mother, wife, daughter, friend, feminist, and person of well-thought-out opinions on certain topics; and the third section is a few of her final essays on the impact of her cancer diagnosis on her view of life. This reading journey is handled well - you come to respect Marjorie as a writer through the first section, come to admire and like her in the second section, and then mourn the loss of her in the third.
But I found myself putting the book down for a few days and then a few weeks, here and there, because it is a fairly dense reading experience. And I must confess, I did skip a few of the profiles, and a couple of the essays when the topic was simply completely uninteresting to me. (But none of the last section which was understandably riveting.)
So give this book a go. Start it when you have some timne and put it down when you want, and pick it up again on a slow afternoon to sample a little more. It is that kind of a book. Just expect to see it lying around for a while....
This is the kind of book you might buy and have sitting around your house for a year or so (or have installed on your ebook for a year or so). It is not a book to be consumed in one sitting. The book is divided into three sections - the first provides the reader with the political profiles for which Marjorie Williams was best known; the second section leads the reader into Marjorie's personal life with various essays, magazine articles and snippets of blogs, etc. which highlight her as a mother, wife, daughter, friend, feminist, and person of well-thought-out opinions on certain topics; and the third section is a few of her final essays on the impact of her cancer diagnosis on her view of life. This reading journey is handled well - you come to respect Marjorie as a writer through the first section, come to admire and like her in the second section, and then mourn the loss of her in the third.
But I found myself putting the book down for a few days and then a few weeks, here and there, because it is a fairly dense reading experience. And I must confess, I did skip a few of the profiles, and a couple of the essays when the topic was simply completely uninteresting to me. (But none of the last section which was understandably riveting.)
So give this book a go. Start it when you have some timne and put it down when you want, and pick it up again on a slow afternoon to sample a little more. It is that kind of a book. Just expect to see it lying around for a while....
February 6, 2008
No words for how utterly impressed I am with Marjorie Williams' writing, her honesty and class in the face of the worst life could offer her -- an early death. The first third of the book is long profiles, fascinating and personal and rendered beautifully, so she had me hooked into her work as a journalist from the start. I was already eating out of her hand by the time she got to the shorter pieces about Bill Clinton and feminism in the second section; by the third section's personal essays, some of which had never been published, I was a die-hard fan.
Can't emphasize it enough: I LOVED these pieces and am so glad her husband collected them. Journalism and feminism and plain good writing were dealt a terrible blow when she died so young.
A tiny sample, from an essay about the sniper killings in 2002 and after Williams' cancer diagnosis:
"What we really labor to keep from our children is the same bitter knowledge that their elders avoid: not that people get killed by strangers, or that there are too many guns in our world, or that madness never sleeps, but that there is no logic at all to some of the worst blows that life metes out. Time and chance happen to all of us, darling boy, and even grown-ups can bear it only a little bit at a time."
Can't emphasize it enough: I LOVED these pieces and am so glad her husband collected them. Journalism and feminism and plain good writing were dealt a terrible blow when she died so young.
A tiny sample, from an essay about the sniper killings in 2002 and after Williams' cancer diagnosis:
"What we really labor to keep from our children is the same bitter knowledge that their elders avoid: not that people get killed by strangers, or that there are too many guns in our world, or that madness never sleeps, but that there is no logic at all to some of the worst blows that life metes out. Time and chance happen to all of us, darling boy, and even grown-ups can bear it only a little bit at a time."
March 7, 2012
This is an amazing and wonderful book. It is also poignantly sad because the author, Marjorie Williamson, died recently from liver cancer. This book was put together posthumously by her husband, Tim Noah, who is a reporter for the online magazine Salon.com.
The book is formatted as a collection of essays. Ms. Williamson spent many of her years in the D.C. area as a reporter and formed close and intimate relationships with many of the movers and shakers in politics. Many of the essays are about political figures or political issues. One of my favorites is about the relationship between Al Gore and Bill Clinton.
Another section of the book is structured as a memoir. Ms. Williamson finds out that she has liver cancer and knows that her days are numbered. She writes about her life as a wife, mother, reporter and woman coping with liver cancer. She writes beautifully. Her words have the force of thunder. They can be so brutally honest that you jump from your chair. She can also be gentle and lyrical so that the reader feels like they are inside a song without words rather than a book. Her writing is a marvel. I wish more people had read this book. Her writing left me enriched and changed, something only a fine piece of art has the power to do.
The book is formatted as a collection of essays. Ms. Williamson spent many of her years in the D.C. area as a reporter and formed close and intimate relationships with many of the movers and shakers in politics. Many of the essays are about political figures or political issues. One of my favorites is about the relationship between Al Gore and Bill Clinton.
Another section of the book is structured as a memoir. Ms. Williamson finds out that she has liver cancer and knows that her days are numbered. She writes about her life as a wife, mother, reporter and woman coping with liver cancer. She writes beautifully. Her words have the force of thunder. They can be so brutally honest that you jump from your chair. She can also be gentle and lyrical so that the reader feels like they are inside a song without words rather than a book. Her writing is a marvel. I wish more people had read this book. Her writing left me enriched and changed, something only a fine piece of art has the power to do.
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