I was late to discovering Rachel Maddow in spite of her popularity as I don't care for most cable and network news shows featuring a personality. I prefer print media sources.
In 2015, I followed the Michigan online newspaper Bridge stories on the Flint, Michigan lead water crisis. Maddow turned this local story into national news. She publicized the decisions by Flint's emergency managers which bought about the contamination and hosted a live Town Hall meeting in Flint. Maddow caught my attention at this time.
When St. Martin's Press offered me a chance to read Rachel Maddow: A Biography by Lisa Rogak I was very pleased. I knew I had a lot to learn about Maddow.
I was disappointed when Rogak's coverage of Maddow's involvement was a few sentences. I hoped for more insight, especially since this showed Maddow's activist side as well as her penchant for finding buried news.
I did learn about Maddow as a person, her early activism, her work habits, and her overall career. It was no surprise to learn that Maddow's deep intelligence and perfectionist drive was manifest from childhood.
The portrayal leans heavy on the personal. I had no idea of Maddow's struggle with depression or even of her earlier activism in AIDS and LBGT organizations. I knew she was lesbian and have noted her handsome, no-frills style. Maddow's wardrobe choices take up too much space, her preference for hoodies and sneakers mentioned several times. I appreciate that Maddow found the love of her life.
I preferred the sections which described her ability to put personal politics aside and her reasoned interactions with people whose political views were vastly divergent from her own.
I wish the author had been able to include a section on Blowout.
I loved the quote about Maddow's dislike of cable news hosts as 'brands' and her comment on how some even profess opinions just for attention and to draw viewers. Maddow sees her role as offering "a useful analysis" to help viewers "come to their own conclusions." I love that! That is my ideal.
The biography has reinforced my estimation of Maddow.
I was given an Advanced Reading Copy by the publisher in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
Read an excerpt here.
About the author:LISA ROGAK is the author of numerous books, including And Nothing But the Truthiness: The Rise (and Further Rise) of Stephen Colbert. She is the editor of the New York Times bestseller Barack Obama in His Own Words and author of the New York Times bestseller Angry Optimist: The Life and Times of Jon Stewart. Rogak lives in New Hampshire. Learn more on her website.
by Lisa Rogak
Thomas Dunne Books
St. Martin's Publishing Group
On Sale: 01/07/2020
$28.99 hardcover
ISBN: 9781250298249
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