Condoleezza Rice: An American Life : a Biography

456 Pages·2007·273.805 MB·English

by  Elisabeth Bumiller

&
.. siaw
"
) =
@gm“’-
CONDOLEEZZA
RG]

M ERICAN LIFE

A BIOGRAPHY
ELISABETH BUMILLER
“Powerful . . . takes us into the highest levels of
the inner workings of the Bush administration.” —DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN
g
AN LALS LA P TV
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, ONE OF THE MOST POWER-
FUL AND CONTROVERSIAL WOMEN IN THE WORLD,
has until now remained a mystery behind an elegant, cool
veneer. In this stunning new biography, New York Times
reporter Elisabeth Bumiller peels back the layers and
presents a revelatory portrait of the first black female sec-
retary of state and President George W. Bush’s national
security adviser on September 11, 2001. The book relates
in more intimate detail than ever before the personal
voyage of a young black woman out of the segregated
American South and also tells the sweeping story of a
tumultuous half-century in the nation’s history.
In Condoleezza Rice: An American Life, we see Rice’s
Alabama childhood under Bull Connor’s reign of terror
in “Bombingham,” the name given to Birmingham when
it was the central battleground of the civil rights move-
ment; her education in foreign policy under Josef Korbel,
a charismatic Czech intellectual who also happened to be
the father of Madeleine Albright, the only other female
secretary of state in U.S. history; and Rice’s confronta-
tions with minorities and women while she was provost
at Stanford University in the 1990s.
Examining the current administration, Bumiller
explores in depth Rice’s extraordinarily close relationship
with George W. Bush, her battles with Vice President
Dick Cheney, and her indirect but crucial role in the
ousting of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Bumiller
shows us Rice missing clues to the September 11 attacks,
waging war against Saddam Hussein, and counting elec-
tion returns with Karl Rove in 2004. In addition, we
watch Rice’s recent attempts to salvage the ruins of the
Iraq policy she helped create and to avoid war with Iran.
Drawing on extensive interviews with Rice and more
than 150 others, including colleagues, family members,
government officials, and critics, this book offers dra-
matic new information about the events and personalities
of the Bush administration. With great insight, Bumiller
explores Rice’s effectiveness as national security adviser
and secretary of state, her attempts to revive classic
American diplomacy, her longtime political ambitions,
and her future on the world stage.

. RS I STIR 3K
SO
Tt I
i
x
s
i
,Lv bl b b 08 vl4 40
=
Also by Elisabeth Bumiller
MAY YOU BE THE MOTHER OF A HUNDRED SONS
THE SECRETS OF MARIKO
FOR WOMEN ONLY
(with Jennifer Berman, M.D., and Laura Berman, Ph.D.)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE
AN AMERICAN LIFE
Elisabeth Bumiller

RANDOM HOUSE
NEW YORK
- Bumiller, Elisabeth.
- Condoleezza Rice : an
- American life : a biogra
t
c2007. \
33305213234531 Z A RI CE
ca 01/11/08 |

J\J LiliLy
o
Copyright © 2007 by Elisabeth Bumiller
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Random House, an imprint of
The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
Ranpom Housk and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bumiller, Elisabeth.
Condoleezza Rice : an American life : a biography / Elisabeth Bumiller.
DacHY:
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-4000-6590-5
1. Rice, Condoleezza, 1954— 2. Stateswomen—United States—Biography.
3. Cabinet officers—United States—Biography. 4. Women cabinet officers—United
States—Biography. 5. African Americans—Biography. 6. Bush, George W.
(George Walker), 1946— —Friends and associates. 7. United States—Foreign
relations—2001— 8. National Security Council (U.S.)—Biography. 9. Stanford
University—Officials and employees—Biography. I. Title.
E840.8.R48.B86 2007
355'.033073092—dc22
[B] 2007031981
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
www.atrandom.com
204 6R8U9E7. SH3 I
First Edition
Book design by Carol Malcolm Russo
Title-page photograph: Reuters/Matt Dunham