Title: Extraordinary, Ordinary People
Description: Condoleezza Rice has achieved extraordinary levels of achievement and attributes her success to the standards and sacrifices made by several generations of her loving family. Her description of her parents includes, "...they raised their little girl in Jim Crow Birmingham to believe that even if she couldn't have a hamburger at the Woolworth's lunch counter, she could be the President of the United States." A wonderful legacy, indeed.

The daughter of a Presbyterian minister, Dr. Rice learned hymnody as part of music lessons she took from her maternal grandmother at age three. When her piano lessons took her skill beyond the reach of the toy organ at home, she demanded her parents supply her with a real piano. They agreed that when she could play 'What A Friend We Have In Jesus' perfectly, they would supply the piano. The next day she went to her grandmother's as usual and sat at the piano for eight hours, hating to even break for lunch. She played the hymn perfectly for her parents that evening and by the end of the week she had a brand-new Wurlitzer spinet piano.

Her accounts of her dealings with various groups while she was Provost of Stanford University prove her to be a clearheaded administrator fully worthy of the trust of presidents. A very good book.

Reviewed by J.David Knepper at www.AhavaBaptist.com/reviews/reviews.htm
Subjects: Secretary of State, University of Denver, Stanford University, Foreign Affairs, National Security Council, Russia, Women cabinet officers, Race relations, Family, African American families, Stateswomen, African American women, African Americans, Childhood and youth, Biography, History, Families, nyt:hardcover-nonfiction=2010-10-31, New York Times bestseller, New York Times reviewed
Places: Birmingham AL, Palo Alto CA, Washington DC, Moscow, Louisiana, New York, South Bend IN, USSR, Russia
People: George H.W.Bush, George W. Bush, Stokeley Carmichael, George Schultz, Yeltsin, Gorbachev, Albright
Time periods: 1950-2000