HarperCollinsWest, 1994 - Biography & Autobiography - 294 pages One of the most prominent figures in the Decade of the Woman, Dianne Feinstein made history when she was sworn in as the first female senator from California and, with fellow Democrat Barbara Boxer, part of the first pair of women to represent any state in the Senate. Despite her seemingly sudden entrance onto the national stage, Feinstein's journey to the highest level of government has been anything but swift or easy. Dianne Feinstein traces decades of persistence in the face of personal and professional adversity. Looking beyond Feinstein's media image, picture-perfect smile, and eloquent soundbites, it reveals Feinstein as a daughter, sister, single mother, and widow with a self imposed "never let-them-see-you-cry" rule, a woman playing - and winning - with the Big Boys. Veteran journalist Jerry Roberts has followed Feinstein's career for more than twenty years, chronicling the highs and lows of a woman famed for confounding pundits, friends, and foes alike with her strongly personal brand of politics and maverick independence. For Dianne Feinstein, Roberts conducted frank and extensive interviews with Feinstein, her sisters and daughter, and more than a hundred friends, colleagues, and competitors. The resulting biography combines hard-hitting political analysis with an intimate look at the personal life of a complex, determined, and fascinating woman whose paradox-filled life and career has been a drama "of operatic proportions" marked by extraordinary tragedies, triumphs, contradictions and complexity.

ISBN: 9780062585080