In her many years as a TV journalist, Katie Couric had to work harder to obtain her success and break that glass ceiling. She did it, but she had to constantly brush away the millions of broken shards of glass from her shoulders.
It was a long climb to shatter that glass ceiling, and it’s recounted in detail in her engrossing memoir Going There, which is now available in paperback.
Katie, with a mix of her trademark spunk and dedication to get the story told properly, gives her fans and admirers a memoir that ranks up there with similar-type tomes Audition by Barbara Walters and …And So It Goes by Linda Ellerbe. It traces the entire arc of her journalistic career from her beginnings in Washington, D.C., to the Today Show, to anchor of the CBS Evening News, to her syndicated talk show, to her news show on Yahoo.
This is the story of Katie’s road to success, which includes her landmark interviews with George and Barbara Bush and Sarah Palin, to name a few; however, this was more like an uphill struggle.
And speaking of uphill struggles, two story arcs dominate the book which involve two men in her life: her late husband Jay Monahan and former Today Show co-host Matt Lauer.
For the first time, readers get a first-hand account of the painful and agonizing period in 1997-98 when Katie stood by Jay as he unsuccessfully battled colon cancer, which claimed his life at the young age of 42. The rounds of treatments, the countless diagnoses, the blind hope in the face of imminent mortality, and how the ordeal affected their daughters emotionally are all covered in heart-wrenching detail.
As for Matt Lauer, who was at Katie’s side at the Today Show for 10 years, he was like a good friend in need, when the they were not on the air. When Matt was fired in November of 2017 because of allegations of sexual misconduct during his time with Today, Katie agonized over how to deal with this scandal that kept getting uglier and uglier with each new allegation that was revealed. Eventually, she made her choice, but it was a very difficult one that had long lasting repercussions in their professional and personal friendship.
When you read Going There, you can’t help but develop a tremendous of respect for Katie Couric, and the brave, dauntless way she handled everything that was thrown at her with a degree of patience, rationality and dignity.
After all she has been through, you can’t blame Katie for continuing to display her trademark wide smile.
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