The Rulebreaker: The Life and Times of Barbara Walters

Susan Page details the professional ascent and private instability of Barbara Walters, the first woman to anchor a network evening news program. The narrative tracks Walters from her childhood as the daughter of a nightclub impresario through her decades at NBC and ABC. Page focuses on Walters’ competitive tactics in securing high-profile interviews with world leaders like Fidel Castro and Anwar Sadat, while managing a complicated home life involving a disabled sister and multiple failed marriages. The book documents her role in establishing The View and her relentless pursuit of the "big get" in an industry dominated by men who initially resisted her presence.

Journalists and readers of political history will find here a study of how television news shifted from rigid reporting toward personality-driven celebrity interviews. This biography offers a profile of the specific trade-offs required to break the glass ceiling in 20th-century media. Readers gain a clear understanding of the technical skills Walters used to disarm subjects and the structural barriers she dismantled within newsrooms. It serves as a historical record of a woman who prioritized visibility and career longevity over institutional tradition or personal ease.