Molly Ivins: A Rebel Life

by Bill Minutaglio, W. Michael Smith

She was a groomed for a gilded life in moneyed Houston, but Molly Ivins left the country club behind to become one of the most provocative, courageous, and influential journalists in American history. Presidents and senators called her for advice; her column ran in 400 newspapers; her books, starting with Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She? , were bestsellers. But despite her fame, few people really knew what her background was, who influenced her, how her political views developed, or how many painful struggles she fought. Molly Ivins is a comprehensive, definitive narrative biography, based on intimate knowledge of Molly, interviews with her family, friends, and colleagues, and access to a treasure trove of her personal papers. Written in a rollicking style, it is at once the saga of a powerful, pugnacious woman muscling her way to the top in a world dominated by men; a fascinating look behind the scenes of national media and politics; and a sobering account of the toll of addiction and cancer. Molly Ivins adds layers of depth and complexity to the story of an American legend—a woman who inspired people both to laughter and action.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Politics, Journalism, Biography Memoir, History, Womens

334 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Michael Finocchiaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

I lived in Austin for 3 years and it was there I discovered the marvellous humour of columnist Molly Ivins. Always outspoken against the corruption of Dubya and the Texas Leg as she dubbed them, she was hilarious and insightful and a truly amazing person. Unfortunately, she passed away too young from cancer. This loving biography by Minutaglio is a fitting homage to one of the most courageous female journalists - certainly among those coming from Texas - in the 20th C. A fantastic read that will send you running for some of her other books like You Gotta Dance with Them That Brung Ya or Molly Ivins Can't Say That Can She?

[Bronwen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admired the hell out of Molly Ivins, and was very glad to read a narrative of her life. The writing here is pedestrian. That would have been OK, but I got so tired of reading about how her height, weight, alcoholism were somehow surmountable problems of her own making. There is the merest hint from the authors that if she cleaned herself up, she might have been marriage material. Ugh.

I'd like to read a bio of Molly written by a fellow female shitkicker. But then, there was really no one like her.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this book has some entertaining stories and anecdotes about Molly Ivins, it was somehow unsatisfying. I came away feeling I still didn't get a sense of what she was "really like." The authors seemed overly focused on pointing out over and over that she drank and smoked a lot. For the 1st half of the book they seemed unable to go more than two pages without specifically mentioning that Molly drank and smoked a lot. Eventually Molly seemed to have stopped drinking so much but it was unclear how successful she was at sobriety. Given how big a deal they made of her drinking, I thought they were leading up to some dramatic turn around. No. There were a few pages on specific efforts to quit after which little was said about how successful she was at sobriety. Was she able to cut back or stop for long periods of time or did the authors just stop mentioning drinking on every page so I got the impression it was no longer such a problem?

Something is missing from this book if I came away wondering about the drinking habits of Molly Ivins rather than feeling satisfied that I got a look inside her life and thoughts.

I really wanted to know more about what made her tick. I loved her writing style and would like to know the woman behind it. Maybe it is too soon for a good biography of Molly Ivins. In any case, I'd hoped for a different book and was disappointed.

[Leilani · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Molly Ivins was alive, I saw her books in the store, but I hadn't become politically fierce yet & thought the humor seemed a little too exaggerated. After having read this bio, I really wish she were still here & writing. A quote of hers on pg 163 - "Being a left-liberal in Texas is a little like being an early Christian ..." Which is exactly why I wish she were still alive, pointing out injustices & absurdities, and reminding people that not everyone in Texas votes Republican.

The book is slow to start - I almost gave up. But once her journalism career begins, the authors begin including a few more Ivins quotes and writing about what made her remarkable. The years writing for the Texas Observer in Austin are especially fascinating, being a glimpse at a vanished culture of 60s liberals thriving in the midst of oil giants & extreme social conservatism. The authors clearly spent a lot of time interviewing her friends & family & reading her personal papers (the story of how she lost her dog when she went out while drunk & didn't notice he wasn't in the car with her until several hours later particularly struck me), and you feel the depth of that; but the book also moves along a little too speedily at the end. It feels like summary at times. Even so, they convey a rich sense of an active, ambitious, heartfelt personality, and made me wish I'd paid more attention when she was still here.

[Linda Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well. I've reviewed biographies on this site that made me ask "what is the biographer's obligation to the subject?" and I think Minutaglio and Smith answer this question succinctly. The biographers need to help us know their subject, and these men deliver this assistance admirably. I went to bed early last night: sad for an amazing life cut short by cancer, disappointed I never met Molly Ivins, and enthused to read more of her work. Excellent coverage of Ivins' remarkable life. Kudos to Minutaglio and Smith! Let's hear more!

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written, well focused. I like that the focus wasn't on gossipy stuff like her drinking and sex life. They were touched on but mostly the focus was her work life and the influences and experiences that shaped her. Now I want to go back and read her books because I have a better sense of who's writing. I have a context for her writing that I didn't have before. I miss reading her columns every week something fierce. I'm glad she left behind so much great writing. There's still a lot to learn from her.

[Louise Leetch · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Molly Ivins, waited every Thursday morning for the paper so I could see who she'd tear be tearing strips off that day. Molly Ivins was larger than life and people of that ilk do everything big. If you’re from Texas, you do things double big. Molly grew up in privileged Houston, spoke fluent French, and attended all the right eastern schools but you’d never know it to listen to her. She was the prototypical 1960’s radicalized rich kid. She started out working for the Texas Observer and moved on to the holy of holies, the NY Times. The mix just didn’t work; they couldn’t get around her phraseology, especially referring to a New Mexico chicken plucking festival as a “gang pluck”. Back in Austin, she fell into her niche and began amassing her devoted constituency. She mingled and drank with all the pols and cataloged their stories for use in the next column or book. She really was a foul-mouthed alchy. She swore like a stevedore and drank like, well, like a Texas journalist. Luckily, she was also a brilliant political journalist. Her steely wit was compared to Mark Twain and Will Rogers, but she was much more her own woman, better than Dorothy Parker and without the cruelty. She once said, “Satire [is] the weapon of powerless people aimed at the powerful. When you use satire against powerless people… it is like kicking a cripple”. She may have been the world’s champion at skewering people, but she had an ethical base that made her the champion of middle America, making 20th century politics less painful. Minutaglio and Smith have written a great rendition of Molly’s life, as much thanks to her obsessive stashing of letters, clippings, and beer soaked napkin-notes. Nothing was ever discarded –thank heavens. She taught us about the Texas “lege” and kept us going through the “Shrub” (G.W.Bush) years. Oh, that she were here to deal with the Tea Partiers.
Reviewed for Galley Cats.

[DeAnne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a huge fan of Molly Ivins. One of my fondest memories of college was when she was a guest lecturer in my journalism class, and she and the other 8 people in the class piled into the professor's massive convertible and we all headed out to swim at the river and have our lecture on intertubes with loads of beer and smoke-ables. That class started a correspondence friendship that lasted for years.

This book did a good job of sharing a side of Ms. Ivins that was probably unknown to her readers. However, I felt that the book had a moralistic "we don't approve" vibe that colored how she was presented, vis a vis activities such as drinking/smoking/generally having a fine ol' time.

As well, I feel that there was an enormous emphasis on her early life, and not nearly enough emphasis on her writing, her impact on the political landscape both local and national, and I feel that her overwhelming joy of life and people wasn't captured as well as I might have preferred.

Some of the early family details felt voyeuristic; I was uncomfortable with some of them because I felt it was an invasion of both Molly's privacy and the privacy of her family.

However, to be fair; Molly Ivins is one of my idols, I worship her in a way that I worship no other political writer...heck, most any other non-fiction writer...and as such, I may have be disposed to dislike anything that showed her having feet of clay, rather than being portrayed as the Muse on a pedestal I have in my head.

Reading the end of the book made me cry, because it felt like losing her all over again...which I consider a loss for the country, for Texas, and for me personally.

[Toni · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading about Molly Ivans from the viewpoint of two men who worked with her and knew her well. I used to read her column in the Trib; and I admired her and her writing. She always made me laugh and her liberal and feisty perspectives were, for me, refreshing to read.
She was born in 1944. Her family lived in Houston's River Oaks neighborhood, the same wealthy, exclusive neighborhood where the George H. W. Bush family lived. Her father, who was called “the general,” was president of one of the most powerful oil companies in the world. His expectations for her were always clear: She would be conservative, rich, marry and have grandchildren, and become a scholar destined for an outstanding career in a field such as education or research.
When she finally decided on a future—one that he didn’t agree with--her father, whom she never seemed to please, refused to help her financially, so she worked, studied, and succeeded on her own. She turned out to be a protestor, a newspaper columnist, a political commentator, a humorist, an author, and (horrors!) a liberal. After fighting post stage III inflammatory breast cancer for almost 8 years, she died in 2007.
Ivins is one of my personal heroes. I needed to read this biography because it was important to me to know what caused her to be the woman she became. I'm not sure it would be a fun read for someone who isn't interested in her and/or Texan politics and politicians.

[Beth Bonini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Molly Ivins was one of those larger-than-life Texas women who I've revered for years. When she and Ann Richards died, within months of each other, I wondered if the state of Texas would ever again produce such wonderfully intelligent, funny, inimitable characters.

I realize that a biography has to cover a lot of material, but I did think that this book had to tendency to skim over the surface too much. There were many times when I felt like important events in Molly's life were almost summarily dealt with. Also, the writing (particularly when it described Houston, a place that I know well) could be a bit slick and glib. The time period when Molly worked at the Texas Observor, and was covering the Texas Legislature, was probably the most vivid and entertaining secion of the book. I loved reading about the late 60s/early 70s Austin that I can remember from my childhood. These few niggles aside, I enjoyed this book and found it to be a quick read -- not always the case with biography.

A present from my mom -- who appreciated Ivins' humor and politics as much as I did.

[Beth]

I wasn't actually able to finish this book. I had to return it to the library, and I decided not to get it out again because it was so frustrating to read. The authors seemed to enjoy trying to imitate Ivins's trademark writing style more than writing clearly about her life. I know imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but give me a break. I don't want a book about Molly Ivins to waste ink on phrases to make the authors sound clever. And why spend a bunch of time talking about corporate Houston in the 50s? That may have affected Ivins's father, but it didn't have that much to do with her. The fact that he was a monied guy is enough background, along with the descriptions of the neighborhood she grew up in (white, segregated, upper-class, etc.). The strength of the book was in the directly quoted letters and journals she wrote, and there could have been even more of those. Ultimately, I was disappointed in the combination of authors who didn't hone their writing enough, inconsistent copyediting, and poor proofreading. Molly Ivins deserved better.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this bio. Molly's life and work paralleled a time in Austin that I was reared on - when the state still had an effective group of progressives and Austin was still a little known oasis in central Texas. I'd love to read another bio that delves more into her personal writings and struggles with alcohol, family, work and fame.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

After a slow start I'm finding this to be a fascinating portrayal of the times and her battles. For $2.95 on amazon for kindle it's a gem.

[Whitney Nelson-Wharton · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was fine, but I could never shake the feeling that she'd have been horrified at some of the writing style throughout the book.

[Phrodrick slowed his growing backlog · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bottom Line First: Readable and well researched biography of a fiery Texas populist journalist
Molly Ivins was a rebel, and a woman of high spirit. This Biography is friendly to her but too clinical to properly reflect the vibrant person.

The late Molly Ivans became known to me via a Sixty Minutes Interview titled: Molly Ivins Can't Say that, Can She? Originally this was the ad line of the Dallas paper when she was a columnist there and this tag line was the official reply to the many who questioned her sense of propriety,. At the time of the television interview, this was also the name of her first book length collection of columns just then in release.
Her writing was vivid and direct. Two quick examples:
"As they say around the Texas Legislature, if you can't drink their whiskey, screw their women, take their money, and vote against 'em anyway, you don't belong in office."
"I know vegetarians don't like to hear this, but God made an awful lot of land that's good for nothing but grazing."

She was a woman for causes over money, people over money and Texas over the wider world that could have been her career. That is Texas first over money. Her career would take to Chicago and New York, but she would always feel better in Texas and best when she had a populist political cause to represent.

Bill Minutaglio and W. Michael Smith have written a readable, well documented, relatively complete but ultimately safe book about a woman who was not about being safe. Their audience would seem to be her friends and those with a preference for discretion over depth.

Again this is to under-estimate Molly Ivins.

For example the book makes it clear that Ivins would have a serious drinking problem; serious to the point of at least two separate trips to into rehab. Her drug use is admitted in the most general terms and according to the index never again mentioned after her college years. Ms Ivins would not have been shy about either issue. Likewise, her sex life as documented here was not puritanical, yet there is little to suggest that she was of a generation that did more than some experimenting. Growing up privileged in Houston and considered as too tall to be cute, may have limited her high school suitors, but this has a read like a cover story behind which we can only suspect how wild was wild for this woman.

In sum, this is a book that will bring comfort to those who knew her, or knew of her. But it lacks analysis, investigative drive and the kind of broad "smiling as I kick you in the shins" (ok let's go with "shins") questing for truth that kept the real Molly Ivins saying things like that.

[Omar · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read on several levels:
1. Molly Ivins' public persona was colorful, charismatic, and engaging. Naturally, fans (and possibly detractors) will tend to be curious about the individual who evolved that persona. This book attempts to explore that person and provide some insights into her contradictions, struggles, and maybe some of her blind spots. The authors primarily employ primary source material, in the form of interviews with her surviving family, coworkers, friends and (in some cases) "frenemies". This is obviously not an academic work, so they take some license with interpreting and framing the information they've culled; but the end result paints the picture of a complex, introspective, driven, kind, giving, flawed and generally interesting individual. The authors highlight the way her strengths grew from her weaknesses - often exaggerating and exacerbating them, as well as the ways in which the fame of her public persona forced changes and growth on the private individual. In short, a thought provoking take on who Molly Ivins, the person, might have been.

2. Molly Ivins' career fulminated during a uniquely defining time for our nation as a whole; but more specifically for Texas and several Texan urban areas. The authors take the time to discuss some of these developments and they way they intersected with Ivins' life and the lives of some of her biggest influences. This take on relatively recent Texas history was, to me, novel and revealing. For the first time, I have the beginnings of some context for how Dallas, Houston, and Austin developed their peculiar identities and some of the stages they've gone through in their modern development. If you're like me and a longtime resident of some of these areas, with a sense for and interest in their current identities, you'll probably enjoy the opportunity to answer questions like:
How did Houston become a power center for the GOP? How did Austin become "Weird" and attract it's famous music scene? How did Dallas develop its flashy, yuppie, carpet-bagger image? (sadly, those curious about Ft Worth will be less satisfied, despite Molly's lengthy employment with the Star Telegram)

If you don't have much personal sense for the characters of these cities, you may well enjoy the opportunity to learn more about them through the lens of this colorful (and exaggerated) persona's development.

[Dee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not like this bookl. It was written for an insider already familiar with Texas politics, the players and her part in it. It is lacking the the basics of the journalists' tade: who, what, where when and why. Example: In the 70's the authors refer to Sharpstown and corruption in "the Lege", wall, what was Sharpstown, who was involved? Give some bones on which to hang your story!

Facts: Her father: James e. Ivins "the General" Her name derived from family nickname "Mole in the Hole" that came about because she always had her head in a book, and was usually found in a room away from the family friction. Her father had hearing loss, was always serious, scarey, of Scots-Irish descent. He attended a high school with classic inclinations which the authors thought may have caused his disciplined attitude toward life. He was a ower, who loved water, and taught his three kids to love water as well. The kids: Sara, Mary (Molly) and Andrew.

Molly was born in Monterey in 1944 when her father was stationed here in the Coast Guard.

Mother: Margaret Robbi Milne -- Illinois, Smith Educated (1934) as was her mother, who died when she ws 16.

Molly's parents 2were alcoholoic , with lots of arguing and screaming.


Molly's "love of her life: Hand Holland - a super star, who died just as they became an item, in a motocycle accident.

Camp Mystic - elites girl's summr camp that Molly attended.
River Oaks, Houston, where Molly spent her adolescence. Her parents moved to Maryland from there so her Father could be closer to his work and sail the Chesapeake.

People impt. to her: Bob Bullock - called king maker by the authors
John Henry Faulk - black listed fought McCarthy - populist

1070-76 working for Texas Abservr with Kaye Northcott - co editors
op-ed in NY Times

These authors casually mention Charlie Wilson, Sissy Farenthold, Barbara Jordon

Her style: iconoclastic "channeled her mother's absurdism", friend Nancy Dawd's mocking surrealism, the rattelsnake bite of Bob Bullock, the dry pacing of Ann Richards (husband = Dave Richards) the all0purpose lampoonng of Sam Clemons",,p. 153

Lists and Lists of people who became her intimates-- with a phrase or two or identification, does not give life or pciture to period of her life like scenes of interactions would have.

[Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book gave me a lot more information about Molly Ivins than I had, but not enough. The authors did lots of interviews with people who had known her, but not enough. Maybe her life is still too fresh and her death too recent for the kind of historial perspective I was looking for. But it is a good first step and I hope somebody will someday take it further.

What I learned is that Molly was a smoker, and alcoholic who was often a trial to her friends. She was resistant to authority, especially male authority. She was profane, spent money wildly, and was generous to a fault. Although she had loads of friends, she was not very forthcoming about herself. She could have been a scholar, but was not able to stick to a project and complete it, so she ended up writing columns instead of books, and her books were mosty collectons of columns. She did lots of charity work,especially with the ACLU. Her father was a racist, and Molly grew up inside the oil elite in Houston, along with young Geo.W. Bush.

There were hints of things left unexplored. Family suicides, alcoholism, and perhaps a bit of ADHD OR manic-depression. Irritating to find that Molly was on ritalin at the end, to know she had trouble sticking with a long project, had several relatives, including her dad and nephew who committed suicide, that Molly herself had spoken of suicide and depression, but no real follow-up with medical experts on that. So, a beginning only.

[Ralph · Rating 5 out of 5]

I once applied for Molly Ivins's old job, co-editor of the Texas Observer, so somehow I feel a little closer to Molly, as her thousands of readers called her, than most. Her syndicated columns gave heart to thousands of like-minded souls during the dark days of the Bush regime, and we laughed along with her at those crazy state legislators she first covered at the Texas Observer.

There is a little bit of that Molly here, but the book tells more about her struggles than her triumphs. Ivins smoked like a fiend, and suffered from alcoholism for much of her life. Both surely contributed to her untimely death, at age 62, from cancer in 2007. Most of us who waited anxiously for her thrice- or twice-weekly updates from Austin were unaware of her drinking problem. Most of us were also unaware that Ivins attended private schools in Houston and, like her mother, graduated from Smith College. That intellect, along with her keen sense of humor, made her a legend. If you miss Molly, like many of us do, this book brings her back for a few brief hours and lets us learn more about the woman behind some of the best political writing since Samuel Clemens.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved reading the books of Molly Ivins and this biography profiles the gutsy journalist behind the books. Molly broke all barriers as she left the comfortable suburbs of Houston and the sedate campus of Smith to become a tough investigative reporter in newspapers throughout the country.

Journalism during the sixties and seventies was a male dominated one and Molly with her intelligence, grit and humor carved her way into political reporting. Her wicked wit as she covered the antics of Texas politics was a work of art. She could cover Bush world so well because she grew up in his same environment. Molly Ivins was the journalist who coined Shrub for George W.

This is a good read for all political junkies.

[Natalie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book, for I LOVE Molly. But I couldn't get into it. It was written, I think, for someone who wanted to know her from only the journalistic side: what schools she went to, what kind of internships she had.

But once I found out, early on in the book, about her interesting family, her long lost love, her wild, independent spirit, I really wanted a more personal biography, covering her friends and lovers, funny ancedotes, her family, things she did besides journalism.

If you like seeing the soul/person deep-down/and the dish, this isn't that book. If you're a journalist or would-be, or read a ton of newspapers and dig journalism, you'll probably like this book more than me.

[Andy Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This biography of Molly Ivins captures not only the well known public life of Molly Ivins; her witty writing, liberal ideals, her relationship with her native Texas, but also her private life; her longtime struggles with alcoholism, her strained relationships with her mother and father, her "society" upbringing which she ultimately rebelled against.

The authors who knew Ivins before she passed away, clearly cherish her, but they don't ignore her warts and recount how some ended or cooled friendships because of alcohol induced abuse they suffered from Ivins, her mismanagement of money, her often strained family relationships, but at the end this objectivity brings Ivins to life and leaves the reader with the same affection and respect for Ivins that these authors clearly have

[Stephen Fielder · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read Molly Ivins' columns for years, and I came to really think highly of her. Her sense of humor and her tenacious grasp on what was and wasn't right. If you found yourself agreeing with her as I did, it ws natural to go ahead and admire her.

This biography of Molly gave me the chance to get to know Molly, the person. Frankly, it isn't an entirely pretty picture, It wasn't easy to confront the reality of Molly's struggle with alcohol. Nevertheless, I still admire Molly Ivins, and my admiration is now tempered with what I learned about the real Molly. It was worth the journey for that.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-written account by a pair of journalists, including W. Michael Smith, who worked for Ivins as a researcher for six years. Ivins' substantial collection of letters, diaries and notes were a basis for the biography, which was well-supplemented by interviews with friends.

Having just finished a biography of Warren Beatty that was jerky, appearing to have been written as a collection of unrelated essays, this biography of Ivins was much smoother with a tale of her life that flowed through her time in New York, Minneapolis, Denver, Dallas and Austin.

I met Molly once while in journalism school (early 1971) at Purdue: she was as rollicking as the stories indicate.

[Tad Coles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyable read covering Molly Ivens’ life. Molly is a hero of mine. The authors obviously loved Molly and this probably influenced the tone of the book. They are on her side. I don’t care because I’m on her side, too I picked this book up right before leaving on a vacation/business trip to Houston and Galveston, Texas. Drove around the River Oaks neighborhood where Molly grew up and saw the country club where the Bush boys hung out. Molly lived large. The B&W photos in the center of the book are enchanting, her smiling visage on the cover, inviting. She inspires me. This book fanned the flames of my admiration.

[Joshunda Sanders · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a lovely book about a tall Smithie who shot from the hip, was a stunning beauty and a great writer who was generous in her writing and journalism and more importantly, it seemed to her, to her family and friends. This book is one of the best biographies I've read in years, which I'm sure is influenced by the fact that I've lived in Austin for 6 years and I know a number of the names that appear in the kaleidoscope of Ivins' life. The authors really seem to do her justice, writing about her young, vivacious life with the same verve they use to describe the way she handled being an author in demand as she battled cancer toward the end of her life.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had forgotten Molly was from Houston and how much she disliked George Bush. She grew up in Houston while I was growing up in Dallas. She was the daughter of wealth and power; went to St. John's school in Houston and lived in River Oaks; the best of the best neighborhoods. Her father was the chief lawyer for Tenneco Oil and a powerful man in his own right. She used her pen to attack the conservatives (Bush family) she didn't like. I enjoyed the book mainly because I was familiar with so many of the people and places mentioned in it. Molly did battle alcohol and cancer and like Wasserstein died early.

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so happy that I read this biography of Molly, and just in time to see "Red Hot Patriot" at the Philadelphia Theater Company, too. There's so much I want to and will say about this woman, but she remains for me a touchstone for me for what matters and how to use one's life for a greater purpose. Her darker moments and complexity make her even more my kind of person, and cement her chair alongside Thomas Jefferson's at my fantasy dinner party of fascinating people full of contradictions. Live on, Molly.

[Gordy Seppanen · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're a fan of Molly Ivins, this is a good read. Reasonably brief, but it gives some insight to how she became the political writer that she did. Who helped, who didn't and her personal struggles throughout. Molly started in the same silver spooned neighborhood of the Shrub, but she chose a path all her own and personally achieved far more. She'll always be known for the good she did and the generosity of her heart which was large. What I wouldn't give to still be able to read her take on today's politics. She will be missed.

[Cynthia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anyone who was as big a fan of Molly Ivins as I was will enjoy this biography. She was quite a lady and this book presents the good and the bad. We were subscribers to the "The Texas Observer" for years - the only newspaper where one could read what actually was going on. This book is probably more interesting for people who lived in Texas and could identify with Texas events and places (for me, Houston) but it is also an interesting read just to appreciate the stress of being a well-known columnist. I'd love to hear what she would write now!