Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful book about interesting people and events
Review: I had the great pleasure of meeting Helen Thomas at a dinner in Washington. She is an extremely nice, "down-to-earth" person who was present for the events that we only witnessed on television or saw in the newspaper. I found her book just as engaging and interesting as the real person and highly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: A Kinder Gentler Side to Her
Review: I have always assumed that this author would write a book that was full of nasty one liners and little back biting comments. I got that impress just because I have always felt her questions were very brash and aggressive (not that I have any problem with that). It turns out that the book had none of this aggressiveness. As a matter of fact I thought she went easy on all of the Presidents and First Ladies that she covered. The book started out with a rather dull, at least for me, run down of her life up to covering the White House. I was only interested in the White House coverage so this Bio bit of the book was mostly skipped by me. The author laid out her recollections in a nice way. She first covered all the major events within each administration in chronological order. She then did the same for the Press Secretaries, First Ladies and then the Presidents. All of it was interesting with a good number of details about the individual people involved. She had a lot of stories to tell and they filled the book up nicely. Again my only complaint was that it seemed to me that she pulled some of her punches. She really did not give Nixon a lot of trouble for Watergate nor Reagan for Iran-Contra. I thought she was toughest on Clinton, but that could be due to my own likes and dislikes of the Presidents in question. Overall I liked the book and found it easy to read and full of new facts.
Rating:
Summary: A Kinder Gentler Side to Her
Review: I have always assumed that this author would write a book that was full of nasty one liners and little back biting comments. I got that impress just because I have always felt her questions were very brash and aggressive (not that I have any problem with that). It turns out that the book had none of this aggressiveness. As a matter of fact I thought she went easy on all of the Presidents and First Ladies that she covered. The book started out with a rather dull, at least for me, run down of her life up to covering the White House. I was only interested in the White House coverage so this Bio bit of the book was mostly skipped by me. The author laid out her recollections in a nice way. She first covered all the major events within each administration in chronological order. She then did the same for the Press Secretaries, First Ladies and then the Presidents. All of it was interesting with a good number of details about the individual people involved. She had a lot of stories to tell and they filled the book up nicely. Again my only complaint was that it seemed to me that she pulled some of her punches. She really did not give Nixon a lot of trouble for Watergate nor Reagan for Iran-Contra. I thought she was toughest on Clinton, but that could be due to my own likes and dislikes of the Presidents in question. Overall I liked the book and found it easy to read and full of new facts.
Rating: 
Summary: Waste of a day
Review: I never really enjoyed her work and this did nothing to change my opinion. Just another annoying liberal with a mediocre book.
Rating:
Summary: Is there an editor in the house?
Review: I started this book with high hopes. I, like millions of Americans, have watched Ms. Thomas render presidents speechless with her laser guided questions. That is why I am at a complete loss to explain why this book is so poorly organized, disjointed and, in some cases, factually sloppy. I noted at least a half dozen instances where the same anecdote was repeated again later in the book. At other times, she is describing something Reagan did, then slips into a story on LBJ. This would be fine if the transitions between these thoughts were not so sloppy. There did not seem to be any thought about breaking the chapters into smaller pieces on a given subject and then sticking with the subject. At times I got the feeling that I was reading Ms. Thomas' stream of consciousness thoughts rather than a puportedly edited memoir. One example of a factual error was when Ms. Thomas described that "Congress voted 98-0" on something or other. That wasn't "Congress" voting, it was obviously the Senate. Any good reporter would make this distinction in a newspaper article. How could Ms. Thomas or her editor miss something as simple as this? In addition to these weaknesses, I thought the book was less than insightful. I would have thought that Ms. Thomas could bring more color and personality to the Presidents that she has covered. Late in the book, her descriptions of the eight presidents she covered read like a dry history book. I can find these facts anywhere. I wanted to know the stories behind the stories. Perhaps the problems with this book could have been mitigated by an editor bringing some structure to the book. Unfortunately, the good anecdotes and stories got lost in the confusion and repetition.
Rating:
Summary: white house years
Review: I wanted to give this book at 5 star rating but the first two thirds of the book are written too much in the style of a quick note taking journalist and I found the writing needing of more narrative. The ' I was there and they thought I was a female tiger amongst men' message over and over again gets tired after a while. The photos of the author with the presidents are ok but Ms. Thomas should have included those moments in history that she was a part of, Nixon's resignation, Clinton intern scandal, Reagan--Iran-Contra, etc. Ms. Thomas' final third of the book is excellent. The writing changes. She elaborates and the book excels.
Rating: 
Summary: The front row at the White House has a price.
Review: I was disappointed that Helen Thomas managed to pen no less than 3 times in her book that former deputy White House counsel Vincent W. Foster had committed "suicide." Last October I had dinner with Helen Thomas at the National Press Club and handed her a copy of the addendum that was attached by the court to Ken Starr's report on Foster. The addendum was submitted by Patrick Knowlton the harassed and intimidated witness who is suing FBI agents and others for violating his civil rights. Helen Thomas remarked at the time, "this should be reported to the public." To this date not one member of the American press, including Helen Thomas has told the truth about the death of Vincent Foster and Patrick Knowlton's story is noticeably absent from her book. It would appear to sit in the front row at the White House as long as Helen Thomas you have to keep your mouth shut. This what we call award winning journalism? Her book was very disappointing to me.
Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: I'm a fan of the tv show "The West Wing" and started reading this book to find out what the press corps is really like. This book has made me feel like I was there and gives the reader a 'backstage pass' to find out who the people who have been in the White House really are. She also gives some 'behind the scenes' information and her takes on the men who have filled the oval office since her time. Thomas also talks about how the press corps WAS before it was modernized. Even if you don't like her personally, this book is just so interesting to read.
Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: I'm a fan of the tv show "The West Wing" and started reading this book to find out what the press corps is really like. This book has made me feel like I was there and gives the reader a 'backstage pass' to find out who the people who have been in the White House really are. She also gives some 'behind the scenes' information and her takes on the men who have filled the oval office since her time. Thomas also talks about how the press corps WAS before it was modernized. Even if you don't like her personally, this book is just so interesting to read.
Rating:
Summary: A great read
Review: I'm a political journalist myself, and I'm a sucker for memoirs by other political journalists. There's no more vastly experienced political journalist than Helen Thomas. Nobody else can touch her for duration at the White House and for personal, if not always flattering, attention from eight presidents. I agree with the poster who said that in places the writing in this book is not as tight as it could be, but it didn't matter to me -- the subject matter is as fascinating as can be, and I read the book cover to cover with great enthusiasm.
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