No more excuses. And no more nonsense either. This is the central theme of Condi Rice’s highly personal, often humorous memoir, “Extraordinary, Ordinary People”. In an apparent tribute to her loving and devoted parents, Rice focuses on her incredible, yet matter of fact upbringing.
Rice leads us (of course) back to Birmingham, Alabama circa early 1960’s-a city that refused to enact federally mandated civil rights legislation for years. From the perspective of a teenager living on the “black” (albeit middle class) side of town, Rice explains with dignity and mirth the limitations and the advantages of her upbringing, even in the most overly racist government in the United States at that time.
Including many funny anecdotes and memories, Rice takes the reader by surprise. She reflects on her formative years with candor and honesty without any heavy social or political analysis. You will be shocked by Rice’s many crushes, her affinity for acid rock, and be warmed by her love for her parents.
Writing in a warm and emotionally engaging style, Rice graciously opens the door to a time that people my age only know about from history books. But she does not demonize or blame even the most virulent personages such as the notorious George Wallace. Even with her parents, Rice willingly acknowledges the tremendous toll their sacrifices for her took on them both personally and professionally.
You really get to know Condi through this book- both the woman and the achiever. If I could ask Ms. Rice a question, I would wonder why she chose to share such personal revelations now? Although there are some opaque areas regarding her personal life, I don’t feel as if she is deliberately hiding something, but is exercising her right to keep some things sacred. The only area where this book falls short is regarding Rice’s decision to address personal disappointments and career failings in a detached, almost impassive style as if such things are not worthy of reflection. Or perhaps she inherited the stoicism of generations long past to simply “get on with it.”
However, Rice does not hold back describing her many achievements, not the least of which is her impressive skill with the piano. She seems to throw herself into any vocation requiring only the most difficult work, including studying the Soviet Union despite its unpopularity at the time, becoming a professor and Provost of Stanford University, working as National Security Advisor and ultimately becoming the first African-American female Secretary of the State.
But Rice is not touting or bragging. She attributes all of these amazing and seemingly impossible achievements to the dedication of two loving, yet imperfect parents. Parents who sacrificed much for their only child. Parents who didn’t and couldn’t look to the government for succor, but to God.
Without pointing her finger, she gently prods today’s generations to do better, work harder, think differently, and be truly courageous.
I was immediately engaged by this book and flew through it in a few days, far more quickly than I had planned and intend to re-read it again more thoroughly. But perhaps Rice intended it so. She does not strike me as one who wallows in sad memories or welcomes pity, but a true achiever who presses forth to the next high mountain and prefers that others do the same.
In a recent online interview with Time Magazine, Rice was all smiles, looking relaxed and content- a far different image than the often solemn bureaucrat from the Bush Administration. Rice has said in interviews that her political days are behind her. Hmm. It is difficult to imagine Rice, with her intellectual prowess, resiliency, dedication, and political connections simply retiring to the mountains of her beloved Colorado for the next 30 years. I daresay, she has mountains yet to climb. An extraordinary feat for some, yes, but quite ordinary for one who does it all the time.
