Cokie

Cokie Roberts, a trailblazing journalist, is honored in this tribute drawn from the memories of the people closest to her. To countless women and girls, she was a visible example and a source of motivation. For more than four decades she was a familiar presence on national television and radio, and she wrote five bestselling books on the part women have played in American history.

Her fame extended well past the newsroom. Saturday Night Live portrayed her, The West Wing mentioned her by name, and magazines put her on their covers. She traded jokes with Jay Leno, balanced a pencil on her nose for David Letterman, and became a crossword answer. Dogs and at least one dairy cow were named after her. A 1980s Spy Magazine chart of her professional connections, under a headline asking whether she was a modestly known broadcaster or the center of the universe, was only partly tongue in cheek.

She held many roles at once: daughter, wife, mother, journalist, advocate, and historian. Those who knew her recall her sharp mind, playful humor, contagious laugh, and the determination that carried her through glass ceilings at NPR and ABC. They also stress how often she put others first and how deeply she cared about the wider world. Even now, many people weigh their own hard choices by imagining how Cokie would have handled them.

Written by her husband of 53 years and fellow bestselling coauthor, Steve Roberts, the book looks beyond her professional accomplishments to the daily devotion that defined how she lived. He maintains that her private life mattered as much as her public one, and that her drive to celebrate and support other women shaped everything she did, powered by generosity and passion. His stated goal is to tell stories that make readers cheer, laugh, or cry, and to inspire them to be better people who lead good lives.