Condoleezza Rice was the 66th United States Secretary of State, and the second in the Administration of PresidentGeorge W. Bush to hold the office. Rice was the first black woman, second African American (after her predecessor, Colin Powell), and the second woman (after Madeleine Albright) to serve as Secretary of State. Rice was President Bush's National Security Advisor during his first term where she was the first woman to serve in this position. Before joining the Bush administration, she was a professor of political science at Stanford University, where she served as Provost from 1993 to 1999. During the administration of George H.W. Bush, Rice served as the Soviet and East European Affairs Advisor during the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the German reunification.

Extraordinary, Ordinary People: A Memoir of Family by Condoleezza Rice

In the tradition of such classic memoirs as Barack Obama's Dreams from My
Father and Henry Louis Gates's Colored People, and written by one of
America's most admired women, this is a poignant and instructive look at
the author's remarkable Birmingham, Alabama childhood, illuminating her
upbringing in the context of the extraordinary efforts made by her parents
and other people in the community to raise children against a backdrop of
explosive racial tension.

In Extraordinary, Ordinary People, former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice
evokes in rich detail her remarkable childhood, which began in the placid late
1950s, when Birmingham blacks lived in a segregated parallel universe, and
continued through the shockingly violent '60s, when Rice saw her girlhood friends
lose their lives to the bloodshed. Rice pays special homage to her determined and
innovative forebears, an extended clan of ministers, orators, and educators whose
ranks included a builder of schoolhouses, a school principal, and one of the first
American black women ever to receive a Ph.D. But it is Rice's portrait of her
parents, John and Angelena, that is the most indelible. Galvanizing figures, John
and Angelena not only sacrificed endlessly to give their only child the best chance
for success, but shaped the lives of countless others in the community.

Key Points/Quotes
Hugely appealing theme: Rice's evocation of the role that committed parents and
community members can play in propelling children to better lives will be validating for
every adult who reads this book. Especially inspirational is the Rice family's
multi-generational journey, from enslavement 150 years ago to leadership roles in the
1960s Birmingham community to, in Condoleezza's case, becoming a star on the global
stage.

Exceptional candor: Here, Rice writes with wit and poignancy about her parents'
ambitions, frustrations, and dreams...her own challenges as a child who was thrust grade levels ahead of her peers...the joys--and burdens --- of precocity (especially in the area of music)...her mother's bout with cancer...early encounters with racism...attempts as a young adult to chart a personal path...and formative experiences that sowed the seeds of future political beliefs.

Tremendously popular author: Gallup polls consistently show Rice to be one of
America's most admired women. Since 2004, she has never dropped out of the top 5.
Audience reactions to recent appearances on such shows as Tonight with Jay Leno and
The View and at political and business forums around the world confirm her massive
popularity.