The Woman at the Washington Zoo: Writings on Politics, Family, and Fate

(Paperback)

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Beloved by readers and critics nationwide, The Woman at the Washington Zoo collects Marjorie Williamss brilliant writings-from sharp political profiles to witty commentary on gender and family life to tender, intensely personal explorations of illness and loss. A Washington Post columnist and contributing editor at Vanity Fair, Marjorie wrote political portraits that came to be considered the final word on the capitals most powerful figures. She also wrote essays for Slate, the Posts op-ed page and other publications that extended beyond politics to tackle topics at once broader and more intimate, including Hit by Lightning, Williamss memoir of her battle against fourth-stage liver cancer. In The Alchemist Williams paints a heartbreaking portrait of her own mother at middle age that follows a winding path from the culinary arts to love, infidelity, admiration, and sorrow. Throughout the book Williams writes with a blend of candor, humor, and grace that was uniquely her own. This splendid collection provides a window into Washingtons political elite, the messy lives that the rest of us lead, and-perhaps most powerfully-Williams herself.

Reviews

"Lovely...Stunning, unflinching...Williams had a special voice, one capable not just of canny political observation but of tenderness and bracing intimacy." New York Times Book Review"

Author Bio

Marjorie Williams was born in Princeton, NJ in 1958 and died in 2005. She is survived by her husband, Timothy Noah, senior writer at Slate, who edited this volume, and her children, Alice and Will.