03/02/2020
MSNBC legal analyst Wine-Banks debuts with a brisk and empowering memoir focused on her experiences as a trial lawyer in the Watergate special prosecutor’s office. She describes facing off against members of Richard Nixon’s inner circle in depositions; being menaced by FBI agents after her boss was fired in the “Saturday Night Massacre,” cross-examining presidential secretary Rose Mary Woods about her “accidental” erasure of more than 18 minutes from a key White House recording, enduring sexist comments from the trial judge, and forming an unlikely post-Watergate friendship with former White House counsel John Dean. Wine-Banks also opens up about more personal matters, including her high school nose job, her struggles to leave her “miserable” marriage, and her affair with a justice department colleague. After Nixon’s resignation and the convictions of four conspirators on obstruction of justice charges, Wine-Banks went on to become the first woman general counsel of the U.S. Army and the first female deputy attorney general of Illinois. She packs the books with insider details and helpful legal analysis, and offers a revealing glimpse of a professional woman’s life in the post–Feminine Mystique era. This unique and intimate perspective on Watergate shines a well-deserved spotlight on the people who seek to hold the powerful to account. (Feb.)
02/01/2020
This memoir by Wine-Banks, MSNBC legal analyst and former special prosecutor during the obstruction of justice trial against Richard Nixon and his top aides, delves deep into the inner workings of the Watergate scandal. Wine-Banks offers several anecdotes about her own experiences during the 1973 trial, including questioning Nixon's personal secretary about the missing minutes of White House tapes. There is also insight into the author's personal life, and occasional commentary on the sexism she experienced as a young lawyer. Details are generally presented in a straightforward manner; likely, readers with a casual interest in U.S. history will learn something new about how the scandal unfolded. The epilog is an excellent addition, touching on the parallels between the Watergate investigation and the actions of Donald Trump during his time in office. VERDICT Though the storytelling is not always engaging, the author's earnest desire to tell a story that matters is evident throughout. This insider's perspective on the Watergate investigation will be most relevant to those who study politics, law, gender, and U.S. history.—Sarah Schroeder, Univ. of Washington Bothell
2019-12-22
A timely reminder of a notorious scandal that resulted in a president's impeachment.
In 1973, Wine-Banks, now a legal analyst for MSNBC and formerly Illinois solicitor general and deputy attorney general, joined a government task force assigned to investigate the Nixon administration's burglary of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate building. In her absorbing debut memoir, the author recalls her experiences as a young lawyer participating in what was then "the biggest political scandal in US history": questioning witnesses, wresting tapes from the White House, dealing with blatant sexism from some of her male colleagues and superiors, and, at the same time, facing the deterioration of her marriage. Among the witnesses, Nixon's secretary Rose Mary Woods proved frustrating for Wine-Banks, who worried that her demeanor in confronting the stalwart Woods reflected her "youth and vulnerability." Repeatedly questioned about the erasure of 18 minutes from a crucial White House tape, Woods maintained that she had done it accidentally. Also frustrating was the wily Jeb Magruder, whom the author characterizes as a consummate liar, whose testimony was vital for the case. "Often, when I questioned Magruder," Wine-Banks writes, "I could feel my chest tightening and my voice turning harsh and scolding." Despite Nixon's refusal to hand over the key tapes, claiming that no court could "compel a president to any action," a grand jury, comprised of ordinary Americans, did just that, "unafraid to challenge the president of the United States, the most powerful man in the world." The author's portrayal makes the impeachment process, which received bipartisan support, seem almost quaint. Today, she sees history repeating itself in a "more complicated political, social, and cultural landscape than existed in the 1970s." "Like Nixon," she writes, "Trump is corrupt, amoral, vindictive, paranoid, ruthless, and narcissistic." But he is more dangerous, she believes, "because he exceeds Nixon in hatefulness and venality" and "puts in peril the fundamental principles on which our nation was founded."
A penetrating, firsthand view of history.
"Riding the crest of the #MeToo movement, Wine-Banks describes the mostly workaday sexism she encountered on the job. . . . The book’s fast-moving narrative and crisp prose should hook readers."
—Boston Globe
"Wine-Banks not only brings to life the urgency of the Watergate years in vivid detail and color (including the clothes) . . . she reminds the reader of the obstacles that women of her era had to overcome to make progress for themselves and for the next generation."
—Liesl Schillinger, Air Mail
"Read it and weep: Once upon a time a brave young assistant special prosecutor and her band of brothers brought down a corrupt president, saved democracy, and upheld the rule of law. Jill Wine-Banks has written a wondrous memoir that makes you yearn for the days when the good guys—and a “Watergate girl”—finally won."
—Chris Whipple, NYT bestselling author of The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency
“An intimate, powerful personal story. Jill Wine-Banks is not afraid to share and tell all her experiences and opinions. And I promise you she does.”
—Bob Woodward
“A lively and engrossing account and a timely reminder of how an able and dedicated lawyer and her colleagues held a president and his minions accountable—and why it was vital to do so. It is also an important story of how a young woman confronted a ‘man’s world,’ and dealt with her own vulnerabilities and personal crises at the same time.”
—Elizabeth Holtzman, former member of the House Judiciary Committee
“Such a wonderful book! Jill Wine-Banks makes the Watergate scandal seem as current as today. She has written a fascinating, intimate account of her role as a young assistant special prosecutor—and also her #MeToo experiences in a series of groundbreaking jobs.”
—Susan Page, Washington bureau chief, USA Today, and author of The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty
“Come with Jill Wine-Banks back to a time when women were ‘girls,’ accomplished professionals were mistaken for prostitutes, and a determined figure that one headline identified as ‘The Leggiest Watergate Lawyer’ rose above it all do something heroic: bring down a criminal president. A riveting and wonderfully crafted memoir for our time.”
—Rick Perlstein, author of Nixonland and The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan
"What Jill Wine-Banks did in the early 1970s is the stuff of legend: She got the goods on a corrupt president and used the power of the law to call him and his henchmen to account. The Watergate Girl tells an inspiring story for our troubled times—bravely, wittily, and wisely, with piercing insight and bracing literary verve."
—John Heilemann, host of Showtime’s The Circus, editor in chief of The Recount, and coauthor of Game Change
"A timely reminder of a notorious scandal that resulted in a president's impeachment. . . . An absorbing debut memoir . . . [and] a penetrating, firsthand view of history."
—Kirkus Reviews
"Sprightly and engrossing . . . Wine-Banks reveals tantalizing behind-the-scenes details that bring that pivotal time in the nation’s history back to life and relevancy. . . . A captivating and candid look back on a storied career."
—Booklist
Jill Wine-Banks’s own voice passionately bookends her story about being the sole female Watergate prosecutor. Her timbre contrasts with the fuller voice of narrator Cassandra Campbell, who delivers the body of the audiobook, vividly capturing the White House scandal of nearly 50 years ago. Campbell’s steady pace is appreciated as she sets the scene and describes the many players. A two-syllable “why” is drawn out during a courtroom scene, and Campbell’s voice is especially high and girlish during a surprise. Campbell especially finds her groove once the author opens up about her belittling husband, when we hear a sigh of disappointment, a voice heavy with despair. In the epilogue Wine-Banks describes the happiness she eventually finds, as well as the worrying parallels between politics then and now. A.L.C. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
Jill Wine-Banks’s own voice passionately bookends her story about being the sole female Watergate prosecutor. Her timbre contrasts with the fuller voice of narrator Cassandra Campbell, who delivers the body of the audiobook, vividly capturing the White House scandal of nearly 50 years ago. Campbell’s steady pace is appreciated as she sets the scene and describes the many players. A two-syllable “why” is drawn out during a courtroom scene, and Campbell’s voice is especially high and girlish during a surprise. Campbell especially finds her groove once the author opens up about her belittling husband, when we hear a sigh of disappointment, a voice heavy with despair. In the epilogue Wine-Banks describes the happiness she eventually finds, as well as the worrying parallels between politics then and now. A.L.C. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
