We Are Our Mothers' Daughters
By Cokie Roberts
William Morrow, $19.95
ISBN 0688151981

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Television's much-awarded broadcast reporter Cokie Roberts might intimidate us ordinary souls if she weren't so personal, warm, and insightful. Her book, We Are Our Mothers' Daughters -- part memoir, part social history -- demonstrates these qualities. Roberts's title makes her chief point: No matter how political and social changes effect women's lives, women's nature remains the same.

"Women," she says, "have always been multiple-minded." Rather than regarding multiple-mindedness as a handicap, Roberts sees it as a strength. Women, by necessity, she claims, will always focus on many things at once, jobs and family, professional life and personal life. Roberts, herself a highly successful professional woman, notes that "women are connected throughout time and regardless of place." Our Mothers' Daughters develops this theme in chapters organized around women's various roles. The anecdote-filled chapters illustrate women's toughness, tenderness, and flexibility at home as well as in more public arenas.

Chapters "Sister," "Aunt," "Wife," and "Mother/Daughter" draw on Roberts's personal life. Daughter of Hale Boggs, the Louisiana congressman lost in a plane crash in Alaska, and Lindy Boggs, herself a member of Congress and now Ambassador to the Vatican, Cokie says "Politics is the family business." "Sister" deals with Roberts's sister Barbara's death from cancer. "Aunt" and "Friend" both express appreciation for the network of women that has supported Roberts.

For women's more public roles, Roberts draws on experiences gleaned from her years as a reporter. "Politician" points out the importance of women being active in politics, while "First-Class Mechanic" chronicles the inspiring story of a mother who got herself off welfare and now counsels other women.

Roberts has unearthed fascinating tales of women in business, women in the service, women in reporting. She weaves them together in clear, informal prose well-spiked with her own warm personality.

Joanne Lewis Sears is a writer in Montecito, California.