Offers a look at the first woman to serve as this country's Secretary of State in her roles as diplomat, role model, and mother, drawing on interviews and anecdotes from friends, adversaries, and colleagues. Includes b w photos. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

In this lightweight bio, Blood, a Washington, D.C., lobbyist, reduces the productive life of our current secretary of state to puffery: "President Clinton...knew that Madeleine Albright's greatest asset was simply being Madeleine Albright." Laden with quotes from admirers, the text describes Albright as a brilliant diplomat, a wonderful mother, an outstanding hostess and a trusted friend to luminaries such as Barbara Streisand. Blood covers Albright's career as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. (1993-1996), a period that encompassed the U.S. invasion of Haiti, the massacres in Rwanda and the war in Bosnia, describing these events in a way that places his subject in the most flattering light. The revelation, made public immediately after Albright's confirmation as secretary of state, that she had Jewish grandparents who perished in the Holocaust--not Catholic ancestors as she had stated--led to rumors that she had deliberately misrepresented her heritage. Blood dismisses these charges as unfounded. Photos not seen by PW. Copyright 1997 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Blood, CEO of a lobbying firm and a member of the Democratic National Committee, offers the first book-length account of the first woman appointed U.S. secretary of state. Focusing on the years Albright taught at Georgetown University through her high-profile tenure as United Nations ambassador, he gives excellent coverage to such matters as her role in the replacement of U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali and the behind-the-scenes events leading to her cabinet appointment. Though his account is detailed, Blood relies largely on newspaper and magazine interviews and articles for source material and does not give footnotes. For public libraries and women's studies collections.Jill Ortner, SUNY at Buffalo Copyright 1997 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

It doesn't seem very promising: an episodic biography of the first woman secretary of state by a trustee of the Democratic National Committee who heads a Beltway lobbying firm. And more thorough biographies of Madeleine Albright will certainly be written. For now, however, Blood has compiled a credible, if occasionally too admiring, portrait of one of the more visible members of the Clinton Cabinet. Based largely on newspaper stories and interviews with dozens of Washington insiders, Madam Secretary focuses on "ten `defining moments,' or periods, in Albright's life." Among those key episodes are Somalia, Bosnia, the UN Conference on Women in Beijing, her coordination of opposition to a second term as secretary general for Boutros Boutros-Ghali, her "No Cojones"speech to Miami's Cubans after several anti-Castro planes were shot down, and the media response to her discovery this year that three of her grandparents were Jews and Holocaust victims. There are discussions here of Albright's education and family (she is divorced and has three adult daughters), but the focus is how this notably powerful woman deals with other power players, for example, her good friend Senator Jesse Helms, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. (Reviewed September 15, 1997)0312171803Mary Carroll From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.