Her dad was a famous dance hall magnate. She almost married Roy Cohn. She supported her family for most of her career. She was married three times, and her daughter had substance abuse issues. Most importantly, as the first female host of a primetime nightly news program, she was a source of inspiration for millions of women in media. In her time, she was known for being bold, asking sometimes pointed, sometimes strange questions, and starting talk shows specifically for women at a time when no one wanted to address women’s issues.

This legendary broadcaster is Barbara Walters, and THE RULEBREAKER takes a look at the beginning, middle and end of a long life and remarkable career.

"Page writes in a very easy style, and Walters’ story is a page turner.... It is an adventure like no other, and [Walters'] humanity and generosity come to the fore here."

The parodies, the “what kind of a tree would you be” line of questioning celebrities, the many jokes about the pronunciation of the letter “r”: Walters is an icon because she was aware of the naysayers and doubters, yet she went about her work with a spirit of dedication and seriousness that became the standard for all female journalists. From a lonely childhood moving from place to place in order to accommodate the on-and-off successes of her father’s dream of being in the entertainment world, Walters saw what the stress did to her parents’ marriage.

In THE RULEBREAKER, Susan Page tries to present Walters’ many relationships with men in the light of her relationship with her father, for whom she harbored devotion but also anger and hate. This confusion lent itself not just to her choice of partners, but also to her ability to handle members of the mob and the media elite with a strong hand. The men her father surrounded himself with were often criminals, and the money they used to invest in his shows came from those situations. Walters wasn’t afraid of these guys. In fact, it made her a bold and aggressive journalist who never hesitated to get up close and personal with world leaders both good and bad.

Walters came from insecurity and worked hard to create security for herself, working jobs that at the time were the best women could get and then pioneering paths that became the new trails for all women following in her footsteps. From the “Today” show and “ABC Nightly News” to “20/20” and “The View,” she believed that every story deserved the same attention and seriousness --- whether she was reporting on a celebrity breakup or crouching in a foxhole with soldiers, speaking to JLo or grilling Putin.

Page writes in a very easy style, and Walters’ story is a page turner. Her adventures in knocking down walls for women or taking care of her special-needs sister, her daughter and her husband all show the human side of her superhuman ability to rise in a man’s world and top (and survive) most of them. It is an adventure like no other, and her humanity and generosity come to the fore here. This makes Page’s book an engaging and heartfelt tribute to a very famous “rulebreaker.”