Based in part on hundreds of interviews, this gossipy, intimate, bubbly portrait by the bestselling biographer of Lady Randolph Churchill ( Jennie ) and John Kennedy ( A Hero for Our Time ) strips away Meir's tough-minded politician's exterior to fathom a lonely, tender-hearted woman aching for love. Martin reveals that her marriage to bookish dreamer Morris Meyerson was a hollow shell, a protective screen that enabled her to carry on affairs with a wide variety of men. Short on political analysis and sometimes myopic, his informal narrative follows feisty ``Goldie'' from her first eight years in Kiev where she was born in 1893 to Milwaukee's lower west side where her family settled, through her early Zionist activity in Denver, her migration to Palestine and her increasingly prominent role as champion of Israeli statehood. The story ends in 1948 with Israel's creation; presumably a second installment will follow. This book should be as popular as Martin's previous biographies. Photos not seen by PW. 100,000 first printing; major ad/promo; BOMC alternate. (Nov.)
A founder of Israel and later Prime Minister, Meir was one of the most influential women of the 20th century. She projected an image of pragmatism combined with unwavering devotion to the cause of creating and maintaining a Jewish homeland. Now best-selling biographer Martin ( Jennie ) reveals her human side. Emphasizing her inadequacies as a wife and mother and cataloguing her alleged lovers, Martin traces Meir's life through 1948. Although he interweaves her political successes with her human frailties, Martin fails to make his subject come alive; however, the titillating revelations, the author's reputation, and BOMC status will undoubtedly make this a highly requested title. BOMC alternate. Andrea Caron Kempf, Johnson Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, Kan.
