This Broad's Life: The Raucous, Riveting Autobiography of the Most Outrageous Radio Talk-Show Host in America Today

She's raw, she's real, she's Barbara Carlson, flying high as host of the #1 radio talk show in Minneapolis. "KSTP wanted a shock jock, a female Rush Limbaugh, a hormonal Howard Stern, someone who could rile the generally conservative 25-to-54-year-old males who would become my audience." Barbara Carlson more than rivals Oprah as she rides the rough road of her life through rape, emotional incest, domestic violence, alcoholism, the death of a child, Valium, obesity, marriage to the future governor of Minnesota - and now she's rocking the world of talk radio.
A suburban rich kid from a proper Minneapolis family, Barbara Jane Duffy waged a lifelong battle with her own elegant Mommie Dearest, who once confronted her daughter from the barrel of a shotgun, and a father who made her a stand-in for his alcohol-and-drug-ravaged wife. "I saw my first shrink at the age of six." Barbara herself became an alcoholic at thirteen, and lost her virginity to rape. Marriage to Arne came later, but wedded bliss was short-lived; they were devastated by the tragic death of their first child from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. They then adopted a son, Tucker. After giving birth to their daughter, Anne, Barbara began to transform herself into the "hostess with the mostess" whose passion was reserved for politics and booze.

The second word in the subtitle is beyond dispute: Minneapolis radio talk-show host Carlson lets it all hang out here. Her alcoholism and her binge eating. The first time she stabbed someone. Her boozy mother. The crib death of her first daughter. Her first marriage, to Arne Carlson, who would become Minnesota's current governor but who "never put his hand on my vagina." Her stints in varied asylums and rehabs. Her status as a mother, grandmother and pro-choice Republican. Her penchant for misplacing her glasses. Even so, Carlson?aided by Entertainment Weekly senior writer Cagle?casts her story in the form of a conventional autobiography. And while she never seems to pass up the chance to recount some dysfunction, obscene episode, mania or destructive compulsion, behind the brass glows some gold: her vulnerability after her daughter's death, her friendships with other recovering alcoholics, her community involvement. Readers will get just what they might expect from a shock jock: provocation, titillation and, occasionally, emotional truth. Photos not seen by PW. Author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.