Title: Life On A Road Less Traveled
Language : English
Paperback : 266 pages
ISBN-10 : 199878441X
ISBN-13 : 978-1998784417
Item Weight : 13.9 ounces
Dimensions : 6 x 0.6 x 9 inches
Engaging and effortlessly charming, Loudell Insley’s Life on a Road Less Traveled: Or, Memoirs from Behind the Scenes of History offers an intimate look into Washington’s political events during a bygone era from the perspective of an ambitious young woman living life by her rules.
History is often told through the eyes of important figures. In their struggles and triumphs, a reader can get immersed in a particular era and wonder at how seemingly small decisions could often lead to the greatest of consequences or outcomes. In Loudell Insley’s Life on a Road Less Traveled: Or, Memoirs from Behind the Scenes of History, the typical grand perspective is turned on its head as readers are given the opportunity to see things from the viewpoint of an ‘ordinary’ citizen.
Finding herself working for Senator Edward M. Kennedy as a young woman, the author provides tantalizing glimpses into the political culture of Washington, D.C. after the Camelot years. She describes her early days of working with the esteemed senator and shares some interesting little anecdotes that reveal the human being behind the politician. She eventually goes on to work for Senator Robert F. Kennedy during his presidential campaign and was present when he was tragically assassinated. She recounts various stories about her time working for the Kennedys, and the impression she paints of them as a family is a surprisingly touching one. Once she moves on from her career in Washington, she eventually finds her calling as a realtor.
If there’s one criticism of Miss Insley’s book, it’s that she obviously still highly respects the people she knew and worked with over the years for she has kept her story tastefully discreet. This isn’t a tell-all that freely shares sensationalized information. Instead, it’s a thoughtful look at a young woman’s life throughout the turbulent social changes in the latter part of the 20th century. She openly examines the choices she made, in both her personal and professional life, and comes away with the knowledge that she stuck to her beliefs throughout it all and she lived by her own code of rules. In fact, her story is strongest when she considers the changing roles and expectations of women over the years, and how those changes affected her.
If you wish to read the juicy details of sleazy political scandals, then this isn’t the book for you. But if you want to read about how a young, naive woman grows over time to become a savvy, confident adult who can hold her own in whatever field she chooses to be in, then Life on a Road Less Traveled: Or, Memoirs from Behind the Scenes of History by Loudell Insley is a good pick.