Going There - book cover
Arts & Literature
  • Publisher : Little, Brown and Company; Large type / Large print edition
  • Published : 26 Oct 2021
  • Pages : 736
  • ISBN-10 : 0316593311
  • ISBN-13 : 9780316593311
  • Language : English

Going There

Heartbreaking, hilarious, and brutally honest, Going There is the deeply personal life story of a girl next door turned household name.

For more than forty years, Katie Couric has been an iconic presence in the media world. In her brutally honest, hilarious, heartbreaking memoir, she reveals what was going on behind the scenes of her sometimes tumultuous personal and professional life - a story she's never shared, until now. Of the medium she loves, the one that made her a household name, she says, "Television can put you in a box; the flat-screen can flatten. On TV, you are larger than life but smaller, too. It is not the whole story, and it is not the whole me. This book is."

Beginning in early childhood, Couric was inspired by her journalist father to pursue the career he loved but couldn't afford to stay in. Balancing her vivacious, outgoing personality with her desire to be taken seriously, she overcame every obstacle in her way: insecurity, an eating disorder, being typecast, sexism . . . challenges, and how she dealt with them, setting the tone for the rest of her career. Couric talks candidly about adjusting to sudden fame after her astonishing rise to co-anchor of the TODAY show, and guides us through the most momentous events and news stories of the era, to which she had a front-row seat:  Rodney King, Anita Hill, Columbine, the death of Princess Diana, 9/11, the Iraq War . . . In every instance, she relentlessly pursued the facts, ruffling more than a few feathers along the way.  She also recalls in vivid and sometimes lurid detail the intense pressure on female anchors to snag the latest "get"-often sensational tabloid stories like Jon Benet Ramsey, Tonya Harding, and OJ Simpson.

Couric's position as one of the leading lights of her profession was  shadowed by the shock and trauma of losing her husband to stage 4 colon cancer when he was just 42, leaving her a widow and single mom to two daughters, 6 and 2. The death of her sister Emily, just three years later, brought yet more trauma-and an unwavering commitment to cancer awareness and research, one of her proudest accomplishments.

 Couric is unsparing in the details of her historic move to the anchor chair at the CBS Evening News-a world rife with sexism and misogyny.  Her "welcome" was even more hostile at 60 Minutes, an unrepentant boys club that engaged in outright hazing of even the most established women.  In the wake of the MeToo movement, Couric shares her clear-eyed reckoning with gender inequality and predatory behavior in the workplace, and downfall of Matt Lauer-a colleague she had trusted and respected for more than a decade.

Couric also talks about the challenge of finding love again, with all the hilarity, false-starts, and drama that search entailed, before finding her midlife Mr. Right.  Something she has never discussed publicly-why her second marriage almost didn't happen. 

If you thought you knew Katie Couric, think again. Going There is the fast-paced, emotional, riveting story of a thoroughly modern woman, whose journey took her from humble origins to superstardom. In these pages, you will find a friend, a confidante, a role model, a survivor whose lessons about life will enrich your own.

Editorial Reviews

"Going There is jam-packed with honesty, humor, and helpful advice for every woman blazing her own path. I admired Katie Couric before, but after reading Going There, I absolutely love her. When you read about the real Katie in these pages, you will too."―Glennon Doyle, author of the #1 bestseller Untamed and host of the We Can Do Hard Things podcast

"Couric's actual living voice-one of the most human and wise of our times-is on every single line of this memoir, but "memoir" is reductive. This is memoir as time capsule, memoir as therapy session, memoir as masterpiece. Memoir as Necessity. It is aggressively, gorgeously human,  the very book we needed for this time. You will feel thankful, as though Katie Couric has been an angel on your shoulder, she's been with you this whole time, and now, thank God, she's ready to show you the other side."―Lisa Taddeo, bestselling author of Three Women

"The secret to Katie Couric's success is that there are no secrets. While the dogged determination she has called upon her whole life is  an invaluable asset, there are other ingredients in Katie's not-so-secret sauce: humor, concern, sincerity, steadfastness, and devotion to her daughters, family, and friends. If Katie is "going there," no matter where "there" is, we're along for the ride."―Michael J. Fox, bestselling author of No Time Like the Future

"The woman we've counted on for decades to tell the most important stories of our time is finally telling her own. And nothing is off the record. This no-holds-barred account of Katie's rise to TV fame-while juggling motherhood, crushing loss, and brushes with failure-delivers on its title. She writes with a raw honesty and been-there-lived-that sensibility that every woman on the rise will benefit from. Brimming with heart and sheer grit, it's a masterclass in resilience and overcoming every obstacle on the way to success."―Elaine Welteroth, bestselling author and award-winning journalist

"Fast-paced and riveting, Going There is an intimate memoir that chronicles the once magical world of TV news.  Every young woman should read this book to understand what ambition really feels like and the work it takes to fulfill it."―Tina Brown

"Funny, sincere, heartbreaking - Couric chronicles her upbringing, career in TV journalism, cutthroat pressures and boys club hazing of the biz, the downfall of her co-anchor Matt Lauer, as well as the death of her husband at the young age of 42 and finding love again. Looking for a new BFF? You'll find one here."
 ―Lesley Kennedy, CNN

"Longtime ‘Today' co-anchor Couric, once known as ‘America's Sweetheart,' shows tha...

Readers Top Reviews

seth meyers
I was hoping for a more in-depth memoir, expanding on interesting topics she covers only in a few pages each. I went through the book extremely quickly because there wasn't much that was thought-provoking to bite into. More than anything, Kouric comes across as sanctimonious and extremy calculating, a personality type that many likely would not trust personally. In discussing Matt Lauer, you get the creepy sense that she says what she needs to say today for the sake of her public image, casting Lauer in a negative light while she didn't appear too concerned about the "whispers" in the office while she was taking a huge paycheck from the show she shared with him. I wish I had not spent the money on this book.
70Kicks
I was surprised that this book was so...vapid. The writing is fine, but it seems to be filled with a lot of “humble brag” describing her heady years, followed by looooong and defensive explanations about why Couric’s career tanked after leaving The Today Show. She details, without insight or apology how incredibly competitive she is and didn’t lift a finger to help any other women struggling to navigate the sexist and cut throat world of on air television. Instead, she just comes off as a bit selfish and as misogynistic as the men she worked alongside. All in all, Going There reads like a superficial book report of a not-very-nice woman (long her reputation in the industry) more than any insightful or newsworthy reflection. Sorry, Katie, I really wanted to love it.