Wendy's Got the Heat is a 2003 autobiography by American broadcaster and media personality Wendy Williams, co-written with journalist Karen Hunter.
 | |
| Author | |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | Autobiography |
| Publisher | Atria Books |
Publication date | August 2003 |
| Media type | |
| ISBN | 0-7434-7021-4 |
| OCLC | 52724929 |
| 791.4402/8/092 B | |
| LC Class | PN1991.4.W57 A3 2003 |
Plot summary
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Background
editI always knew I wanted to write a book, and I thought it would be a tell-all gossip book. I didn't think it would be the story of my life because I'm just a deejay and who would think people would be interested?
— Wendy Williams on her original motive for writing a book[1]
While on her WBLS radio show in 2002, Wendy Williams expressed interest in writing a book. Three Simon & Schuster employees who regularly listened to the program heard Williams' statement and contacted her. Publishers from Atria Books and Pocket Books met with Williams and agreed an autobiography would be appropriate given her past experiences with drug use, miscarriage, and public feud with employers at WQHT, which they felt would "motivate women facing similar challenges in their struggles for success". After Williams's agent signed a North American distribution deal for the book, she coauthored it with journalist Karen Hunter.[2]
Publication and promotion
editAtria Books released Wendy's Got the Heat in hardcover on August 1, 2003. To promote it, Williams scheduled appearances and book signings at libraries and bookstores in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia.[3] She also marketed it at the year's Harlem Book Fair, where it sold 400 copies.[4] Wendy's Got the Heat debuted at number nine on the nonfiction New York Times Best Seller list for the week ended August 9, 2003.[5] On Essence magazine's hardcover nonfiction bestsellers list—which is based on sales at African-American bookstores—it entered at number one.[6] The following August, Pocket Books released it in mass market paperback.
Reception
editWendy's Got the Heat received mixed reviews from critics.[7] In the Library Journal, Mark Bay compared the autobiography favorably to those by radio personalities Howard Stern and Mancow Muller for discussing topics like drug addiction and miscarriage instead of "preening rants and juvenile infatuations with genitalia".[8] Writing for QBR The Black Book Review, Kecia Palmer-Cousins thought the inclusion of these experiences made the book more candid than a typical autobiography.[9] In the New York Amsterdam News, Renee Minus White appreciated that Williams "is as personal about her own dramatic and often complicated life as she asks her [radio] guests to be".[10] Publishers Weekly felt it lacked information regarding Williams' job responsibilities as a disc jockey.[11] In his book Hip-Hop Revolution in the Flesh, scholar Greg Thomas felt Williams was hypocritical for promoting Queen's English while the autobiography opens with the line "Bitches and niggas every day are practicing to do my shit." Kirkus Reviews agreed, regarding the statement "there is no excuse for not being able to speak well" contradictory because the book's "narrative [is written] in the most casual of street slang".[12]
Critics differed regarding the effectiveness of anecdotes about achieving success in life. Tim Butler of the African-American newspaper Tri-State Defender wrote that the autobiography "offers readers a wealth of lessons on everything from how to achieve their goals to how to live their lives".[13] Palmer-Cousins considered the quote "Nothing is guaranteed. Learn from your mistakes and move on and above all else be true to yourself" as a useful life lesson.[9] In contrast, Publishers Weekly thought the statement "getting high with muthafuckas doesn't do anything for you except give people something to talk about" lacked depth,[11] and Kirkus Reviews considered the book's relationship and career advice "embarrassingly simplistic".[12]
References
editFootnotes
edit- ^ Collins 2003a.
- ^ Baker 2002; Black Issues Book Review 2002.
- ^ Collins 2003b; The Washington Post 2003.
- ^ Rodriguez 2003.
- ^ The New York Times 2003.
- ^ Boler 2003.
- ^ Thompson 2009.
- ^ Bay 2003.
- ^ a b Palmer-Cousins 2003.
- ^ Minus White 2004.
- ^ a b Publishers Weekly 2003.
- ^ a b Kirkus Reviews 2003.
- ^ Butler 2004.
Citations
editLiterature
- Thomas, Greg (2009). Hip-Hop Revolution in the Flesh. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 96. ISBN 978-0-230-61180-1. LCCN 2009284834. OCLC 226357145. LCC ML420.L57 T46 2009.
- Thompson, Clifford, ed. (2009). Current Biography Yearbook (70th ed.). New York: H. W. Wilson Company. p. 610. ISBN 978-0-8242-1104-2. ISSN 0084-9499. LCCN 40-27432. OCLC 1244599703. OL 31988793M.
- Williams, Wendy; Hunter, Karen (August 5, 2003). Wendy's Got the Heat. New York City: Atria Books. ISBN 0-7434-7021-4. LCCN 2004297853. OCLC 52724929. OL 4460389W. LCC PN1991.4.W57 A3 2003.
News
- Baker, John F. (July 3, 2002). "Listening to Wendy". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on April 17, 2021.
- "Best sellers". The New York Times. August 24, 2003. p. A18. ProQuest 92390158.
- Boler, Raquel (December 2003). "Best-sellers". Essence. Vol. 34, no. 8. p. 154. ProQuest 223162824.
- Collins, Karyn D. (August 10, 2003). "Making waves: Wendy Williams speaks her mind—on the airwaves and off". Asbury Park Press. p. 1. ProQuest 437593001.
- Collins, Karyn D. (August 10, 2003). "Heating up the book circuit". Asbury Park Press. p. E4 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Deals". Black Issues Book Review. Vol. 4, no. 5. September–October 2002. p. 8. ProQuest 217741944.
- John-Hall, Annette (August 12, 2003). "Turning the air waves into shock waves". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. C1. ProQuest 1899081052.
- "Literary calendar". The Washington Post. August 10, 2003. p. 14. ProQuest 2263907714.
- Rodriguez, Max (October 31, 2003). "The Harlem Book Fair: Old school and new". QBR The Black Book Review. Vol. 10, no. 5. p. 3. ProQuest 219950145.
Reviews
- Bay, Mark (August 2003). "Dad, Dames, Demons, and a Dwarf: My Trip Down Freedom Road / Wendy's Got the Heat". Library Journal. Vol. 128, no. 13. p. 97. ProQuest 196890996.
- Butler, Tim (August 7, 2004). "Bookscape". Tri-State Defender. Memphis, Tennessee. p. 1B. ProQuest 367671964.
- Palmer-Cousins, Kecia (October 31, 2003). "Wendy's Got the Heat! Wendy Williams". QBR The Black Book Review. Vol. 10, no. 5. p. 25. ProQuest 219952370.
- "Wendy's Got the Heat". Kirkus Reviews. May 15, 2003. Archived from the original on October 24, 2020.
- "Wendy's Got the Heat". Publishers Weekly. August 1, 2003. Archived from the original on August 13, 2020.
- Minus White, Renee (January 28, 2004). "Wendy Williams tells all". New York Amsterdam News. p. 13. ProQuest 390430595.