Famed filibusterer Wendy Davis and New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand both launch new memoirs this week. Gillibrand's book Off the Sidelines is already making waves for calling out certain (unnamed) male colleagues as, well, sexist pigs. Unwelcome comments on their appearance have long been an occupational hazard for women in public office — but that's far from the toughest challenge they face. For anyone wanting to follow in Gillibrand's steps, these five books about path-breaking political women are an inspiring introduction to the world of government, whatever side of the aisle you're on.
Author, congresswoman, ambassador and media-mogul-by-marriage Clare Boothe Luce seemed to cram several women's lives into her eighty-four years. Price of Fame, the second volume of Sylvia Jukes Morris's exhaustive biography, covers Boothe Luce's years in politics, after she was elected to Congress as a Republican from Connecticut. One of only a handful of women in the Capitol, her carefully cultivated good looks and penchant for brightly colored dresses made her stand out from the grey-suited pack, and her quick wit and unguarded commentary made her a hit with the Washington press corps. After the shocking death of her only child, she embraced Roman Catholicism, and when President Eisenhower made her ambassador to Italy, she worked hard for acceptance among a public even more skeptical of a woman in high office. She emerges from this biography as a complex and not always admirable figure, but her story is testament to what a girl born into poverty was able to achieve by simply ignoring all the barriers in her path.
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Texas governor Ann Richards is a deserved legend in her home state and an inspiration far beyond it. Battling her way to leadership of a state where no woman had held statewide office in half a century, she won over even her ideological opponents with her wit and authenticity — although perhaps not her successor as governor, George W. Bush, who would be forever dogged by her crack that he was "born with a silver foot in his mouth." Richards' charm and gusto belied the hard fight she put in to get where she did, and her memoir Straight from the Heart deals bluntly with her private struggle with alcoholism and the breakdown of her marriage. Despite the compromises she often had to make as the Democratic, feminist leader of a deep red state, her political legacy lives on in both her daughter Cecile, president of Planned Parenthood, and in Texas gubernatorial hopeful Wendy Davis, whose memoir Forgetting to Be Afraid is out this month.
No list of books by female politicians would be complete without the presence of the woman with the best shot so far at the highest office in the United States. Hillary Clinton's recent Hard Choices, the story of her four years as President Obama's Secretary of State, is a clear part of her presidential campaign strategy, detailing as it does her involvement with the most critical of international crises (like the pursuit of Osama Bin Laden) and displaying her leadership and diplomacy skills. Those looking for gossip or personal revelations will have to content themselves with what the army of journalists covering Clinton dig up; but for a glimpse behind the scenes of national and global politics, this book is second only to a seat on the (likely) candidate's private jet.
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Her ambitions beyond the Hill are currently unclear, but plenty of Democratic Party insiders would lay good money on Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren giving Hillary a run for her money — not that Warren would approve of that kind of reckless spending. Famous for her tough talk on behalf of the 99%, former Harvard law professor Warren is a powerful advocate for workers suffering under policies designed to enrich corporations at their expense. Her memoir A Fighting Chance tells the story of her modest beginnings and early ambitions and her rapid rise beyond them, to the moment when a call came from Washington to ask for her help in overhauling the country's outdated bankruptcy laws, her legal specialty. Once there, Warren found herself dismayed by the obstacles to getting anything done — a decade of hard work failed to reform the laws — but determined to change the system from the inside. Her book lays out the story behind her commitment to the middle class, and it just might help propel her even further up the ladder of power.
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice holds many political positions that put her at odds with Democrats Warren and Clinton. But her commitment to public service, and her determination to face down negative assumptions and low expectations based on her gender and race, have made her an inspiration to women of all ideological persuasions. In her earlier memoir Extraordinary, Ordinary People she described a childhood marred by racist violence in Jim Crow Alabama, and the faith and intellectual discipline instilled by her parents that led her toward training as a professional pianist and then as a political scientist. Her most recent book, No Higher Honor, is a fascinating insider record of her controversial tenure as National Security Advisor and Secretary of State under George W. Bush.
This article originally appeared on Biographile.
Joanna Scutts is a freelance writer based in Astoria, New York. She has written book reviews, essays, and author profiles for several publications, including The Washington Post, The Nation, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Review of Books, Kirkus Reviews, The Rumpus, and Open Letters Monthly. She holds a PhD in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University and teaches writing at NYU's Gallatin School.
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