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Summary
Summary
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!
The definitive biography of Nancy Pelosi, the most powerful woman in American political history, written by New York Times bestselling author and USA Today Washington bureau chief Susan Page.
Featuring more than 150 exclusive interviews with those who know her best--and a series of in-depth, news-making interviews with Pelosi herself--MADAM SPEAKER is unprecedented in the scope of its exploration of Nancy Pelosi's remarkable life and of her indelible impact on American politics.
Before she was Nancy Pelosi, she was Nancy D'Alesandro. Her father was a big-city mayor and her mother his political organizer; when she encouraged her young daughter to become a nun, Nancy told her mother that being a priest sounded more appealing. She didn't begin running for office until she was forty-six years old, her five children mostly out of the nest. With that, she found her calling.
Nancy Pelosi has lived on the cutting edge of the revolution in both women's roles and in the nation's movement to a fiercer and more polarized politics. She has established herself as a crucial friend or formidable foe to U.S. presidents, a master legislator, and an indefatigable political warrior. She took on the Democratic establishment to become the first female Speaker of the House, then battled rivals on the left and right to consolidate her power. She has soared in the sharp-edged inside game of politics, though she has struggled in the outside game--demonized by conservatives, second-guessed by progressives, and routinely underestimated by nearly everyone.
All of this was preparation for the most historic challenge she would ever face, at a time she had been privately planning her retirement. When Donald Trump was elected to the White House, Nancy Pelosi became the Democratic counterpart best able to stand up to the disruptive president and to get under his skin. The battle between Trump and Pelosi, chronicled in this book with behind-the-scenes details and revelations, stands to be the titanic political struggle of our time.
Reviews (1)
Kirkus Review
The dazzling achievements of a trailblazing politician. Page, Washington bureau chief for USA Today, draws on a prodigious number of interviews with figures including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Newt Gingrich, Ilhan Omar, and John Boehner; Nancy Pelosi's colleagues, friends, co-workers, and adversaries; and interviews with Pelosi herself to create a balanced, informative biography of a woman widely hailed as "a master of the inside game of politics." Born in Baltimore in 1940, Nancy D'Alesandro grew up steeped in public service. Her father was a Maryland Congressman and later Baltimore's mayor; her savvy, ambitious, pragmatic mother "organized the grass roots." Politics, Page notes, was "the family business." A year after graduating from Trinity College in 1962, she married Paul Pelosi, and in 1969, the couple and their growing family moved to San Francisco for Paul's work. While raising five children, Pelosi became involved in local politics, prompting San Francisco's mayor to tap her for the city's library commission. At the age of 35, Pelosi "discovered that she liked having an official position, being able to convene hearings, to cast votes. She began to think about her possible political role in a different way." In 1987, she won her first election. Early in her career, in Armani suits and stiletto heels, Pelosi was "routinely underestimated" by the male-dominated political world. But she quickly, and repeatedly, demonstrated her power: She was supremely organized, adept at fundraising, and laser-focused on success. A major force in passing the Affordable Care Act, Pelosi, Obama told Page, is "tougher than anybody in the world." As one reporter put it, she wielded "an iron fist in a Gucci glove." Page elaborates on Pelosi's impressive public career rather than on her personal life. "I'm as private a person as there is, a shy one," Pelosi told Page, when she deemed a question intrusive. Private, to be sure; shy, not believable. A brisk, well-researched life. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Table of Contents
| Introduction: A Change of Plans | p. 1 |
| Chapter 1 Tommy the Elder and Big Nancy | p. 17 |
| Chapter 2 Welcome to America | p. 35 |
| Chapter 3 Little Nancy and the Favor File | p. 44 |
| Chapter 4 Scandal | p. 63 |
| Chapter 5 A View of the Capitol | p. 78 |
| Chapter 6 "Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance" | p. 94 |
| Chapter 7 Runway | p. 111 |
| Chapter 8 Sala | p. 126 |
| Chapter 9 Earthquake | p. 149 |
| Chapter 10 "I Don't Think These Boys Know How to Win" | p. 167 |
| Chapter 11 War | p. 182 |
| Chapter 12 Leader | p. 194 |
| Chapter 13 Meltdown | p. 207 |
| Chapter 14 PelosiCare | p. 223 |
| Chapter 15 Back in the Wilderness | p. 244 |
| Chapter 16 Pelosi v. Trump: Round One | p. 260 |
| Chapter 17 The Speaker and the Squad | p. 279 |
| Chapter 18 "You Have Come into My Wheelhouse" | p. 298 |
| Chapter 19 The Coronavirus Campaign | p. 324 |
| Epilogue: The Lessons of Power | p. 346 |
| Acknowledgments | p. 359 |
| Notes | p. 361 |
| Interviews | p. 416 |
| Bibliography | p. 419 |
| Index | p. 425 |
| About the Author | p. 439 |
