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4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
The Truths We Hold is one of those books where the subtitle holds as much importance as, if not more than, the title itself. The memoir relates the quintessential American life of a daughter of first-generation immigrants, brought up by a single, working mother, who goes on to become a popular Attorney General of the largest state in the country, following it up with becoming the 2nd black woman ever to get elected to the US Senate. As of this writing, she remains one of the more likely candidates, in a ridiculously crowded field, to win the Democratic nomination for the 2020 presidential election. The female Obama, as she’s been called at times, could very well become the first woman “leader of the free world.” This could happen only in America.
Given the timing of the book, released as Harris announced the launch of her official campaign for the Democratic Party candidacy, as well as its content, it is disingenuous of the author to ask readers not to see it as a policy platform or a fifty-point plan. Without taking any credit away from Harris’s long and illustrious career in public service, it is hard not to see the book as a mix of résumé, election manifesto, and a critique of the person she could be facing in the presidential election.
Many personal anecdotes serve to introduce a larger issue with the system. For instance, the family’s move to their first non-rented house segues to the sub-prime crisis and how Harris stood firm against huge financial corporations. A touching account of her mother’s experience as a brown woman interacting with government officials quickly moves to race-related issues that continue to stand in the way of true equality in the country. Her mother’s struggle with cancer bookends a long chapter on the many critical problems in the US health care system. These are not failings because the book was never intended to be an intimate portrait of Harris’s family. These points just reinforce the reality that this is a get-to-know-your-candidate-well exercise.
The book performs quite well on that metric. In terms of literary merit, The Truths We Hold would easily lose out to Dreams from My Father or The Audacity of Hope, the books it would be most compared to. But Harris more than makes up for that with her clear stand on important issues and her sincerity. The pain she feels when talking about immigration, race relations, the broken health care system, or the difficulty of achieving financial security in the US comes through clearly.
These are refreshing and incredibly rare qualities in our politicians today, no matter which country you belong to. It bodes well for the US that there remain young charismatic politicians who are not jaded even after decades of fighting everything from the Mexican drug traffickers to greedy corporations. It bodes even better for the world that there still are leading politicians in the US who realize that American greatness does not come from trampling over alliances, peace treaties, climate change resolutions, and other peoples’ cultures.
Given the timing of the book, released as Harris announced the launch of her official campaign for the Democratic Party candidacy, as well as its content, it is disingenuous of the author to ask readers not to see it as a policy platform or a fifty-point plan. Without taking any credit away from Harris’s long and illustrious career in public service, it is hard not to see the book as a mix of résumé, election manifesto, and a critique of the person she could be facing in the presidential election.
Many personal anecdotes serve to introduce a larger issue with the system. For instance, the family’s move to their first non-rented house segues to the sub-prime crisis and how Harris stood firm against huge financial corporations. A touching account of her mother’s experience as a brown woman interacting with government officials quickly moves to race-related issues that continue to stand in the way of true equality in the country. Her mother’s struggle with cancer bookends a long chapter on the many critical problems in the US health care system. These are not failings because the book was never intended to be an intimate portrait of Harris’s family. These points just reinforce the reality that this is a get-to-know-your-candidate-well exercise.
The book performs quite well on that metric. In terms of literary merit, The Truths We Hold would easily lose out to Dreams from My Father or The Audacity of Hope, the books it would be most compared to. But Harris more than makes up for that with her clear stand on important issues and her sincerity. The pain she feels when talking about immigration, race relations, the broken health care system, or the difficulty of achieving financial security in the US comes through clearly.
These are refreshing and incredibly rare qualities in our politicians today, no matter which country you belong to. It bodes well for the US that there remain young charismatic politicians who are not jaded even after decades of fighting everything from the Mexican drug traffickers to greedy corporations. It bodes even better for the world that there still are leading politicians in the US who realize that American greatness does not come from trampling over alliances, peace treaties, climate change resolutions, and other peoples’ cultures.
I didn't know much about Kamala Harris before reading this. A great look at her life and her politics. In my opinion, she does really well to explain the intricacies of some more complex issues that normally just get streamlined into a kind of you're with us or against us.
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Sexual violence
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
I just wish this book had more personal stories and less platform and legislation. Maybe once she’s done being one of our nation’s leaders we’ll get to learn the more Becoming-style persona stuff
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced