I read this book to learn about Nancy Pelosi, not all the other women who were first to do this or that. Also, the book contains a lot of identity politics - something I personally feel is distracting, off-topic, and anachronistic. I am giving the book 3 of 5 stars because, although it is interesting and reasonably thorough, it is also a bit out of date. Published in 2008, it is the oldest of the biographies I read for this project. Woman of the House, The Rise of Nancy Pelosi is one of the nearly twenty books about politicians I read in the summer of 2019 while researching a book about incumbents, candidates, and other politicians. It covers her whole life, from her childhood to her first year or so as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Woman of the House, The Rise of Nancy Pelosi is a biography of Nancy Pelosi written by Vincent Bzdek and published in 2008. The problem I found is that the author often presents aspects in a circular way that made me want to say, "I get it, already! Move on!" I was glad that I read the book, but I think I might have enjoyed a different one on the topic even more. She is an interesting personality, and the book provides insight into that.
The book carries the reader through her life as she builds a family after college and starts a second career in politics once the kids grew up. She was born in Baltimore into the D'Alesandro family, who started as immigrants with her great grandparents and developed into a political powerhouse with her father. This leads to a not-quite linear presentation of her life, but one that helps define the person that she is and why she probably does the things that she does. Each chapter highlights a particular aspect: her childhood and family political history, her faith (Catholicism), etc. Vincent Bzdek is a news editor for The Washington Post so I figured it would be a good biographic presentation.
I was interested in learning a little bit more about the woman who became the first female Speaker of the House. I grabbed this one off the return cart at work.
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