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I Didn't Come Here to Lie: My Life and Education
An intimate, inspiring memoir by educator and labor union leader Karen Lewis, a formidable fighter, a staunch defender of teachers and students, and a beloved Chicagoan.
In 2012, Karen Lewis led the Chicago Teachers Union to a historic strike, challenging the city’s powerful mayor and paving the way for an unprecedented wave of teacher strikes in the decade that followed.
But Lewis’s life took her in rich and surprising directions long before she landed in the CTU President’s office. I Didn’t Come Here to Lie, written in collaboration with historian and education expert Elizabeth Todd-Breland, tells Lewis’s story in full for the first time, capturing her lively wit, her charisma, and her commitment to building the schools and communities teachers, students, and families deserve.
From her childhood on Chicago’s South Side to her teen years organizing Black Power walkouts, from her education at Mount Holyoke and Dartmouth to her years in Oklahoma and Barbados and her stints in medical school and film school, readers follow Lewis through a life full of exploration. Wherever she was, she maintained a strong commitment to building fairness. She found her calling in the classroom, teaching science for more than twenty years before becoming a union leader in Chicago.
Up until her untimely death from brain cancer in 2021, Karen Lewis was spirited, unshakeable, and fierce. She remains a model for current organizers and teachers doing the day-to-day work of building a better world. I Didn’t Come Here to Lie is a testament to one of the true revolutionaries of her generation.
In 2012, Karen Lewis led the Chicago Teachers Union to a historic strike, challenging the city’s powerful mayor and paving the way for an unprecedented wave of teacher strikes in the decade that followed.
But Lewis’s life took her in rich and surprising directions long before she landed in the CTU President’s office. I Didn’t Come Here to Lie, written in collaboration with historian and education expert Elizabeth Todd-Breland, tells Lewis’s story in full for the first time, capturing her lively wit, her charisma, and her commitment to building the schools and communities teachers, students, and families deserve.
From her childhood on Chicago’s South Side to her teen years organizing Black Power walkouts, from her education at Mount Holyoke and Dartmouth to her years in Oklahoma and Barbados and her stints in medical school and film school, readers follow Lewis through a life full of exploration. Wherever she was, she maintained a strong commitment to building fairness. She found her calling in the classroom, teaching science for more than twenty years before becoming a union leader in Chicago.
Up until her untimely death from brain cancer in 2021, Karen Lewis was spirited, unshakeable, and fierce. She remains a model for current organizers and teachers doing the day-to-day work of building a better world. I Didn’t Come Here to Lie is a testament to one of the true revolutionaries of her generation.
272 pages, Hardcover
Published March 25, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 14, 2025
wow, what an incredible life Karen Lewis lived & what a beautifully important legacy she left behind
also f*ck rahm emmanuel, today and always!
also f*ck rahm emmanuel, today and always!
April 14, 2025
Loved learning about Karen Lewis’ life- her attitude and spirit are contagious. Also heartening to read what she got out of Judaism.
May 29, 2026
Really enjoyed this book!
I started reading this to learn more about how the CTU strengthened in the 2000s/2010s, and how the battle between the CTU, Rahm Emanuel (ew), and the CPS Board lead to the strike in 2012. I was a high school CPS student during the strike. Old enough to understand it was a fight for better conditions for all of us, but not politically aware enough at the time to understand how bad the privatization of Chicago’s public education system had gotten. Reading Karen’s first-hand experience as a CTU leader during that time reaffirmed everything I believed in. I supported my teachers then and will always support them. I would not be who I am today if not for the hardworking CPS teachers that taught me from kindergarten to 12th grade. I strongly believe all CPS students, especially the ones I went to school with, should read this book.
This book is also full of very impactful community organizing lessons. It’s no wonder why every CTU member I’ve met has a profound respect for Karen. She was a fighter to the very end of her life!
I was not expecting to connect so deeply with a lot of Karen’s mentality and personality. Especially her dream of independence as a young child. It is an honor to have grown up in a city that Karen fought so hard to improve the conditions of. The city of Chicago and unions everywhere are stronger because of Karen. So sad her life was cut short. Rest in power Karen ❤️✊🏽
PS, fuck Paul Vallas and Rahm Emmnuel til the day I die.
I started reading this to learn more about how the CTU strengthened in the 2000s/2010s, and how the battle between the CTU, Rahm Emanuel (ew), and the CPS Board lead to the strike in 2012. I was a high school CPS student during the strike. Old enough to understand it was a fight for better conditions for all of us, but not politically aware enough at the time to understand how bad the privatization of Chicago’s public education system had gotten. Reading Karen’s first-hand experience as a CTU leader during that time reaffirmed everything I believed in. I supported my teachers then and will always support them. I would not be who I am today if not for the hardworking CPS teachers that taught me from kindergarten to 12th grade. I strongly believe all CPS students, especially the ones I went to school with, should read this book.
This book is also full of very impactful community organizing lessons. It’s no wonder why every CTU member I’ve met has a profound respect for Karen. She was a fighter to the very end of her life!
I was not expecting to connect so deeply with a lot of Karen’s mentality and personality. Especially her dream of independence as a young child. It is an honor to have grown up in a city that Karen fought so hard to improve the conditions of. The city of Chicago and unions everywhere are stronger because of Karen. So sad her life was cut short. Rest in power Karen ❤️✊🏽
PS, fuck Paul Vallas and Rahm Emmnuel til the day I die.
April 13, 2026
AMAZING BEAUTIFUL INSPIRING.
A must read in this dark time when it feels like machine politics and lobbyists and money are running everything. Karen Lewis is a boss. May she rest in peace.
A must read in this dark time when it feels like machine politics and lobbyists and money are running everything. Karen Lewis is a boss. May she rest in peace.
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March 14, 2025Review coming for The Progressive!
July 10, 2025
There are few people who loom as large on the modern landscape of Chicago as the great CTU president Karen Lewis. I was a highschooler when the CTU went on strike in 2012 - and my political development was largely shaped by the aftermaths of their struggle against Mayor 1% Rahm Emanuel. I am proud to have played a small piece in honoring Karen's legacy, and helping to push Chicago in a more equitable direction, whether through legislation, elections, or community organizing.
This book helps take us through Karen's life, showing how her upbringing shaped her, how she lived whole lives long before she came to Chicago Public Schools, and how all of that shaped both her teaching and her union activism. It reminds us how we are all shaped by myriad forces around us and that we do not know where we will end up. I doubt if you told the Karen that was living in Barbados in the 70s that she'd be a world famous union leader that she'd take you seriously.
"Does it unite us? Does it build our power? Does it make us stronger?" Three questions every activist should live and breathe by.
May her memory be a revolution.
This book helps take us through Karen's life, showing how her upbringing shaped her, how she lived whole lives long before she came to Chicago Public Schools, and how all of that shaped both her teaching and her union activism. It reminds us how we are all shaped by myriad forces around us and that we do not know where we will end up. I doubt if you told the Karen that was living in Barbados in the 70s that she'd be a world famous union leader that she'd take you seriously.
"Does it unite us? Does it build our power? Does it make us stronger?" Three questions every activist should live and breathe by.
May her memory be a revolution.
March 28, 2026
I appreciated Karen’s candor and authentic voice—and Elizabeth Todd-Breland’s honoring of that authenticity and candor. This is an engaging autobiography that carries a charge to its readership and to anyone working in America today, but especially for anyone working in schools in America. Karen Lewis lived by virtue and by her values, and that clarity made tough, demeaning, demanding work spiritually and morally clear. She is a testament to knowing oneself and the absolute necessity of humility and curiosity in a well-lived life. I walk away from this text reminded of the dire need to unmask power from its cloistered halls of moneyed politics. I’m also reminded of the need for us all to reacquaint ourselves with and reintroduce one another to our individual and collective power in a game that’s made us to feel powerless.
Another solid publication from Haymarket Books!
Another solid publication from Haymarket Books!
July 29, 2025
As a proud CTU member and a teacher whose first full school year kicked off in 2012, this memoir was on my radar for some time. I found it to be refreshingly candid. She makes clear her frustrations (I’ll play it more neutral.) with CPS and its leaders both right-leaning and neoliberal alike. She concisely and conversationally relates her experiences growing up and finding her faith as well as her inevitable stint as CTU president. Her humor is evident throughout. More than most autobiographies, her voice and her vibe shine through.
March 14, 2026
Outstanding story and a very entertaining and poignant book. Karen Lewis was so important. I keep her questions front and center a lot: “Does it unite us? Does it build our power? Does it make us stronger?”
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February 6, 2025review forthcoming in the Cleveland Review of Books
August 9, 2025
Proud CPS student who is so grateful to Karen Lewis and CTU for fighting for a better future for students and all Chicagoans :)
August 17, 2025
Her insights around organizing were invaluable and the aspects of her life she shared were pretty fascinating
April 22, 2026
This book was educational in a lot of ways. It was great learning about some of the history of the CPS union.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews