Renegade for Peace and Justice: Congresswoman Barbara Lee Speaks for Me

by Barbara Lee

Hailed as an honest, candid political memoir in a genre more often characterized by slick, self-serving campaign biographies, this book captures Barbara Lee's extraordinary life and political career from her early upbringing in El Paso, Texas, through her years in Oakland, California, with the Black Panther Party, to her service in the U.S. Congress. In a new Afterword to the paper edition, Lee pays tribute to the Congressional Black Caucus, for which she serves as chair during the 111th Congress, and reflects on the challenges that continue to face our nation at home and abroad.

Genres: Politics, Biography

256 pages, Hardcover

First published August 25, 2008

Reviews

[elissa]

Seems like the kind of book politicians write in preparation for seeking higher office. I love Barbara Lee and she was my representative for many years when I lived in California, but this book was disjointed and leapt from topic to topic. Hundreds of names mentioned along the way with very little substance.

She is very honest when talking about her private struggles, which will benefit many readers, but mostly this book lacked a through thread. I also noticed a few factual errors, which means there was not diligent (or any) editing on the part of the publisher.

Could be a bus read, because you certainly would not lose any context once you got to your destination. The better story of Barbara Lee and her time in Congress is yet to be written.

[Amira]

interesting...

[Andrew Dittmar]

I have a great deal of admiration for Barbara Lee, and her story is interesting and worth telling.

This book, though... I'm fairly certain it wasn't edited. At all. It seems like there was a spellcheck done and that's about it.

Three stars feels generous. A shame, because her principled stand on the issues is worth a book better than this.

[Daniel]

Having met her at my favorite local coffee shop in San Leandro, CA roughly 7 years ago, I really wanted to like this memoir but found it was disjointed and poorly written. Regardless, Barbara Lee’s accomplishments should not be overlooked even though she was once considered a controversial and radical Representative.

[Ed Smiley]

"Going rogue" in a positive way. I was very interested in how she stood up completely alone for something she believed in when she voted against the authorization of force in the panic after 9/11. Henry Hyde (!) took her aside and in a near whisper told her that, although he did NOT agree with her vote, it was a very brave thing to vote her conscience on this--and that actually, off the record, several of his Republican colleagues did NOT like the idea of giving anybody such a blank check to anybody.


Not a really great book, as it suffers from the typical politician's need to include every piece of legislation that they have worked on.

However, the writing is pretty direct and unpolished, meaning I think that no ghost writer was involved homogenizing everything. For me that is a plus.

I found the personal details, many of which are painful, especially interesting, and has informed her position on many women's issues.

[Leigh Koonce]

A great biography and policy discussion by one of my favorite members of Congress! Congresswoman Lee lays out how her progressive views were formed and how they will help America.