Fight Back and Win

by Gloria Allred

The World-renowned women's rights attorney and civil rights advocate shares empowering life lessons learned from her career fighting on the front lines for victims' rightsFearless lawyer, feminist, activist, television and radio commentator, warrior, advocate, and winner -- Gloria Allred is all of these things and more. Voted by her peers as one of the best lawyers in America, and described by Time as "one of the nation's most effective advocates of family rights and feminist causes," Allred has devoted her career to fighting for civil rights across boundaries of gender, race, age, sexual orientation, and social class. She has taken on countless institutions to promote equality, including the Boy Scouts, the Friars Club, and the United States Senate, often drawing from her creativity and wit to achieve results. And as the attorney for numerous high-profile clients -- she has represented Nicole Brown Simpson's family, actress Hunter Tylo, and Amber Frey, Scott Peterson's girlfriend -- Allred has helped victims assert and protect their rights.Throughout her extraordinary memoir, in such chapters as "To Conquer, You Must First Conquer Yourself" and "Don't Be Victimized Twice," Allred offers colorful -- sometimes shocking -- examples of self-empowerment from her personal and professional life. Presenting nearly fifty of her most memorable cases, she takes us deep inside the justice system to show how it's possible to win, even in the face of staggering odds.Allred opens our eyes not only to the significant positive strides we've made in recent decades, but more important, to how much further we still have to go to empower all members of society -- especially women, minorities, and others who are deprived of their rights. "Fight Back and Win" is a powerful testament to Gloria Allred's trailblazing career and the battles she has fought alongside countless brave individuals to win justice for us all.

Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism, Memoir, Law, Biography, Social Justice, Biography Memoir

352 pages, Audio CD

First published February 1, 2006

About the author

Gloria Allred is a high profile civil rights lawyer and a feminist.

Reviews

[Miranda]

Gloria Allred is a fucking badass. One of the few remaining honest-to-god unapologetic feminists, and I will love her forever. With that having been said... as a writer, she is one hell of an amazing lawyer. Read it for inspiration, try to choke down the prose, the message it's wrapped around is worth it.

[Olivia Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an absolute badass. This woman is so incredible, I am still in awe of the sheer amount of things she has achieved in her time and the unbelievable things she has managed to get done in her life.
Gloria you are amazing. 5*

[Hayley Tanner]

I can’t decide on my rating, so for now I’m not going to rate it.

Things I liked: Gloria Allred is an incredibly smart woman who has an amazing work ethic and a strong sense of helping people who have found themselves in the worst moments of their lives. She is a great advocate for her clients and works tirelessly to help minority groups get the rights we all deserve.

Things I didn’t like: I did not appreciate the way Allred wrote about Gwen Araujo. The quotes around her name and some of the other language was unnecessary and not helpful to the point she was trying to make. The Michael Jackson case and how she used the child actor mentioned was disgusting. The fact that every other child and witness was kept anonymous but not this child actor? Felt very yucky.

I also think Gloria Allred is very used to writing legal documents and keeping her emotions out of her writing. Even while she was writing her own trauma it felt very detached. I think Gloria Allred is an amazing woman to look up to but she is still a human and I, unfortunately, found some of her flaws throughout this book.

[Nathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book gives her perspective on the major issues she has been involved with, which is nice since all I ever hear are radio commentators bashing on her. I side with them even more so after having read this, but now I have an informed opinion. So that's good.

[Wendy M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have heard her name over the years and decided to learn more. This book gives snippets of some of her court cases. She is a tremendous force to be reckoned with when she feels someone is not being treated equally. I would not want to go up against her and without giving anything away, she has fought for equality for women in some spectacular court cases. A great read!

[Melissa Gati · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gloria Allred is a badass.

[Railynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars

[Haley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gloria Allred is an inspirational gal. Makes a person want to go to law school and fight the power.

[Leslie Zemeckis]

Amazing cases she was Involved in - from OJ to lesser known cases fighting for children women and everyone’s rights

[Gather RI]

Our copy is signed.

[Nicole Snazzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short read. Interesting insight into some of the various cases she worked.

[Lenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book about all of Gloria's cases!!

[Han · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gloria Allred wrote the book in a similar way that a good lawyer would write her briefs for the court. She let facts speak for themselves. She made the stories coherent and easy-to-digest. In the book, she was an advocate for her beliefs, which translated into defending and asserting victims' rights. She was pragmatic. Her stories and tone of confidence inspired me.

A small detail that I particularly appreciated was the layout of the book. She organized the contents into stories followed by lessons from the stories. While it may be dismissed as simplistic, the structure made the book extremely reader-friendly. The choices of font, size and the space between lines made the book easy to read. Great attention to details. Well done.

[Krista · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great book! Allred gives examples of cases she fought and won for women, minorities and victims of rape and violent crime. It is shocking to read about some of the rights women take for granted today that were not guaranteed when Allred began her career. I do have one question though - When the hell does this woman sleep???!!! I have great appreciation and respect Allred now after reading this book.

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

While many of her cases addressed valid injustices, some infringed on the basic rights of others without regard, such as the Freedom of Religion. One important thing her book emphasized is that if you feel you are being treated unfairly, according to the law, to speak up. Her main clients were women who felt victimized and were in situations where they felt helpless.

[Sarah Coker-robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a collection of short narratives about Allred's cases. Some of the cases were more interesting to read than others. I especially liked the empowerment lessons at the end of each section. It's worth reading.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

She's as good a writer as she is a speaker. She is one gutsy woman.I thought her book was very good. I probably would never have read it, had I not heard her speak in person.

[Jacqueline · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't always agree with Ms. Allread's pooint of view but reading about her famous cases from someone with legal background and perspective was really interesting.

[Lyn Jensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

My copy is autographed by the author.

[Selena · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would have liked this book if it didn't have a "Look at all the things I did!" vibe to it.