NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A riveting inside account of the unprecedented rise to power and unmatched political legacy of the first woman Speaker of the House, by award-winning journalist Molly Ball Nancy Pelosi’s opposition to Donald Trump has made her an icon of the Resistance, featured in viral memes clapping sardonically at the president or ripping up his State of the Union address. But the … his State of the Union address. But the real Nancy Pelosi is neither the shrill partisan featured in thousands of attack ads nor the cautious corporatist reviled by the far left. She’s the rare politician who still knows how to get big things done–a master of legislative power whose policy accomplishments have touched millions of American lives, from providing universal access to health care to reforming Wall Street to allowing gay people to serve openly in the military. She’s done it all at a time of historic polarization and gridlock, despite being routinely underestimated by allies and opponents alike.
Ball’s nuanced, page-turning portrait takes readers inside Pelosi’s life and times, from her roots in urban Baltimore to her formative years as a party activist and fundraiser, from the fractious politics of San Francisco to high-stakes congressional negotiations with multiple presidents. The result is a compelling portrait of a barrier-breaking woman that sheds new light on American political history. Based on exclusive interviews with the Speaker and deep background reporting, Ball shows Pelosi through a thoroughly modern lens to explain how this extraordinary woman has met her moment.
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Today I finished Molly Ball’s fantastic biography of Nancy Pelosi then watched the Speaker of the House being interviewed about the Senate hashing out the COVID-19 stimulus package. I kinda had chills watching.
Pelosi covers the life and career of the Speaker, set against the tumultuous series of challenges and division America has endured. I always appreciate a book that offers perspective and insight into events I have lived through, which Ball accomplishes.
I love a good biography, especially of remarkable women.
But perhaps what I appreciated most from Ball’s book is an understanding of how power works in Washington.
Sometimes–rarely, anymore–there is compromise. Other times a party digs in its heels and won’t budge. How does anything get done, especially in the hostile political climate of the last several decades?
Pelosi is a study in the use of power. How one gains it and loses or keeps it. Pelosi has endured while others have failed, given up, faded away. Pelosi is pragmatic, determined, organized, and workaholic, with a hefty dose of Mom-sense and faith.
Pelosi was a volunteer for Democrats in San Francisco and a mother and wife. How she became a force who could stand up to Washington’s most powerful men is a riveting story. Pelosi learned from her failures, only becoming stronger.
Ball’s respect for Pelosi is evident, but she has no political slant. She isn’t afraid to show the weaknesses of Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama. Trump, well, he gets the treatment he deserves.
“If this book has a thesis, it is that you needn’t agree with Nancy Pelosi’s politics to repsect her accomplishments and appreciate her historic career,” Ball writes in the “Afterward”. “I didn’t expect to find her particularly compelling,” she admits. In a compelling narrative, Ball’s book achieves making Pelosi an iconic heroine.
I was given access to a free ebook by the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
I kept wanting more about Nancy the person. However, it’s an eye-opening account of all that goes on behind the scenes in the House.
Here’s a fascinating, crisply told political biography that’s both riveting and fair-minded. Ball takes us through the career highlights and rise to power of America’s current Speaker of the House. Nancy Pelosi has a penchant for describing herself rather grandly as a master legislator, and by the time you finish this book you’ll find yourself either reluctantly or enthusiastically agreeing.
It’s easy to caricature Pelosi as a knee-jerk San Francisco liberal beholden to far-left interest groups. I’ve sometimes thought so as well. But the evidence is compelling that she’s actually what she claims: a hardworking Baltimore leader committed to getting things done. Her philosophy through the years has been ballsy and pragmatic: “I openly confess my agenda; you share yours too. Then we sit down and broker a deal.” It was Pelosi who for months stoutly resisted impeachment of President Trump, holding back her own indignant caucus, until the whistleblower allegations pushed the issue into an unavoidable constitutional crisis.
Ball’s good reporting outlines several fascinating turning points. Immediately after Trump’s election, Pelosi was understandably in a state of mild shock. But through the years she’d actually gotten along decently well with Businessman Trump, who often contributed to her causes and once scrawled on a card: “Nancy, you’re the best!” Perhaps they could work together to serve the American people. So she dutifully attended a political get-together just a few days after the inauguration. She greeted the new President cordially, and then stood back aghast as he spilled into an insistent rant of fantasies about how he’d actually won the popular vote (“Millions of illegals voted!”) and had the biggest ever inaugural crowd. Pelosi returned to her suite of offices shaken and deeply concerned.
Ball’s reporting and editorial moments do sometimes have a slightly progressive tilt. But she objectively lays out the rough moments and Pelosi’s shortcomings. From one cycle to the next, her own party has often despaired that, even as she’s unparalleled at getting the Democratic Party agenda enacted into law, her own brand developed such toxicity the opposition successfully made her their poster child, portraying any candidate they wish to defeat as “Nancy’s puppet” with her holding the strings, an evil grimace on her face. Most of the internecine squabbling died away after the 2018 contest and a televised Oval Office showdown where she stood up to him, the President lost his cool, and launched a government shutdown, barking: “Yeah, I’ll wear that mantle. It’s on me.”
It’s a colorful and well-researched adventure, and the audiobook performance is equally riveting.
Pelosi by Molly Ball is an excellent, well-researched, and fascinating biography into the life of Nancy Pelosi.
I have always been a fan of Ms. Pelosi, however I have learned so much more about her and her endless fight to overcome all of the obstacles she has hurdled to end up where she is today. Her passion, drive, intelligence, loyalty, and concern for what she feels is “just the right thing to do” makes me admire her even more.
Ms. Ball has written the best biography I have seen thus far on Ms. Pelosi, and I look forward to seeing more from her in the future.
5/5 stars
Thank you NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.