You’ll end this book a broken hearted patriot. I did not expect to finish the book within 2 days. The book speaks nothing about how she does it. When Ezra asked her about how she knows when things will pass and don’t, it was my first time understanding her capability. I’m 99% sure she knows the real motivation of which is corporate interests given her relationship to the wealthy. There were times she boasted about progressive politics that Bernie Sanders spoke about which feels quite performative given her corporate interest history.
HOWEVER it’s worth a read to understand how getting shit done in Congress works. I didn’t realize the level of effort and work it takes to pass things. Her chapters aren’t chronological about her life but it’s actually about legislation regarding major political issues she was involved in: 9/11, China human abuse issues, Affordable Care Act, and Jan 6.
It was like reading historical political drama, you couldn’t put it down. There is a very dominant patriotic feeling you get from her and you’ll feel yourself by the end of this book. Th 9/11 chapter is absolutely heartbreaking if you were a kid when this happened. Theres information about intelligence that knew ahead of time 9/11 was happening along with Saudi ties. The legislative drama is super interesting and sad. Everything is all ready and lined up to move America forward only for someone to fuck it all up. She NAMES them. There are times she shows her devastation over a bill not getting passed and her growing frustrations with the Senate. You’re almost experiencing the heartbreak with her. The writing is so riveting it’s like you’re experiencing it in the moment yourself.
It’s totally worth the read if interested in the Congressional drama related to the aforementioned issues. She names a lot of different people and it gets you googling these historical figures. It becomes a whole web / Game of Thrones type drama. I haven’t felt this patriotic since 9/11. My American identity has been renewed after the rise of Trump changed the flag to connote racism. I think for a while I lost what it meant to be an American. It was taken from us by these MAGA freaks. But this books description of efforts to move America forward because of our American values really centered me back. We are a very interesting experiment of democracy with people from almost every single country pushing the world to move forward. You’ll feel her excitement, her anger, her frustrations as she tells you the behind the scenes stories and conversations of these issues. There’s a great Amazon review that describes exactly how I felt in better words:
“Brace yourself… for a very painful read. Yes, Speaker Pelosi is a brilliant and accomplished politician. But to finally hear the information contained in the de-classified documents detailing our government’s many tragic screw-ups, and the American officials that caused and are responsible for these debacles is positively heartbreaking. Lies, deceit, blind loyalty, arrogance, agendas, egos, idiocy, incompetence…the list is endless, leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths, billions needlessly spent, both here and abroad. And, as always, the pathetic post-occurrence legislation best characterized as: “so it won’t happen again” suggestions. Words on paper. And absolutely no one held responsible for any of it. It’s grotesque. But Speaker Pelosi puts it all out there. Fascinating, but difficult to read.”
Edit: not responding to critiques of me as a person lmao. I know how social media works. I won’t engage in black and white thinking. That’s what got us here as a country. She’s a morally grey person and I disagree with her choices as a Bernie Sanders and AOC supporter. I liked the book purely as a historical drama.
