Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi and the Lessons of Power Susan Page

 

 

The definitive biography of Nancy Pelosi, the most powerful woman in American political history, written by New York Times bestselling author and USA Today Washington bureau chief Susan Page.
 
Featuring more than 150 exclusive interviews with those who know her best—and a series of in-depth, news-making interviews with Pelosi herself—MADAM SPEAKER is unprecedented in the scope of its exploration of Nancy Pelosi’s remarkable life and of her indelible impact on American politics.
 
Before she was Nancy Pelosi, she was Nancy D’Alesandro. Her father was a big-city mayor and her mother his political organizer; when she encour­aged her young daughter to become a nun, Nancy told her mother that being a priest sounded more appealing. She didn’t begin running for office until she was forty-six years old, her five children mostly out of the nest. With that, she found her calling.
 
Nancy Pelosi has lived on the cutting edge of the revolution in both women’s roles and in the nation’s movement to a fiercer and more polarized politics. She has established herself as a crucial friend or for­midable foe to U.S. presidents, a master legislator, and an indefatigable political warrior. She took on the Democratic establishment to become the first female Speaker of the House, then battled rivals on the left and right to consolidate her power. She has soared in the sharp-edged inside game of politics, though she has struggled in the outside game—demonized by conservatives, second-guessed by progressives, and routinely underestimated by nearly everyone.
 
All of this was preparation for the most historic challenge she would ever face, at a time she had been privately planning her retirement. When Donald Trump was elected to the White House, Nancy Pelosi became the Democratic counterpart best able to stand up to the disruptive president and to get under his skin. The battle between Trump and Pelosi, chronicled in this book with behind-the-scenes details and revelations, stands to be the titanic political struggle of our time.

The Extraordinary Book That Eats Itself by Susan Hayes and Penny Arlon

 

 

 A one-of-a-kind eco project book that practices what it preaches. It is completely reusable and recyclable!

Most books are just meant to be read. But this is no ordinary book. This book turns itself into dozens of eco-projects to inspire you to think more about our planet.

This book doesn’t just want you to read about reducing, reusing, and recycling. The Extraordinary Book that Eats Itself asks you to DO something about it, too.

You can cut up, fold, tear, and reuse every single page— even the cover—to make all sorts of great projects, from planters and seed writing papers to eco-badges. There are eco-quizzes and nature games, growing projects, and organic recipes, bug hotels, and plastic-free diaries.

All the activities can help you to change the way you think about the natural world, and how you can make a real difference. And don’t worry if what you do seems small. If everyone joins in, together we can make a BIG difference!

You Are Ready For Takeoff: A Short Trip by Susan Orlean

 

 

As we struggle with new anxieties, the New York Times bestselling author of The Library Book tackles an old fear in this insightful and hypnotizingly funny essay about taking off and letting go.

Susan Orlean has a full-on phobia of flying—an epic inconvenience for an author on a national book tour. With her trademark curiosity, she decides to rewire her thinking through hypnosis. Along the way, Susan discovers a lot about the unconscious mind, suggestibility, Mesmer, Freud, today’s cutting-edge treatments, and the dulling power of a sonorous voice. Most of all, she learns what it takes to close her eyes, open them again at thirty thousand feet, and finally be able to exhale. And you can too.