First published 2021
Marjorie Margolies opens her memoir by reflecting on a lifetime of firsts. She became the first single American to adopt internationally while building a career as an Emmy-winning television journalist at NBC. After 25 years in broadcasting, she shocked Pennsylvania politics by winning a congressional seat in 1991 as a Democrat in a Republican stronghold, becoming the first woman elected in her own right in the state. Her victory margin was barely 1000 votes. In Congress, she cast the deciding vote for President Clinton's budget, making her a prime target for Republican attacks. Margolies weaves together her professional achievements with personal struggles, including managing a busy household, navigating divorce, and grieving the death of a child. She chronicles her roles as athlete, educator, world traveler, and adoption advocate while raising children and grandchildren. The memoir combines her political and journalistic experiences with national history, offering practical wisdom gained from decades of barrier-breaking. Margolies writes with self-deprecating humor about the challenges of shifting paradigms across multiple industries before female empowerment became a common conversation.
Genres: family, family-life, 20th-century, feminism, autobiography, biography-memoir, 21st-century, adoption
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: barrier-breaking, female-protagonist, overcoming-adversity
Setting: Pennsylvania, United States
Period: 1991, 20th-Century, 21st-Century
260 pages · Hardcover · Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing