by Herman Cain
First published 2011
Herman Cain opens his memoir by asking the question everyone wants answered: who is this political newcomer shaking up the 2012 Republican primary race? The former Godfather's Pizza CEO takes readers through his unlikely journey from the segregated South to corporate boardrooms to the campaign trail. Cain describes how his parents Luther and Lenora worked multiple jobs in the 1940s and 1950s, dreaming of homeownership and college educations for their sons. He explains his transformation of a failing pizza chain into a profitable enterprise and his famous confrontation with Hillary Clinton over healthcare policy during a 1994 town hall meeting. Throughout, Cain grapples with his identity as he defines himself through his "ABC" philosophy: American first, black second, Conservative third. He refuses to see himself as a victim of racism despite growing up in the Jim Crow era. The memoir explores what drives him to abandon comfortable retirement for the grueling demands of a presidential campaign, motivated by hopes for his granddaughter's future and a vision of putting America back on track.
Genres: business, american, african-american, political-science, politics, autobiography, biography-memoir, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: overcoming-adversity, rags-to-riches, self-made-man
Setting: Jim Crow South, United States
Period: 1940s, 1950s, 1994, 2012
240 pages · Hardcover · Threshold Editions