Plenty Ladylike: A Memoir
Written by Claire McCaskill and Terry Ganey
Narrated by Claire McCaskill
4/5
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About this audiobook
Claire McCaskill grew up in a political family, but not at a time that welcomed women with big plans. She earned a law degree and paid her way through school by working as a waitress. By 1982 Claire had set her sights on the Missouri House of Representatives. That door was slammed in her face, but Claire always kept pushing—first as a prosecutor of arsonists and rapists and then all the way to the door of a cabal of Missouri politicians, who had secret meetings to block her legislation.
In this candid, lively, and forthright memoir, Senator McCaskill describes her uphill battle to become who she is today, from her failed first marriage to a Kansas City car dealer—the father of her three children—to her current marriage to a Missouri businessman whom she describes as “a life partner.” She depicts her ups and downs with the Clintons, her long-shot reelection as senator after secretly helping to nominate a right-wing extremist as her opponent, and the fun of joining the growing bipartisan sisterhood in the Senate.
Unconventional, unsparing in its honesty, full of sharp humor and practical wisdom, and rousing in its defense of female ambition, “Plenty Ladylike is a powerful, unapologetic primer on the successful exercise of real power and what it takes to get it, keep it, and use it. This is a brilliant memoir that nearly explodes with encouragement for women on how to achieve their dreams” (Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO and author of Lean In).
Claire McCaskill
In 2006 Claire McCaskill was the first woman from Missouri elected as a United States senator and continues to serve in that position today. She has a BA and a JD from the University of Missouri and worked for the Jackson County prosecutor’s office before she was elected to her first state legislature position in the Missouri House in 1982. She lives in St. Louis with her husband and blended family of seven children and nine grandchildren. Plenty Ladylike is her first book.
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Reviews for Plenty Ladylike
9 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I have been to Missouri back in the 1980s I got interested in Claire McCaskill, when she lost for race for U.S. Senate and later became a political analyst. I was curious about her childhood and political background.Not very much of the audiobook was spent on her childhood. Her mother encouraged her to be self-sufficient before she got married, and her father told her to be popular and get good grades. Claire did well in all the areas, got good grades and was her school's homecoming queen. On to law school and she became a successful prosecutor. When her little boy asked what she did all day for a paper, he got the spelling wrong and said that she was the best prostitute!Her first marriage ended because her husband became an alcoholic, although he was always a wonderful dad to her kids. After a long romance, the man who she was dating, told her that he could not see marriage in their future. Later, she married a man who did not have a political background.Claire has had a lot of ups and downs in her political career, but she always had perseverance and a diligent researcher. Most of all she is resilient and smart and adaptable. The above review is based on my own thoughts and feelings.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I chose this book because Claire McCaskill is my senator and I was interested in learning more about her personal life and political career. At just under three hundred pages, she just hits the highlights which was perfect for me. It made it a quick read and kept it entertaining. Most of it is about her struggle to be accepted in the good old boy network that’s so prevalent in politics at both the local and national levels.I loved that Claire was honest about her almost House of Cards level of scheming to set Todd Akin up as her opponent in her most recent Senate race. You may recall that that he’s the candidate who said, ““If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” – meaning that if a woman is raped, she can’t get pregnant. Claire wanted him to be her opponent because she knew she could beat him easily after he made that comment. She’s also not afraid to admit that she’s made mistakes along the way and to write about them specifically, like when she said she wouldn’t let her daughters near Bill Clinton, which of course Hillary was not happy about. It’s refreshing to read such unflinching honesty from a politician.If you are interested in politics and especially women’s role in them, then you’ll like this book even if you don’t live in Missouri.