...[an] admiring and illuminating new biography of the most powerful woman in American politics ... There’s a pattern in Ball’s book. Again and again, Pelosi is dismissed, first as a dilettante housewife, then as a far-left San Francisco kook, finally as an establishment dinosaur — and throughout, as a woman. She perseveres, driven by a steely faith in her own abilities. And more often than not, she is vindicated ... Despite meticulous reporting and multiple interviews with the House speaker, Ball...doesn’t penetrate her steely exterior, as she herself acknowledges ... To understand her, we can only look to her record.
Ball’s appreciation of Pelosi’s ancient abilities makes this a smart, solid biography with a lesson: Despite our current fixation on political showmanship, politics works best in a complicated democracy like ours when its practitioners can navigate their way through the byzantine cloakrooms of power ... They are small-room, off-camera skills. Ball makes a convincing case that no woman could have made it to the top without them ... She was a brilliant rainmaker, eventually a legendary one; her ability to raise money for fellow House members was a crucial weapon in her rise to the top ... Ball doesn’t spend much time explaining just how she did it, which is a shame: Pelosi isn’t the most transparent of subjects for a biography, and a better sense of how she succeeded in this mysterious realm might have helped to reveal more of who she is ... Pelosi isn’t quite hagiography. Ball admits to admiring the speaker, but she is honest about her deficits [.]
... one of the most cloyingly adulatory paeans to a living politician I’ve ever read ... Pelosi—no subtitle—is one long catalog of the subject’s self-sacrifice, courage, success against the odds, intelligence, uprightness and sagacity. It is the story of Nancy Pelosi as Nancy Pelosi would have told it—and, with apparently only light mediation, did tell it ... I was...not prepared for this book’s sassy you-go-girl boosterism ... The prose is bad but the sentiment is worse. If I ever write anything so mindlessly celebratory about any elected official, living or dead, liberal or conservative, I hope the editor of these pages will have the decency to fire me and suggest a career in advertising or political consultancy ... this account is so gratuitously panegyrical as to turn Mrs. Pelosi into a plastic version of herself ... Nancy Pelosi turned 80 in March. She is likely to retire soon. When she does, and the time comes to write her memoirs, perhaps some faithful aide will say to her: Madam Speaker, the job is already done.
Ball’s revealing, essential biography—for which its subject granted the author unprecedented access—captures all the facets of Madam Speaker: steely combatant, peerless number cruncher, master of details.
Ball reports that she conducted more than 100 interviews for the book, most of which she folded into the narrative without attribution. Such is the dilemma of writing about a powerful person still alive and able to exercise immense influence ... The book is expertly crafted and thoroughly researched, but readers are kept at a remove, being deprived of on-the-record quotes from Pelosi’s family — including her husband, five children, and in-laws — as well as friends, political adversaries, staff, supporters, donors, and colleagues past and present. Did Ball consider asking former Speakers Newt Gingrich or John Boehner to hold forth, or inquire of Tom DeLay, the former Majority Leader, about his political negotiations with Pelosi? ... less a life story than a legislative treatise and a detailed testament to the laws No Nonsense Nancy has proposed and gotten passed in her more than three decades in Congress.
... sharp, lively ... With deft political analysis, the author charts Pelosi’s rise in the ranks, her relationships with George W. Bush, Obama, and Trump, and her record – her opposition to the Iraq war and her roles in the 2008 bailout, the passage of the Affordable Care Act, and Trump’s impeachment – all receive extended treatment ... Pelosi, who successfully staved off challenges to her leadership in 2016 and 2018, is an intensely private woman, and Ball, who interviewed the speaker several times, found her 'impenetrable.' While this biography doesn’t reveal much about her inner life, one suspects that the speaker would wonder why anyone would care about that anyway, that what matters is what she gets done for the people she serves.
Journalist and political analyst Ball’s first book is an entertaining and balanced biography of Nancy Pelosi, veteran politician and current Speaker of the House ... Along the way, Ball offers plenty of insightful anecdotes, presenting events within historical perspective so that readers can fully appreciate their import ... In her afterword, Ball maintains that she ultimately found Pelosi to be a very private person and 'somewhat impenetrable.' Considering this claim, Ball’s profile seems pretty satisfying.
Ball delves into Pelosi's leadership on a variety of controversial issues...while also offering intriguing information about her professional relationships with Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and dozens of other recognizable names ... Other personal details...add human touches to a subject who is intensely private ... Ultimately, this is a portrait of a persistent, fearless leader undaunted in the face of relentless opposition. Ball obviously admires Pelosi, but this is not a hagiography ... A top-notch political biography.
Time journalist Ball debuts with a lively and detailed portrait of California congresswoman Nancy Pelosi ... Ball’s accessible review of recent legislative history and behind-the-scenes coverage of congressional matters provide valuable insights for political junkies. Even readers who don’t entirely agree with Pelosi’s agenda will gain respect for her accomplishments and tenacity.
