In Persist, Warren writes about six perspectives that have influenced her life and advocacy. She's a mother who learned from wrenching personal experience why child care is so essential. She's a teacher who has known since grade school the value of a good and affordable education. She's a planner who understands that every complex problem requires a comprehensive response. She's a fighter who discovered the hard way that nobody gives up power willingly. She's a learner who thinks, listens, and works to fight racism in America. And she's a woman who has proven over and over that women are just as capable as men.
Warren was (and is) a storyteller. Her campaign speeches were a series of one-two punches: stories that got people right in their feels — and then policy prescriptions [...] This is precisely what Persist is. It's a series of stories, then plans. It's campaign-trail Warren, in book form ... However, her storytelling — so electrifying in person — is flattened on the page. For those who don't subscribe to her progressive politics, Persist will almost certainly be too didactic. Though it just might delight those who revel in her unique mix of down-to-earth-ness and policy expertise. Unless, that is, those fans want score-settling. Persist is not primarily a 2020 campaign recap ... So it may be the book of a candidate still aiming for a higher office. And — or — it also just might be that Warren simply sees herself a public servant, trying to get her plans passed.
Persist, Elizabeth Warren’s new memoir of her life and presidential campaign, is an excellent and informative account ... The problem is that she is so deep inside that bubble she seems not to recognize it for what it was. She can paint a compelling portrait of what the inside of the Democratic Party activist bubble looked like, but shows no awareness that there is anything outside of the bubble, or even that she was inside of one ... Maybe the goal of Persist is to console and inspire her supporters, rather than conduct a serious autopsy. Still, if she wishes for her successors to fare better, Warren ought to put her famously incisive analytic skills to use analyzing her own campaign.
[Warren's] book makes for a sometimes-funny, sometimes–sharp-tongued pleasure. A lively and thoughtful memoir that, one hopes, will inspire readers to pursue activism in every realm of society.
