A Fighting Chance Hardcover – April 22, 2014

*Starred Review* Warren gained national notoriety during her tenure on the commission to study the financial crisis, leading to creation of the consumer finance agency she headed briefly. In this engaging memoir, she recalls her journey from a childhood of struggle in Oklahoma City to success in academia and politics and laments the lack of chances for others to work hard and achieve their own versions of success. Warren recalls an early marriage, struggling to raise young children as she moved from a career as a teacher to law school to teaching law. She was so agitated by the unfairness of bankruptcy law that she wrote books about it and used her professorship at Harvard as a platform, eventually launching herself into a career in Washington. Armed with stories and statistics about how bankruptcy and predatory banking practices affected middle-class families, Warren lobbied hard for change. She offers a behind-the-scenes look at the political deal-making and head-butting machinations in efforts to restore the nation’s financial system after the mortgage debacle. Warren recalls negotiations with political figures from Senator Ted Kennedy to President Obama as well as her hard-fought campaign to unseat Scott Brown as U.S. senator from Massachusetts. This is a passionate memoir of one woman’s personal story and the larger story of corruption in financial circles and the need for reform that balances the interests of the American middle class against those of the corporate sector. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The senior senator from Massachusetts and former Harvard law professor here gives the backstory on her fight for the middle class in a memoir that is sure to attract interest beyond the book-review section. --Vanessa Bush

“A potent mix of memoir and policy… The title of this book reminds us that this is about Warren's fight. She is still the fiery advocate who called for a bureau to protect consumers or, as a second choice, ‘no agency at all and plenty of blood and teeth left on the floor.'” ―The New York Times Book Review

“Moving … Ultimately, the book's message is that one person can make a difference.… After reading this book, it is comforting to know that Elizabeth Warren, with her passion, anger and bluntness, will not be silenced.” ―The Washington Post

“[Warren's] storytelling is well-paced and engaging… She mixes policy points with rich behind-the-scenes anecdotes.” ―The Boston Globe

“Intelligent and informative … [Warren is] good, plainspoken company who makes you feel smarter for having spent such easy time with her…. Her new book, which is a loving look at her family as well as her country, will only broaden her base.” ―Entertainment Weekly

“A revealing account of Warren's rise to prominence … [Warren's] arguments demand to be taken seriously…. As a politician and activist, Warren's great strength is that she retains the outsider's perspective, and the outsider's sense of moral outrage, which runs throughout A Fighting Chance… She's an indomitable battler for the underdog, and she doesn't take no for an answer.” ―The New York Review of Books

“The Wall Street watchdog and U.S. senator has produced a readable and sometimes infuriating explanation of the biggest financial crisis of our time.” ―People

“[Warren] has a compelling story to tell…. She is also entertaining about professional politics.” ―The Economist

“Warren's prose is as … direct as her book's title. She has a good story to tell and she tells it well…. Warren's accomplishments defied expectations virtually every step of the way.” ―The Christian Science Monitor

“Passionate… Her vision [for the country], laid out elegantly and effectively in A Fighting Chance, involves investments by ‘we the people,' through our government, in schools, roads and research labs, and in a social safety net for ‘the least among us,' investments that are, at once, in our own self-interest and in the national interest.” ―Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“Remarkable… A Fighting Chance takes the reader into the nitty-gritty of our nation's most controversial financial decisions with a depth of insight and experience no one else in today's politics can offer… In a time when our country's greatness seems to be in crisis, this is the story of a woman who is the living embodiment of the American Dream.” ―Harvard Political Review

“Revealing…Warren's book describes the troubling patterns and practices of high-level Washington.” ―Gretchen Morgenson, The New York Times

“Warren has written a good book … Frank and quite strong.” ―The Nation

“Warren's moment has arrived … To understand why Sen. Elizabeth Warren is the fastest-rising new star in the Democratic Party … read her new book … A Fighting Chance tells true and important tales about the great scandal of our age, the corruptions that engulf Washington today, and the battles of good people to reform them … [Warren] stands for the integrity and spirit that Americans hunger for in public life, which could someday bring her from one end of Pennsylvania Avenue to the other.” ―The Hill

“[A] call to arms … Reading the rousing finale of A Fighting Chance … you can hear the sound of the crowd roaring with approval.” ―Mother Jones

“[Warren] displays a down-home charm and an effortless rapport with everyday people … The book is more memoir than manifesto; Warren emerges as a committed advocate with real world sensibility, who tasted tough economic times at an early age and did not forget its bitterness.” ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A passionate memoir of one woman's personal story and the larger story of corruption in financial circles and the need for reform that balances the interests of the American middle class against those of the corporate sector…. [Warren] offers a behind-the-scenes look at the political dealmaking and head-butting machinations in efforts to restore the nation's financial system.” ―Booklist (starred review)