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A Fighting Chance Hardcover – April 22, 2014
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A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
An unlikely political star tells the inspiring story of the two-decade journey that taught her how Washington really works―and really doesn't―in A Fighting Chance
As a child in small-town Oklahoma, Elizabeth Warren yearned to go to college and then become an elementary school teacher―an ambitious goal, given her family's modest means. Early marriage and motherhood seemed to put even that dream out of reach, but fifteen years later she was a distinguished law professor with a deep understanding of why people go bankrupt. Then came the phone call that changed her life: could she come to Washington DC to help advise Congress on rewriting the bankruptcy laws?
Thus began an impolite education into the bare-knuckled, often dysfunctional ways of Washington. She fought for better bankruptcy laws for ten years and lost. She tried to hold the federal government accountable during the financial crisis but became a target of the big banks. She came up with the idea for a new agency designed to protect consumers from predatory bankers and was denied the opportunity to run it. Finally, at age 62, she decided to run for elective office and won the most competitive―and watched―Senate race in the country.
In this passionate, funny, rabble-rousing book, Warren shows why she has chosen to fight tooth and nail for the middle class―and why she has become a hero to all those who believe that America's government can and must do better for working families.
- Print length384 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherMetropolitan Books
- Publication dateApril 22, 2014
- Dimensions6.45 x 1.27 x 9.48 inches
- ISBN-109781627790529
- ISBN-13978-1627790529
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From Booklist
Review
"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)
About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : 1627790527
- Publisher : Metropolitan Books; 0 edition (April 22, 2014)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 384 pages
- ISBN-10 : 9781627790529
- ISBN-13 : 978-1627790529
- Item Weight : 1.45 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.45 x 1.27 x 9.48 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #587,540 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #626 in Social Activist Biographies
- #2,921 in Political Leader Biographies
- #6,361 in Women's Biographies
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Elizabeth Warren, the widely admired former presidential candidate and a longtime champion of working families and the middle class, is the senior senator from Massachusetts. A former Harvard Law School professor, she is the author of twelve books, including A Fighting Chance and This Fight Is Our Fight, both of which were national bestsellers. The mother of two and grandmother of three, she lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her husband, Bruce Mann, and their golden retriever, Bailey.
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http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_17?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=a%20fighting%20chance%20elizabeth%20warren&sprefix=a+fighting+chance%2Cstripbooks%2C286
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Also see the link below.
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/05/23-1
This was a gift from my daughter Peggy. Elizabeth Warren clearly outlines what is wrong with our current social/political structure and what needs to be done. The game is rigged and it will take a populist movement to change it. Warren is an extremely hard worker and very thorough scholar. She knows what it is to come up the hard way. She has great empathy for the confused and battered middle and lower classes. She makes most of our politicians and leaders look shabby at best and grossly self-serving at worst. I would like to see her run for president.
The article below describes one ground movement aimed at changing our current political and social structure. The link is to the full report and an abstract follows. Frank
The New Populism: A Movement and Agenda to Transform America’s Economy and Politics.
According to the report:
For progress to be made, the demand must come from outside the Beltway, from the people up, not Washington down. This will take a movement. And that new populist movement is already being built.
Modern-day muckrakers are revealing just how the game is fixed and who is on take. Popular mobilizations – online and in communities – are rising up to challenge the powers that be, in the streets and in the boardrooms. Workers all over America are standing up for decent pay and benefits on the job. Citizens of conscience are raising a moral voice at injustices that need not be. The impoverished, the young, and the locked out are starting to demand jobs and justice. We need new leaders to join the sturdy band willing to take on special interests and big money. This won’t get built in a day, or in one election, or in one administration.
But this is America’s hope. America’s founders were deeply suspicious of the dangers of entrenched privilege. The question always was whether the people could use the instruments of democracy to counter the influence of the plutocrats.
In that context, during her remarks to the conference audience, Warren declared:
The tilt in the playing field is everywhere. When conservatives talk about opportunity, they mean opportunities for the rich to get richer, for the powerful to get more powerful. They don’t mean opportunities for a young person facing $100,000 in student loan debt to start a life, for someone out of work to get back on his feet, for someone who worked hard all her life to retire with dignity.
The game is rigged. The rich and the powerful have lobbyists, lobbyists and lawyers and plenty of friends in Congress. Everyone else, not so much.
Now we can whine about it. We can whimper. Or we can fight back. Me? I’m fighting back.
According to The Hill, after Warren concluded her remarks, the crowd began shouting, "Run, Elizabeth, run."
"I appreciate the thought," Warren said with a smile, the newspaper reported. Then added: "I am not running for president."
In an interview with The Hill, CFA's co-founder Roger Hickey said, "Hillary Clinton, if she decides to run, should be talking about the kinds of issues we've been talking about today."
Noting his skepticism of Clinton's record and her continued silence on key issues now facing the nation, he said: "There are a lot of things that she hasn't clarified."
When he took the stage later in the day, Sen. Sanders also sounded the populist message, arguing that the struggle throughout all of American history has been about the "rights" and "dignity" for those who have been refused or deprived of either. Continuing, he said the ultimate goal for progressives has always been to "create a more just and democratic society" than the one we live in. "That's been the struggle," he said and is now.
"Today," Sanders said, "so few have so much and too many have so little. So I conclude by urging you and begging you not to turn your backs on the political process. Now, more than ever, we need people educating other people; we need people organizing in a way they/we have never done before."
I personally think we are at a tipping point. People may be ready to follow at least part of Timothy O'Leary's advice. His advice was turn-on (use drugs). Tune in and dropout. I would like to see people skip the drugs, tune in to what is going on and begin to act on what they see rather than drop out. Where are the churches? Frank
The first few chapters cover the author's life before she got involved in politics: how she grew up middle class until her father got sick and lost his job; how she earned a debate scholarship and went to college (despite her mother's desire that she focus on finding a husband), then dropped out of college to get married and have a baby. How she finished her college degree and then a law degree, while raising two kids. Then - in what would eventually lead her to becoming nationally known - how she ended up getting involved in bankruptcy law and research into why people declare bankruptcy. As a bankruptcy expert, she lead the (ultimately unsuccessful) fight to keep the law from being changed to enhance banking profits at the expense of those who would no longer have access to bankruptcy protection.
After her work on bankruptcy, she eventually ended up leading the COP panel, which oversaw TARP (Trouble Assets Relief Program), more commonly known as the bank bailout. The panel unfortunately had no real power - they could take testimony, but could not compel people to testify, nor could they insist on being present when Treasury (which didn't appear particularly interested in oversight) made the decisions on how to spend the $700 billion that Congress had authorized to bail out the financial system. While the committee's power was essentially limited to issuing reports, they were able to shine enough light on the sweetheart deals that Treasury cut with the big banks to ensure that later deals were harder on the banks, saving the taxpayers billions of dollars.
In 2007, Warren had proposed the creation of a new government agency specifically to regulate financial products, as no current agency had that as its primary mission. After the economic meltdown, Congress was finally motivated to act, and Warren convinced Barney Frank (who was in charge of the bill in the House) to insist on a strong new agency. Gathering support for the bill took a concerted push by many people, from nonprofits and unions all the way up to the president, with the big banks fighting hard to destroy or disempower the new agency. This was where Scott Brown entered the story, as (having won Teddy Kennedy's Senate seat) he now had the power to filibuster the bill, which he used to add a $19 billion break for the banks before allowing it to pass. With the change, the Dodd-Frank Act was signed into law.
Unfortunately, while Warren had proposed the agency, fought hard for its creation, and then served as its acting head to get it up and running, the banks (and thus the Republican party) were dead set against her being confirmed as the permanent head of the agency. The president gave in and instead nominated Richard Cordray, whom Elizabeth recommended...at which point Senate Republicans announced that they would block ANY nominee unless the law were changed to take power away from the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Due to a typo in the law (the word section was replaced with the word subsection), the new agency would not have much of its power until a director was confirmed. Cordray was given a recess appointment in January 2012, but was not formally confirmed by the Senate until July 2013.
After losing the chance to run the agency she had created, Prof Warren intended to return to teaching, but was encouraged to run for the Senate instead. Her family was against it; she was over 60 and had never run for political office. Speaking with residents of the state, however, she became convinced that working people needed to have a strong advocate in the Senate and that she could be that person. She started out far behind the popular Scott Brown in the polls, but eventually won 54-46 in a state that strongly shares her values.
Reading this book, sometimes I was laughing (she's a very good writer), sometimes I was angry (as she describes how those with money and power take advantage of desperate Americans), and sometimes I was excited about what she wants to accomplish, but I was always entertained. I highly recommend this book.
Full disclosure: I made a small contribution to Prof. Warren's senate campaign.
This post originally appeared at Vulcan Ears Book Reviews (vulcanears.com).
Edit: I accidentally posted this under the hardcover page, but I actually read the Kindle version. I finished the book before I expected to, since on the Kindle version the main text ends about 60% of the way in, to be followed by photos and (not surprisingly, the author being an academic) tons of endnotes.
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Great explanation of how the financial crisis came about , and how the powerful worked to shift focus of blame and consequences onto the victims rather than the guilty.
Laughed out loud, cried and greatly encouraged that such an honest and committed woman is in the US Senate.


