Straight from the Heart: My Life in Politics and Other Places

This autobiography of former Texas Governor Ann Richards allows us to follow the political transformation of Texas and of our nation in the eyes of someone who participated in the changes. She grew up amidst segregation. She notes how racial prejudice arises from ignorance and unfamiliarity. It was in college that one class changed the direction of Ann Richards's life: Speech class. It would mold the woman who decades later would utter the famous line before the Democratic Natioanl Convention that "Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaore did. She just did it backwards and in high heels." Readers follow Ann Richards through her days with the Young Democrats in alliance with Lyndon Johnson. We learn how she led the North Dallas Democratic Women and how the FBI infiltrated its section that advocated integration. We feel the sadness of what it was like to be at the luncheon towards which John F. Kennedy was headed yet never reached due to his assassination. Ann Richards show readers her personal side and struggles. She describes what it is like being epileptic. What it is like to fight alcoholism. What it is like to be a woman running for office in Texas. This is a great book from a former Governor.

Mrs. Richards tells her story up through her two terms as Treasuerer of Texas with candor, common-sense and a clear love of Texas. The writing is not the best - she is prone to introducing people and then not saying why she introduced them - but her tale of accomplishing amazing things simply building on her love of politics, family and Texas is inspiring. I was left with the feeling that I too could be a player wherever I hung my hat. While the book may have been written in part to help her to the Governorship, Mrs. Richards is candid about her motivations, weaknesses and political evolution. This book made me glad I live in Texas and sorry that Mrs. Richards is no longer our Governor.