Renegade for Peace and Justice: Congresswoman Barbara Lee Speaks for Me (Rowman & Littlefield, $24.95, 9780742558434/0742558436, September 2008).
In a time of changing political winds, it's striking to read the autobiography of one person in politics--we hesitate to say politician--who has stayed remarkably true to her principles even when it's meant being the only member of Congress to vote against the bill authorizing the use of force following the September 11 attacks. In Renegade for Peace and Justice, Barbara Lee, who has represented Oakland, Calif., since 1998, tells a story that doesn't fit neatly into stereotypes. She had a traditional upbringing in Texas and California, growing up as an army brat in a hardworking, supportive, African-American family, and was raised as a Methodist and educated in Catholic schools (to avoid segregated public schools in El Paso). She has not had an easy life: she married and become a mother early on; she suffered in an abusive relationship; for a time lived on welfare as she raised two children alone; and she has faced what she calls "the twin hurdles of race and gender." But she thrived, inspired by Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., Shirley Chisholm and others, becoming a social worker and developing an interest in politics as an arena that allows her to be an advocate for the underprivileged and downtrodden. The Black Panthers, whose hometown was Oakland, also influenced her deeply. (Surprisingly for some, she said that "the Panthers helped me become more loving toward everyone and took away some of my bitterness.") As a congresswoman, she has an approach to policy that is remarkably sensible. For example, she writes, "We need to get real about sex education. We should be teaching young people about abstinence, but that doesn't mean holding back information that can save lives and prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies." She explains her prescient war vote: "I owed it to myself and my constituents to caution that we should not let our desire for vengeance lead us down the path of becoming the evil we deplore." In both her public and private life, religion remains her bedrock. She says, "I know that every challenge that God has given me has been a test, and no matter what the obstacle, He has never given me more than He thought I could handle." Lee's story, told in an earnest, almost reticent way, is startling: who would have thought that this person who has at times been vilified as a left-wing radical is trying to live what she was taught by nuns and in her Methodist Sunday school?--John Mutter
Shelf Talker: The surprising story of the Congresswoman best known for her vote against authorizing war after September 11.