09/01/2018
Felix (Michelle Obama: A Photographic Journey) looks at the life and career of Democratic Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren. After exploring Warren's family history, Felix turns to her subject's childhood in Oklahoma City. Although Warren's mother expected her to be a homemaker, Warren attended law school while raising her two children. After graduating, she taught at the University of Houston, then went on to specialize in bankruptcy law and obtain prestigious positions as a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University. Felix analyzes Warren's professional achievements in a feminist context, demonstrating how her research and academic status were unusual among women at the time. Warren's work eventually led her to develop the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and win a senatorial campaign. Felix details Warren's political accomplishments up to the present and showcases her popularity. The appendixes include several key speeches by the senator. VERDICT A complementary portrayal of a compelling political personality. Recommended for readers interested in Senator Warren, politics, and the lives of inspirational women.—Rebekah Kati, Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
06/25/2018
In this admiring biography, Felix (Michelle Obama: A Photographic Journey) examines the life and career to date of Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, known as the “Sheriff of Wall Street” for her long-running efforts to rein in the excesses of the banking industry. Felix glowingly narrates Warren’s “rise from a dusty, financially strapped Oklahoma childhood to academic and political prominence,” looking at how the driven Warren found her passion in high school debate, left school to get married and start a family, and later became a lawyer specializing in bankruptcy law, which led her to teaching at institutions such as Harvard. Portrayed as a tireless populist crusader, Warren eventually runs for Congress, where her “life work studying the economics of working Americans gives her unique insight into the plight of the largest-growing segment of the working class that is aspiring to be middle class.” Despite its obviously positive attitude toward its subject (the most controversial topic is Warren’s claim of Native American ancestry) and somewhat dull interludes of statistics on women in politics, this biography is thoroughly researched and accessibly written; Felix has a knack for translating the complexities of financial and legal issues into layperson’s terms. This is a worthy introduction to a prominent political figure. Agent: Esther Margolis, Newmarket Publishing Management. (Aug.)
"The U.S. senator is building buzz: This sweeping, pointed biography comes just a year after the publication of Warren’s autobiography. Author Felix previously wrote popular books on Laura Bush and Condoleezza Rice; this one is sure to make some noise as well." — Entertainment Weekly
"The book provides a solid discussion of the most controversial aspect of Warren’s career: her claim to Native American ancestry based on family stories...the biography gives a robust representation of both sides." — The Washington Post
"Felix is an excellent writer, and her book is, at its best, quite interesting." — NPR Books
"If you wonder why Elizabeth Warren is profound yet always understandable, tough-minded yet soft-hearted, able to bring real life to Washington – and vice versa – read her life story by Antonia Felix. It will not only show us what a leader can be, but who we can become." — Gloria Steinem
"Compelling, important, and relevant to the present and future of America." — Robert B. Reich, former Secretary of Labor and author of The Common Good
"Many politicians focus on the ‘me’. Elizabeth Warren has always been about the ‘we’ – that sacred American bond of equal justice for all that Dr. King fought for. Felix's biography explains why we need her 'persistent' voice more than ever, now and in the future." — Congressman John Lewis
"Felix deftly brings the backstory of this progressive icon to life in a detailed and revelatory look at one of the country’s most admired and outspoken leaders" — Booklist
"…thoroughly researched and accessibly written … a worthy introduction to a prominent political figure." — Publishers Weekly
"Admirers of Warren will find this a welcome exaltation." — Kirkus Reviews
"Antonia Felix captures Elizabeth Warren's honesty, decency, authenticity, poise and passion in this well-written biography. Her book illuminates the arc of a rising political star - from Oklahoma to Harvard to Washington - who uniquely fuses a first class intellect with a first class temperament." — Mark Green, author, Bright Infinite Future; Founder & CEO, ShadowingTrump.org
"Felix's story of a woman who broke economic and social barriers to become an effective national leader in the fight for fairness provides a powerful antidote to defeatism as an example of what can be accomplished if, as Sen. McConnell complained about Elizabeth, we persist." — Barney Frank, former Congressman (MA), author of Frank: A Life in Politics from the Great Society to Same Sex Marriage
" A complementary portrayal of a compelling political personality. Recommended for readers interested in Senator Warren, politics, and the lives of inspirational women." — Library Journal
"Want to learn about how Elizabeth Warren became the champion of and for the people? Or about her struggles as a bold populist leader, a woman who has a deeply personal determination to ensure that the millions who’ve lost pensions, homes and jobs are never again shafted by a rigged system. You need Antonia Felix’s book—it is a riveting read." — Katrina vanden Heuvel, Editor & Publisher, The Nation
"Felix beautifully captures Senator Warren’s determination, tenacity, and persistence, particularly in the face of the challenges she encountered when entering politics. Senator Warren’s is a story with which everyone should be familiar - especially women with the drive to lead - and Felix’s empowering book will inspire anyone interested in American politics." — Lauren Beecham, Executive Director, womenwinning
"Elizabeth Warren is a great read about a life of tenacity, grit and perseverance that resulted in an iconic US Senator renowned for her warrior spirit on behalf of the public she serves." — Richard Carmona, MD, MPH,FACS, 17th Surgeon General of The United States
"A compelling, consuming story, exhaustively researched. Felix wonderfully documents Warren's world of achievement, including her academic pursuits that have had real-life impact on millions of average American families." — Steven Jacques, national Democratic strategist and author of Advance Man
"Engrossing . . . the life story of an amazing leader, teacher, and reformer as well as a detailed narration of the social justice issues that shaped her politics and passion. A great read!" — Sandra L. Pappas, Minnesota State Senator, Senate President, and President of Forward Global Women
"Elizabeth Warren is a dynamic leader, and Antonia Felix's beautifully written, detailed book captures the fighting spirit that has made Warren a progressive icon. From her humble beginnings in Oklahoma, Felix deftly chronicles Warren's extraordinary life, a true American success story." — New York Congressman Eliot Engel
"Felix gives us an intimate portrait of an insecure girl growing up on ‘the ragged edges of the middle class’ who finds the grit to force her own limits. An irresistible read for anyone who cares about Elizabeth Warren’s fight for America’s hammered working class." — Gail Sheehy, New York Times bestselling author of Passages and Daring
"From its well-chosen opening epigram to the end of its four trenchant Appendixes (not to mention every page in between), Antonia Felix's biography of Elizabeth Warren is worthy of its stellar subject. If you're as much of a Warren fan as I am, you'll be grateful for this thoroughly engaging, gracefully written overview of the Senator's life and work – thus far." — Letty Cottin Pogrebin, author, activist, and co-founding editor of Ms. Magazine
Using a quiet, unassuming voice that channels Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren’s own unpretentious tones, narrator Suzie Althens delivers a pleasing performance of the story of Senator Warren’s life. Following the Democratic congresswoman from her working-class childhood in Oklahoma, through her career as a law professor in Texas, Pennsylvania, and, at last, Harvard, to her present-day political journey to Washington, DC, the biography highlights Senator Warren’s unwavering persistence. Althens’s soft, soothing narration places the listener in the various time periods and locations of Warren’s life. Technically sound and well performed, this biography is an informative listen for those who want to know more about Senator Warren’s path to politics. A.L.S.M. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
2018-05-28
"She works on the inside, but she's never considered herself an insider." A celebratory biography of the "brand-name populist" who many commentators expect will run for president in 2020.Sen. Elizabeth Warren, writes Felix (Michelle Obama: A Photographic Journey, 2017, etc.), comes by her advocacy for the struggling middle class honestly. Born in Oklahoma, she grew up in a household run by parents who, though they considered themselves middle-class, were just a couple of paychecks away from financial disaster—as happened from time to time. Confronting those realities as a lawyer with substantial training in economics and as a public intellectual committed to conveying her findings so that readers everywhere could understand them, Warren has emerged as a leader of the left wing of the Democratic Party, as well as a senator from Massachusetts, a long journey from her beginnings as a middle-state conservative. Felix writes uncritically and sometimes breezily, addressing her subject as a familiar: "It's a leap of faith to turn away from the sheltering walls of a university, and Elizabeth thought long and hard before jumping into the political chaos of the Bankruptcy Review Commission." The book is best understood as a fan's notes, though the author does a good job of digging evenhandedly into one of the central controversies surrounding Warren, the claim of Native American ancestry that has provided Donald Trump with the ugly slur "Pocahontas." That controversy well merits the several pages Felix devotes to it, which, as she notes, could not be explained in a media atmosphere "in the business of sound-bite drama, not social analysis." One can be sure that in the event that Warren declares for the presidency, the matter will be reignited, even as she has moved on to being a persistent—and persisting—critic of the rule of big money in electoral politics.Admirers of Warren will find this a welcome exaltation.
