Melissa's Reviews > The Art of Power: My Story as America's First Woman Speaker of the House

Oh dear.

I started this book excited to read the story of a woman I’ve long admired—intrigued by the blurb’s tease that I’d learn how Pelosi achieved all she has.

But it’s not about HOW she did all she did. Instead, it reads more like a resume, or a eulogy. She moves from historic moment to historic moment without much reflection or context. There’s very little about her strategy or even feelings. There’s just an awkwardly defensive litany of events where she was always right, always did the right thing, never made any mistakes.

Really?

Never?

Never thought hey, I could have handled that interaction better.

Never hmm, I wonder what would have happened if.

It lacks the heart of, say, Clinton’s What Happened, where she acknowledges her failings as a human and, somehow, this makes her more superhuman.

I wanted more about the process of running a campaign every two years while legislating. I wanted more on her upbringing, her early life in politics balancing motherhood and civic duty. I wanted more on how she managed to be heard in a sea of suits.

I wanted more… Nancy and less Speaker Pelosi.