24 Years Of House Work And Still A Mess Paperback - Softcover

Schroder, Pat

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0836287347 ISBN 13: 9780836287349

Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing, 1999

Synopsis

The author shares her life and career, detailing her first victorious election in 1972, how she combines family and politics, and how she rose to the challenge of infiltrating the "guy gulag" of Congress

About this title

Review

Pat Schroeder's memoir of 24 years in politics is so enthusiastic it is easy to forget how difficult her work must have been. She was Colorado's first congresswoman and one of only 14 female representatives to the House when she was elected in 1972. "The women in Congress had to wage virtually every battle alone," she remembers of those early years, "whether we were fighting for female pages (there were none) or a place where we could pee."

Schroeder takes on a lot in this book; sometimes she barely skims the surface as she tries to fit tales of politics, childhood, family life, and her opinions on a thousand disparate issues into less than 250 pages. Nevertheless, as one of our longest serving female politicians, her story of life in American politics is a welcome change from the usual political guy-ographies. Who else can write about being a congresswoman under Nixon, Reagan (whom she famously called the "Teflon President"), and Clinton? Or tell of working for women's equal rights back when there was opposition from "Ladies Against Women," who wore pins that read "I'd rather be ironing"?

This is an optimistic book, a reminder of the possibility of change through politics. "Cynics claim we get the government we deserve," says Schroeder. "I say we deserve better, but we will get it only if we act." It will speak in particular to women, whom Schroeder directly urges to take the torch she is passing on. "Consider this a postcard from the front," she writes. "Wish you were here." She almost makes it sound like fun. -- Maria Dolan

From Publishers Weekly

On the first page of this book, former 12-term congresswoman Schroeder declares: "If you want dirt, buy a tabloid." You may not get much dirt here, but you will get clear, concise?sometimes funny?portraits of many of America's most famous politicians. Schroeder, who is now president of the Association of American Publishers, recalls being elected to Congress as a Democrat from Denver during the disastrous 1972 George McGovern presidential campaign. She found that she had to deal with Congress as a vast college dorm, with congressmen unsure of women and not very interested in learning about them. She tells of her travails there, but clearly the heart and soul of this book is her descriptions of other politicians: Richard Nixon, who wore makeup all the time ("I had an incredible urge to wash his face"); actor John Wayne, who offered her a cigarette lighter engraved with the inscription: "Fuck communism?John Wayne" (she declined the gift); and Phyllis Schlafly (who "always looked like she came out of a Talbots catalogue from 1952"). Schroeder also tells how she came up with the devastating description of Ronald Reagan as the "Teflon president" while scrambling eggs in a teflon frying pan; her opinion of the Bush-Quayle team ("What the two had in common was their trust funds?what I call the lucky sperm club"); and reminisces about her disastrous though unintentionally hilarious speech before the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, a gay and lesbian group ("For years, I've felt like the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dike"). On a more serious note she recalls meeting her husband while they were students at Harvard Law School, the birth of her two children and the death of twins during childbirth. She reaffirms her commitment to women's rights issues?the right to be Pro-Choice, the value of the Equal Rights Amendment?and advocates medical research on women's health. This book on how the Congress really works would be frightening if Schroeder's black humor didn't have you laughing so hard. Photos.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0836287347
• ISBN 13: 9780836287349
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 244