Who Said it Would Be Easy?: One Woman's Life in the Political Arena

A tour through America's changing political climate is seen through the career of former U.S. congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman, the youngest woman ever to be elected to Congress, and shares her personal experiences and theories about modern government.

In a compelling, dramatic account of a remarkable career, Holtzman recreates her two decades in public office, from 1973, when she became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress (D-N.Y.), to 1993, when she lost her bid for reelection as New York City comptroller. Her investigative work as a member of the House Judiciary Committee helped thwart Nixon's cover-up of Watergate. Her efforts to bring Nazi war criminals hiding in the U.S. to justice led to the creation of a federal Nazi-fighting unit that expelled hundreds of Nazis from the country. She writes movingly of her tumultuous years as Brooklyn District Attorney (1981-1989), prosecuting cases of rape, battering, incest, child abuse and other crimes. As NYC comptroller, her campaigns to block municipal incinerators and to fight corruption, wasteful spending and bureaucracy put her in direct confrontation with the Mafia, the pollution lobby and a contracting system mired in vested interests. She calls for a "peace dividend," a post-Cold War redirection of military spending to schools, affordable housing and social services. Though this memoir at times veers toward self-promotion, Holtzman, a liberal and activist, emerges as a woman of integrity who lives by her principles. Her coauthor Cooper wrote Mockery of Justice: The True Story of the Sheppard Murder Case. Photos.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Holtzman's dedication to fighting injustice and corruption was forged in the crucible of the Civil Rights movement during the violent summer of 1963, when she worked in Georgia with the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee defending Civil Rights workers and writing appeals. This memoir looks back on her career as a congresswoman on the House Judiciary Committee during the Nixon impeachment hearings, as Brooklyn's district attorney, and as New York City's first woman comptroller. Holtzman worked with uncompromising determination for causes regarded as politically unpopular, and she effected significant change in many areas of local and national government. Unfortunately, her book does not give many details on how she accomplished what she did, and there are almost no personal accounts of her many controversial electoral campaigns. For larger women's studies and political science collections.?Jill Ortner, SILS, SUNY at Buffalo
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.