As an organizer, listening to this book was very motivating. Cecile is a great narrator. I appreciate that she did not talk about Donald Trump – she did not even mention his name until the last chapter. Instead, she focused on the positive forces that are on the ground every day to protect women's access to healthcare and choice. Thank you, Cecile, and to Planned Parenthood organizers for all your hard and thankless work. ( )

Excellent book on both Cecile Richards life, and on how to organize an activist group and fight for human rights. Abundant quotable thoughts and opinions. Cecile is aiming for a broader human rights force. The author has many flashbacks to how her mom did things and how she is both following in her footsteps as a leader but also increasing the range of possibilities for women and workers expectations. A very positive approach to activating the general population to do what is best for everyone. ( )

Cecile Richards started working in politics and activism when she created her own recycling organization as a kid, she did internships during college, she worked on her mom's campaign for Governor, she started the Texas Freedom Network to fight changes to remove facts from history and science textbooks, she cofounded America Votes, and was President of Planned Parenthood.

Don't skip the epilogue: Cecile says she gets asked almost every day by CEOs and people on the street, "What can I do?" She says this question is really: "Now that we can no longer take for granted that America will slowly but surely make progress our entire world seems to be spinning out of control and were fighting tooth-and-nail to protect our most human rights, how do we make it all better?"

This book is her response using her own experiences as examples; from the epilogue: "Right now, our country has some major soul-searching to do. We have to figure out how to address the fear and disruption that many people are feeling and continue to fight for the rights of women, immigrants, LGBTQ people, people of color, and anyone else who needs support. To do that we're going to have to ask tough questions speak clearly about what we believe and maybe even let of the political labels that have defined these kinds of debates for too long. Here's the good news, there's never been a better time to become an activist agitator or trouble maker. I promise you, doing something whether it's showing up at a town hall meeting, getting some friends together to start your own organization, or just refusing to keep quiet about what you believe feels infinitely better than sitting on the sidelines."

Of course, the people she mentions have always been in this position, and there have always been a few white men or people in positions of power who have been allies or accomplices to women, people of color, immigrants, and LGBTQ. Hopefully what we see is that number of people allies and accomplices is rising as the vestiges of racism and sexism engage in their long drawn out death throws over the next 100 years or so (since that seems to be how long steps in human rights take). We need to be more.

As Cecile says, "Looking back on my life so far, the moments I regret most are the ones when I was too scared to take a chance. The moments when I didn't know what to do and so did nothing. In some ways, being an activist in public is easy. Standing up for yourself in your own life can be much harder." As an example, Cecile regrets not saying something when sexually harassed or finding out she was paid less for fear of losing opportunities to learn and grow in her career - and hopes that women soon won't have to experience the same.

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I wish the book had had less detail about the 2016 campaign. I enjoyed hearing about the Planned Parenthood testimony, Ann Richards's campaign, the Texas Freedom Network, and America Votes, but felt the 2016 campaign had too much detail comparatively. It was very important that she gave the names of Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin, Lucy McBath, mother of Jordan Davis, Gwen Carr, mother of Eric Garner, Geneva Reed-Veal, mother of Sandra Bland, Maria Hamilton, mother of Dontre Hamilton. But other places it just dragged. ( )

When I found out Cecile Richards was Ann Richards daughter, this immediately became my favorite book of the summer. Cecile comes by her ability to stand up for the underdog naturally. ( )

An interesting memoir focusing on activism and feminism. It is refreshing to hear the positive voices of women through the cacophony of negativity these days. ( )