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My Life and Our Times
Simon & Schuster
February 2008
On Sale: February 5, 2008
368 pages
ISBN: 074329081X
EAN: 9780743290814
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Memoir
To The Washington Post, he's "The Last Political Showman of
the 20th Century." Bill Clinton has called him "the real Slick Willie." Ronald Reagan's secretary of state George Shultz called this
famously liberal politician "a man of his word" and endorsed
his successful candidacy for mayor of San Francisco. Indeed Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton both called upon him
for advice and help. He is Willie L. Brown, Jr., and he
knows how to get things done in politics, how to work both
sides of the aisle to get results. Compared to him,
Machiavelli looks meek. And drab. In Basic Brown, this product of rural, segregated Texas and
the urban black neighborhoods of San Francisco tells how he
rose through the civil rights movement to become the most
potent black politician in America through his shrewd
understanding and use of political power and political
money. He adapts the lessons he has learned so they can be
used by anyone -- black, female, male -- intent on acquiring
political power. And this master of the political deal demonstrates why deals
are not enough, and that political power grows only when
public good is being done. Willie Brown shows how some of
the most far-reaching and socially advanced legislation in
American history -- like gun control, legalized abortion,
gay rights, and school funding -- was carried out under his
guidance and on his watch, and tells of the ingenuity, the
political machinations, and the personal perseverance that
were required to enact what now seems to many to be obvious
legislation. These are stories of breathtaking, sometimes
hilarious ruses and gambits that show that even the most
high-minded legislation needs the assistance of the skills
of a shark, which is what Willie Brown often sees himself as. Basic Brown is a compendium of insights and stories on the
real forces governing power in American political life that
will leave you looking at politics anew. It is also the
inspiring and funny story of the rise of a gawky teenager in
mail-order shoes and trousers who rose to entertain royalty
and schoolchildren, superstars and supersize egos, the
saintly and the scholarly, while working to transform and
open American politics. If you ever wanted to learn how to
be slick, a shark, a do-gooder, and a man of your word,
Willie L. Brown, Jr., is the storyteller for you.
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