Know Your Power: A Message to America’s Daughters by Nancy Pelosi

Val Penny ♦ January 17, 2021 ♦ Leave a comment

My daughter gave me Know Your Power: A Message to America’s Daughters as part of my Christmas present and I am delighted to have read it. Nancy Pelosi is one of the most powerful women in the world and to hear her story is inspirational.

The Blurb

“Never losing faith, we worked to redeem the promise of America, that all men and women are created equal. For our daughters and our granddaughters today we have broken the marble ceiling. For our daughters and our granddaughters now the sky is the limit.” –Nancy Pelosi, after being sworn in as Speaker of the House

When Nancy Pelosi became the first woman Speaker of the House, she made history. Now she continues to inspire women everywhere in this thought-provoking collection of wise words-her own and those of the important people who played pivotal roles in her journey. In this compelling book, she encourages mothers and grandmothers, daughters and granddaughters to never lose faith, to speak out and make their voices heard, to focus on what matters most and to follow their dreams wherever they may lead.

The Review

Know Your Power: A Message to America’s Daughters was written in 2008 and a lot has happened since then, so the book is somewhat dated in its emphasis and interest. Also , some of the names of those mentioned in the book, while no doubt important in their time to the democratic party, hold little interest to those reading the book today. I could not help but feel some of the names had been included as a thank you for past services rendered. I also felt that I did not need to know as much as I was told about her own family and children, although some of that detail was necessary to understand the author and her drive to serve the her community and the nation.

Despite the fact Know Your Power: A Message to America’s Daughters is dated and not terribly well written, it is an important book as it encourages females to consider a career in politics at any level, explains to them that they can do it as well as having a family life. It is also an important book because it empathises to women that they should not accept artificial limits to their ambition.

I was very excited to receive this book and really looked forward to reading it. While I am glad that I have read Know Your Power: A Message to America’s Daughters by Nancy Pelosi, I was disappointed by how poorly written it was and by how dated it is. A new edition including all that has happened in the last twelve years would be welcome and because of those limitations, I would be very careful if and to whom I recommended this book. I enjoyed it far less than I thought I would and that was disappointing.

The Author

Nancy Patricia Pelosi is an American politician serving as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 2019, and previously from 2007 to 2011. She was the first female Speaker of the US House of Representatives. Pelosi has also served as a U.S. representative from California since 1987.

Val Penny