Plenty Ladylike

May 25, 2015
Missouri Senator McCaskill’s life, as painted in this memoir, has been a life in electoral politics. “Trick or treat and vote for JFK” was the seven-year-old’s Halloween appeal; in high school she was elected homecoming queen; later, she was elected to the state House of Representatives, as Jackson County prosecutor (first woman), and as Missouri’s state auditor (second woman). She was the first person to outmatch an incumbent governor in a Missouri primary; her narrow loss in the general election was her first defeat. In 2006, she was the first woman elected to the Senate from Missouri and in 2012, she was re-elected, defeating Todd Akin of the ill-chosen remarks about “legitimate rape.” The notable Senate achievements she highlights include earmark spending reform, oversight of military contractors, and directing attention to sexual assault in the military. McCaskill emphasizes the particular problems for women in politics, such as casual sexism, direct sexual harassment, and “extra-special scrutiny” for spouses. With candor, she writes anecdotally of her domestic life—marriage, divorce, and second marriage included. Triumphs are here, and so are lapses, such as her Meet the Press remark about Bill Clinton: “He’s been a great leader but I don’t want my daughters near him.” Peppered with practical lessons (“Never, never, never underestimate your opponent”), McCaskill’s memoir is straightforward, plainspoken, and at once deeply personal and thoroughly political. Agent: Amy Berkower, Writers House.