While the Democratic nominee for President will likely emerge from the 2008 primaries bloody and bruised, the always-smiling, confoundingly popular Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, will be front and center as the party heads to its National Convention in August. Not only has she somehow won the confidence of the boys' club of the House and returned her party to majority status after twelve years of Republican rule, but she has managed, in her first 100 hours on the job, to pass much of the legislation she promised. Pelosi is also leading the vocal, in-your-face opposition to the Iraq War, this generation's defining event, and is likely one of the most important political figures of the last few decades.

In this balanced, thoroughly researched biography, Bzdek chronicles the career of the country's most powerful woman, shining a light on the woman who is two heartbeats away from the presidency, and whose incredible example is already inspiring a new generation of American women.

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Woman of the House: The Rise of Nancy Pelosi

By Vincent Bzdek

Published by Palgrave MacMillan, 2008

ISBN 023060319X, 9780230603196

272 pages