A New York Times bestseller From one of America's most inspiring political leaders, a book about the core truths that unite us, and the long struggle to discern what those truths are and how best to act upon them, in her own life and across the life of our country. Senator Kamala Harris's commitment to speaking truth is informed by her upbringing. The daughter of immigrants, she was raised in an Oakland, California community that cared deeply about social justice; her parents--an esteemed economist from Jamaica and an admired cancer researcher from India--met as activists in the civil rights movement when they were graduate students at Berkeley. Growing up, Harris herself never hid her passion for justice, and when she became a prosecutor out of law school, a deputy district attorney, she quickly established herself as one of the most innovative change agents in American law enforcement. She progressed rapidly to become the elected District Attorney for San Francisco, and then the chief law enforcement officer of the state of California as a whole. Known for bringing a voice to the voiceless, she took on the big banks during the foreclosure crisis, winning a historic settlement for California's working families. Her hallmarks were applying a holistic, data-driven approach to many of California's thorniest issues, always eschewing stale "tough on crime" rhetoric as presenting a series of false choices. Neither "tough" nor "soft" but smart on crime became her mantra. Being smart means learning the truths that can make us better as a community, and supporting those truths with all our might. That has been the pole star that guided Harris to a transformational career as the top law enforcement official in California, and it is guiding her now as a transformational United States Senator, grappling with an array of complex issues that affect her state, our country, and the world, from health care and the new economy to immigration, national security, the opioid crisis, and accelerating inequality. By reckoning with the big challenges we face together, drawing on the hard-won wisdom and insight from her own career and the work of those who have most inspired her, Kamala Harris offers in THE TRUTHS WE HOLD a master class in problem solving, in crisis management, and leadership in challenging times. Through the arc of her own life, on into the great work of our day, she communicates a vision of shared struggle, shared purpose, and shared values. In a book rich in many home truths, not least is that a relatively small number of people work very hard to convince a great many of us that we have less in common than we actually do, but it falls to us to look past them and get on with the good work of living our common truth. When we do, our shared effort will continue to sustain us and this great nation, now and in the years to come....

“Its most memorable moments are those personal touches: Harris’s recollections of family, friendships and, above all, of her late mother, an Indian immigrant and cancer researcher who raised Harris and her younger sister. . . . instructive for anyone trying to imagine a Vice President Harris.”
— Carlos Lozada, The Washington Post

"A life story that genuinely entrances." — Los Angeles Times 

“An engaging read that provides insights into the influences of Harris’s life.” — ***San Francisco Chronicle

“In an era when many of our current political memoirs are either looking back at the Obama years or are attempting to grapple with our current state of government unrest, it is exciting to see a highly respected and powerful woman of color and daughter of immigrants tell her own story and offer some hope for the future of our country.” — Bustle

Autorentext
Kamala D. Harris was the vice president of the United States of America and the Democratic nominee for president in 2024. She began her career in the Alameda County District Attorney's Office, then was elected district attorney of San Francisco. As California's attorney general, Harris prosecuted transnational gangs, big banks, big oil, and for-profit colleges, and fought against attacks on the Affordable Care Act. She also fought to reduce elementary school truancy, pioneered the nation's first open data initiative to expose racial disparities in the criminal justice system, and implemented implicit bias training for police officers. The second Black woman ever elected to the U.S. Senate and the first female, first Black, and first Indian-American vice president, Harris has worked to reform our criminal justice system, raise the minimum wage, make higher education tuition-free for the majority of Americans, and protect the legal rights of refugees and immigrants. She is also the author of 107 Days.

Klappentext

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In her acclaimed memoir, former Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris delivers “a life story that genuinely entrances” (Los Angeles Times) as she looks back on how she was shaped by the core truths that unite us.

“An engaging read that provides insights into the influences of [Harris’s] life—most of all, her mother Shyamala Gopalan Harris, Ph.D., a breast cancer researcher . . . Revealing and even endearing.” —San Francisco Chronicle

The daughter of immigrants and civil rights activists, Vice President Kamala Harris was raised in an Oakland, California, community that cared deeply about social justice. As she rose to prominence as one of the political leaders of our time, her experiences would become her guiding light as she grappled with an array of complex issues and learned to bring a voice to the voiceless.

In The Truths We Hold, she reckons with the big challenges we face together. Drawing on the hard-won wisdom and insight from her own career and the work of those who have most inspired her, she communicates a vision of shared struggle, shared purpose, and shared values as we confront the great work of our day.

Leseprobe
Most mornings, my husband, Doug, wakes up before me and reads the news in bed. If I hear him making noises—a sigh, a groan, a gasp—I know what kind of day it’s going to be.

November 8, 2016, had started well—the last day of my campaign for the U.S. Senate. I spent the day meeting as many more voters as I could, and of course cast a vote myself at a neighborhood school up the street from our house. We were feeling pretty good. We had rented a huge place for my Election Night party, with a balloon drop waiting to go. But first I was going out for dinner with family and close friends—a tradition dating back to my first campaign. People had flown in from all across the country, even overseas, to be with us—my aunts and cousins, my in-laws, my sister’s in-laws, and more, all gathered for what we hoped would be a very special night. 

 
I was staring out the car window, reflecting on how far we’d come, when I heard one of Doug’s signature groans.
“You gotta look at this,” he said, handing me his phone. Early results for the presidential election were coming in. Something was happening—something bad. By the time we arrived at the restaurant, the gap between the two candidates had shrunk considerably, and I was inwardly groaning as well. *The New York Times’ *probability meter was suggesting it was going to be a long, dark night.
We settled in for a meal in a small room off the main restaurant. Emotions and adrenaline were running high, but not for the reasons we had anticipated. On the one hand, while polls hadn’t yet closed in California, we were optimistic that I was going to win. Yet even as we prepared f…