Plenty Ladylike: A Memoir

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Synopsis

The senator from Missouri shares her “straightforward, plainspoken, and at once deeply personal and thoroughly political” (Publishers Weekly) story of embracing her ambition, surviving sexism, making a family, losing a husband, outsmarting her enemies—and finding joy along the way.

Claire McCaskill grew up in a political family, but not at a time that welcomed women with big plans. She earned a law degree and paid her way through school by working as a waitress. By 1982 Claire had set her sights on the Missouri House of Representatives. That door was slammed in her face, but Claire always kept pushing—first as a prosecutor of arsonists and rapists and then all the way to the door of a cabal of Missouri politicians, who had secret meetings to block her legislation.

In this candid, lively, and forthright memoir, Senator McCaskill describes her uphill battle to become who she is today, from her failed first marriage to a Kansas City car dealer—the father of her three children—to her current marriage to a Missouri businessman whom she describes as “a life partner.” She depicts her ups and downs with the Clintons, her long-shot reelection as senator after secretly helping to nominate a right-wing extremist as her opponent, and the fun of joining the growing bipartisan sisterhood in the Senate.

Unconventional, unsparing in its honesty, full of sharp humor and practical wisdom, and rousing in its defense of female ambition, “Plenty Ladylike is a powerful, unapologetic primer on the successful exercise of real power and what it takes to get it, keep it, and use it. This is a brilliant memoir that nearly explodes with encouragement for women on how to achieve their dreams” (Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO and author of Lean In).

Chapters

  • PlentyLadyLike 01 Title

    Duration: 32s
  • PlentyLadyLike 02 Dedication

    Duration: 14s
  • PlentyLadyLike 03 Ch1

    Duration: 36min
  • PlentyLadyLike 04 Ch2

    Duration: 27min
  • PlentyLadyLike 05 Ch3

    Duration: 44min
  • PlentyLadyLike 06 Ch4

    Duration: 35min
  • PlentyLadyLike 07 Ch5

    Duration: 41min
  • PlentyLadyLike 08 Ch6

    Duration: 39min
  • PlentyLadyLike 09 Ch7

    Duration: 33min
  • PlentyLadyLike 10 Ch8

    Duration: 28min
  • PlentyLadyLike 11 Ch9

    Duration: 22min
  • PlentyLadyLike 12 Ch10

    Duration: 19min
  • PlentyLadyLike 13 Ch11

    Duration: 24min
  • PlentyLadyLike 14 Ch12

    Duration: 15min
  • PlentyLadyLike 15 Ch13

    Duration: 20min
  • PlentyLadyLike 16 Ch14

    Duration: 26min
  • PlentyLadyLike 17 Ch15

    Duration: 19min
  • PlentyLadyLike 18 Ch16

    Duration: 25min
  • PlentyLadyLike 19 Ch17

    Duration: 02min
  • PlentyLadyLike 20 Credits

    Duration: 01min