From the Publisher
"Amy Klobuchar’s The Senator Next Door is a must read for public servants across the country. With her trademark Midwestern honesty and humor, she recounts the events that have shaped her life and reminds us that it is still possible, with grit and good will, to work across the aisle to get things done in Washington."—Senator John McCain
"From the halls of her high school all the way to the United States Senate, Amy Klobuchar's journey is one of incredible perseverance and success. Her story radiates with warmth, humor, and candor."—Sheryl Sandberg, author of Lean In
"The Senator Next Door is both a desperately needed wake-up call to our politicians and a delightful memoir that will inspire everyone. Buy one for yourself and give one to an elected official."—Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs and Benjamin Franklin
"I absolutely loved this book and could not put it down. It's smart, funny, moving, and filled with wisdom and insight. The Senator Next Door left me deeply inspired with renewed hope for the American Dream."—Amy Chua, author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
"The Senator Next Door is about avoiding the sort of blistering rhetoric and political posturing that makes it hard to forge alliances across party lines to get things done."—USA Today
"The Lean In of political memoirs."—The New Republic
"The book is timely because there’s talk of the senator moving to higher office in the future." —Pioneer Press
"If, in these polarized times, you need to boost our faith in democratic politics, this is the book for you." —The Annals of Iowa
author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother and The Amy Chua
I absolutely loved this book and could not put it down. It's smart, funny, moving, and filled with wisdom and insight. I especially related to the extraordinary stories about Amy's immigrant grandparents. The Senator Next Door left me deeply inspired, with renewed hope for the American Dream.
Kirkus Reviews
2015-07-01
A comprehensive autobiography by the first female U.S. senator from Minnesota.For anyone interested in the intricate details of how a young girl from Minneapolis made it to a seat in the Senate, Klobuchar (Uncovering the Dome, 1986) has written that book. Humorous at times, honest, and meticulously detailed, occasionally to a fault, the author unveils her entire life's history with a slow, steady pace. She chronicles her grandparents' immigrant status, her father's rise through journalism and his troubles with alcohol, her mother's years as a teacher and stay-at-home mom, her parents' divorce, and how these events affected her early childhood. She discusses her school years, beginning with kindergarten, and takes readers up through high school, college, and law school. Once this preliminary history is out of the way, Klobuchar tackles her years in the law business, and she discusses a variety of cases she worked on with her colleagues. She also recounts her marriage to husband John and the birth and early health issues of her daughter, Abigail. She then moves into her political run for county attorney, which eventually led to her years as senator. Throughout the book, Klobuchar provides a wealth of daily minutiae—e.g., the day she was babysitting and hid a half-eaten bologna sandwich under the couch, that her wedding dress was a "sample," and the sparring she encountered over moving some furniture in the county attorney's office reception area. These facts add quaintness to the narrative but also bog it down. Still, Klobuchar provides an informative chronicle balanced between her personal and political lives, one that reflects the stance she took early in life to overcome any obstacles thrown her way and how she has used that same drive to surmount the numerous obstructions she has faced while serving as senator. A flawed but deeply personal recounting of one woman's rise through the political ranks.
