Make Trouble

March 1, 2018
The president of Planned Parenthood recounts her life as an activist.For decades, Richards has been at the forefront of anti-war, civil rights, labor, and women's issues; as she demonstrates, activism and the desire to work for the common good run in her family. Her father was a labor attorney and environmentalist, and her mother, Ann Richards, was a fierce fighter for women's rights who became governor of Texas. As a high school girl new to Austin (she was born in Waco), she made and wore a black arm band supporting the moratorium to end the Vietnam War. After graduation, she headed east to Brown University. She supported striking janitors and librarians, took a semester off to intern for the Project on the Status and Education of Women in Washington, D.C., and became a union organizer in New Orleans. There, she met and married labor organizer Kirk Adams and formed a family that has supported labor across the country ever since. After some time in Southern California, she went back to Texas to work for her mother's campaign for governor, and she formed the Texas Freedom Network to fight against right-wing textbook censorship. Then it was off to Washington again to serve on Nancy Pelosi's staff. The author sprinkles short asides throughout the book that alternate between genuinely instructional and boring--e.g., well-worn tips on work-life balance. However, the guidelines for starting any organization are spot-on: direct, down-to-earth, and highly practical. In 2006, Richards and her family moved to New York City so she could assume the lead role at Planned Parenthood in 2006, and she has made the organization instrumental in a wide variety of women's -rights causes. In the past year, she has spent considerable time battling for her organization amid the Trump administration's efforts to cut funding.A memoir that makes palpable the immense influence of an organization that has improved so many women's lives.

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March 12, 2018
In this passionate self-portrait, activist Richards maps her road to success from union organizer to her tenure as president of Planned Parenthood, recalling the experiences that shaped her career. She opens with the 2015 congressional hearings in which Planned Parenthood faced fierce scrutiny from the heavily Republican committee, sparked by a smear video released by an anti-abortion group. The committee found no wrongdoing, and the outpouring of popular support led Richards to reflect on her career. From there, she goes back to her upbringing as the eldest child of politician Ann Richards, who later became the first female governor of Texas, and civil rights attorney David Richards. Their Dallas home was “the local gathering place for misfits and rabble-rousers.” As Richards relays her college years and onwards, her focus remains squarely on human rights—she met her husband while working for the United Labor Union in New Orleans, and she moved back to Texas to start a family and launch the Texas Freedom Alliance to support public education and religious liberty. Richards’s commitment to progressive values, particularly reproductive rights, is evident throughout this book. It serves as a call to action for women who are mobilizing to make a difference in government and healthcare policies. Photos.

April 15, 2018

Richards, president of Planned Parenthood from 2006 to 2018, here traces her life as an activist. Born in Waco, TX, in 1957, Richards was raised by progressive parents; her mother, Ann, was a feminist, and her father, David, a labor and civil rights attorney. She protested the Vietnam War and honed her skills as an activist at Brown University. One of her first jobs was as an organizer for the United Labor Union in New Orleans, where she met her husband, Kirk Adams. Richards organized nursing home staff in Southern California and repeatedly notes the courage of the workers who were willing to put themselves on the line at great cost to make change. Later, she moved to Austin to help her mother become the first female governor of Texas. Along the way, the author had a family, eventually relocating to Washington, DC, to work for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; then on to New York to run Planned Parenthood. During her tenure at Planned Parenthood, Richards never wavered in her resolve to battle funding cuts to the organization and ensure that a woman's right to a safe and legal abortion is nonnegotiable. VERDICT Documenting an inspiring life and offering a call to action, this timely volume is for all readers.--Barrie Olmstead, Sacramento P.L.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2018

Questioning authority and challenging the status quo are expected behaviors for most teens, and often considered part of a necessary rite of passage into adulthood. Activism, on the other hand, is not always viewed with the same level of acceptance. In her autobiographical book on leadership, Richards, the quintessential cheerleader for activists of all ages, champions those who publicly take a stand for what they believe. She started making "trouble" at 13 and has never stopped. Her excitement about "fighting the good fight" is palpable. She was raised by liberal parents who worked for social justice on many fronts. In highly conservative Waco, TX, they were avid campaigners for local Democratic candidates, and Richards and her siblings spent many afternoons stuffing envelopes at campaign headquarters. After years of organizing for workers' rights, she followed in the footsteps of her mother, Governor Ann Richards, by taking up the fight for a woman's right to dominion over her own body and access to health care. The author recounts with equal enthusiasm the many campaigns for causes she's lost right alongside the ones she's won. Now, stepping down after 12 years at the helm of Planned Parenthood, Richards appears poised to enter the political arena, joining a growing number of women hoping to change the paternalistic course of U.S. history. VERDICT An inspiring volume for teens looking to involve themselves in politics and/or social justice activism.-Cary Frostick, formerly at Mary Riley Styles Public Library, Falls Church, VA

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.