Fighting Chance

As a child in small-town Oklahoma, Elizabeth Warren yearned to go to college and become a teacher. Early motherhood seemed to put that dream out of reach, but fifteen years later she was a distinguished law professor with a deep understanding of why people go bankrupt. Then came the phone call that changed her life.

Reviews

‘Ms. Warren’s descriptions of herself may be the most interesting part of A Fighting Chance. To judge by her own account, she seems prone to bullying: She demands that Kennedy fight a bankruptcy bill she dislikes, orders Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to wear a seat belt and even picks an hour-long fight with President Obama in the Oval Office. ‘You're jamming me, Elizabeth,’ he says, exasperated. Yet she also portrays herself as a small-town gal with an aw-shucks demeanour. She vomits backstage before appearing on ‘The Daily Show’, and on the campaign trail walks ‘straight into a pole.’ Perhaps Elizabeth Warren is both of these personalities: the down-to-earth Okie and the Washington power broker with far-left views. That's what makes her interesting, troubling and, for Hillary Clinton, a potential political threat.’