How ‘The Truths We Hold’ by Kamala Harris Helps Us Understand The Next Phase of US Politics
When Obama’s ” A Promised Land” was first released, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the tome. Then I saw the high price point and the impossibility of borrowing it at the library due to the high demand, so I decided to turn my attention to other presidential biographies instead.
I was glad I did, because the book I found, “The Truths We Hold” by Kamala Harris, is a literary gem. Harris is the current Vice-President of the USA and is well-known to be a hard-hitting attorney-general and senator of the Democratic Party. I first came to know about her through watching Youtube videos of her interrogating the Big Tech CEOs and US Government nominees. She would ask tough, uncompromising questions and refused to let non-committal answers go. I felt like I was watching an intense legal drama.
Her book is similar in the sense that it brims with unrelenting determination on the issues that Harris refuses to compromise on. I found, for example, her discussion on immigration to be particularly galvanizing and heartbreaking. She also writes about her own role in legalising gay marriage in California, to the point where she would personally wed the long lines of same-sex couples wanting to marry.
I am, however, aware that because of the political nature of this book, there will be some level of one-sidedness. The book is as much a memoir as a campaign book meant to cast Harris as a well-rounded individual with an ordinary family just like you and me. Admittedly, I didn’t particularly enjoy her anecdotes about her family life, as I felt that she was using those moments to show that she was brought up with relatable, middle class values. I also noticed that when she wrote about her failures, such as when she failed the bar exam the first time, she would quickly move to the next section. A memoir would have focused more on her vulnerabilities, but because Kamala is still moving up the political establishment, the book probably had to be very selective in its presentation of Harris.
As for her writing style, Harris writes with clean and direct sentences. It is an effective prose method to get the political message across, and it probably incentivizes voters who hardly read books to pick up hers. However, in Kamala’s case, the simple prose style sometimes leads to a disjointed reading experience. Too many short sentences were bunched together, and there are abrupt changes in tone or ideas without smooth connectors. At one point, I did wonder if her campaign team was rushing this book before some kind of election deadline, resulting in a lack of editing to polish the book.
One thing I did enjoy about her writing though, was her use of dialogue to play out some of her key meetings, Senate discussions and courtroom hearings. It felt like I was transported to her world when I read the way she interrogated the bankers and Senate nominees. Some of her key moments, particularly against the big banks in the 2008 crisis, offered an excellent insider view of the conversations that were not privy to the public, so if you are interested in US politics, this book has some insights to offer.
In all, her book may not hold as much appeal as Obama’s memoir, but it still reflects the issues of American life in a poignant and emotive way. You will understand both the logic and personal stories behind some of her progressive policies, and you will feel inspired by the unrelentless fighting style that characterises Kamala. It’s a perfect read in this time, since she will be the US vice-president for the next 4 years (and I expect her to seek higher political ambitions after). I’m curious to read more political memoirs, so if you have any suggestions, please do let me know in the comments!
By: Haris Arman Thong, Publicity Director, ReadNUS
