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From the book jacket: In this first biography of Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. in more than thirty years, Chuck McFadden explores the unique persona of one of the most idiosyncratic politicians in California history. Son of California political royalty and creator of his own political style against the tumultuous backdrop of a huge, balkanized state with a constantly shifting political terrain, Jerry Brown plumbed his visionary impulses as well as his grand ambitions. McFadden traces Brown’s childhood in San Francisco, his time studying for the priesthood, his unusual political career, and his romances—including a long-term relationship with singer Linda Ronstadt. He describes Brown’s first two terms as governor advocating for farmworkers, women, and minorities; his time roaming the world in a spiritual quest; and his return to the gritty world of politics as chairman of the California Democratic Party and then mayor of Oakland. Political experts weigh in with thoughts about the remarkable 2010 campaign that saw the 72-year-old Brown winning his third term as governor while being vastly outspent by Republican Meg Whitman. Concise, insightful, and enlivened by the events and personalities that colored the history of California, Trailblazer provides an intimate portrait of the pugnacious, adept politician who has bucked national trends to become a leader of one of the largest economies in the world. Some blurbs about "Trailblazer" from California political experts and authors: “While the details of the governor’s life and career are well known, this book is an invaluable addition to what has been written about him. McFadden’s account of his lifelong intellectual and spiritual growth is detailed and perceptive. As the author points out, this combination of the intellectual, spiritual, and political has shaped Brown’s life and explains the contradictions that have long intrigued America.” Bill Boyarsky, author of Ronald Reagan, His Life and Rise to the Presidency “If you still wonder if Jerry Brown was born on another planet, Chuck McFadden will set you straight, firmly grounding this political enigma in California’s peculiar twentieth-century realities.” Joe Matthews, coeditor, Zócalo Public Square “What makes Jerry run? Trailblazer offers a new generation of Californians a fresh and up-to-date look at the many lives, campaigns, and contradictions of their once-was and now-again governor, Jerry Brown—reckless and cautious, spiritual and pragmatic, reformer and status-quo stalwart—in all their chameleon glory.” Mark Paul, coauthor, California Crackup: How Reform Broke the Golden State and How We Can Fix It “A thoughtful and enlightening contribution to the literature on one of California's ‘most idiosyncratic politicians,’ this book perceptively analyzes the tensions between the spiritual and the pragmatic that have shaped Jerry Brown's approach to, and philosophy of, governance and politics. McFadden vibrantly and accurately portrays the parallel evolution of California's ‘new/old governor’ and the political system that defines him and that he helped define.” Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, Ph.D., Senior Fellow, Sol Price School of Public Policy, University of Southern California University of California Press ↗
A popular Harvard business professor urged his students to read the obituaries in the New York Times before they read anything else, in order to learn from the lives of great men. ↗
No man is a caricature, no individual can alone bear responibilty for a nation's collapse. The disaster Zaire became, the dull acquiescence of its people, had its roots in a history of extraordinary outside interference, as basic in motivation as it was elevated in rhetoric. The momentum behind Zaire's free-fall was generated not by one man but thousands of compliant collaborators, at home and abroad. ↗
I couldn't think of anything I wanted to do or any place I wanted to be more than home. Where I can walk around the yard, sweeping leaves off the slate paths to my heart's content. Where I can spend all day in my pajamas puttering around the house, or curled up in my favorite chair in the family room next to the big stone fireplace. The walls are papered deep red, hung with Madison's paintings and lined with our favorite books. The furniture is comfortable and inviting. Our house is made to be lived in; we use every inch of it and don't mind the signs of wear and tear. There's a deep dent in the floor next to the hearth ... It's part of the story of this house, where a family has left its mark, and where it continues to grow and evolve. ↗
What drove us crazy wasn't necessarily the sexual freedom his critic claimed he was unleashing, but freedom, period. Freedom to be yourself, to express yourself, to wear what you wanted to wear, to look the way you wanted to look, to have your own style, your own talk. ↗
This book would not have been made without the tireless mentoring and rare friendship of Christian Bok, Steven Collis and Nicole Markotic. ↗
What a wee little part of a person's life are his acts and his words! His real life is led in his head, and is known to none but himself. All day long, the mill of his brain is grinding, and his thoughts, not those of other things, are his history. These are his life, and they are not written. Everyday would make a whole book of 80,000 words -- 365 books a year. Biographies are but the clothes and buttons of the man -- the biography of the man himself cannot be written. ↗
