Heart of Fire
An Immigrant Daughter's Story
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Narrated by:
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Mazie K. Hirono
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By:
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Mazie K. Hirono
About this listen
“Heart of Fire is a revelatory, evocative, deeply moving book.” (Washington Post)
“Amazing...a memoir I really loved.” (Secretary Hillary Clinton, “You and Me Both” podcast)
“A beautiful book.” (Trevor Noah, The Daily Show)
The intimate and inspiring life story of Mazie Hirono, the first Asian-American woman and the only immigrant serving in the U.S. Senate
Mazie Hirono is one of the most fiercely outspoken Democrats in Congress, but her journey to the U.S. Senate was far from likely. Raised on a rice farm in rural Japan, she was seven years old when her mother, Laura, left her abusive husband and sailed with her two elder children to Hawaii, crossing the Pacific in steerage in search of a better life. Though the girl then known as "Keiko" did not speak or read English when she entered first grade, she would go on to serve as a state representative and as Hawaii's lieutenant governor before winning election to Congress in 2006.
In this deeply personal memoir, Hirono traces her remarkable life from her earliest days in Hawaii, when the family lived in a single room in a Honolulu boarding house while her mother worked two jobs to keep them afloat, to her emergence as a highly effective legislator whose determination to help the most vulnerable was grounded in her own experiences of economic insecurity, lack of healthcare access, and family separation. Finally, it chronicles Hirono's recent transformation from dogged yet soft-spoken public servant into the frank and fiery advocate we know her as today.
For the vast majority of Mazie Hirono's five decades in public service, even as she fought for the causes she believed in, she strove to remain polite and reserved. Steeped in the nonconfrontational cultures of Japan and Hawaii, and aware of the expectations of women in politics--chiefly, that they should never show an excess of emotion - she had schooled herself to bite her tongue, even as her male colleagues continually underestimated her. After the 2016 election, however, she could moderate herself no longer. In the face of a dangerous administration--and amid crucial battles with lasting implications for our democracy, from the Kavanaugh hearings to the impeachment trial--Senator Hirono was called to give voice to the fire that had always been inside her.
The compelling and moving account of a woman coming into her own power over the course of a lifetime in public service, and of the mother whose courageous choices made her life possible, Heart of Fire is the story of a uniquely American journey, told by one of those fighting hardest to ensure that a story like hers is still possible in this country.
©2021 Mazie K. Hirono (P)2021 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“[A] multigenerational tale...built around her political and feminist awakening...most powerfully, Heart of Fire is about Hirono’s growing determination to loosen her tongue.” (Rebecca Traister, The Cut)
“[A] courageous and vivid depiction of growing up in Hawaii as a poor immigrant.” (The Washington Post)
“By no means does Hirono present her story as just one victory after another, or as simply a political parable. She tells amusing stories about her foibles...[and] confesses to setbacks in her love life.... Grit is the through line of Heart of Fire.” (San Francisco Chronicle)
"With both ferocity and compassion, Hirono chronicles her experiences in Congress, exposing the rampant hypocrisy and illogical behavior she has witnessed. At the same time, warmth and love shine through, as she attributes her success and determination to the example set by her mother. A heartfelt and fiery political memoir and immigrant story.” (Kirkus Reviews)
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Senator Jon Tester is a rare voice in Congress. He is the only United States senator who manages a full-time job outside of the Senate - as a farmer. But what has really come to distinguish Tester in the Senate is his commitment to accountability, his ability to stand up to Donald Trump, and his success in, time and again, winning red state voters back to the Democratic Party.
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Great job, Jon!
- By Montana on 12-10-20
By: Jon Tester
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Eleanor
- By: David Michaelis
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 19 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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In the first single-volume cradle-to-grave portrait in six decades, acclaimed biographer David Michaelis delivers a stunning account of Eleanor Roosevelt’s remarkable life of transformation. An orphaned niece of President Theodore Roosevelt, she converted her Gilded Age childhood of denial and secrecy into an irreconcilable marriage with her ambitious fifth cousin Franklin. Franklin Roosevelt transformed Eleanor from a settlement house volunteer on New York’s Lower East Side into a matching partner in New York’s most important power couple in a generation.
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Stands apart from other biographies of ER
- By Debra Malone on 11-20-20
By: David Michaelis
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Being Heumann
- An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist
- By: Judith Heumann, Kristen Joiner
- Narrated by: Ali Stroker
- Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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A story of fighting to belong in a world that wasn't built for all of us and of one woman's activism - from the streets of Brooklyn and San Francisco to inside the halls of Washington - Being Heumann recounts Judy Heumann's lifelong battle to achieve respect, acceptance, and inclusion in society. From fighting to attend grade school after being described as a "fire hazard" to later winning a lawsuit against the New York City school system for denying her a teacher's license because of her paralysis, Judy's actions set a precedent that improved rights for disabled people.
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A must read for everyone
- By Christopher A Cawthon on 09-28-20
By: Judith Heumann, and others
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First
- Sandra Day O'Connor
- By: Evan Thomas
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 16 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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She was born in 1930 in El Paso and grew up on a cattle ranch in Arizona. At a time when women were expected to be homemakers, she set her sights on Stanford University. When she graduated near the top of her law school class in 1952, no firm would even interview her. But Sandra Day O’Connor’s story is that of a woman who repeatedly shattered glass ceilings - doing so with a blend of grace, wisdom, humor, understatement, and cowgirl toughness.
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Remarkable woman, well served in this book.
- By KathrynVB on 04-05-19
By: Evan Thomas
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The Kennedys
- An American Drama
- By: Peter Collier, David Horowitz
- Narrated by: Christopher Hurt
- Length: 20 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Who are the Kennedys? Are they the brilliant, heroic, extraordinary people their admirers believe them to be? Or are they arrogant, competitive, self-absorbed children of a willful and immensely rich patriarch, as their detractors claim? In fact, they are all of these things, and more.
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Well-written (and narrated) Kennedy history.
- By SBG on 09-17-19
By: Peter Collier, and others
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Hatemonger
- Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda
- By: Jean Guerrero
- Narrated by: Frankie Corzo
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Stephen Miller is one of the most influential advisors in the White House. He has crafted Donald Trump’s speeches, designed immigration policies that ban Muslims and separate families, and outlasted such Trump stalwarts as Steve Bannon and Jeff Sessions. But he’s remained an enigma. Until now. Emmy- and PEN-winning investigative journalist and author Jean Guerrero charts the 34-year-old’s astonishing rise to power, drawing from more than 100 interviews with his family, friends, adversaries, and government officials.
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Deplorable on purpose
- By M. Alice Fisher on 08-15-20
By: Jean Guerrero
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The Education of an Idealist
- A Memoir
- By: Samantha Power
- Narrated by: Samantha Power
- Length: 21 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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In her memoir, Power offers an urgent response to the question "What can one person do?" and a call for a clearer eye, a kinder heart, and a more open and civil hand in our politics and daily lives. The Education of an Idealist traces Power’s distinctly American journey from immigrant to war correspondent to presidential Cabinet official. In 2005, her critiques of US foreign policy caught the eye of newly elected senator Barack Obama, who invited her to work with him on Capitol Hill and then on his presidential campaign.
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Sam's Power: Privilege in U.S. Politics
- By RelizzScholar27 on 11-09-19
By: Samantha Power
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We Are Our Mothers' Daughters
- Revised and Expanded Edition
- By: Cokie Roberts
- Narrated by: Cokie Roberts
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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In this 10th anniversary edition, renowned political commentator Cokie Roberts once again examines the nature of women's roles. From mother to mechanic, sister to soldier, Roberts reveals how much progress has now been made and how much further we have to go. Updated and expanded to include a diverse new cast of women, including Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, Billie Jean King, and others, this collection of essays offers tremendous insight into the opportunities and challenges that women encounter today.
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A must read or “listen” for all women and girls!!
- By monica on 09-30-19
By: Cokie Roberts
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Team of Five
- The Presidents Club in the Age of Trump
- By: Kate Andersen Brower
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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From the number one New York Times best-selling author of The Residence and First Women - also a New York Times best seller - comes a poignant, news-making look at the lives of the five former presidents in the wake of their White House years, including the surprising friendships they have formed through shared perspective and empathy.
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Fascinating
- By Jean on 06-18-20
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JFK
- Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956
- By: Fredrik Logevall
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 29 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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By the time of his assassination in 1963, John F. Kennedy stood at the helm of the greatest power the world had ever seen, a booming American nation that he had steered through some of the most perilous diplomatic standoffs of the Cold War. Born in 1917 to a striving Irish American family that had become among Boston’s wealthiest, Kennedy knew political ambition from an early age, and his meteoric rise to become the youngest elected president cemented his status as one of the most mythologized figures in American history.
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Excellent Portrait of JFK & His Times
- By John David on 12-14-20
By: Fredrik Logevall
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Song in a Weary Throat
- Memoir of an American Pilgrimage
- By: Pauli Murray, Patricia Bell-Scott - Introduction by
- Narrated by: Allyson Johnson
- Length: 19 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Poet, memoirist, labor organizer, and Episcopal priest, Pauli Murray helped transform the law of the land. Arrested in 1940 for sitting in the whites-only section of a Virginia bus, Murray propelled that life-defining event into a Howard law degree and a fight against "Jane Crow" sexism. Now Murray is finally getting long-deserved recognition: The first African American woman to receive a doctorate of law at Yale, her name graces one of the university's new colleges.
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great American shero
- By Coisge F Mccullough on 04-13-24
By: Pauli Murray, and others
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Nine Days
- The Race to Save Martin Luther King Jr.'s Life and Win the 1960 Election
- By: Paul Kendrick, Stephen Kendrick
- Narrated by: Bill Andrew Quinn
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Less than three weeks before the 1960 presidential election, 31-year-old Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested at a sit-in at Rich's Department Store in Atlanta. That day would lead to the first night King had ever spent in jail - and the time that King's family most feared for his life. Based on fresh interviews, newspaper accounts, and extensive archival research, Nine Days is the first full recounting of an event that changed the course of one of the closest elections in American history.
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a fascinating, detailed, blow-by-blow approach
- By D. Littman on 01-29-21
By: Paul Kendrick, and others
What listeners say about Heart of Fire
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 05-31-21
A Book with Heart
Loved listening to Mazie Hirono. Her story is an American story for all of us.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Paul
- 06-07-21
I didn’t want it to end
I was struck early on by the way the author paints so beautifully with her words. I soon found myself engulfed in the stories of real struggle and success. Heartbreaking loss and an appreciation for everything, taking nothing for granted. I laughed plenty and cried just as much. I loved hearing about the author’s mother and her never ending fight to better the lives of her loved ones. This same drive put to the benefit of the people of Hawaii, the United States and the world by Senator Hirono. I felt I was loosing a friend when the hoof was finished. Senator Hirono is a Bad Ass! I have my dream dinner guest list and she is on it. I know it won’t ever happen but I am grateful beyond my ability to express here, for the work she does for all of us and for writing her story. It was a beautiful gift from someone who has given her whole life to make the world a better place for everyone. Listen to this book, please.
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- KT2012
- 10-25-21
Inspirational Life Story of an Accomplished Patriot and Politician
I learned so much about the inner workings of American politics at the local, State, and National level from this book. Senator Hirono’s life story gave me a deep appreciation for how much career politicians of integrity gave of their life and talents to build, improve and preserve this great nation. I’m grateful and happy to see that many have bravely shared their invaluable experience and knowledge to enlighten the American public. Highly recommended reading/listening.
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- Manuel Castro
- 11-04-21
Inspiring
Senator Hirono is a masterclass in what it means to be a respectable public servant. Her story relates to many, and is too often overlooked by the flashier media attention grabbing politicians. Listening to this story can help reinvigorate long lost fait in our legislative institutions and the people that steer them.
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- Casey Pennington
- 04-27-21
Amazing women
This is a wonderful book about strong women who persevere through extraordinary situations. So inspiring!!!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Janet L. Otto
- 07-03-21
Wise woman
What an enlightening story of Mazie’s life. We should all take life as seriously. She encourages me to live better.
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- AAJ
- 05-22-21
Deeply Moving
This is a beautiful, deeply moving memoir. It is a story of family and striving, of succeeding and reaching back to help others.
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1 person found this helpful
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- David L. Jones
- 12-19-22
We are lucky to have Senator Hirono in Congress
I honestly didn’t know Senator Hirono before listening to this book. Therefore. I am particularly glad a choose it. What a wonderful success story. She has taught me a lot in this book. I appreciate her. Eye much. Keep fighting for what is right!! Thank you!!
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- Pat
- 04-25-21
Mazie’s Journey
Love the plain spoken words which Maxie used to tell her story. I was caught by the sincerity and the reality of her journey. Her words rang true as I saw her family struggles and how her spirit evolved. Perhaps it’s because I admire her straightforward words each time I hear her speak. She doesn’t hold her punches and tells it like it is. That’s what I heard in her reading. Truly enjoyed it.
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- Andrea Y Tolbert
- 05-26-21
wonderful
Enjoyed the story Ifelt like I was walking the path with you. As a child of 60's - 80's (76-81 college) I watch my mom fight the right to make her own way. She taught the children that they classified as hard to teach. "Ever Child Can Learn" She taught me more than bricks and mortar. Thank you for sharing.
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1 person found this helpful