
The Senator Next Door
A Memoir from the Heartland
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Narrated by:
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Amy Klobuchar
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By:
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Amy Klobuchar
One of the US Senate's most candid - and funniest - women tells the story of her life and her unshakeable faith in our democracy.
Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar has tackled every obstacle she's encountered - her parents' divorce, her father's alcoholism and recovery, her political campaigns and Washington's gridlock - with honesty, humor and pluck. Now, in The Senator Next Door, she chronicles her remarkable heartland journey, from her immigrant grandparents to her middle-class suburban upbringing to her rise in American politics.
After being kicked out of the hospital while her infant daughter was still in intensive care, Klobuchar became the lead advocate for one of the first laws in the country guaranteeing new moms and their babies a 48-hour hospital stay. Later she ran Minnesota's biggest prosecutor's office and in 2006 was the first woman elected to the US Senate from her state. Along the way she fashioned her own political philosophy grounded in her belief that partisan flame-throwing takes no courage at all; what really matters is forging alliances with unlikely partners to solve the nation's problems.
Optimistic, plainspoken and often very funny, The Senator Next Door is a story about how the girl next door decided to enter the fray and make a difference. At a moment when America's government often seems incapable of getting anything done, Amy Klobuchar proves that politics is still the art of the possible.
©2015 Amy Klobuchar (P)2015 Macmillan AudioListeners also enjoyed...




















Basically Senator Klobuchar is a daughter of our country's heartland, a child of working people, and grandchild of immigrants--a Minnesotan to the bone. She worked hard (very, very hard) to fund her education, graduating from Yale and the University of Chicago School of Law. As the mother of a seriously ill baby, she nonetheless worked her way to partner in a law firm and later began a successful political career. Her marriage, throughout all of this, has remained intact, and she has managed to form alliances in the Senate with members of both parties in order to accomplish important legislation.
I believe the rumors that she can be difficult to work with, that she is exceedingly demanding. Although she was gracious and complimentary of family, friends, and colleagues throughout this book, her high standards for herself were evident. I believe she requires the same dedication and focus from those around her that she commands of herself. It can be challenging to be around someone with that intensity of drive and desire for perfection.
At this time, Senator Klobuchar is running for President of the United States in 2020. I am convinced that she would do an excellent job in that exalted office. If she is the Democratic candidate I will vote for her and encourage others to do so. But I doubt that will ensue because she lacks necessary charisma for inspiring the passion required to be nominated for that position. Yet she is an excellent senator and would be an invaluable asset to a new administration if placed in any number of important positions of trust.
This book appears authentic, reflecting the Senator herself. It thoroughly does the job it sets out to do with no fanfare or hyperbole. In her own voice on the audiobook, Senator Klobuchar relates her family background and her life from childhood to the present. She is clear, precise and uncommonly decent, all of which are essential, although recently very scarce, attributes in a public servant. I am thankful that she has given years of her life to our political process. We need many more like her to heal the wounds of our nation.
Uncommonly Decent
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The way a senator should be
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An upclose look at the making of a US senator and presidential candidate you'd love as a neighbor
interesting and insightful
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The Senator Next Door
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Would you try another book from Amy Klobuchar and/or Amy Klobuchar?
Senator Klobuchar is a terrible narrator but a great senator, I think. Next time, hire a professional. The text is interesting and worth listening.I would vote for her, but don't make me listen
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Very Good!
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The first part of the book is about her early life. She chronicles her paternal grandparents’ immigration from Slovene and her grandfather life as a miner. She tells of her maternal grandparents’ immigration from Switzerland. Klobuchar tells about her father’s rise through journalism and his battles with alcohol. She describes her mother’s years as a teacher and as a stay-at-home mom, her parents’ divorce and how all that affected her early childhood. She discusses her early school years, high school, and college and law school. She describes her law career and the various cases she worked on. She also goes into her marriage and the birth of her daughter including the ordeal of her daughter’s health problems.
The remainder of the book is about her life in politics, her run for Country Attorney and then her years as the democratic U.S. Senator for Minnesota. Klobuchar is now the senior Senator from Minnesota and has proven herself a consensus builder, effective for her constituents, impervious to scandal, or partisanship and what a surprise she is ethical to the extreme.
The book is well written, at times humorous, honest and meticulously detailed. I came away feeling some hope for the political system. She wrote the book herself without a ghost writer and also narrated it.
A Delightful Memoir
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Surprised
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Amy restores my hope for America!
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An engaging surprise
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