Reading List
Cecile Richards
Activist and Former President of Planned Parenthood
Cecile Richards was an American activist who led Planned Parenthood from 2006 to 2018. The daughter of Texas governor Ann Richards, she began as a union organiser, founded the progressive coalition America Votes and served as deputy chief of staff to Nancy Pelosi. Her memoir, Make Trouble, published in 2018, tells the story of a life spent organising and campaigning. In 2019 she co-founded Supermajority, a political organisation for women. She died in 2025.
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A Hope in the Unseen
by Ron Suskind
“This is an incredible book: It’s about this amazing young kid, Cedric Jennings, who not only graduated from the DC public schools but then goes to Brown University, which is where I went to school. It’s just an extraordinary story.” — via Interview, July 2011
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How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America
by Cristina Page
“I obviously wanted to pick a book that was about the work I do now, and I just think Cristina Page did a great job in this book. It’s a very accessible book and so I’d like to put it in for folks who think this may not be the topic that they know a whole lot about.” — via Interview, July 2011
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Cry, the Beloved Country
by Alan Paton · 2003 · Fiction
“This book has always had a special place in my heart. It’s incredible to think that this book was written back in the 1940s but it has really stood the test of time, and captures the brutality of life in South Africa and also the incredible complexities of this really extraordinary country.” — via Interview, July 2011
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Rain of Gold
by Victor Villaseñor · Fiction
“This has been a favourite of mine for a while, but it’s definitely off the radar of most people so I also want to highlight it for people who don’t know about it. I think it’s a great book. It’s kind of a semi-autobiographical novel but it’s basically about the migration of Mexican families to the US, families that get to California.” — via Interview, July 2011
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Mountains Beyond Mountains
by Tracy Kidder
“Everyone has to read this book. I guess I just picked it for anyone who hasn’t read it and if you’re a progressive and you’re trying to figure out what to do with your life. Tracy Kidder is a great writer so that doesn’t hurt, but Paul Farmer’s story, the story of one person who decides they want to change the world, is so compelling.” — via Interview, July 2011
