Books in Review
by Adrienne Petterson © 2006

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Now It's My Turn - A Daughter's Chronicle of Political Life
by Mary Cheney
Threshold Editions
ISBN 1-4165-2049-X
Published May 2006 - Hardcover - 241 pages - $25.00

It's a crying shame what some people (especially those in the public eye) are subjected to just because they're "different".  We're not different, we're all people, end of story.  In her book Mary Cheney, Vice-President Dick Cheney's daughter, eloquently writes about how her father ran for Vice-President for Governor George W. Bush and how she shelved business school to join the campaign.  She tells about when her dad ran for Congress in the mid 70s in Wyoming and how she and her sister got involved by handing out candy and "Cheney for Congress" buttons.  I loved the story about the radio DJ in Evanston.  She also writes about her father's first heart attack, his rise to become Secretary of State, and how their lives changed.  Her moving account of how she told her parents she was gay I found a relief - not everyone brave enough to approach their parents get a loving reaction.  Then there's also the way people tried to threaten her father's relating to the gays in the military debate.  Mary Cheney's account of her experiences in politics, as her father's personal aide, is detailed and it brings out many different sides of her father and family which the general public would otherwise never have known.  She doesn't belabor any "gay" points and her writing flows along nicely, and obviously, is very much about politics.  I found it interesting, not being very politically inclined myself, to learn about what goes on behind the scenes, especially the build-up to the eventual 2004 Republican victory.  This book is predominantly about her political life but she does talk about the issue she had with President Bush signing the Federal Marriage Amendment (from chapter 13 onwards) and whether or not to leave her job.  She stayed.
Conclusion - Not a "Mary Cheney" book as such, but very illuminating and interesting.

Review copy not supplied by publisher - library copy reviewed.

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