Straight from the Heart is Ann Richards’s story, told with her trademark candor and spicy humor.

Born in a tiny town near Waco, Texas, she entered politics when her husband wouldn’t—and went on to become state treasurer, the first woman elected to statewide office in Texas in fifty years. She’s had her victories and her battles (the breakup of a thirty-year marriage and a bout with alcohol), but it’s her love of Texas and Texas politics that has made her who she is.

This extraordinary memoir by one of the nation’s leading politicians proves the wisdom of her observation that women “can have a good and wonderful life, but that it only begins when they accept responsibility for it, not when they expect someone else to make it happen.” Richards talks openly about the course her life has taken and the choices she has made on the way. Her hard-won triumphs and savvy political career provide inspiring examples for all.