Who was the real Ron Brown? Washington lawyer, secretary of Commerce, presidential king maker, deal maker, maverick, icon--one of the most intriguing and complex personalities of the twentieth century. He rose from segregated Harlem to the top levels of American politics. He broke every stereotype of race and class and mastered the art of winning in a world in transition. At the height of his game, when he had honed his skills, he would transform the way the game of politics was played. With bold and incisive reporting, New York Times journalist Steven A. Holmes recovers the lessons of Ron Brown's life. Holmes reveals not only who Brown was but exactly how he arrived at the nexus of power. Born in Washington, D.C., in 1941 and reared in Harlem, Brown was descended from a resourceful, ambitious African American family. His forebears traveled the dirt roads of the Reconstruction South. Brown came of age against the backdrop of the emerging Civil Rights movement. He immersed himself in the world as an equal to the best and brightest in elite schools, as an army officer, and as the chief lobbyist for the National Urban League. He penetrated the veil of the white Democratic Party hierarchy, became a partner in the high-flying Washington law firm of Patton, Boggs & Blow, and he carved a place in history when he was elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee and emerged as its most effective champion in a generation. The higher he climbed, the more intense was the pressure and the more unforgiving the magnifying glass of the media. Through in-depth interviews with his extended family members, friends, and Washington insiders who knew him well, this definitive biography captures the hard realities and savvy strategies behind Brown's remarkable career. The story delivers sharply etched profiles of key players in American life and politics today, including Vernon Jordan, Jesse Jackson, Alexis Herman, Douglas Wilder, Ted Kennedy, and Mario Cuomo. Exhaustively detailed, it offers invaluable insight into Brown's private struggles as well as his public legacy. The result is an unflinching portrait of an exemplary modern figure, a man whose life story brilliantly crystallizes tensions and aspirations that are central to our times. FROM HARLEM TO THE TOP ECHELONS OF AMERICAN POLITICS "A fascinating read. There's no question Steve Holmes's well-researched biography of Ron Brown captures the man. Brown was a complex individual. What was hidden by his race, his class, his personality, and his political power was the underlying fact that his story, private and public, goes beyond him as an individual. Holmes has captured Brown in the crosshairs of two worlds: one of the black middle class that comes of age in his generation and another at the heart of power in white-run Washington."--Sam Fulwood III, author of Waking from the Dream "Wonderful reporting. Steve Holmes opens rich vistas into American politics and the sociology of black America."--Juan Williams, author of Eyes on the Prize and Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary
