Interesting book. Loved all the references to politics as well.
Thanks to author, publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book. While I got the book for free it had no bearing on the rating I gave it.

Susan Smocer Platt, Love, Politics, and Other Scary Things A Memoir, Bold Story Press | Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Titles, December 2024.

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review.

Susan Smocer Platt was unknown to me. However, with Senator Amy Klobuchar’s endorsement of her book I decided it could be well worth reading. Senator Klobuchur was a candidate for the American presidency when eventually the man who was to become president in 2020, Senator Joe Biden President, was endorsed. She withdrew with grace, and supported him with warmth, a combination that has remained throughout the Biden/Harris presidency, and since. My feeling that her endorsement provided a good reason to read this book was justified. It begins with gentle and warm stories about the love for each other, and for a political life of decent endeavour, of two American political figures, Susan Smocer Platt, and her husband, Ron Platt.

The first chapter explains, with a colourful title, ‘Fried Okra and Halsuki or Chicken Fried Steak and Hoagies? the differences between the couple, Susan from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Ron from Ada, Wyoming. The introduction to the couple is lively, descriptive and while short, not lacking in the detail that makes them into a couple about whom you would like to know more. This follows into Chapter 2, where Washington D.C. is presented as a capital worth knowing and appealing. One which the couple obviously loved, housing an ideal of government that they also clearly endorsed. This positive attitude permeates the book, giving life to the political process, depicting it as worthwhile, its values worth thoughtful consideration and its representatives worth evaluating with care.

The couple’s journey is not always easy – who would expect a political life to be so? – but replete with anecdote, serious contemplation of policy, and a thorough look into the way government works. Smocer Platt neatly combines the domestic politics of a blended family, experience as a stepmother, role as a corporate wife, distressing family concerns and the public politics of her experience in the Democratic Party.

This experience begins with working on Senator Ted Kennedy’s campaign to become presidential nominee, hosting the first fundraiser for the newly created Women’s Division if the Democratic National Convention, President Jimmy Carter’s loss to President Ronald Reagan and the inevitable move to the right in American politics. The latter impacted Ron Platt’s job in corporate America and the couple’s return to Washington. Here Platt was employed by a Republican lobbying group to liaise with Democrats and Smocer Platt began work for a Democratic congressman. Working with the politics of being out of government, and the impact domestically as well as politically, for those in jobs impacted by the change makes engaging reading.

Moving into the 1990s, although Smocer Platt’s activity political increased, the domestic detail remains. Once again, while advancing the commitment of this couple to both, the broader political context is illuminated, making it apparent that political figures also have domestic lives. When she writes that their fifteenth wedding anniversary was the same day as Election Day and only an hour was spent on the former we know that we are with a political woman (she was a Senator’s campaign manager at the time) with whom other political people will empathise and those who are not, will become aware of the intricacies of political life. Smocer Platt won the “Pollie Award” for “Campaign Manager of the Year” and her marriage remained what it had been from the beginning, a partnership dedicated to making both domestic and political lives work well.

The late 1990s and early 2000s is the story of lost elections, grassroots work, volunteering on campaigns, self-employment as a legislative and political consultant, the attack on the World Trade Center, and family traumas. By 2008 Smocer Platt was ready for the contest between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for the Democratic Presidential nominee and moving into a major concern with women in politics, with the eventual founding of two women’s organisations. These stories and an instructive discussion of lobbying, together with an account of Ron Platt’s work in this period is fascinating – along with his response to Donald Trump’s contention!

Running for office as Lieutenant Governor of Virgina could remain a personal story, but in Smocer’s hands it is also more widely political. Even the chapters on personal loss and loneliness eventually move on to a broader look at the world – travelling as a single person; addressing concerns about how a widow should behave; dealing with the practical as well as emotional loss in widowhood; and writing Love, Politics, and Other Scary Things A Memoir. These make interesting if emotional reading.

Although simply ending with two recipes from the title, and several endnotes, this memoir is an edifying and informative read. Rather than a purely personal or a story of a political journey, Susan Smocer Platt’s work is a splendid weaving together of both. In doing so, she has not only authored a memoir for those for whom her story is of interest, but one that has ramifications for the political world in which America now finds itself. She has given political activism a good name, has laid open the intricacies of combining personal and political lives and provides a message of hope and positivity.

very well done memoir by a very interesting person who has been in the political ring for a long time and discusses the power of perseverance. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.