#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In her “vulnerable, tender, and infinitely inspirational” (Oprah Daily) memoir, the first Black woman to ever be appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States chronicles her extraordinary life story.

“A billowingly triumphant American tale.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice)

With this unflinching account, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson invites readers into her life and world, tracing her family’s ascent from segregation to her confirmation on America’s highest court within the span of one generation.
 
Named “Ketanji Onyika,” meaning “Lovely One,” based on a suggestion from her aunt, a Peace Corps worker stationed in West Africa, Justice Jackson learned from her educator parents to take pride in her heritage since birth. She describes her resolve as a young girl to honor this legacy and realize her dreams: from hearing stories of her grandparents and parents breaking barriers in the segregated South, to honing her voice in high school as an oratory champion and student body president, to graduating magna cum laude from Harvard, where she performed in musical theater and improv and participated in pivotal student organizations.
 
Here, Justice Jackson pulls back the curtain, marrying the public record of her life with what is less known. She reveals what it takes to advance in the legal profession when most people in power don’t look like you, and to reconcile a demanding career with the joys and sacrifices of marriage and motherhood.
 
Through trials and triumphs, Justice Jackson’s journey will resonate with dreamers everywhere, especially those who nourish outsized ambitions and refuse to be turned aside. This moving, openhearted tale will spread hope for a more just world, for generations to come. - (Findaway World Llc)

Library Journal Reviews

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Jackson's debut memoir traces her family's rise from the era of segregation to her appointment to the court. She writes about how the women in her life influenced her—her grandmother, grounded by her spiritual and religious center, and her mother, who encouraged her to aim high. Jackson's intellectual gifts and connections to social and political movers and shakers from Boston to Washington, DC, gave her priceless opportunities. Even so, Jackson's life has not been easy, as she's encountered gender and racial prejudice and has had to balance marriage and family with the considerable demands of her work. While working throughout her pregnancy, taking only a brief maternity leave, raising two daughters, and paying for childcare, she's achieved remarkable personal and professional success, and she's done it with grace and good humor. Jackson reads her memoir clearly and with feeling; her training in public speaking serves her well and makes for an engaging listen. The book includes wonderful audio excerpts from her own speeches and clips from both daughters. VERDICT Listeners will be charmed and uplifted by this deeply personable and warmhearted account.—Joanna M. Burkhardt