“The Truths We Hold: An American Journey” by Kamala Harris

c.2020, Penguin Books   $18.00 paperback             336 pages It starts early-on. At first, it seems spontaneous: parents who enjoy their interests naturally display those passions to small children who are dragged along for the ride. The child observes and absorbs until one day, parental interest becomes child’s obsession.& And in “The Truths We Hold” by Kamala Harris, that’s how a politician is made. Supporters can almost see the trajectory in the history: Kamala Harris’s parents, both highly educated immigrants, instilled a sense of independence in their daughter and both remained supportive of her choices, even as they divorced. Harris’s mother, especially, gave Harris lessons in strength and activism through an upper-middle-class childhood with ballet and piano lessons alongside marches and protests. Says Harris of her mother, a breast cancer researcher, “… she was determined to make sure we [Harris and her sister] would grow into confident, proud black women.” Harris describes her community – the women and men who helped raise and educate her – with obvious affection, saying that “the seed was planted very early on,” and she knew that she wanted to be a lawyer and to make a difference in the lives of others. “When activists came marching...