The first Hispanic and third woman appointed to the United States
Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor has become an instant American icon. Now,
with a candor and intimacy never undertaken by a sitting Justice, she
recounts her life from a Bronx housing project to the federal bench, a
journey that offers an inspiring testament to her own extraordinary
determination and the power of believing in oneself.
Here is the story of a precarious childhood, with an alcoholic father
(who would die when she was nine) and a devoted but overburdened mother,
and of the refuge a little girl took from the turmoil at home with her
passionately spirited paternal grandmother. But it was when she was
diagnosed with juvenile diabetes that the precocious Sonia recognized
she must ultimately depend on herself. She would learn to give herself
the insulin shots she needed to survive and soon imagined a path to a
different life. With only television characters for her professional
role models, and little understanding of what was involved, she
determined to become a lawyer, a dream that would sustain her on an
unlikely course, from valedictorian of her high school class to the
highest honors at Princeton, Yale Law School, the New York County
District Attorney's office, private practice, and appointment to the
Federal District Court before the age of forty. Along the way we see how
she was shaped by her invaluable mentors, a failed marriage, and the
modern version of extended family she has created from cherished friends
and their children. Through her still-astonished eyes, America's
infinite possibilities are envisioned anew in this warm and honest book,
destined to become a classic of self-invention and self-discovery.
