A Good Fight

Sarah Brady reads the introduction of this moving memoir of her life with Jim Brady, engaging the listener's attention immediately. Never self-pitying, almost always upbeat and can-do, Sarah Brady is an inspiration. She capably sets the stage for the rest of her story, ably read by Laura Hicks. Part biography, part insiders' view of Washington, and part lesson in the U.S. legislative process, this book tells the story of her husband's injury during the assassination attempt on President Reagan in 1981 and the couple's transformation into strong advocates for gun control. We learn about Jim Brady's struggle with the aftereffects of his injury, her son's learning disability, and her current fight against lung cancer. A testimony to the power of the human spirit, this is often poignant, sometimes painful, sometimes funny, and always moving. J.D.P. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine

March 11, 2002
Readers get an intimate look at the events, both personal and professional, that shaped Brady's political career and the direction of U.S. gun legislation in this memoir of the lobbying life. She begins her story on March 30, 1981, when her husband, White House Press Secretary James Brady, was shot in an assassination attempt on President Reagan. His injury and recuperation, filled with close calls and setbacks, takes her on a journey that includes 15 years at the lobbying group Handgun Control, first as a volunteer, then as a board member and finally as its chair until 1996. Brady gives a detailed, suspenseful account of the struggle to pass the Brady bill, a handgun control law finally signed in 1993. Readers will take special interest in her recollections of high-profile politicians. Though she doesn't sling mud, Brady openly expresses her frustration with those who hindered the bill. A lifelong Republican (and an admirer of Reagan), Brady became disillusioned when Bush the elder effectively blocked passage of the bill, and she endorsed Clinton in 1992. Writing in unpretentious prose, she leads the reader from one fight to the next without stopping to feel sorry for herself—even in the midst of husband's disability and her own current battle with lung cancer. The book will likely appeal to political enthusiasts and ardent gun-control supporters, and, though Brady is neither as iconoclastic nor as captivating a writer as Katharine Graham, fans of Graham's Personal History
may enjoy this story of a determined woman in a male-dominated Washington. 8 pages b&w photos not seen by PW.

November 1, 2002
A Good Fight was needed to set rules for U.S. handgun purchases; Jim Brady, his wife, Sarah, and many others campaigned for this after 1981, the year he suffered severe lifetime disabilities from a bullet in the head during the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan. The Bradys and their team got support from some Senators and Congress members; after seven years of hard work, the Brady bill became law. Since then the National Rifle Association has tried to erode it. The author, without self-pity, concludes the book with details of her personal battle against advanced lung cancer, following decades of smoking. Narrator Laura Hicks is efficient; in places her voice needs softening. Even Brady's lower voice, as she reads the introduction, sounds rough. These quibbles aside, believers in reasonable handgun control will want to hear this story. Recommended for popular biography collections.-Gordon Blackwell, Eastchester, NY

Copyright 2002 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.