Penis Politics: A Memoir of Women, Men and Power

“A vivid, clear-eyed glimpse into American politics from a woman who grew up in the hinterlands of Mississippi and against all odds propelled herself into the rooms of power in Washington and New York City. Disarmingly honest, Hinton has invited us into her extraordinary life, from her complicated relationship with the Mississippi Delta of her youth, to the famous—too often, infamous—men she met along the way in her career in Democratic politics. Hinton’s first book is brimming with the steady perseverance, relentless ambition and maddening frustrations of a talented woman who found her way in a world dominated by men less talented than she. Now, it’s her turn to tell her story. And Hinton, a longtime keeper of secrets, spares no one.”—MaraGay, New York Times editorial board member and MSNBC political analyst.Penis Politics: A Memoir of Women, Men and Poweris a compelling coming-of-age story, set both in small-town Mississippi and big-city New York, with a long layover in the nation’s capital. Karen Hinton chronicles her life from tiny Soso, Mississippi (pop. 408), to the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), where she played on the Lady Rebelsbasketball team, had embarrassing encounters with literary luminaries such as William Styron and Willie Morris, and received a degree in journalism . . . to stints at two newspapers, where she worked as a reporter—theJackson Daily Newsand theRocky Mountain News—to working on the political campaigns of two Black political candidates, one of whom was elected to Congress, thus becoming the first Black representative from Mississippi since Reconstruction.Hinton went on to become one of the most colorful and outspoken political communications professionals in Washington and New York. Best known for her role as press secretary to both former Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo and New York Mayor Bill De Blasio, Karen played what Politico dubbed the “Helen of Troy role” in the clash between the former Governor of New York and the Mayor that theNew York Timescalled “one of America’s ugl