Fighting Chance

An unlikely political star tells us how Washington really works — and really doesn’t.

As a child in small-town Oklahoma, Elizabeth Warren yearned to go to college and become a teacher. Early motherhood seemed to put that dream out of reach, but fifteen years later she was a distinguished law professor with a deep understanding of why people go bankrupt. Then came the phone call that changed her life: could she come to Washington to help Congress rewrite the bankruptcy laws?

So began an unsentimental education in the bare-knuckled ways of Washington. She fought for better bankruptcy laws for ten years, and lost. She tried to hold the federal government accountable during the financial crisis, but became a target of the big banks. She tried to protect consumers from predatory bankers, but was thwarted. Finally, at 62, she decided to run for the Senate, and won.