From Rage to Reason: My Life in Two Americas Hardcover - 2004

From the publisher

Janet Langhart Cohen's life has always seemed to defy the naysayers. She's an African-American Democrat married to the white, Republican former Secretary of Defense; a poor girl from the projects who grew up under the crushing legacy of segregation to become a respected journalist and the wildly popular "First Lady" of the Pentagon; a woman whose heart hears the whispers of her slave ancestors even as it guides others toward debate without blame; an American patriot who is not afraid to tell the truth about our country, warts and all. Now, in this candid, moving, and inspiring autobiography, Janet Langhart Cohen writes with soul and rage, love and pride, hope and clear-eyed honesty about the remarkable life she's lived, the hard lessons she's learned, and the America that has come of age with her. "Janet, there are people who won't like you because you're colored. What I can tell you is that you mustn't hate them for it." That was the advice Janet's mother gave her when she was seven years old. Soon, Janet would need to call on her mother's strength and courage as she faced the challenges of a nation undergoing powerful change. From the poverty of the Indianapolis projects to Bowling Green, Kentucky, where a cross burned on her grandmother's lawn, and her father, who fought the Nazis, feared to wear his uniform in his own hometown, Janet faced the cruelty of racism again and again. As a model with the Ebony Fashion Fair in the 1960s, Janet was outraged at having to use "Colored Only" facilities and defiantly refused to give in to segregation. Despite it all, Janet was determined to use her anger to fuel positive change--and she used her own life as an example of what could be in acountry where all things are possible. As the wife of former U.S. senator and Secretary of Defense (during the Clinton administration), Janet Langhart Cohen's story will have a large appeal to the military market.