About Today’s Title

You can’t think of Kamala Harris’ run for the presidency without thinking of Beyoncé’s song Freedom, the song played at every Harris rally when Kamala walked on. The song was meaningful on many levels when coupled with the message of the campaign. So of course I couldn’t write a review of Kamala’s new book without picking a line from that song for the title. I picked this particular line because it expresses the sorrow many feel for not getting the opportunity to live in the timeline where Harris won the presidency. Beyoncé’s song can be found here on YouTube.

Kamala Harris has written what is projected to be the best-selling memoir and political book of 2025. In its first week the book sold 350,000 copies in all formats (ebook, audiobook and print). Publisher Simon and Schuster are reportedly on the 5th printing, which will bring the number of hardcover copies available to 500,000.

It’s clear that despite her loss in the presidential race last year, and her subsequent time away from the public spotlight, Kamala Harris is still a popular voice that people want to hear from. A testament to that is the fact that her book tour is not taking place in bookstores, but in theaters and concert halls, with ticket prices in the $100 to $200 range. Many of the venues are already sold out. (You can view the schedule and buy tickets at https://kamalaharristour.com/).

The book’s title is a reference to the short amount of time she had to mount her presidential campaign. Most presidential campaigns take a year or more. Harris had 107 days from Joe Biden’s announcement he was dropping out and endorsing her, to Election Day.

To read the book is to get an inside view of her 2024 campaign in the candidate’s own voice. I watched the last election closely, glued to my television set whenever Harris made an appearance, so I was grateful to read about all of the public appearances, and some of the private moments, from her perspective. The book reads the way Harris talks - to the point and pulling no punches. You see the joy that came across in her public appearances, but also the strain of running a non-stop campaign, making up for such a short timeframe, while still balancing a full-time job as VP.

There was some chatter after the election that the Harris campaign had foreseen her loss beforehand, but that doesn’t jive with what Harris herself describes. She describes the shock she felt as the election results came in. She had gathered family and key team members to watch the results from the Vice President’s official residence on the grounds of the US Naval Observatory in DC. Harris’ description of that night and the day after is probably the most intimate and revealing part of the book.

Of course there are other “reveals” that have made news, such as her personal preference for VP, and her frustration with the Biden campaign and the way that his withdrawal from the race was handled.

As to what comes next for Kamala Harris, she leaves that open, but she does indicate that her next move may be “outside the system”, whatever that means. I suspect she will not run for President in 2028 but will likely be an influential voice during the campaign.

I would not mind seeing her run again. She rose to the occasion under difficult circumstances, and despite the short cycle she got, she almost succeeded. In fact, she made the 2024 election the closest campaign in modern presidential history. She deserves a lot of credit for what she accomplished with what little time was afforded her.

RATING: Four Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐

RATING COMMENTS: The insider’s view of Kamala Harris’s 107-day presidential campaign from the candidate herself - the joy, determination, pride, frustration and then the shock of her loss - it’s all here.

WHERE I GOT MY COPY: I purchased my copy from the online bookseller Bookshop.org.