Taking the Hill
From Philly to Baghdad to the United States Congress
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A moving and inspiring memoir from the first Iraq war veteran to be elected to the United States Congress
Congressman Patrick J. Murphy, the Irish American son of a Philadelphia policeman and a former nun who raised their family in a tough-but-loving blue-collar neighborhood, grew out of a scrappy childhood to become a community college student and then—quickly—army officer, lawyer, and the youngest professor at West Point. He served in Iraq as a captain in the elite 82nd Airborne "All-Americans" where he earned a Bronze Star for service, and successfully prosecuted one of Muqtada al-Sadr's top lieutenants. Returning from Iraq with a determination to help change the direction of this country, Murphy, a political novice, ran an inspirational grassroots campaign against a popular Republican incumbent while being outspent by more than $2 million.
Told with passion and candor, Taking the Hill is a powerful and moving tale of love for family and the belief that the American dream is still within reach. More than anything, Murphy's life demonstrates the joys and necessity of serving others, whether that means one's family or students, community or fellow soldiers, or one's nation.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Murphy, a first-term representative from Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District, recounts the story of his unlikely political journey in this partisan autobiography. Born to a policeman and a legal secretary in 1973 Philadelphia, Murphy's early life was unexceptional. After meeting President Clinton in 1996 "a defining moment in my life" Murphy graduated from Pennsylvania's King's College and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the army. He attended the Widener University School of Law before joining the army's Judge Advocate General's Corps. As an army lawyer, he served at West Point and was deployed to Bosnia before joining the 82nd Airborne Division. In 2003, he was deployed to Iraq and led a Brigade Operational Law Team (BOLT) for seven months. After leaving the army, he challenged Republican Rep, Mike Fitzpatrick "a rubber stamp for George Bush on Iraq" in the 2006 congressional election. A staunch critic of the Iraq War, Murphy won a narrow victory and now serves "on the front lines in Washington" at "a defining moment in our history." Short on self-awareness and long on hyperbole, Murphy's narrative fails to rise above conventional campaign biography.
