What's Left Unsaid
My Life at the Center of Power, Politics & Crisis
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3.8 • 14 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
From the frontlines of the COVID crisis to the real events behind the meteoric rise and unfathomable fall of Governor Andrew Cuomo, one of the most powerful women in New York State government history shares her gripping and candid story for the first time.
When COVID-19 hit the United States, New York governor Andrew Cuomo was thrust onto the national stage, hailed around the globe for his leadership. Alongside him every step of the way, Melissa DeRosa quickly became a household name. In her riveting memoir, DeRosa details her journey as a young woman in politics rising to the highest levels of government, writing with raw honesty and vulnerability about the personal challenges she faced—a failing marriage, infertility, death threats, misogyny—while navigating unprecedented professional landmines along the way. DeRosa gives readers a front-row seat to the white-knuckle ride from the epicenter of the deadliest pandemic in US history to the never-before-told story behind the #MeToo scandal that rocked a nation and brought down a governor.
Perfect for readers of Huma Abedin’s Both/And, Marie Yovanovitch’s Lessons from the Edge, Katie Couric’s Going There, and Katy Tur’s Rough Draft, What’s Left Unsaid is a powerful story of resilience in the face of adversity. DeRosa’s unvarnished political memoir provides fascinating, behind-the-scenes access to the inner workings of state and US government during one of the most consequential periods in our nation’s history—bringing readers into room after room where decisions are made, hardball politics unfold, and crises play out.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
DeRosa presents herself as the plucky sidekick of a besieged hero in this by turns cloying and combative debut memoir of her role as chief of staff to New York governor Andrew Cuomo during the myriad crises and scandals leading up to his 2021 resignation. In the final two years of her tenure (which began in 2017 after an earlier stint as communications director), DeRosa advised her boss through several headline-making episodes, including disputes over the administration's accounting of Covid nursing home deaths and numerous sexual harassment accusations against Cuomo. DeRosa defends the former governor at every turn, suggesting that New York's higher nursing home death rate was due to a complex quirk of accounting (and that the federal investigation was spurred by President Donald Trump's jealousy over Cuomo's spotlight-stealing leadership during the pandemic). Elsewhere, she posits that the sexual harassment allegations were overblown, driven by a vindictive former staffer who recruited other women to join her suit. DeRosa interlaces her accounts of these scandals with intriguing if somewhat wooden recreations of behind-the-scenes political wrangling with state and federal officials around the unprecedented crises faced by Cuomo's administration in 2020: the Covid pandemic and protests following George Floyd's murder. While this glowing defense of Cuomo will appeal to his supporters, it's unlikely to mollify his detractors.
Customer Reviews
Well Done
A good read as the book was well written. It showed the dark side of politics and human nature.
Propaganda
While a fun read, it’s hard to believe a word she says. Full of spiteful, petty jabs at her vast consortium of enemies. She doesn’t seem to realize that it wasn’t the actual substance of the accusations that took them all down. Rather years of bullying and intimidation and generally being awful people had hardened the press and members of the legislature against them.