Dan Morain: Kamala's Way

Join us for a virtual conversation with Dan Morain to discuss his recent biography of our new vice president.

Kamala Harris grew up as the older daughter of her mother, a cancer researcher who had emigrated from India when she was 19, and of her father, an economist from Jamaica, who split up with her mother when Kamala was five. Kamala Harris is known as tough, smart, quick-witted, and demanding. She’s a former prosecutor, after all. But she’s also known as reticent when it comes to sharing much about herself, even in her memoirs. Morain fills in the gaps. He has been covering Harris right from the start of her political career—working for the Alameda County District Attorney’s office, where she handled homicides and child molestation cases. Morain also covers her publicly acknowledged relationship with Assembly Speaker Willie Brown when she was 29, which significantly expanded her political network. Morain will take you through Harris’s years as the San Francisco District Attorney, her early support for Barack Obama, her tenure as California's Attorney General, and her election to the U.S. Senate. Morain also analyzes both her failure as a presidential candidate and her success in campaigning for the vice presidential spot on the Biden ticket.

He paints a vivid picture of her values and priorities, the kind of people she brings into her orbit, the sorts of problems she’s good at solving, and the missteps, risks and bold moves she’s made on her way to the top.

MLF ORGANIZER

George Hammond

NOTES

MLF: Humanities

Part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation.