Dawn Clark Netsch

"Cynthia Bowman's biography records in colorful and fulsome detail the trailblazing life of Dawn Netsch—lawyer, professor, political activist, and public servant in government and numerous good causes, including Stevenson campaigns! Dawn has been a lifelong champion of civil liberties, social justice, and accountability in government and though not exactly one of the boys, she could shoot a game of pool, too. This faithful biography does more than recall the life of this remarkable woman. It recalls another time and politics now distant." —Adlai Stevenson III
 

"Like Dawn Clark Netsch herself, this book is lively, honest, intelligent and compassionate. Netsch is a woman who has always been ahead of her time, yet she never really viewed herself as a feminist—rather a passionate and persistent fighter for progressive causes (including women's issues) and participatory democracy. She simply broke her way into one 'boys' club' after another through her intelligence, her powerful and engaging personality, and her ability to negotiate across the lines that usually separate and divide us. Bowman captures beautifully her subject's extraordinary half-century of serving the public, her tireless and tenacious efforts to make government better, and her continuing struggle for social justice." —Len Rubinowitz, Northwestern University School of Law 

"Dawn is the straightest shooter in Illinois political history—a dead-eye with a pool cue in that seminal TV ad, and an expert marksman who's been aiming unerringly at every worthwhile progressive political target for more than half a century. Her intellect and practicality were nurtured in her hometown of Cincinnati, and honed to a fine-edged steel in the campaigns of Adlai Stevenson and her rapprochement with the Daley machine. But for the quirks of fate she would have been Illinois' first female governor. Still, she is a political giant. Kudos to scholar Cynthia Bowman for capturing all of that and more in this eminently readable and meticulously researched biography." —Andy Shaw, former political editor, ABC-7 Chicago