‘Strength and gentleness go hand in hand.” That’s one of the lessons Dana Perino learned from her grandfather early on, living the ranching life in Wyoming. Her new book is a mix of memoir, snapshots from history, and thanksgiving. She’s a woman with a generous heart for mentoring, and she explains what moved her to write the book: “I believe that anyone who has achieved some success is obligated to help others do the same.”
The former White House press secretary offers a fair bit of “pent-up advice,” including seemingly lost habits of etiquette, such as “When in doubt, send a thank-you note.” Perino doubles down on common sense and human decency throughout the book. The best advice she ever got from President George W. Bush, she says, was about forgiveness. When former White House press secretary Scott McClellan wrote a bitter memoir of his time in the administration, Bush told her, “I’d like you to try to forgive him.” She relates what Bush said when she protested: “No buts. I don’t want you to live bitterly like he is. Nobody will remember this book three weeks from now. And we can’t let a book like this take us away from the important work we have to do here on behalf of the American people.”
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