Triumph of Spirit - $26.95 Quantity

TRIUMPH OF SPIRIT: An Autobiography By Chief Penny Harrington Quality Paperback . 288pp . $26.95 ISBN 0941394050 Penny Harrington is the first woman in America to break through the bulletproof glass ceiling, and achieve the rank of Chief of a major metropolitan police force. She is regarded by some as a maverick who challenged the system, and by others as a celebrity. She faced discrimination and harassment, personal tragedies and triumphs as she battled a system that is still male-dominated. In this revealing story, Harrington describes with great candor her 23 years in law enforcement, up to and including her promotion to Chief of the Portland Police Bureau in Oregon — and why she left her hard-won position following a scandal and rumors that rocked Portland and were covered in newspapers around the country.

Excerpt from TRIUMPH of SPIRIT

In 1905, the City of Portland, Oregon, hired social worker Lola Baldwin and gave her police powers to lead a small force of women charged with protecting the moral safety of women and young girls during the Lewis and Clark Exposition. They were so effective that in 1908 Portland organized the Department of Public Safety for the Protection of Young Girls and Women, and named Baldwin its director.

In 1985, seventy-seven years later, Portland made history again by naming a woman chief of police. It was the first time a major American city chose a woman to occupy its top cop position and the appointment had implications that would go far beyond Portland to change the face of policing forever.

That woman was me. My decision as a young woman, in the 1960s, to study police administration at Michigan State University led me on an incredible and very public journey of professional growth and achievement, personal tragedy and despair, and finally to triumph. I went from being a celebrity to a pariah. I opened many doors to policing for women, only to have them slammed shut in my face. In only one year, I went from being Ms. Magazine's Woman of the Year and one of Harvard Law Schools Top 10 Most Influential Women in Law, to Time magazine's label of Portland's Tarnished Penny...

I have been asked many times to write a book that fully exposes the intimate details of my story, so that other women — women in all careers may learn and succeed. My whole story, and the lessons to be learned, remained deep in my heart and mind until now.

"...Penny illustrates how one woman's spirit can triumph over the toughest of 'ole' boys clubs."
Eleanor Smeal, President, Feminist Majority Foundation

"Beneficial ... for courses such as Women in the Criminal Justice System and Introduction to Women's Studies."
National Women's Studies Association Journal, Spring 2001

"An explosive look at American policing ...This gutsy, often hilarious book really packs a punch."
Connie Fletcher, PhD, Associate Professor of Communications,
Loyola University, Chicago and Author of What Cops Know and Breaking and Entering

"...Penny's fight against prejudice and discrimination is must reading...."
Dorothy Moses Schulz, Police Historian and Associate Professor,
John Jay College, New York, and Author of From Social Worker to Crimefighter: Women in United States Municipal Policing

Meet Penny Harrington

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