Can't Is Not an Option: My American Story
Published by Penguin Random House Audio
4.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
Decades before their daughter surprised the nation by becoming governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley's parents had a dream. Ajit and Raj Randhawa were well-educated, well-off Sikhs in the Punjab region of India. But despite their high social status, the Randhawas wanted more for their family-the opportunities that only America could offer.
So they left behind all they had known and settled in Bamberg, South Carolina (population: 2,500). As the first Indian family in a small Southern town in the early 1970s, the Randhawas faced ignorance, prejudice, and sometimes blatant hostility. Nikki remembers stopping at a roadside produce stand with her father, who always wore his traditional Sikh turban. Within minutes, two police cars pulled to make sure they weren't thieves.
But the Randhawas taught their children that they should never think of themselves as victims. They stressed that if you work hard and stay true to yourself, you can overcome any obstacle. The key is believing that can't is not an option.
The family struggled to make ends meet while starting a clothing business in their living room, eventually growing it into a multimillion- dollar success. At age twelve, Nikki started to do the bookkeeping and taxes after school. After graduating from college and entering the business world, she watched business owners like her parents battle government bureaucracy and overregulation.
Her frustration inspired her to get into politics and run for the state legislature. That first campaign, against an entrenched incumbent, led to racial and religious slurs and threats-but Haley, like her parents, refused to back down. She won on a promise to fight for reform, lean budgets, and government accountability, which is exactly what she did-much to the dismay of South Carolina's old guard politicians.
Soon she had a reputation as a conservative leader who could get things done. In the same state where her family was once ridiculed, she inspired a diverse grassroots following. In November 2010 she was elected South Carolina's first female governor and first nonwhite governor, and only the second Indian American governor in the country.
Haley's story, as told firsthand in this inspiring memoir, is a testament to the power of determination, faith, and family. And it's proof that the American Dream is still strong and true in the twenty- first century.
Related to Can't Is Not an Option
Related audiobooks
Rickey: The Life and Legend of an American Original Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Little, Crazy Children Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Life We Chose: William “Big Billy” D’Elia and the Last Secrets of America’s Most Powerful Mafia Family Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Election Firsts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Little Book of Race and Restorative Justice: Black Lives, Healing, and US Social Transformation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Self-Made Man: The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln, 1809 – 1849 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Abraham Lincoln: A Life 1855-1858: Building a New Party, a House Divided and the Lincoln Douglas Debates Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All About Madam C.J. Walker Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The American Indian: A Standing Indictment Against Christianity and Statism in America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Life of a Rose: A Blue Print For Prosperity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmerican Indians and the American Dream: Policies, Place, and Property in Minnesota Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Essential Abraham Lincoln Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Faith and Values of Sarah Palin Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhen the Obama's Love, America Loves: The Times, the Moments and the Message of Barack and Michelle Obama Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Doomsday Mother: Lori Vallow, Chad Daybell, and the End of an American Family Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lowest White Boy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSecrets of Silicon Valley: What Everyone Else Can Learn from the Innovation Capital of the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Divided We Fall: America's Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inventing Latinos: A New Story of American Racism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Abraham Lincoln: His Life, Death, Morals, Civil War, and Assassination Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRebuild the Dream Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Requiem for the Massacre: A Black History on the Conflict, Hope and Fallout of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Going Rogue: An American Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Radical Vision: A Biography of Lorraine Hansberry Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5John D. Rockefeller: The man who changed American Industry: the first Titan of the world economy Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Barack Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Abraham Lincoln and the Heart of America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWe're Still Here: Pain and Politics in the Heart of America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fool Me Once: Scams, Stories, and Secrets from the Trillion-Dollar Fraud Industry Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Political Biographies For You
The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5To Rescue the Constitution: George Washington and the Fragile American Experiment Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Infidel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Watergate Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Benjamin Franklin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Benjamin Franklin: An American Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the Trump White House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lincoln Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mornings on Horseback Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Peril Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fear: Trump in the White House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5John Adams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Happened Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A House in the Sky: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The White House Plumbers: The Seven Weeks That Led to Watergate and Doomed Nixon's Presidency Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5V Is For Victory Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Showman: Inside the Invasion That Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Team of Rivals Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Can't Is Not an Option
16 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I absolutely love Nikki Haley and was overjoyed to see she had written a book. Her life story is absolutely inspiring, and she goes into her policies as well. Here’s to hoping she’s our first female President!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nikki Haley has written an outstanding book.
The events described herein make you feel as if you are personally present there and hearing and watching what all is going on.
The personal heartbreaking and torturous experience which author had to navigate through in her political journey is very revealing and touching. She has proved herself to be a woman with steel nerves and unparalleled determination, clarity in vision and faith in her God. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I gave this book 4.5 stars primarily because it was a story which kept me reading to the end, in just a few short hours I was able to follow Governor Haley's interesting life. I knocked off only half a star because it was boilerplate in the respect that a politician spends most of their memoir recounting their political triumphs. Not to take those away from them, but I am more interesting in their life story, especially a story like hers. She learned to deal with adversity and it made her a stronger person; she was neither white nor black and found her way through childhood better for it. Gov. Haley also learned the struggles of small business owners and those shackled by goverment regulations.In short, her personal story was inspiring; the book's format was standard fare.