In The Breakthrough, veteran journalist Gwen Ifill surveys the American political landscape, shedding new light on the impact of Barack Obama’s stunning presidential victory and introducing the emerging young African American politicians forging a bold new path to political power.

Ifill argues that the Black political structure formed during the Civil Rights movement is giving way to a generation of men and women who are the direct beneficiaries of the struggles of the 1960s. She offers incisive, detailed profiles of such prominent leaders as Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, and U.S. Congressman Artur Davis of Alabama (all interviewed for this book), and also covers numerous up-and-coming figures from across the nation. Drawing on exclusive interviews with power brokers such as President Obama, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Vernon Jordan, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, his son Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., and many others, as well as her own razor-sharp observations and analysis of such issues as generational conflict, the race/ gender clash, and the "black enough" conundrum, Ifill shows why this is a pivotal moment in American history.

The Breakthrough is a remarkable look at contemporary politics and an essential foundation for understanding the future of American democracy in the age of Obama.

“Ifill bores…into race, class, gender and generational change…a strongly reported book…peppered with interesting, revealing profiles.” –Los Angeles Times

“Gwen Ifill adds depth and perspective to a political narrative we thought we already understood…Ifill’s fine book is the first to put the Obama phenomenon in the larger context of African-American political empowerment.” –The Root

“Provocative…gently persuasive…Without cheerleading for any individual, [The Breakthrough] gives us something to cheer about: a breakthrough that is bigger, even, than Obama’s.” –The Washington Post

“The insightfulness so often on display in her television appearances is in abundance…the reader comes away with a great understanding of contemporary black political power.” –The Washington Times

“The focus is less on the new president than on a cadre of up-and-coming African-American politicians.” –‘Editors’ Choice,’ The New York Times

“A serious but readable assessment…[The Breakthrough] probes the tensions and differences between the older leaders of the civil rights movement…and the younger beneficiaries of those struggles.” –USA Today

 
GWEN IFILL is moderator and managing editor of Washington Week and senior correspondent of The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Before coming to PBS, she was chief congressional and political correspondent for NBC News, and had been a reporter for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun, and Boston Herald American. She lives in Washington, D.C.