"Edward W. Brooke has blazed a lot of political trails. He was the first African-American nominated for a constitutional office in Massachusetts (secretary of state, 1960), the first elected attorney general of any state (1962), the first in the nation popularly elected to the US Senate (1966), and still the only one to win reelection as a senator (1972)...Brooke has written a readable, tempered autobiography." - Kenneth Cooper, The Boston Globe

"Read about Ed Brooke-who in a just world, would have been President-and see the kindness, wisdom and courage the country missed. Join his friends and constituents who are inspired and enlarged by knowing him."-Gloria Steinem, cofounder Ms. Magazine and National Womens Political Caucus

"Senator Brookes story shows the kind of effective, authentic leadership our nation hungers for today. He broke through lines of race, creed, and class to unite Americans in the pursuit of justice and defeated the Radical Right at critical moments in our history-sometimes single-handedly."-Ralph G. Neas, President of People for the American Way

"Real Power is often exercised behind the scenes. In the U.S. Congress, the scene is the Conference between the House and Senate. There, Senator Ed Brooke was a true master, molding a consensus between left and right. People who seek to make the world a better place can learn much from his story, told here for the first time as one of the nation's quiet, but brilliant history makers of the twentieth century."-Andrew Young, Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations

"In an eloquent and forthright style, Senator Ed Brooke leads us through the extraordinary story of his life-from the grandson of a slave to the first popularly elected African American senator. It is a story that does honor to both the senator and the country he served for so many years."-Sebastian Junger, author of The Perfect Storm

Throughout my personal and political life, I have attempted to erase the issues of color, creed and class that divide us as individuals. I have always tried to bring people together, believing that our differences are the very qualities that make us strong. I wrote Bridging the Divide to share my experiences as a young African American candidate struggling to win over the electorate in a nearly all-white state. This was in the 1960s, one of the most racially tormented periods of American history. It is my hope that a new generation will see in the story of my struggles, trials and triumphs, the possibility of breaking down barriers that impede our progress. I also hope my story encourages those who have much to offer in the increasingly maligned field of politics, especially my fellow African Americans, and other men and women who have been marginalized and confined by hurtful stereotypes.

President Lyndon Johnson never understood it. Neither did President Richard Nixon. How could a black man, a Republican no less, be elected to the United States Senate from liberal, Democratic Massachusetts-a state with an African American population of only 2 percent?

The mystery of Senator Edward Brooke's meteoric rise from Boston lawyer to Massachusetts attorney general to the first popularly elected African American U.S. senator with some of the highest favorable ratings of any Massachusetts politician confounded many of the best political minds of the day. After winning a name for himself as the first black man to be elected a state's attorney general, as a crime fighter, and as the organizer of the Boston Strangler Task Force, this articulate and charismatic man burst on the national scene in 1966 when he ran for the Senate.

In two terms in the Senate during some of the most racially tormented years of the twentieth century, Brooke, through tact, personality, charm, and determination, became a highly regarded member of "the most exclusive club in the world." The only African American senator ever to be elected to a second term, Brooke established a reputation for independent thinking and challenged the powerbrokers and presidents of the day in defense of the poor and disenfranchised.

In this autobiography, Brooke details the challenges that confronted African American men of his generation and reveals his desire to be measured not as a black man in a white society but as an individual in a multiracial society. Chided by some in the white community as being "too black to be white" and in the black community as "too white to be black," Brooke sought only to represent the people of Massachusetts and the national interest.

His story encompasses the turbulent post-World War II years, from the gains of the civil rights movement, through the riotous 1960s, to the dark days of Watergate, with stories of his relationships with the Kennedys, Martin Luther King Jr., Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell, and future senator Hillary Clinton. Brooke also speaks candidly of his personal struggles, including his bitter divorce from his first wife and, most recently, his fight against cancer.

A dramatic, compelling, and inspirational account, Brooke's life story demonstrates the triumph of the human spirit, offering lessons about politics, life, reconciliation, and love.

Edward W. Brooke was born in Washington, D.C., in 1919. He attended Howard University and Boston University's School of Law. After serving as an officer in the U.S. Army in Europe during World War II, he returned home to a successful career in politics, eventually becoming the Republican senator from Massachusetts from 1967 to 1979. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004. The father of two daughters and a son, he currently lives in Miami with his wife, Anne.