Mother, wife, scholar, diplomat, and fierce champion of American interests and values, Susan Rice connects the personal and the professional. Taught early, with tough love, how to compete and excel as an African American woman in settings where people of color are few, Susan now shares the wisdom she learned along the way. Laying bare the family struggles that shaped her early life in Washington, DC, she also examines the ancestral legacies that influenced her. Rice's elders -- immigrants on one side and descendants of slaves on the other -- had high expectations that each generation would rise. And rise they did, but not without paying it forward -- in uniform and in the pulpit, as educators, community leaders, and public servants. Susan too rose rapidly. She served throughout the Clinton administration, becoming one of the nation's youngest assistant secretaries of state and, later, one of President Obama's most trusted advisors. Rice provides an insider's account of some of the most complex issues confronting the United States over three decades, ranging from "Black Hawk Down" in Somalia to the genocide in Rwanda and the East Africa embassy bombings in the late 1990s, and from conflicts in Libya and Syria to the Ebola epidemic, a secret channel to Iran, and the opening to Cuba during the Obama years. She reveals previously untold stories behind recent national security challenges, including confrontations with Russia and China, the war against ISIS, the struggle to contain the fallout from Edward Snowden's NSA leaks, the U.S. response to Russian interference in the 2016 election, and the surreal transition to the Trump administration. Tough Love makes an urgent appeal to the American public to bridge our dangerous domestic divides in order to preserve our democracy and sustain our global leadership. Taught early, with tough love, how to compete and excel as an African American woman in settings where people of color are few, Rice now shares the wisdom she learned along the way. Her elders-- immigrants on one side and descendants of slaves on the other-- had high expectations that each generation would rise. And rise they did, but not without paying it forward-- in uniform and in the pulpit, as educators, community leaders, and public servants. Rice herself served throughout the Clinton administration, becoming one of the nation's youngest assistant secretaries of state and, later, one of President Obama's most trusted advisors. Here she provides an insider's account of some of the most complex issues confronting the United States over three decades, and reveals previously untold stories behind recent national security challenges. -- condensed from jacket

Prologue: Farewell to the moral universe -- Service in my soul -- Coming up -- Growing up too soon -- Twice as good -- Go west, young woman -- Busting out -- Rookie season -- Always Africa -- Storming state -- "I remember when I too was a young assistant secretary" -- Going global -- Represent -- High-stakes diplomacy -- The Arab Spring comes to New York -- Star Wars cantina -- Benghazi -- Running the table -- The furies -- Point guard -- Putting points on the board -- The fourth quarter -- "He f#%@ing won?" -- Bridging the divide.