“Swanee Hunt is the woman behind the women, supporting their leadership throughout the world. Through them, she touches millions who will never have the privilege of browsing in a bookstore. This beautiful book tells why and how."
— Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia
Photos from the Book

My dapper father when I was born

 

Our Meadowlake fivesome

 

In my sweet little Alice-blue gown

 

Goldwater Girl - who'd a thunk It?

 

Dancing with Dad

 

Helen and Hassie

 

Pushing pastry and propaganda at the Louisiana State Fair

 

United with Mark, reunited with Franny

 

Mom and Me

 

Baby Lillian on the Mount Vernon lawn

 

Wedding Doubts at the Boboli Garden

 

South Park Rancher - that's my story and I'm stickin' to it

 

Onward and upward in Nepal

 

Navigating the Shelikof Straits of Alaska

 

Marathon training with Katherine Archuleta

 

The many moods of Lillian

 

Charles and Teddy: bonding time

 

Blended families - more art than science

 

Mother holds the Bible, Al Gore swears me ine

 

Senate hearings: All that prep for softballs

 

Viennese caricature: comic relief

 

How do you like being a queen?

 

With Henry - two heads are better than one

 

Ray plays Santa to his three sisters - again

 

My portrait of Elly and Viktor Frankl: in loco parentis

 

Sculpture from remnants of Ron Brown's plane

 

Arguing with the President

 

Teddy entertains Placido Domingo

 

Jamming with Hillary and Val in Salzburg

 

Vital Voices: A meltdown-in-the-making photograph

 

“Swanee Hunt's life reads like a novel. Born into a powerful, conservative and patriarchal American family, a young girl grows up to use her part of that power to support the powerless, and to encourage peace and women's leadership around the world. To discover the fascinating story in between, you must read 'Half-Life of a Zealot.”
— Gloria Steinem
“For a dozen years I've watched Swanee Hunt transform her resources into possibilities for others. Her autobiography shows the creative nexus of personal values, political savvy, and global reform that has made hers a life well lived.”
— George Soros