This memoir by United States Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is, in some ways, says Nelson, the "classic American story" of "someone who worked very hard, started with nothing" and moved on – in this case – to Ivy League universities and, eventually, the highest court of the land. Nelson notes that Sotomayor writes "beautifully of her mother," a nurse who made "a shockingly small amount of money" and yet managed to raise her children well.