Mayor for Life

New autobiography out this week: Mayor for Life: The Incredible Story of Marion Barry, Jr..

The Washington Post notes the book is “seeking to recast Barry’s legacy as a civil rights icon and crusader for black empowerment while denying, eliding or explaining away the controversies that pocked his four decades in politics. In the most prominent instance, Barry portrays his January 1990 drug bust at a downtown Washington hotel not merely as a sideshow to his decades in public service, but one directly rooted in his efforts to upend white political and economic privilege.”