Just last night I finished the very recently released memoir “Remember, you are a Wiley,” by Maya Wiley which just got on to the booksellers’ Recent Release shelves on 9/17 – lol.  E-books and audio books are so cool for getting books while they’re still “hot,” immediately timely.  (I like that) 

Remember You’re a Wiley: A Memoir 
by Maya Wiley, September 2024
Read by author – 10h 45m
Rating – 8.75 / memoir

Maya Wiley,  for those of you who don’t know, is an American lawyer, professor, and civil rights activist. She is a fairly regular commentator for MSNBC. She ran for mayor of New York City back in 2010 but was beaten in the primary. 

The book goes through her private life from way before she was born (it has a direct bearing on her struggles and on who she is today) including the sudden death of her (brilliant) Black lawyer and Civil Rights activist father,  George Wiley in a boating accident when Maya was 9 and her brother 11. They were with him, but unable to save him.  . Wiley’s mother was White and quite progressive. but had stayed home to raise their children. She was active active after her husband’s death. 

I’d always thought of Wiley as being from a really upscale elite family and circle,  chic clothes and friends, top notch schools, and entry into employment via family name or acquaintances. That might not be correct at all, although she did have resources and her well-known father likely provided for his family. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the book although it wasn’t anything special on the memoir shelf. I don’t think there were any ghost writers involved.