Shortest Way Home: One Mayor's Challenge and a Model for America's Future

Pete Buttigieg

Feb 2019 · Highbridge Audio · Narrated by Pete Buttigieg

About this audiobook

A mayor's inspirational story of a Midwest city that has become nothing less than a blueprint for the future of American renewal. Once described by the Washington Post as "the most interesting mayor you've never heard of," Pete Buttigieg, the thirty-six-year-old Democratic mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has improbably emerged as one of the nation's most visionary politicians. First elected in 2011, Buttigieg left a successful business career to move back to his hometown, previously tagged by Newsweek as a "dying city," because the industrial Midwest beckoned as a challenge to the McKinsey-trained Harvard graduate. Whether meeting with city residents on middle-school basketball courts, reclaiming abandoned houses, confronting gun violence, or attracting high-tech industry, Buttigieg has transformed South Bend into a shining model of urban reinvention. While Washington reels with scandal, Shortest Way Home interweaves two once-unthinkable success stories: that of an Afghanistan veteran who came out and found love and acceptance, all while in office, and that of a Rust Belt city so thoroughly transformed that it shatters the way we view America's so-called flyover country.

Ratings and reviews

Got it to learn more about him and found it described more the City and events rather than any idea of what makes him tick. Felt lacking in character and the work of someone who's editor was asleep at tye wheel. Not a fan, from the gate it lacks any sort of flow and feels cobbled and put together just as a way to help finance and get on a road show for the upcoming election.

At last, a real , whip smart candidate. He checks all the boxes of greatness. Poetic, ex military, brave, sympathetic and engaging. Has a personal relationship with predjudice. No feel sorry for me, just plow through, win hearts, and get the job done. Notice the cover of his book...rolling up his sleeves...Yes.yes and yes to this surprising mollinial..He has my vote as a senior...

Pete describes his experience and trials as a cheif executive in todays America. He lays out a vision of progress and hope for a new generation of American politics. 10/10 would recommend for president!

About the author

Pete Buttigieg, born in Indiana in 1982, is currently serving his second term as mayor of South Bend. A dynamic national lecturer and TEDx speaker, as well as a Rhodes Scholar and Navy veteran, Buttigieg was educated at Harvard and Oxford. He and his husband, Chasten Glezman, live in South Bend, Indiana.