Julian Castro’s An Unlikely Journey: Waking Up from My American Dream is both a memoir and a political book designed to kickstart Castro’s 2020 campaign for President.
Naturally, An Unlikely Journey begins in 1974, the year of Castro’s birth. Castro was born to unmarried parents in a poverty-stricken neighborhood in San Antonio, Texas and had to struggle to gain success in his life and political career like many others in his neighborhood – and city. The one advantage Castro had as he ascended through the political scene: his mother, who was an incredibly intelligent and hard-working political activist.
Ultimately, Castro and his brother Joaquin beat the odds and attended Stanford and Harvard. Shortly thereafter, Joaquin became a Texas state representative and Julian became the mayor of San Antonio. And it was through Julian’s inspired and intelligent leadership that San Antonio became one of the most important and vibrant cities in the country – something he could’ve only dreamed of.
Because of this, Julian was a hot commodity in the political scene. He was swiftly invited to be the keynote speaker at the 2012 Democratic National Convention and later President Obama’s secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in 2014.
His political rise continued in 2016, when he was shortlisted by Hillary Clinton (who won the Democratic nomination for President) to be her Vice President. Alas, that wasn’t meant to be and Castro began to prepare for his 2020 Presidential Campaign.
Although his 2020 Campaign failed, Castro’s story is one of overcoming all of the obstacles he had to deal with, resiliency, and strength.
