Books by Shirley

You Can Get There From Here

You Can Get There From Here begins in the never-never land of Las Vegas where Ms. MacLaine is performing her one-woman show and tells an intimate tale of the fascinating world in which she lives.

Shirley MacLaine turned to new adventures. One was a trip on the campaign trail with George McGovern, which turned out to be, at best, mixed blessings. But as always, every experience leads Ms. MacLaine deeper into herself and a positive result. What she learned about political humanity, what she experienced in the eventual disarray and defeat, and, above all, what she discovered about people gives heart to her story.

The second adventure was her trip to the People's Republic of China with a delegation of American women; another profound experience that led to self-rediscovery. What they saw and experienced in China was a deep shock to all of them. Shirley MacLaine, particularly, found a society which seemed both successful and happy in which there was no role for the individual creative impulse. It was a country that had torn down traditions thousands of years old in one generation and rebuilt a more workable society on new grounds - grounds completely alien to everything they, as Americans, had been taught to revere.

"In China I saw an entire nation, once degraded, corrupt, demoralized, and exploited, that was changing its very nature... I realized that if what we call human nature can be changed, then absolutely anything is possible. And from that moment, my life changed..."

— Shirley MacLaine