Harper to Publish Posthumous Book by Elijah Cummings

Harper will publish We’re Better Than This: My Fight for the Future of Our Democracy, a memoir by late Baltimore congressman and chair of the Committee on Oversight and Reform Elijah Cummings. The deal for world rights was negotiated by Lisa Sharkey, senior v-p and director of creative development at HarperCollins Publishers and David Black of the David Black Agency. Executive editor Matt Harper will edit the book, which will be published on June 30, 2020. The book, which Harper says was nearly finished before Cummings's death on October 17 of last year, was completed by his collaborator, James Dale, and his widow, Maya Rockeymoore Cummings.

"In We’re Better Than This, Cummings details the formative moments in his life that prepared him to hold President Donald Trump accountable for his actions while in office," Harper said in a release. "Cummings powerfully weaves together the urgent drama of modern-day politics and the defining stories from his past. He offers a unique perspective on how his upbringing as the son of sharecroppers in a South Baltimore neighborhood, rampant with racism and poverty, laid the foundation of a life spent fighting for justice."