It’s Literally Wednesday: Political Books
Dave | October 3, 2012The quadrennial presidential political season kicks into a different gear at 9pm this evening with the first of three debates between President Barack Obama (author of Dreams of My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance (448 pages) and The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (384 pages)) and Republican nominee Mitt Romney (co-author of Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership, and the Olympic Games (416 pages) and author of No Apology: Believe in America (336 pages)). Regardless of the outcome of this year’s election, there is a very good chance that each of these guys will write another book.
In general I find books by, for, and/or about politicians to be boring — too long and too numerous. I was yet again reminded of this fact yesterday with the release of Rick Santorum’s second book, American Patriots: Answering the Call to Freedom (at least it is only 176 pages) and Bill O’Reilly’s umpteenth book, Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot (336 co-written pages).
I have read great things about Robert Caro’s biographies of Lyndon Johnson. Unfortunately the first four volumes — the fifth and final book won’t be out for at least a couple of years — total some 3,400 pages. (If you agree that this is an awful lot of reading, please realize that it took over 4,000 pages for J.K. Rowling to cover Harry Potter’s adolescence.) A search for “Barack Obama” and “biography” on Amazon.com yields 551 results. George W. Bush wrote Decision Points (512 pages), a pared-down memoir limited to major decisions made during his life. Bill Clinton famously signed over 1,000 copies of My Life (992 pages) at the Second Story Bookshop (R.I.P. 2009) in Chappaqua, New York upon the book’s release in 2004. Jimmy Carter has authored or co-authored some 23 books.
I’ve read the picture book President Carter authored with his daughter, Amy, as well as some of his poetry. I’m just not a political junkie.
There are two political books that I have enjoyed. The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant (544 pages) was completed just days before his death from throat cancer in 1885 and published by his friend, Mark Twain. I haven’t read it cover to cover, but instead skipped around. The bulk of the book concerns the Civil War and is forthright and fascinating.
Far more contemporary is Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s All the President’s Men (349 pages), which I read when it was published in 1974. Even though I had read newspaper accounts of Watergate daily, the book was still gripping. And relatively short.
Have any good political books to recommend?
This Week
Adam Gidwitz, author of In a Glass Grimmly, Wednesday, October 3rd, 7pm, Little Shop of Stories, free.
Hillary Jordan, author of When She Woke, Wednesday, October 3rd, 7:15pm, Decatur Library, sponsored by Georgia Center for the Book, free.
Jumpstart’s Read for the Record, Thursday, October 4th, 7pm, Little Shop of Stories, free.
Jasper Fforde, author of The Woman Who Died a Lot: A Thursday Next Novel, Friday, October 5th, 7pm, First Baptist Church – Decatur, sponsored by Georgia Center for the Book, free.
Star Wars Reads Day, Saturday, October 6th, 10am, Little Shop of Stories, free.
Chris Cleave, author of Gold, Saturday, October 6th, 2pm, Toco Hill – Avis G. Williams Library, sponsored by Georgia Center for the Book, free.
Stacy London (co-host of TLC’s What Not to Wear), author of The Truth About Style, Tuesday, October 9th, 6pm cocktails, 7pm talk, Atlanta History Center, $45 for members, $55 for non-members.
Stephan Pastis, author of Pearls Freaks the #*%# Out, Tuesday, October 9th, 7pm, Manuel’s Tavern, hosted by A Cappella Books, free
Tad Hills, author of Rocket Writes a Story, Wednesday, October 10th, 4pm, Little Shop of Stories, free.
Carlos Andrés Gómez, author of Man Up: Cracking the Code of Modern Manhood, Wednesday, October 10th, 7:15pm, Decatur Library, sponsored by Georgia Center for the Book, free.
Many years ago I enjoyed Plunkitt of Tammany Hall by William Riordan, originally published in 1905. Plunkitt expounds on the difference between “honest graft” and “dishonest graft”.
“I seen my opportunities and I took ‘em.”
Twelve Steps toward Political Revelation by Walter Mosley. While Mosley as a fiction writer, this short nonfiction work is a very good guide to making political change.
Adam Gidwitz is also stopping by F.Ave today – my 5th grader was giddy this morning.
Good get by the F.Ave staff!
Americapedia: Taking The Dumb Out of Freedom is available at our public library.
I guess they haven’t figured out how to stop you from covertly adding copies to the library shelves yet, huh?
The alarm only stops you from taking books, not leaving them.
“What It Takes” by Richard Ben Cramer.
It”s the story of the 1988 Republican and Democratic primaries, focusing on the campaigns of most of the major candidates running for each party’s nomination. It does a great job of telling how and why concerning what led up to each person’s decision to run and the thinking inside the campaigns as the primaries unfolded. It’s clearly written, dramatic and often fun.
Several things that shaped my political beliefs are my life experiences, my spouse, my faith, and my parents. But I did enjoy the Lincoln book several years ago, something about rivals. Very very good.
One more thing. Many conservatives believe that Barrack Obama did not write his books and used a ghost, maybe that unrepentant Chicago terrorist what’s his name.
Many conservatives also believe the earth is flat but we just pat their pointy heads and send them on their way.
I know you’re joking, but that was kind of unnecessary, was it? Even we conservatives know a turtle’s back isn’t flat.
In all seriousness, sometimes I’m dismayed by the offhand comments people throw out about the opposing party. It’s OK for good people to have differing, even opposing views – in fact, it’s healthy. All the conservatives I know (OK, maybe 98%) are intelligent, open-minded, kind hearted and successful citizens. But to hear a liberal – you’d think we are all knuckle dragging troglodytes.
It reminds me of the famous Reagan quote: “Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant; it’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.”
“The many conservatives believe” line is what set me off. This phrasing allows for all sorts of lies and misrepresentations. It’s that difference between belief and a fact that is the real basis of this election. You can believe that you can cut taxes and keep the military on its bloated budget and that cancelling Big Bird will magically erase the resulting deficit but it’s not true.
No one has ever claimed that ending public funding for PBS will balance the budget. But the fact that we continue to fund PBS at a time when the country is dead flat broke is certainly a symptom of our collective inability to act like responsible adults when it comes to budgeting and spending money. I had to add that “and” in there because the federal government hasn’t actually passed a budget in the last 4 years. Not that anyone seems to care. Indeed, roughly half the country is prepared to give another 4 years to a president who hasn’t bothered to fulfill the basic responsibility to get a budget passed.
PBS provides news and educational programs at the highest caliber for some of the lowest budgets. It is a good steward of tax funds.
Conservatives don’t like PBS because Rupert Murdoch and his ilk can’t buy it or control the content. Besides, an educated populace turns away from simplistic conservative beliefs. No wonder they fear education.
Ah yes, liberals are inherently smarter and conservatives favor ignorance for purely political reasons. I can see you’ve had many, many serious conversations with people who disagre with you about politics and public policy.
It’s statistics. Why do you think religion fears science so? The smarter you are, the more educated, the less likely to believe the political whoha conservatives offer.
To be blunt about it, it is childish and arrogant to assume that you’re simply smarter than those who happen to disagree with you. I think I was about 16 when I came to the conclusion that intelligence doesn’t explain political beliefs. There are brilliant minds on both sides of the political spectrum. And it should be obvious that not all conservatives are religious, even if we are to grant your biased notion that “religion fears science.” I guess that’s why they don’t teach science at Notre Dame and Georgetown?
bleah
tired of arguing with you
you miss my point and keep trying to make this discussion personal.
Have a nice day.
I just find it hilarious that anyone who supports Obama would have the audacity to criticize someone else’s plan on reducing the deficit. Obama had ADDED almost 6 trillion to the deficit!
And DEM, as I’m sure you know, the reason most liberals only focus on “those crazy religious nuts” is because they would get eaten alive if they were to have an intellectual discussion about economics. Romney/Ryan haven’t been running a campaign focusing on social issues, but that is all some liberals want to point out. They just don’t want to/can’t have a debate about the economic health and direction of this country.
Having said that, as a libertarian, I do wish the Republican Party would get with the program on social issues….
I’ll have to let you see my facebook feed sometime. You’re right most conservatives aren’t troglodytes, but you get drowned out by the crazies. The old style conservatives need to stand up and be heard. I would love to be able to have real, constructive debates with conservatives, and not have to start it off debating whether the president is really a Kenyan Muslim Fascist Communist intent on bringing about the destruction of the “heritage” of the US and the coming of the next Ottoman Empire. That would be so nice.
I had to unfriend some troglodytes on my FB page.
“you’d think we are all knuckle dragging troglodytes.”
Nah, but it’s hard to ignore the fact that the anti-science, knuckle draggers feel perfectly at home on the right. They don’t have much room to point out other people’s ignorance. Mr. Akin’s recent comments about rape victims being able to shut down their reproductive systems, come to mind. He’s still raising money, still getting plenty of support, and he’s the real victim. But as long as you claim to be a God-fearing Christian, you can say or do just about anything and get a free pass on it. Of course, the left does have its fair share of nut jobs as well.
Robert Caro’s bio of Lyndon Johnson, as well as his book about Robert Moses, are among the best I’ve read. Of course, I was 150 pages into the first volume when I realized that Lyndon Johnson wasn’t yet conceived.
+1 on Caro’s LBJ biography. I just finished Volume 4, “The Passage of Power,” and can’t wait for the fifth and final volume to be published. We probably won’t see it until 2014, though.
I enjoyed Peggy Noonan’s “What I Saw at the Revolution.” Doris Kearns Goodwin’s “Team of Rivals” was also excellent.
How about Robert Penn Warren’s, “All The King’s Men”? It’s fiction, but based on the life of Louisiana governor Huey Long. I’m not one for political books in general but this one is fantastic and unexpectedly blew me away when I read it. A classic.
Yes! I was just thinking of that excellent example of political fiction. I also loved The Last Hurrah by Edwin O’Conner. Written in 1956, it’s about a mayoral race in unnamed east coast city (Boston.) It illustrates the end of big machine politics as it existed up to that time. Wonderful book.