What It Takes: The Way to the White House (Digital Original)

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Synopsis
Before Game Change there was What It Takes, a ride along the 1988 campaign trail and &“possibly the best [book] ever written about an American election&” (NPR). Written by Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and New York Times–bestselling author Richard Ben Cramer, What It Takes is &“a perfect-pitch rendering of the emotions, the intensity, the anguish, and the emptiness of what may have been the last normal two-party campaign in American history&” (Time). An up-close, in-depth look at six candidates—George H. W. &“Poppy&” Bush, Bob Dole, Joe Biden, Michael Dukakis, Richard Gephardt, and Gary Hart—this account of the 1988 US presidential campaign explores a unique moment in history, with details on everything from Bush at the Astrodome to Hart&’s Donna Rice scandal. Cramer also addresses the question we find ourselves pondering every four years: How do presumably ordinary people acquire that mixture of ambition, stamina, and pure shamelessness that allows them to throw their hat in the ring as a candidate for leadership of the free world? Exhaustively researched from thousands of hours of interviews, What It Takes creates powerful portraits of these Republican and Democratic contenders, and the consultants, donors, journalists, handlers, and hangers-on who surround them, as they meet, greet, and strategize their way through primary season chasing the nomination, resulting in &“a hipped-up amalgam of Teddy White, Tom Wolfe, and Norman Mailer&” (Los Angeles Times Book Review). With timeless insight that helps us understand the current state of the nation, this &“ultimate insider&’s book on presidential politics&” explores what helps these people survive, what makes them prosper, what drives them, and ultimately, what drives our government—human beings, in all their flawed glory (San Francisco Chronicle).
Copyright:
1992

Book Details

Book Quality:
Publisher Quality
Book Size:
1,060 Pages
ISBN-13:
9781453219645
Publisher:
Open Road Media
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
Richard Ben Cramer
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
History, Nonfiction, Politics and Government
Submitted By:
Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.

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