What It Takes: The Way to the White House | Richard Ben Cramer

What It Takes: The Way to the White House | Richard Ben Cramer | This Book Should be Re-Issued

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What It Takes: The...

	What It Takes: The Way to the White House Richard Ben Cramer Vintage, 1993 - 1072 pages average customer review:based on 26 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The best of the best.

"What It Takes" is simply a stunning book. The life stories of six 1988 Presidential candidates (Bob Dole, George Bush, Joe Biden, Mike Dukakis, Dick Gephardt, and Gary Hart) are told here, but Cramer's book is more than a simple biography. Their stories are told in deep, meaningful ways with more insight shed upon their beliefs and thoughts than a 1,000 dull press clipings. Cramer's prose is nothing short of brilliant. He has a natural writing voice that is beautiful to behold.

In terms of personalities, I particularly found the passages about Dole & Biden illuminating.

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This Book Should be Re-Issued

It's very rare that you find a book that is this well-written. Even if it is about the 1988 camapign, this book teaches you about politics and campaigns and has a relevancy that will last well into the next century.

THE campaign book

Time magazine called 1988 "the year of the handler." The political handlers were so good, we didn't get to know the candidates very well. So thank goodness for What It Takes, a very detailed and lively look at the '88 candidates as 3-D Human Beings, faults and all. Cramer pulls back The Oz-like curtain of flag factories, pumped up biographies, and blitzkreig sloganeering. Cramer provides the Big Picture, so the reader can contrast the headlines of the day (simplistic) with the mainstream media's REAL feelings on the candidates (not quite so simplistic), and with Cramer's more detailed and colorful take. The book is epic in its number of characters, sweeping in its biographical information, educational in its look at campaign machinations, and best of all, laugh out loud funny. Believe me, you'll be reading episodes aloud to family and reciting them for coworkers. From 'The Bobster's' action walk, to Gephardt the Eyebrowless Martian, to Biden the Ultimate Charasmatic throwing up from nerves before speeches, going from Kennedyesque to Shaken Shell, to Bush the Boxer going toe to toe with Dan Rather and saying "Take that Dan! Didn't lay a glove on me!"

for more information click here

THE campaign book

Time magazine called 1988 "the year of the handler." The political handlers were so good, we didn't get to know the candidates very well. So thank goodness for What It Takes, a very detailed and lively look at the '88 candidates as 3-D Human Beings, faults and all. Cramer pulls back The Oz-like curtain of flag factories, pumped up biographies, and blitzkreig sloganeering. Cramer provides the Big Picture, so the reader can contrast the headlines of the day (simplistic) with the mainstream media's REAL feelings on the candidates (not quite so simplistic), and with Cramer's more detailed and colorful take. The book is epic in its number of characters, sweeping in its biographical information, educational in its look at campaign machinations, and best of all, laugh out loud funny. Believe me, you'll be reading episodes aloud to family and reciting them for coworkers. From 'The Bobster's' action walk, to Gephardt the Eyebrowless Martian, to Biden the Ultimate Charasmatic throwing up from nerves before speeches, going from Kennedyesque to Shaken Shell, to Bush the Boxer going toe to toe with Dan Rather and saying "Take that Dan! Didn't lay a glove on me!"

for more information click here

A reader form Princeton, Il

A great read! I agree with an earlier review that, while long, it's not long enough. Richard Cramer has an unique style of writing that makes it hard to lay the book down and raises the anticipation level of picking it up again.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, page 4, 5, 6

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