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Title: It Looks Like a President Only Smaller: Trailing Campaign 2000 by Joel Achenbach ISBN: 0-7432-2348-9 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 09 April, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.71 (14 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Funny and Insightful Election Recap
Comment: I know, I know. People are sick of hearing about the election. But if you are going to read any book on American politics this year, I suggest it be this one. Surprised? I was too.
Achenbach, who writes a column for the Washington Post online, is at heart a humor columnist. And a good one. The book contains hysterical commentary on the entire campaign, from the primaries through the innagural. That didn't suprise me. Achenbach's a funny guy.
What did surprise me is that the book captures the essence of the 2000 election more poignantly and insightfully that any of the "serious" pieces I have read. Achenbach is at his root a journalist, and his humor is always digging at something deeper. Sure, he can make the obvious "W. ain't so smart" joke. But most of his commentary is both funny on the surface and incisive upon reflection. His writing about the recount captures the madness, mayhem and unique uncertainty of that process far more effectively than even the Post's own history of the election.
Look, this is a funny book. If that's all you want, buy it. But it comes with an added bonus-- with wry humor it captures a surreal moment in American history perhaps the only way it can really be captured.
Rating: 5
Summary: A fun account of a very un-fun time in history.
Comment: I went into this book skeptically -- the election was not something I cared to revisit -- but I enjoy Achenbach's columns on the Washington Post website, so I thought I'd give the book a chance. I'm really glad I did. Achenbach does a great job of parodying the main characters of the campaign and election and recount -- Bush, Gore, Katherine Harris, etc -- while taking the Average Joes quite seriously and unironically. He does more legwork than the average columnist and he's funnier, too. Who knew I would laugh out loud when reading about chads?
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent In Spite Of Flaws
Comment: Achanbach's little book is as funny as it is easy to read. It's the kind of book your sarcastic roommate might write if he road along on the press bus during a national election. Of course, the books strength is also it's weakness, since Achenbach seems to know as much about the history of politics and elections as your sarcastic roommate might. His observation that the campaign was vapid and devoid of ideas was accurate but his assumption that it was unique because of this is faulty. Likewise his assessment of the candidates, summed up by his title, is correct but his assumption that in the past the country sent moral or intellectual giants onto the campaign trail is flawed. Every politician is considered a pandering vapid idiot in his time, and is excoriated by his enemies for his intellectual and moral deficits. It is possible that Gore was more boring than average and W was stupider, but you could not discern this simply by reading accounts written during elections. Achenbach is on target when he suggests that the candidates do not represent the voters, but again he is off base when he tries to explain why. He would have us believe that it is the independent voters that vote for the likes Nader and Buchanan are to blame. It is not those who actually vote for leaders they admire who are the problem, it is those like Achenbach who dutifully pull the handle for whomever the party bosses select. Achenbach is no Jack Germound, to be sure, and this book should not be seen as a serious, detailed explanation of the nuts and bolts of the campaign. It is not. It is a playful romp, a witty, vicious assault from a neophyte. There is nothing wrong with that. It's darn funny and quite a pleasure to read. Highly recommended.
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Title: The Book on Bush: How George W. (Mis)leads America by Eric Alterman, Mark Green, Mark J. Green ISBN: 0670032735 Publisher: Viking Books Pub. Date: 05 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: One-Car Caravan: On the Road with the 2004 Democrats Before America Tunes In by Walter Shapiro ISBN: 1586481878 Publisher: PublicAffairs Pub. Date: 04 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: The Lies of George W. Bush: Mastering the Politics of Deception by DAVID CORN ISBN: 1400050669 Publisher: Crown Pub. Date: 30 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: The Grand Idea : George Washington's Potomac and the Race to the West by Joel Achenbach ISBN: 0684848570 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 10 June, 2004 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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Title: Bush's War For Reelection : Iraq, the White House, and the People by James Moore ISBN: 0471483850 Publisher: Wiley Pub. Date: 05 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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