BookOpinion

Which type of book tells a more complete story about a presidential candidate? Autobiographical or biographical?

While opinions may vary as to what makes a good biography or expose, there is no doubt that there’s plenty of reading material on the candidates making a run for the White House.

BookOpinion has come up with a presidenitial candidate book list highlighting several different writing styles…some glossy and some not always favorable to the subject. While some of the other candidates have books out as well, we chose these books on the merits of being provocative and best sellers - three Democrats and three Republicans in no particular order.

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream by Barack Obama

NEW YORK TIMES REVIEW (excerpt): Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois and the Democratic Party’s new rock star, is that rare politician who can actually write — and write movingly and genuinely about himself.

His 1995 memoir, “Dreams From My Father,” written before Mr. Obama entered politics, provided a revealing, introspective account of his efforts to trace his family’s tangled roots and his attempts to come to terms with his absent father, who left home when he was still a toddler. That book did an evocative job of conjuring the author’s multicultural childhood: his father was from Kenya, his mother was from Kansas, and the young Mr. Obama grew up in Hawaii and Indonesia…

Mr. Obama’s book, “The Audacity of Hope” — the phrase comes from his 2004 Democratic Convention keynote address, which made him the party’s rising young hope — is much more of a political document. Portions of the volume read like outtakes from a stump speech, and the bulk of it is devoted to laying out Mr. Obama’s policy positions on a host of issues, from education to health care to the war in Iraq.

But while Mr. Obama occasionally slips into the flabby platitudes favored by politicians, enough of the narrative voice in this volume is recognizably similar to the one in “Dreams From My Father,” an elastic, personable voice that is capable of accommodating everything from dense discussions of foreign policy to streetwise reminiscences, incisive comments on constitutional law to New-Agey personal asides.

A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton by Carl Bernstein

Excerpt from Chapter One (Amazon.com): Hillary Rodham’s childhood was not the suburban idyll suggested by the shaded front porch and gently sloping lawn of what was once the family home at 235 Wisner Street in Park Ridge, Illinois. In this leafy environment of postwar promise and prosperity, the Rodhams were distinctly a family of odd ducks, isolated from their neighbors by the difficult character of her father, Hugh Rodham, a sour, unfulfilled man whose children suffered his relentless, demeaning sarcasm and misanthropic inclination, endured his embarrassing parsimony, and silently accepted his humiliation and verbal abuse of their mother.

Yet as harsh, provocative, and abusive as Rodham was, he and his wife, the former Dorothy Howell, imparted to their children a pervasive sense of family and love for one another that in Hillary’s case is of singular importance. When Bill Clinton and Hillary honeymooned in Acapulco in 1975, her parents and her two brothers, Hughie (Hugh Jr.) and Tony, stayed in the same hotel as the bride and groom.

Four Trials by John Edwards and John Auchard

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY REVIEW: In his campaigns for the U.S. Senate (successful) and the Democratic presidential nomination (struggling), Edwards has defiantly celebrated his earlier career as a trial lawyer. Following that instinct, Edwards has chosen to cast his campaign memoir as an account of four of his courtroom experiences. Four Trials is brimming with Clintonian empathy for regular folks, and Edwards is at his best in his endearing portraits of the victims he represented in medical malpractice and personal injury lawsuits. He also displays a keen understanding of the psychology of a jury, which he calls “a microcosm of democracy.” Edwards weaves in recollections of his youth as the son of a mill worker, his rise to prominence as a lawyer, his dedicated family life and the death of his son in a car accident. But he mostly sticks to the details of the cases; he omits almost entirely his years in the Senate and his plans for the presidency. Edwards can tell a good yarn, and at times this book works as a courtroom drama. But it suffers from shoddy, platitudinous prose. The book is chiefly of interest for the way it manifests Edwards’s strategy to present himself as an advocate for the downtrodden to his new jury, the American electorate.

From Hope to Higher Ground: 12 STOPS to Restoring America’s Greatness by Mike Huckabee

BOOKLIST REVIEW: One of the longest-serving governors in the nation, Huckabee offers an optimistic outlook on the state of the nation. This is no Pollyanna view; Huckabee is candid about the nation’s problems; as governor of Arkansas, he had a front seat from which to observe Hurricane Katrina and the disastrous recovery efforts. Part 1 of his book is a description of his small-town origins and the kinds of civic and church involvement and activities that bind communities. The second part of the book lists 12 action steps to avoid cynicism, the nation’s number-one problem. Among his recommendations: don’t believe bad reports without documentation, listen to more music and less talk radio, do volunteer work, and have regular conversations with people of other ethnic, religious, or political backgrounds. Republican Huckabee is from Hope, the same small town that produced former president Clinton.

Faith of My Fathers: A Family Memoir by John Mccain and Mark Salter

AMAZON.COM REVIEW: Books by politicians are not often worth reading, but John McCain’s Faith of My Fathers is an astonishing exception to the rule. The Republican senator from Arizona has a remarkable story to tell–better than just about any of his peers–and he tells it well, with crisp prose and an unexpected sense for narrative pacing. The first half of the book concerns his naval forbears: his grandfather commanded an aircraft carrier in the Second World War, while his father presided over all naval forces in the Pacific during the Vietnam War. They were the first father-son admirals in American history. Young John McCain knew he had enormous shoes to fill and rebelled against many of the expectations set for him. At the Naval Academy, he was nearly expelled, graduating fifth from the bottom of his class. He never became an admiral, but achieved fame another way: as a naval aviator in 1967, he was shot down over North Vietnam and spent several years in POW camps, where he was beaten, tortured, and nearly allowed to die. McCain describes the awful details of his imprisonment and tells how he stayed mentally strong during seemingly endless months of solitary confinement and how he communicated in code with fellow captives. Faith of My Fathers concludes with McCain’s release and contains no information about his subsequent political career. It is, nonetheless, a complete and compelling memoir of individual heroism–one that will interest both political and military history buffs.

Rudy!: An Investigative Biography of Rudolph Guiliani by Wayne Barrett

From the inside flap: Rudy Guiliani. New York City’s Mayor. America’s Number One Cop. A municipal superhero who needs no phone booth. A politician of astonishing complexity whose full story has never been told. Until now. Guiliani has assumed mythic proportions, the can-do emblem of the new urban politics. He has been heralded as the ultimate turn-around artist - projecting himself as the reformer who single-handedly salvaged a crime-ridden and blighted New York. From his days in the Eighties as the Michael Milken-busting U.S. Attorney of Manhattan to his current purge of hundreds of thousands from his city’s welfare rolls, Giuliani has targeted rich and poor with the same relentless certitude.This investigative biography starts with the college kid who confided his presidential dream to his girlfriend and practiced future campaign speeches in front of her at home. It analyzes his substantial impact as U.S. Attorney, badly wounding the Mafia, ransacking the white collared halls of Wall Street and forever changing the face of New York politics. It looks at his celebrated crime reduction and other achievements through a new lens, highlighting the single-mindedness that has made Giuliani one of America’s most important and controversial figures.

- Alexander

BOOKOPINION REVIEW: The following quote will probably help you understand where Laura Ingraham is coming from in “Power to the People,” her newest book: “Whether you know it or not, many of the most important decisions in your life are being made for you. They are being made by out-of-touch politicians, agenda-driven educrats, haughty life-tenured judges and executives in a polluted entertainment industry – all of whom believe they know better than you. Responsibility and accountability are principles that they preach but do not practice. They have their agendas – and when little people get in the way, watch out. They are perpetrating a massive power grab. Watch your wallet. Hide your children. Lock up the livestock. They’re coming for you.”

Thus speaks Laura Ingraham, political and cultural commentator, former white-collar defense attorney, Supreme Court law clerk, graduate of Dartmouth College and the University of Virginia School of Law and currently host of her own syndicated conservative radio show.  She also hosted the first live national radio show from Iraq and is the recipient of the VFW’s 2007 award for distinguished media coverage. Quite an impressive bio.

And if you believe, as many do, that there is nothing you can do to change the current ugly situation, you are going to be delighted with “Power to the People,” an expose with an encouraging message. Ingraham offers sensible solutions for solving the problems that seem so obvious but leave most of us feeling helpless.

This fast-paced, well thought out book is at times humorous, cutting and blunt. Ingraham doesn’t cut corners or hesitate to name names. Beginning with great insights on the American family, Ingraham quickly moves on from parenting issues to illegal immigration to terrorism to the judicial system…she reintroduces the reader to the Bill of Rights, frightening information regarding the failure of our educational system and addresses problems with the internet and the film industry.

“Power to the People” is a commonsense work that will quickly touch a responsive chord in most Americans, regardless of your political affiliation. If you’re as tired of I am of irresponsible government, no hold bars spending with hard-earned tax dollars and autocrats who simply refuse to listen to your complaints, you are going to love this book.

You will learn that there is something you can do to make a difference. And you can learn how to do it. This is one of the most encouraging, informative books that I’ve read in a long time. It’s an easy, well-written read, simple to understand and occasionally, shockingly explicit. An eye-opener to say the least.

Admittedly, there are some who are going to be offended by certain aspects of this book. All I can say is, try to keep an open mind and be brutally honest about your reasoning. If you disagree with certain chapters, so be it. There are sure to be other elements with which you will be in agreement.

As Ingraham states, “The good news is it’s never too late. Although we have been pushed to the edge of the ravine, we can still save ourselves. But only if we face reality and acknowledge that our cultural and political leaders have failed us – and that we allowed this to happen.”

– Elizabeth Channery

The best good and bad quotes last forever or at least until the end of the year … for example, making your “Don’t Tase Me, Bro!” T-shirt still a worthy Christmas present.

While a delicious quote on a T-shirt might bleach out in the wash, a book of memorable quotes lasts a lot longer. Fred R. Shapiro, an associate librarian and lecturer at the Yale Law School, is the editor of “The Yale Book of Quotations,” released earlier this year after six years of research. It contains about 13,000 quotes, each extensively researched to verify its origin. He expects to add about 1,000 more quotes — mostly modern — for the next edition of his book in about five years.

More recently, Shapiro released a list of the 10 most memorable quotes of 2007. With help from the Associated Press, here’s the list from bottom to top:

10. “I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history.”

Former President Jimmy Carter, referring to the Bush administration in an interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper

9. “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”

Sen. Joseph Biden, referring to rival Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama

8. “(I have) a wide stance when going to the bathroom.”

Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig, explaining why his foot touched the foot of an undercover police officer in an airport men’s room

7. “I’m not going to get into a name-calling match with somebody who has a 9 percent approval rating.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, referring to Republican Vice President Dick Cheney

6. “There’s only three things he (Republican presidential candidate and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani) mentions in a sentence: a noun and a verb and 9/11.”

Sen. Joseph Biden, speaking during a debate for Democratic presidential candidates

5. “I don’t recall.”

Former U.S. Attorney Alberto Gonzales’ repeated response to questions from members of Congress about the firing of U.S. attorneys

4. “That’s some nappy-headed hos there.”

Radio personality Don Imus, referring to the Rutgers University women’s basketball team

3. “In Iran we don’t have homosexuals like in your country.”

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, during a speaking engagement at Columbia University in New York

2. “I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don’t have maps and I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and the Iraq and everywhere like such as and I believe that they should our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S. or should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future for us.”

Lauren Upton, the South Carolina contestant in the Miss Teen America contest, when asked why one-fifth of Americans cannot find the U.S on a map

1. “Don’t tase me, bro.”

Andrew Meyer, a senior at the University of Florida, after being hauled away by campus police during a speech made by Sen. John Kerry.

Don’t Tase Me, Bro! The Video

Now that I’ve refreshed your memory on some top unforgettable quotes of 2007, I recommend getting your hands on an extensive list found in “The Yale Book of Quotations.”

This from Booklist’s Carolyn Mulac:

To paraphrase Ira Gershwin, “on every [page] that you turn you meet a notable with a statement that is eminently quotable” in this collection. According to editor Shapiro, this is “the first quotation book to be compiled using state-of-the-art research methods to seek out quotations and to trace quotation sources.” He compares his approach with that of the Oxford English Dictionary: he, too, traces words back to their earliest possible usages. Using a variety of electronic sources, such as JSTOR, LexisNexis, ProQuest Historical Newspapers, andTimes Digital Archive, scores of quotations were verified, and in many cases reverified. The more than 12,000 quotations collected here span a wide array of subjects, from literature, philosophy, and history to science, business, and politics.

Quotations are presented alphabetically by the name of the author or speaker. Shakespeare and the Bible, the mother lodes of quotations, are amply represented, but emphasis is on “modern and American materials.” Children’s authors, who are often ignored in other dictionaries, are quoted here. There are a number of special sections devoted to particular types of quotations, among them advertising slogans, ballads, film lines, political slogans, and radio and television catchphrases. Song lyrics are entered by the name of the composer, and film lines appear either under the film title in the special section devoted to movie lines or, if they originated in a book or play upon which the film was based, under the author of that literary source. Proverbs span the centuries and often include evidence of a saying’s first print appearance. A keyword index, an essential element of any quotation dictionary, rounds out the text.

Don’t disappoint me, bro…go check out “The Yale Book of Quotations” now!

- Alexander

BOOKOPINION REVIEW: Let’s assume the following scenario: you’re a fairly ordinary person, two kids, soccer mom … you volunteer for political fundraising in your spare time, live in an average neighborhood, have an average income. You live well but not opulently. And then one day, you are assaulted by the most powerful person in the world … and no one believes you, except the “bad guys”. They know you’re telling the truth and are determined no one else will ever find out.

This is the predicament that Kathleen Willey states she was in when she was accosted and assaulted by the President of the United States, Bill Clinton.

After the story was leaked by Drudge, Willey states, “I had aroused the ire of the Clinton administration and was about to bear the full force of its fury. Through their henchmen and minions, Bill and Hillary Clinton would wage nothing less than a media war to undercut my credibility and the credibility of any woman who dared tell the truth about Bill’s sexual advances. That war would reveal the chronic hypocrisy of those who advocate for women’s rights, as none of them -– not Democrats nor feminists nor Hillary Clinton, an alleged promoter of women’s rights -– would come to the aid of the women he had assaulted. It was me versus the machine and I was scared.” Thus speaks Kathleen Willey, a committed Democrat, fundraiser and White House volunteer.

She further states, “After we got caught in Bill Clinton’s trap, we were raked over the coals. All of us –- Juanita, Gennifer, Paula, Monica, me -– we have all been through a lot. We were regular women trying to get by when our paths crossed his. Through no fault of our own, we were smeared in the media, terrorized by thugs, audited by the IRS, followed by strangers, victimized by threats. Our homes were broken into and our pets were killed. And we know that Hillary and her minions were behind the terror.”

Kathleen Willey adds, “I think Bill routinely confesses his infidelities to Hillary. Certainly, he skews the stories. I doubt he admitted that he raped Juanita, assaulted me and abused probably dozens or hundreds of others. But I think he told Hillary that he’d done something with us and it’s likely he said we seduced him. I believe that, as part of their dysfunctional dynamic of addict and enabler, in their ugly, twisted cycle, he tells her some story to relieve his guilt. He screws up, he confesses, he asks forgiveness, she throws lamps, and then they make up and he gives her something –- appoints a woman to the Supreme Court, lets Hillary spearhead the grand health care debacle or campaigns for her presidency. I think it’s been like that since the beginning. To Hillary, it is tightly wound up with her political aspirations. She came out ahead. We lost. Women lost. And feminism lost.” Why would any wife, especially someone as much in the media’s eye as Hillary, behave in such a bizarre manner?

Kathleen also quotes Bernie Nussbaum who states that “he and Hillary shared the view that ‘you should do harm to your enemies…’” as well as Dave Shippers, who spent years investigating the Clintons, who states regarding Hillary, “Nothing is beneath her.” And Dick Morris summed up this insane state of affairs by saying, “If you’re going to be a sexual predator, be pro-choice.”

The first dozen pages or so of the beginning of “Target: Caught in the Crosshairs of Bill and Hillary Clinton” made me whistle in disbelief. If true, I thought, how could any woman be so naïve? We are asked to judge not just her story but her character as well as the characters of the people about whom she writes. I will say, as a political animal, I was astounded by some of the revelations she revealed. Even a hardened truth seeker will tend to be disbelieving of some of the volatile and wholly unacceptable traits exhibited in the White House during this turbulent time.

“Target” is very detailed and extremely explicit. Comments by the other people involved are documented … thus verification of their involvement or observations is possible.

Is this book founded on the truth? Is there a middle ground somewhere? Two sides to every story, right? I don’t know. Kathleen Willey did appear to be utterly sincere and incredibly courageous with no ulterior motives. I do know that this was a fascinating read, although somewhat repetitive at times. I occasionally had to backtrack to recall exactly about whom she was referring. The writing was okay, not great, but well worth the time I spent reading “Target.”

In spite of the flaws of the book, I do highly recommend this book. It was an eye-opener to say the least and will prove to introduce you to the inner workings of a government hopelessly swimming in complete disarray. If this story is true, how very sad … for Kathleen Willey and her family, the other victims, those afraid to speak out and the American people.

– Elizabeth Channery

Psychologist Philip Zimbardo discusses his book “The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil” at Google Headquarters in this hour-long video.

Publishers Weekly summarizes the book: “Psychologist Zimbardo masterminded the famous Stanford Prison Experiment, in which college students randomly assigned to be guards or inmates found themselves enacting sadistic abuse or abject submissiveness. In this penetrating investigation, he revisits—at great length and with much hand-wringing—the SPE study and applies it to historical examples of injustice and atrocity, especially the Abu Ghraib outrages by the U.S. military. His troubling finding is that almost anyone, given the right “situational” influences, can be made to abandon moral scruples and cooperate in violence and oppression. (He tacks on a feel-good chapter about “the banality of heroism,” with tips on how to resist malign situational pressures.)”

In the video discussion below, he talks about how easily people are susceptible to evil given the right circumstances. He also delves into the Abu Ghraib prison scandal (some images are graphic).

“Do we take into account the system?” he asks of our legal sentencing when outside influences pressure people to commit evil. To what extent are the individuals guilty compared to those who are in charge of the system?

“What you are going to see is that evil begins as all evil begins — with a small first step,” he says before discussing how the Abu Ghraib abuses escalated.

Use the BookOpinion.com price comparison search to find the best prices on “The Lucifer Effect.”

Jeffrey Toobin visited the Google New York office recently to discuss his new book “The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court.” In this 45-minute video, he talks about a wide range of Supreme Court-related subjects.

“They are very cordial to each other,” Toobin says. “They are very correct, polite. They are not particularly close friends.”

Toobin mentions some of the interests of the Justices, as well. “Clarence Thomas has maybe the most interesting hobby of them all. Clarence Thomas, about six years ago, adopted a great nephew who was about eight years old at the time. For entertainment, he bought this gigantic RV which he calls ‘The Bus’. This huge RV. And he and his family tavel around the country, usually in the South, spending the night in WalMart parking lots.”

He also highlights what he said was the one decision that has impacted the court the most.

“They came away from Bush v. Gore rather shellshocked and disturbed about the place of the Court in public life and I think that worry was one factor that pushed Kennedy and O’Connor to the left,” he says.

To find the best prices on “The Nine,” use the BookOpinion price comparison search here.

An excerpt Stephen Colbert’s hotly anticipated debut of “I Am America (And So Can You!)” can be heard on a podcast at Amazon. Colbert, of course, is known as the host of The Colbert Report, which follows The Daily Show nightly.

The book is already atop bestseller charts based on pre-orders (and the nightly stumping that Colbert does on his show).

Publishers Weekly writes: “Realizing that it takes more than thirty minutes a night to fix everything that’s destroying America, Colbert bravely takes on the forces aligned to destroy our country—whether they be terrorists, environmentalists, or Kashi brand breakfast cereals. His various targets include nature (I’ve never trusted the sea. What’s it hiding under there?), the Hollywood Blacklist (I would have named enough names to fill the Moscow phone book), and atheists (Imagine going through life completely duped into thinking that there’s no invisible, omniscient higher power guiding every action on Earth. It’s just so arbitrary!). Colbert also provides helpful illustrations and charts (Things That Are Trying to Turn Me Gay), a complete transcript of his infamous speech at the 2006 White House Correspondents’ Dinner, and a special Holiday DVD, all of which add up to a book that is sure to be a bestseller and match the success of Colbert’s former Daily Show boss Jon Stewart’s America (The Book).”

Click here to listen to the free podcast on Amazon.