A Long Time Coming - Hardcover

Thomas, Evan

3.74

188 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1586486071 ISBN 13: 9781586486075

Publisher: PublicAffairs, 2009

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Since 1984, Newsweek has been renowned for its vivid, in-depth special election coverage of the ordeal of running for the presidency. A year before the election, Newsweek assigns reporters to get inside the campaigns of the Republican and Democratic candidates. Newsweek promises not to publish any information until after the votes are cast, and in exchange, the reporters receive remarkable access. They travel with the candidates, are there at crucial turning points and confidential meetings, and uncover stories not covered in day-to-day reporting.

In this book, a compelling narrative by Evan Thomas, Newsweek shares the inside stories from one of the most exciting elections in recent history, illuminating the personalities and events that influenced the outcome, and taking stock of the key players and key issues for the new administration. This will be an absorbing read for anyone interested in American politics.

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About the Author:

Newsweek Editor-at-Large Evan Thomas has written more than a hundred cover stories. His other books include a biography of Robert Kennedy and, most recently, the New York Times bestseller Sea of Thunder. The reporters on the election project team are Eleanor Clift, one of Washington's best-known political reporters and a regular on The McLaughlin Group, Washington correspondent Darren Briscoe, Mike Hastings, Nick Summers, and Katie Connolly.

From Booklist:

*Starred Review* Newsweek editor Thomas gathered the gleanings of various Newsweek colleagues to create an adroitly distilled chronicle of the 2008 presidential campaign and the election of Barack Obama, the first African American president of the U.S. This easily devoured, crisply anecdotal account, spiked with revealing, side-of-the-mouth comments, charts the most cautious and reckless of political maneuverings and provides in-action portraits of the major players, both obvious and behind-the-scenes. Hillary Clinton is indecisive; Bill Clinton is “disastrous.” John McCain, crabby and truculent, allows his “inner Dennis the Menace” to take over. And, most vividly, here is Barack Obama, reflective and restrained, a “relentless self-improver” with a “think-first instinct” and “ironic detachment.” Thomas and company observe Obama meeting with his disciplined staff, writing his speeches longhand, prepping for debates, and striving to avoid the pitfalls of campaigning, from fatty food to taking the bait of adversaries. Readers catch telling glimpses of surefire Axelrod and the Obama nerd squad and are privy to inside-the-tent discussions of race and get-out-the-vote strategies. Thomas writes that Obama, an avid reader and gifted writer, sees himself as “a figure out of literature,” and, indeed, real-life stories don’t get more compelling than this. --Donna Seaman

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