Advise and Consent

by
Allen Drury

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Advise and Consent (Advise and Consent #1)

by Allen Drury

4.03 · rating details · 1,009 ratings · 54 reviews

ADVISE AND CONSENT is a study of political animals in their natural habitat and is universally recognized as THE Washington novel. It begins with Senate confirmation hearings for a liberal Secretary of State and concludes two weeks later, after debate and controversy have exploded this issue into a major crisis.

"I can recall no other novel in which there i...more

Paperback, 616 pages

Published June 28th 1981 by Avon Books (first published 1959)

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Jun 07, 2008

Carole rated it

Recommends it for: Everyone

Shelves: cantputitdown, thumpinggoodreads

I love this book! I am so glad I was reminded of it. This was first published in 1959, and The Literary Guild (my book club at the time) chose it as a monthly selection. I enjoyed it at the time, but I wasn't terribly interested in politics 'way back then so I really didn't get the bigger picture during that first read.

If you are into politics (and who isn't these days?) and especially if you'd like to know how Congress -- the Senate in particular -- works, read this. It's a thumpin...moreI love this book! I am so glad I was reminded of it. This was first published in 1959, and The Literary Guild (my book club at the time) chose it as a monthly selection. I enjoyed it at the time, but I wasn't terribly interested in politics 'way back then so I really didn't get the bigger picture during that first read.

If you are into politics (and who isn't these days?) and especially if you'd like to know how Congress -- the Senate in particular -- works, read this. It's a thumping good read in the first place but is also recognized as still the best novel about our political system, our central government and Washington, D.C. It won the Pulitzer, was a smash hit Broadway play, and Otto Preminger made it into a movie.

This is not an easy read. It's wordy and paragraphs are long. I had an English Lit teacher in college who told us that when reading Dickens, skip all paragraphs over ten lines long. Then if we enjoyed the story, go back and read every word to get the whole story. This book is like that.

But, oh, what a story! Wonderful characters whom you will actually care about -- both the good guys and the bad ones. Great dialogue. Real and believable. A marvelous feel for location -- you'll find yourselves right there while these events are unfolding. And an absolutely Cracker Jack story. I could hardly wait to get to the end and then was stunned to realize that there was no more. I wanted more!

I came back to this book because I had read a column in the Wall Street Journal many months ago by a columnist named Terry Teachout. He and some of his friends were brainstorming a list of written literature to give to people in the Middle East to teach them about this country, how it came to be, and its political system. I clipped that column out and began to try to find several of the books. This was one of them, and I finally found a paperback version at Amazon.com. The paperback cost me $15.00 from a rare book dealer, and the price on the front cover is $1.25. Oh, how times havae changed!

The story is about four Senators in particular and their struggles over a Presidential nominee for Secretary of State. There is a huge "supporting cast," and its easy to get lost in all the names, but this is just a fabulous book that is wonderful on several different levels. I can't recommend is highly enough.
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Mar 22, 2009

Rob rated it

This book won a Pulitzer 50 years ago and was made into a film by Otto Preminger. I'd seen the movie years ago; one of its notable aspects was a gay subplot, which entailed a scene that was the first time a wide audience had seen an amusingly lurid depiction of a gay bar.

I'd always meant to go back and read the (long out of print) book, so I finally slogged through a library copy. It's written in a stilted, antique prose style that's akin to a verbal equivalent of the mid-20th cent...more

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Feb 01, 2012

Jim Puskas rated it

To fairly evaluate this book, one must bear in mind that it was written in 1959. Although that was hardly a time of naiive idealism, being the middle of the Cold War, our North American view of the world has surely undergone considerable loss of innocence since then. I thought it a great book in its time, probably THE preeminent political novel. In my mind it remains so today, but re-reading it this year was a far different experience. The political dance in Washington continues of course but ou...more

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Dec 17, 2010

Nicholas Whyte rated it

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1556070.html

Another little reading project of mine: as well as reading the best-selling novels of 100 year ago, as I have done this year and last year, I decided to try the best-selling novel of 50 years ago, a political tale by a long-serving Washington journalist, which soon after (1962) became a film starring Henry Fonda and Charles Laughton (the latter's last role before he died).

The plot concerns the nomination of a new Secretary of State by...morehttp://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1556070.html

Another little reading project of mine: as well as reading the best-selling novels of 100 year ago, as I have done this year and last year, I decided to try the best-selling novel of 50 years ago, a political tale by a long-serving Washington journalist, which soon after (1962) became a film starring Henry Fonda and Charles Laughton (the latter's last role before he died).

The plot concerns the nomination of a new Secretary of State by an ailing President whose party controls both Senate and House; the nomination runs into difficulties because of the nominee's alleged Communist past. But the young Senator from Utah who is most responsible for holding up the process is himself concealing a wartime gay love affair. High drama ensues, with a memorable series of denouements of which the least spoilerish that I can reveal is a Soviet moon landing the week before the Americans would have got there.

I thought it was excellent. There are a number of well delineated characters - the Majority Leader, the ancient Senator from South Carolina, the Mormon with a past, the demagogue, the guy who wanted to be President, the President himself. The Senate is a microcosm of 100 people (99 men and one woman at that time), each with roles to play both officially and privately. Advise and Consent is an incisive description of how politics operates at that highest level, when personality as well as facts and ideology come into play. I found it difficult to put down.

It has its weaknesses. The reported vehemently pro-appeasement views of the nominee for Secretary of State - and indeed the public support he gets for them - seemed to me unrealistic, though I wasn't around in the 1960s so I may not know. It's possible that Drury was reversing the political reality, as he does with the Joe McCarthy character who is a left-winger rather than a right-winger. There are four ambassadors who are minor characters; it seemed peculiar to me that they get called together twice to give the key Senators their views of what the rest of the world thinks - normal practice, round here at any rate, would be to see them separately, but of course that doesn't work for a novel like this. Also they seem to be accredited to the UN as well as to Washington but that may have been normal in 1960.

But I was able to roll with the main flow and greatly enjoy the book. Apparently the Pulitzer Prize Committee in 1960 recommended that the award go to Henderson the Rain King; the main board, however, overruled them and gave it to Advise and Consent instead, and rightly so.(less)

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Mar 15, 2011

Karla (Mossy Love Grotto) rated it

Recommends it for: fans of vintage politics, soap operas

Shelves: politics, fiction, 5-stars

I devoured this book over the course of a few days several years ago. While Drury's style is a bit repetitious now and then, especially with character's tics and quirks, it was a rich little soap opera about confirmation hearings and all the grandstanding, political haymaking, and behind-the-scenes lives of the politicians. Most memorable was the rising star senator who frequents gay bars. It was titillating for the era, and he naturally doesn't have an HEA, but he was among the more sympathetic...more

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Sep 08, 2011

Christopher MacMillan rated it

Shelves: pulitzer-prize-winners-and-nominees

The majority of "Advise and Consent"'s mammoth 760 pages are intelligent, explosive, and magnetic, and would have warranted nothing less than a 5-star rating -- a very rare quality for what is essentially a page-turner.

But in the last 200 pages, author Allen Drury begins to lose focus and lose steam, and as a result, the book starts to lag. This is so frustrating, given the sheer magnitude and awesomeness that the book began with and carried straight through towards the end. What a sha...moreThe majority of "Advise and Consent"'s mammoth 760 pages are intelligent, explosive, and magnetic, and would have warranted nothing less than a 5-star rating -- a very rare quality for what is essentially a page-turner.

But in the last 200 pages, author Allen Drury begins to lose focus and lose steam, and as a result, the book starts to lag. This is so frustrating, given the sheer magnitude and awesomeness that the book began with and carried straight through towards the end. What a shame.

"Advise and Consent" tells the story of what happens in the US Senate when the President of the United States startles the world by nominating a controversial wild-card named Robert A. Leffingwell to the position of Secretary of State. It's a decision that sends shockwaves through Washington, and the flabbergasted senators are left with the task of either supporting Leffingwell or attempting to stop him. To add to the confusion, soon information is brought forth that Leffingwell may - or may not - have been involved with the Communist Party at one point (remember: this book came out at the height of the Cold War).

"Advise and Consent" is told through the points-of-view of four main characters: Democrat Bob Munson is the President's always-loyal right-hand-man who the President entrusts to see that Leffingwell's nomination gets passed; Seab Coolley is an ageing battle-axe Republican Senator whose firebrand ways cause lots of tumult on Capitol Hill, despite his essential faithfulness to his fellow senators, regardless of what side of the aisle they sit on; Brigham Anderson is a Democrat who nonetheless is driven by acting out of fairness first and foremost -- and his fairness tells him to go against the President and try to defeat Leffingwell; and Orrin Knox is a senator who does what's best for the senate and for the country, but who can't shake the bitterness over losing the Democratic Presidential bid against the President who he is now forced to obey. While Munson's, Coolley's, and Anderson's books burst with electricity from page one, Orrin Knox's book is much less interesting, much less realistic, and becomes stricken with sentimentality. It is also - inexplicably - the longest of the four sections, and as such, it is such a disappointment to blast through over 500 pages of unique literary excellence only to be brought down with a thud for the last chunk of the novel.

But this is still a great novel, and one which must have raised a few eyebrows in its day (I won't say why, but let's just say that Brigham Anderson has quite the secret). Drury has based much of what has happened in "Advise and Consent" on the lives and actions of real US politicians, but even so, the man has a knack for creating characters that we are interested in and who we come to care about. Even Seab Coolley - so set in his right-wing ways, and causing so much trouble for the Democrats - is likeable. In fact, he's lovable, and was my favourite character in the whole book, for his Zeitgeist bravado, his cunning intellect, and his surprisingly humane side that continued to pierce through again and again as the book progressed.

With over 100 characters in total, "Advise and Consent" in a one-of-a-kind book which, in the end, falls short of being a perfect novel, but most of it actually was perfect. The first 500 pages of Drury's Pulitzer Prize-winner are something I will remember fondly and carry with me as being one of the most biting, gripping, and enjoyable reading experiences I've ever had, and this is still a novel I would recommend - without hesitation - to everyone. It's a true time capsule of the 1950s political climate in America.(less)

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Nov 06, 2011

Judy rated it

Recommends it for: political fiction fans

Shelves: 20th-century-fiction, books-from-1959, pulitzer-prize-winnrs

One of the burdens of My Big Fat Reading Project (see the Writing page on my profile) is slogging my way through long tomes like Advise and Consent. It was the #4 bestseller in 1959 and went on to be the #1 bestseller and Pulitzer Prize winner in 1960. The New York Times Book Review stated, "Advise and Consent will stand as one of the finest and most gripping political novels of our era..." The book stayed on that paper's bestseller list for over 100 weeks!

It is the stor...more
One of the burdens of My Big Fat Reading Project (see the Writing page on my profile) is slogging my way through long tomes like Advise and Consent. It was the #4 bestseller in 1959 and went on to be the #1 bestseller and Pulitzer Prize winner in 1960. The New York Times Book Review stated, "Advise and Consent will stand as one of the finest and most gripping political novels of our era..." The book stayed on that paper's bestseller list for over 100 weeks!

It is the story of a fictional American President's attempt to put a new Secretary of State into his cabinet, an action which requires confirmation by the Senate. Robert Leffingwell, the nominee, is seen as an appeaser of Communist Russia by the more conservative senators but is a darling of the liberals. The fight to get Leffingwell confirmed is down and dirty, ruining lives and causing great upheaval in the Senate.

Interestingly, though I was being taught the forms of United States government in high school during the same time the book was popular, not much of it stayed with me. I had to do a quick review of Congressional terminology and positions, but once I got a grip on ranks such as Majority Leader, President of the Senate, Senior Senator, etc, the characters and their battles came alive. Reading the book then became an education in how the Senate works; its relationship to the Presidency, the media, and the voters back home; as well as the daily life of a Senator. (You could not pay me enough to be a Senator and I was confirmed in my belief that democracy in practice differs widely from its high flown ideals.)

Advise and Consent is not the pageturner its fans claim it to be, but it is a dramatic story still read today and is considered to have started a genre: political novels set in Washington, DC. Allen Drury, who started his professional life as a US Senate correspondent for United Press International, became a ponderous fiction author. His attention to detail drove me to distraction, his characterizations are complex but artless, and he repeats himself. Compared to a civics textbook however, the book is wildly exciting and humanized the Congressional men and women we hear about in the news.

I am glad I read it. The novel did more to explain the 1950s and 1960s American views on communism that almost anything else I have read so far.(less)

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Dec 03, 2011

MacK rated it

Shelves: am-lit

Right before I read this book, amidst a fury of partisan vitriol and intense political rancor the US Congress grudgingly voted to raise the nation’s debt ceiling. This came six months after another intense budget fight that threatened to shut down the federal government, and fifteen months after a supposedly cataclysmic vote on the nation’s health care policy. In each case I’ve had to think: “why can’t we all just get along?” In reading Advise and Consent I realized that the best answer to my qu...moreRight before I read this book, amidst a fury of partisan vitriol and intense political rancor the US Congress grudgingly voted to raise the nation’s debt ceiling. This came six months after another intense budget fight that threatened to shut down the federal government, and fifteen months after a supposedly cataclysmic vote on the nation’s health care policy. In each case I’ve had to think: “why can’t we all just get along?” In reading Advise and Consent I realized that the best answer to my question is simply: “because we haven’t gotten along for decades.”

This hefty piece of 1950’s pop literature addresses just how a genial relationship between President and Congress can sour, and how the conflict is spun and finessed into an epic battle for the soul of America (whether it needs to be or not). Instead of a single piece of legislation, Adivse and Consent focuses on a cabinet confirmation which may, or may not, have a drastic impact on international affairs, but becomes absolutely critical to the lives of four powerful senators who anchor the story’s narration.

At the time it was published, Advise and Consent might well have been a thriller of political gamesmanship and intrigue. Who was playing whom and how did each person determine what America needed? Unfortunately, reading it today makes the whole kerfuffle seem rather quaint. Jaded by the past two decades of politics I kept thinking: “really, Mr. President? You’re surprised that Congress is going to grandstand in the middle of a cabinet nomination, really?” “Really, Senator? You’re aghast at how your fellow politicians are using this conflict to enhance their own careers, really?” As a semi-serious student of the political games we play in America, I couldn’t help but smile sagely at the Capra-esque naivite of several characters...and I’m just a punk 21st Century kid, they’re the (fictional) shapers of 1950s America.

So, while there’s a measure of thrilling conflict and unexpected twists throughout the book, Advise and Consent will seem to more contemporary eyes like a paleozoic insect trapped in amber. A clever story, with cute characters and a few speechifying moments that would fit right in on The West Wing, but never fly on today’s nightly news.

Of course, fifty years from now who knows what some smart-alecky kid will write about our own political theatrics...(less)

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Nov 16, 2010

Bill Peacock rated it

Recommended to Bill by: bpeacock@excellentthought.net

Shelves: te, fiction, culture-politics

I have been aware of Allen Drury for sometime because I had one of sequels to Advise and Consent in my bookshelf--it was originally from my mother's library. When I saw that National Review listed Advise and Consent as one of the best conservative novels, I decided I had to read it.

Since I didn't have a copy, I started with what I did have, its sequel, Preserve and Protect. That meant when I did read Advise and Consent, I already knew the ultimate outcome of the story. It wasn't a bad...more

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Aug 25, 2011

Ben rated it

Shelves: pulitizer

Wow - Pulitizer winner - 1960. I thought it was VERY well done although thank gooodness for a cross country airplane trip. VERY thorough in the background and profile of the players - in particular the 4 senators who have their own books. The inner workings of the senate probably aren't that far off today and some of the social issues that were addressed were surprising for the 50s when this was written. Got slogged down a little in places but he's Drury is certainly thorough. On to the Pulitize...more

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Nov 17, 2009

David Marshall rated it

Possibly one of the very best political novels ever written -- keeping in mind the time era in which it is set. This first book kicks off a six book series -- all of which are enjoyable. But as the series advances and the times in which he was writing change so dramatically from the Fifties to the Sixties, Drury slowly goes completely nuts. By the last book, you will be wondering how this whack job got anything published! Still, all in all, great fun.

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May 12, 2009

Beatles24 rated it

An evocative portrayal of Washington politics - Peccadiloes, leadership, stunning arrogance, and a sense of public service all mixed into a hodge podge of a narrative. I loved the way intrigue is explained in this book and the machinery of government doing all it can to sometimes help and other times derail the process of providing basic services to its people. On the whole, a bit of a labored read but enough to keep it moving at a nice pace.

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May 23, 2010

Robert rated it

A truly excellent book.

Very informative and interesting. If you want to get a closer look at how Washington politics and especially the senate work look no further.

I think every American should read it. It is deep in more ways than one and shows how much we've changed since it was written (and takes place) in 1958-9ish.

If I were capable of making a list of my top 10 or 20 books, this one would almost certainly be on it.

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May 15, 2011

Phil Mullen rated it

I hesitated between 3 & 4 starts, because this book Badly Needed editing; it runs to 760 pages, & could easily have been improved by cutting down some 200 pages of wordiness.

I like the conceit of 4 books, & also the way (1959) in which he presents the entire tragedy of Brig without explicitly mentioning the nature of the relationship.

But it *is* a good read, even if one skips the verbiage in too many passages.

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Aug 18, 2011

Chris rated it

You think Congress acted badly during the debt ceiling debate? That's nothing compared to Allen Drury's scenario.

I have seen the movie several times and enjoyed it, but the book has so many more rich textures to it that it's worth the read. There were about 200 pages there (at 760 pages, it's a chore in places) where it was impossible to put down. His descriptions of Sen. Brigham Anderson's story are impeccably written.

It's a little dated as references to the evil Russians an...more

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May 21, 2009

Donna rated it

Shelves: fav-oldies

Read this as a freshman in high school and was so strongly impressed by the statesmanship of the men in this political novel that I chose political science as a second major in college.

I have never missed a major election since I was 18 and only 2 primary votes, in all that time.

Makes you want to stand up and sing the National Anthem. I get goosebumps every time I read selections from it on a library shelf, rereading the best parts. Just like the feeling I get when Ha...more

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Aug 25, 2009

Katie rated it

Awesome. a lot to read and a lot of names to remember, but such an awesome treatment of the senate and the issues related to our elected leaders. made me really think twice about the controversies that must go on there and how they are resolved. (it is a fictional account)

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Jun 19, 2009

David Kamioner rated it

the ultimate in right of centre 50s/60s era US political melodrama. this is the series of books, 9 in all i think, that i read in hs math classes while ignoring the teacher. the two alternate endings are wonderful paleocon bubblegum ala the film 'Red Dawn'. ENJOY!

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Apr 10, 2009

Jim rated it

An outstanding book if you like political intrigue. His series following "Advise and Consent" and all great. Conservatives would probably enjoy this series more so than liberals. There are two ending to this series, one for conservatives and one for liberals.

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Oct 08, 2011

Lynette rated it

Shelves: country-girl-in-the-city

I think I might wear my copy out. This is the book that I travel with and can read over and over and over again. For my full review visit http://www.underthemaples.com/2010/08/gr...

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Sep 01, 2010

John Smith rated it

Recommends it for: Everyone; Must Read

Up until I picked up this book, I had never read or even attempted anything this big. I thought reading a book 400 pages was great, but to go to 600, I doubted I'd stick it out. There was no way it could keep me interested for that long. Wrong. I couldn't put this book down, I lost track of page numbers after about 50 pages and only saw the story unfold around me and I had no hurry of it ending.
This is in my top 3 books read of all time, which isn't a large group of books, but I have a...more

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Dec 16, 2010

Aly rated it

This is rather long, and not the most fun read in the world, but it was really interesting, hence the good rating. It's a look at the inner workings of Washington politics, so it's no surprise that as someone who has limited patience for politics, it alternated between tedious and fascinating. The books set in the 1950s that I typically read are about racial tensions or the role of women, so I enjoyed seeing another side of that era that I was unfamiliar with (especially since it was not just se...more

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Jun 26, 2010

Paul Jr. rated it

Possibly one of the most brilliant political novels ever written. There's a reason it won the Pulitzer. And the movie adaptation by Otto Preminger was pretty spectacular as well.

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Aug 30, 2011

Marta Mellinger rated it

Shelves: novels

My favorite political novel from my teenage reading years, starting my lifelong lovefest with political novels and wondering what life would be like in Washington DC.

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Jul 07, 2009

Barbara rated it

This was a wonderful story of politics and conventions and the sneaking and contrivance that is behind our picking our candidates!

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Apr 27, 2008

Dmitri rated it

Recommends it for: political junkies with a 50's fetish

Shelves: blew-my-socks-off

I first read this book in high school, and then re-read it a couple years ago. I was amazed to see that it had lost none of it's impact. In a way, in spite of the dirty politics, it is an idealized version of government, and in many ways dated: the Senators from the Western states, for instance, are the most liberal in that chamber; standing up to the Russians even though they got the first man on the moon, et c. (this book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1960, I am sure that when Drury was writing...more

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Jul 25, 2010

Ron rated it

I thought it was hot stuff then. Now its just sad that it's so mild compared to current Washington politics.

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Aug 30, 2011

Jon rated it

Not great literature, but a page-turner with believable Washington political atmospherics.

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Oct 18, 2010

Julie is currently reading it

10/18/2010: Well, it took almost 2 weeks, but I finally received the used book and now I'm ready to start reading.

10/05/2010: I just ordered a used book from Amazon.com and will begin reading it as soon as it arrives.

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Sep 12, 2010

Brian rated it

Dated now that we know everyone in Washington is crooked, but a great tale.

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About Allen Drury

In late 1943, Allen Drury was a 25-year old army veteran looking for work. A position as the United States Senate correspondent for United Press International provided Drury not only with employment, but with an insider's knowledge of the United States Senate.

In addition to fulfilling his duties as a reporter, Drury also kept a journal of his views of the Senate and individual senators...moreIn late 1943, Allen Drury was a 25-year old army veteran looking for work. A position as the United States Senate correspondent for United Press International provided Drury not only with employment, but with an insider's knowledge of the United States Senate.

In addition to fulfilling his duties as a reporter, Drury also kept a journal of his views of the Senate and individual senators. In addition to the Senates personalities, Drury's journal captured the events, large and small, of the Seventy-eighth and Seventy-ninth United States Congress Congresses.

Although written in the mid-1940s, Drury's diary was not published until 1963. ''A Senate Journal'' found an audience in part because of the great success of ''Advise and Consent'', Drury's 1959 novel about the Senate's consideration of a controversial nominee for Secretary of State.

Drury greatest success was ''Advise and Consent'', which was made into a film in 1962. The book was partly inspired by the suicide of Wyoming Senator Lester C. Hunt. It spent 102 weeks on the ''New York Times'' best-seller list

Drury followed ''Advise and Consent'' with several sequels. ''A Shade of Difference'' is set a year after ''Advise and Consent''. Drury then turned his attention to the next presidential election after those events with ''Capable of Honor'' and ''Preserve and Protect''. He then wrote two alternative sequels based on a different outcome of an assassination attack in an earlier work: ''Come Nineveh, Come Tyre'' and ''The Promise of Joy''.

In 1971, Drury published ''The Throne of Saturn'', a science fiction novel about the first attempt at sending a manned mission to Mars. He dedicated the work "To the US Astronauts and those who help them fly." Political characters in the book are archetypal rather than comfortably human. The book carries a strong anti-leftist/anti-communist flavor. The book has a lot to say about interference in the space program by leftist Americans.

Having wrapped up his political series by 1975, Drury began a new one with the 1977 novel ''Anna Hastings'', more a novel about journalism than politics. He returned to the timeline in 1979, with the political novel ''Mark Coffin U.S.S.'' (though the main relationship between the two books was that Hastings was a minor character in ''Mark Coffin U.S.S.'''s sequels). It was succeeded, by the two-part ''The Hill of Summer'' and ''The Roads of Earth'', which are true sequels to ''Mark Coffin U.S.S.'' He also wrote stand-alone novels, ''Decision'' and ''Pentagon'', as well as several other fiction and non-fiction works.

Drury's political novels have been described as page-turners, set against the Cold War, with an aggressive and determined Soviet Union seeking to undermine the U.S.

Drury lived in Tiburon, California from 1964 until his 1998 death of cardiac arrest. Drury had completed his 20th novel, ''Public Men'' set at Stanford, just two weeks before his death. He died on 2 September 1998 at St. Mary's Medical Center in San Francisco, California, on his eightieth birthday. Drury was never married.

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