Prizewinning journalists John Harwood and Gerald F. Seib show how today’s Washington power game really works. With unprecedented access to ca...
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reviews
Dec 30, 2008
Jack
rated it: 
This is a fine, short book on current politics in America. Harwood and Seib both worked for the Wall Street Journal (Seib still does). Their non-partisan approach to the problems and potential cures for what ails the American political process is useful. The chapters are short and each focuses on one or two powerful political folks. Some of them are well known, like Karl Rove and Jim Webb, and others are the backroom players that few people hear much about. A few overriding themes include t
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Feb 11, 2009
Delight
rated it: 
This was a fascinating book of the players (some behind the scene, some not) of how business gets done in DC. Some of the profiles I enjoyed more than others. If you're interested in how DC REALLY works, this is a book worth reading. It's bipartisan as Rs and Ds are both highlighted.
Feb 19, 2009
Tulin
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This book sounded more interesting than it was. It basically was just profiles of various players in Washington. I would have liked to see more of an integrated book that included a bit more of a narrative.
Jan 10, 2010
Matt
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A decent collection of profiles of DC power players. Good background info on some of DC's personalities, but probably only interesting to real political junkies.
Aug 28, 2008
Nick
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This book should have been a little better than it was. Harwood certainly knows the players, and some of the stories are very telling. But he's a bit too careful with his analyses of the powers-that-be, and the profiles are on the cursory side. Perhaps that's only inevitable given the powers that be..... Still, read this book if you want to understand how power works in Washington, and how it's changed over the past decade. The good news is that anyone with a computer, a sense of how to hook
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Aug 19, 2008
Brad
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If you ever wonder who are influencing the day to day decisions and long term decisions that affect this country, this is the book to read. From lobbyists, to lawyers, to lawmakers, the people mentioned in this book are the people who are shaping policy today in Washington. It is good to note them and their positions because you, for the most part, will not see the faces of these individuals plastered all over CNN or major newspapers.
Jun 04, 2008
Nerdy journalist alert....had to buy this book. And yes, I looked at first pages to see if I got a first edition. (I did!) The secondary author, Jerry Seib, is a fellow journalist from Hays. And he's just always been one of those people I've looked up to, so this is a must read for me. (An added bonus...he recently appeared on Meet the Press.) Ok, this is the end of the nerdy journalist alert for today.
Jul 11, 2008
Justin
rated it:
This really should have been better. It often read like a summary of people's resumes, with the occasional quote from a friend of one of the subjects. It's one of those books that should be great in theory but was instead just underwhelming. Why do 8 or 10 in-depth profiles when you can do 20 simple and superficial ones?
Jul 06, 2008
Marsha
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An unbelieveably fantastic read. I actually had to slow down and take notes because I was gobbling up the book. These are the movers and shakers of our times and I recommend this book to read before the next election.
Jun 12, 2008
Mike
rated it:
A fascinating view of how modern Washington really works. Intriguing for the political junkie. If you're not into politics and policy making, don't bother.
Jul 03, 2008
I heard John Harwood speak today and he shared an antecdote from the the book. It sounds like it might be interesting if you like politics.
Sep 24, 2009
Andrea
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Some of the stories were mildly interesting, but there was no coherent narrative to tie it all together and make me want to keep reading.
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