The Political Bookstore
Our Featured Selections
The Political Bookstore's featured selections may be the the latest
bestsellers or a particularly interesting or noteworthy book that we have discovered that
you may have overlooked.
 A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President by Jeffrey Toobin List Price: $25.95 Our Price: $18.17 You Save: $7.78 (30%) |
In A Vast Conspiracy, the best-selling author of The Run of
His Life casts an insightful, unbiased eye over the most extraordinary public saga of our
time -- the Clinton sex scandals. A superlative journalist known for the skillfulness of
his investigating and the power of his writing, Jeffrey Toobin tells the unlikely story of
the events that began over doughnuts in a Little Rock hotel and ended on the floor of the
United States Senate, with only the second vote on Presidential removal in American
history. This is an entirely fresh look at the scandal that very nearly brought down a
president. |
| As Americans choose and install a new president for a new
century they could do no better than to read this work by one of our keenest observers of
the modern presidency. Drawing on a quarter-century's immersion in the presidential record
and scores of interviews, Fred I. Greenstein provides a fascinating and instructive
account of the qualities that have served well and poorly in the Oval Office from Franklin
D. Roosevelt's first hundred days to the end of the Clinton administration. |
 The
Presidential Difference: Leadership Style from |
The China Question
| While many political journalists largely considered the second term
of Bill Clinton's presidency in terms of his romantic interludes, Edward Timperlake and
William C. Triplett II follow up on one of the more controversial scandals of the 1996
reelection campaign. The Democratic National Committee was eventually forced to
return $2.8 million in illegal contributions, much of it from foreign nationals, and much
of it brought to the party by fundraising executive John Huang. Huang originally represented U.S. interests for the Riady family, a powerful family of Indonesian businessmen with close ties to the Communist Chinese government. James Riady had been a "Friend of Bill" since 1977, and the two authors all but insinuate that the Riadys "scouted" Clinton--whether as an unwitting dupe, a sleeper agent, or merely an exploitable opportunist is never quite clear--and helped underwrite his bid for the White House. Why? So they could get John Huang a Commerce Department appointment... one that came with a top-secret security clearance. Timperlake and Triplett gather together an astonishing--and largely convincing--mass of evidence that the Clinton-Gore administration "has made a series of Faustian bargains and policy blunders that have allowed a hostile power to further its aims in Washington." In addition to the potential security breach represented by Huang, they document numerous policy decisions that risk strengthening the technological and military power of Communist China, power that might well be used against the United States in the future.
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 Betrayal : How
the Clinton Administration Undermined American Security
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Bill Gertz, who covers national security for the Washington Times,
lays out a chilling argument against Bill Clinton's foreign policy in Betrayal. In his
view, Clinton's "naive" strategies of "appeasement" with China and
Russia have resulted in a betrayal of American interests, leaving "the United States
weaker militarily as its enemies grow stronger and the world becomes more dangerous."
According to Gertz, Clinton's policies have compromised national security: Clinton opposed
development of a missile defense system that would derail arms control agreements with the
Russians--even though they are believed to be developing such a system themselves. Gertz
also maintains that the Russians are using U.S. aid targeted for decommissioning nuclear
weapons to develop new weapons of mass destruction and to continue to develop new nuclear
weapons. Gertz also makes the case that the Clinton administration's sale of sophisticated computer and satellite technology to China was influenced by campaign contributions to the Democrats from Chinese and American executives. "The small but growing force of Chinese strategic nuclear missiles has become more reliable -- thanks to American high technology," writes Gertz. He further charges that the Clinton administration has attempted to downplay the Chinese threat to U.S. security even though "China has undertaken a steady military buildup that is directly aimed at fighting a future war with the United States." Betrayal asserts that the "most important legacy" of Bill Clinton's presidency may be "his dead serious disarmament of the United States and his self-serving appeasement of powerful and determined foreign enemies.... The administration's policies have endangered not only the United States," Gertz concludes, "but the peace and security of the entire world." --Linda Killian
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| Okay, let's be honest. Rabid fans of television and
radio commentator Rush Limbaugh won't like this book. Fans of left-leaning satirist Al
Franken, on the other hand, will probably love it. In Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot,
Franken takes on the conservative Right in a collection of essays in which the author's
own satire often plays straight man to the greater absurdities of political life. In "One Giant Leap Toward Solving the Budget Crisis," Franken proposes cutting Medicare expenditures and NASA expenses in one fell swoop by shooting the elderly into space. "Just think how many more manned space operations NASA could undertake if they didn't have to worry about getting the astronauts back." Al Franken's humor is biting, dark, and angry--he takes no prisoners as he skewers the icons of the Right, among them Gingrich, Dole, Phil Gramm and, of course, Rush Limbaugh. Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot will make you laugh, but it might make you mad, too. And that's what Al Franken is aiming for. |
 Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot: And Other Observations List Price: $6.99
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 The Way Things Aren't: Rush Limbaugh's Reign of Error List Price: $6.95
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A greatly expanded look at some of the whoppers told by "The Lyin' King, " here's Limbaugh versus Reality in areas ranging from American history to the environment, health care to rock and roll, offering excerpts from Limbaugh's books and broadcasts side by side with . . . the truth. Includes over a dozen photos and cartoons and an introduction by Molly Ivins. |
The Clinton Saga: Two Views
 Monica's Story
Other books by the author: |
Imagine that you are twenty-four years old and have
been confiding in one of your closest friends about your on-again, off-again relationship
with a married man twice your age. Then imagine your name is Monica Lewinsky, the man's
name is Bill Clinton, and your friend's name is Linda Tripp--who has secretly
tape-recorded your confidences and passed the tapes along to Kenneth Starr. In the summer of 1995, Monica Lewinsky, then twenty-one years old and fresh out of college, went to work as an unpaid intern at the White House. What happened next, as a vivacious young woman's "crush" on her boss led to her public humiliation and the impeachment of the President of the United States, has been documented in shocking detail. But have we heard the true story? Betrayed by Linda Tripp, Monica found herself a pawn in the power struggle between President Clinton and the Office of the Independent Counsel. Monica's Story at last sets the record straight. Drawing on his exclusive conversations with Monica, her family, and her friends, bestselling biographer Andrew Morton paints a complex and compelling portrait of a generous-hearted but troubled young woman whose dreams of romance had unimaginable consequences. List Price: $6.99
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| A Rhodes scholar with a healthy ego, the young idealist
George Stephanopoulos thought he was ready for the obscure governor of Arkansas. But soon
after he signed on as his presidential - campaign manager, the odds of Clinton's triumph
soared, and so did the chance for calamity via Gennifer Flowers and other scandals.
Stephanopoulos scrambled behind the scenes, squelching rumors, spinning major news
organizations, artfully knifing Clinton rivals, and second-guessing public
opinion--lessons that would serve him well when Clinton won. List Price: $27.95 Our Price: $19.57 You Save: $8.38 (30%)
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 All Too Human: A Political Education |
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Blood and Vengeance: One Family's Story of the War in Bosnia by Chuck Sudetic The Washington Post Book World, Blaine Harden: List Price: $26.95
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| 'Clintonism' is not an idea, or a program; still less is it a principle. It represents what might be termed-were it not for its murk-the distilled essence of consensus politics. Unremarkable in its constituent elements, which are a mixture of opportunist statecraft, crony capitalism, 'divide and rule' identity politics, and populist manipulation, Clintonism has nonetheless raised these ordinary practices to the level of theory. It has succeeded, argues the author, because of a stealthy appeal to the waning and insecure forces of an American liberalism gone bad. Christopher Hitchens followed Governor Clinton through New Hampshire in 1992, and has remained an assiduous student of his methods ever since. In Ask Not, Tell Not, he profiles the rise and decline of some prominent Clintonoids, from George Stephanopoulos to the First Lady. He scrutinizes the debased new language in which the discourse of Clintonism has been couched, and proposes that, if successful, the Clinton machine will become the model of pseudo-democracy for the coming century. |  No One Left to Lie To: The Triangulation of William Jefferson Clinton by Christopher Hitchens List Price: $19.00
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 The First Partner Hillary Rodham Clinton: A Biography by Joyce Milton |
In 1998, Hillary Rodham Clinton became the most admired woman in
America while also becoming the most visibly wronged wife in the world. Standing by her
husband, President Bill Clinton, as she and the nation learned the truth behind the Monica
Lewinsky scandal, the First Lady assumed two roles--dutiful spouse and passionate defense
attorney--which she had played on numerous occasions during the course of their tumultuous
yet politically unified relationship. Now esteemed biographer and journalist Joyce Milton examines this formidable, fascinating woman, giving probing insight into the First Lady's character, her values and her career. In The First Partner, Milton goes behind the scenes at the Clinton White House and explores the First Lady's involvement in Travelgate, Filegate, the Health Care Task Force fiasco and fund-raising for the 1996 presidential campaign, showing how these controversies grew out of the tensions in her political partnership with Bill Clinton. Milton also describes how Mrs. Clinton's defensive reactions to her husband's chronic infidelities have often misfired and have sometimes enabled his bad behavior. She examines the differing psychologies of the President and First Lady, yet shows that when faced with political accusations, they take a similar approach of telling only as much of the truth as is necessary--a reaction that has increasingly gotten them into trouble. List Price: $27.00
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| Bob Zelnick gives Vice President Al Gore a
critical once-over on these pages, chronicling his rise from a life on Embassy Row as the
son of Senator Al Gore Sr. to his vice-presidency in the Clinton administration. Although
not a hatchet job, the book does linger over the more controversial aspects of Gore's
professional life: Zelnick clearly delights in recounting Gore's questionable fundraising
practices (remember the 1996 Buddhist temple incident?), how today's antismoking animus
clashes with his onetime pride in tobacco farming, his flip-flop on abortion and awkward
attempts to justify it, his environmental extremism, and his incautious rhetoric ("no
controlling legal authority"). Readers will also appreciate several sharp
observations that have not yet attracted much attention. "Vice President Gore, who
claims paternity of the term 'information superhighway,'" writes Zelnick, "had
nothing to say during the first five and a half years of his vice-presidency about the
biggest problem in the history of high-tech America"--the Y2K computer bug. There are
also gossipy items: the Gores "resented the treatment their son had received"
following a smoking - and - drinking - in- the - woods - with - girls incident and
transferred Al III from one posh Washington prep school to another. On the whole, Gore
skeptics will have their doubts affirmed--and his allies will confront troubling questions
about the man who would be president. --John J. Miller List
Price: $29.95
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 Gore : A Political Life by Bob Zelnick |
 We're Right, They're Wrong: A Handbook for Spirited
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James Carville, the country's best known and most colorful
political consultant, was born on October 25, 1944. He grew up the oldest of eight
children in Carville, Louisiana, a one-stop-sign town on the Mississippi River which was
named at the turn of the century for his grandfather, the town's postmaster. His father,
Chester James Carville, was also a postmaster, as well as the owner of a general store.
His mother, named Lucille but known to all as Miss Nippy, successfully sold World Book
encyclopedias door-to-door and put all eight of her children through college with the
proceeds. Carville, who probably has managed more campaigns than any other political consultant in America, got his first job in politics-canvassing for a car dealer running for the Louisiana state legislature-while still a student at Ascension Catholic High School. In 1962 he entered Louisiana State University and-not to put too fine a spin on it-flunked out four years later. To assuage his Catholic guilt, he quickly enlisted in the Marine Corps. After serving for two years, at San Diego's Camp Pendleton, he returned to LSU, finished his undergraduate degree at night, and then, with the financial assistance of an uncle, went on to earn a law degree. Carville was a litigator for a Baton Rouge law firm from 1973 until 1979, but he was never happy working as a lawyer, and as a result he spent much of his free time as a consultant to Democrats running for local and statewide offices. He managed his first campaign, a U.S. Senate race in Virginia, in 1982. The following year, while managing Lloyd Doggett's unsuccessful bid for governor of Texas, he acquired the nickname "Ragin' Cajun" and began his odd-couple professional collaboration with Paul Begala, who had just graduated from the University of Texas. The two teamed up full time in 1989 and formed the Carville & Begala political consulting firm, specializing in strategy, message development, "earned media," and, above all, winning elections for Democrats. Carville and Begala's biggest win was Bill Clinton's election to the presidency in 1992, the first time a Democrat had claimed the White House in 12 years. In 1993 Carville was honored as the Campaign Manager of the Year by the American Association of Political Consultants for his leadership of Clinton's fearsome and intense Little Rock campaign headquarters, known as the "War Room." This role also made him the focus, along with George Stephanopoulos, of the feature-length documentary film "The War Room," an Academy Award nominee. He is currently serving as a Senior Political Advisor to the President. Carville's long list of electoral successes also includes the 1991 U.S. Senate victory of Harris Wofford over Richard Thornburgh, in Pennsylvania; the 1990 gubernatorial victories of Zell Miller, in Georgia, and Robert P. Casey, in Pennsylvania; the 1988 re-election of Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, in New Jersey; the 1987 gubernatorial victory of Wallace Wilkinson, in Kentucky; and the 1986 gubernatorial victory of Robert Casey, in Pennsylvania. Carville is married to Mary Matalin, the deputy campaign manager of George Bush's re-election bid, and now host of CNBC's nightly political talk show "Equal Time" and the daily CBS radio program "The Mary Matalin Show." The couple co-wrote All's Fair: Love, War, and Running for President (Simon & Schuster/ Random House, 1994), one of the best selling campaign memoirs in American history. They had their first child, Matalin Mary Carville, last summer. |
Intelligent
Design : The Bridge Between Science & Theology
by William A. Dembski
The Dream
and the Nightmare: The Sixties' Legacy to the Underclass
by Myron Magnet