Pennsylvania Avenue by John Harwood & Gerald F. Seib
July 28th, 2008Title: Pennsylvania Avenue
Authors: John Harwood & Gerald F. Seib
Publisher: Random House (2008)
Well…I figured that I should do a politics related book as we continue the longest, most annoying time of the year…the Presidential campaigns! I am interested in politics inasmuch as discussions of policies like economics and crime are fun. I am NOT interested in politics inasmuch as the practictioners (politicians) are almost all lying, self-aggrandizing clowns. As it ends up, this book wasn’t about either of those things.
Pennsylvania Avenue: Profiles in Backroom Power by John Harwood & Gerald F. Seib is a collection of biographies of the people in Washington D.C. But these aren’t just normal people…these are among the most powerful lobbyists and aides in the city…the people behind the scenes. This book was written a lot like Hedge Hunters with each chapter acting as a new biography of a new person. Also like Hedge Hunters is the fact that I started to get more bored as the book went on. It’s not that it is poorly written or not interesting…it’s just that I got tired of reading about “powerful” people in Washington D.C.
This book discusses a lot lobbyists, who annoy me in principal. The book also covers a lot of strategists, such as Karl Rove. I found the strategy and spin chapters to be the most interesting. One thing I particularly liked about the book was the author’s non partisianship. I can’t stand when people write these types of books and just rail on people from the opposite ideological side. Harwood and Seib avoided this trap quite nicely.
All in all…if you spend all night watching CNN or Fox News…you’ll probably like this book a lot. If you think about commiting hara-kiri everytime you see a new McCain or Obama commercial…you should probably stay away.
Rating: 3 out of 5
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