NIGHTLY READING THREAD: Welcome to Edition #52 of #GMGReads. Every night through this weird time, I'm tweeting out a list of my five favorite books around a general theme—and a link to an indie bookstore where you can order them online....
Tonight, since we're sort of still in the midst of a presidential race, I thought I'd go back over my favorite campaign books of all time.
Two caveats: I've already listed two of the genre's best, BOYS ON THE BUS and THE MAKING OF THE PRESIDENT 1960, and I largely stopped reading campaign books post-2008, so I've not read Katy Tur's (@KatyTurNBC) UNBELIEVABLE, which has gotten great reviews. bookshop.org/books/unbeliev…
1) Joe McGuinness' bombshell of a book SELLING OF THE PRESIDENT 1968 was the first to herald the change in how candidates are marketed: powells.com/book/-97801401…
2) Richard Ben Cramer's WHAT IT TAKES is certainly one of the best campaign books ever written (and has a large chunk about Biden so is relevant still today): bookshop.org/books/what-it-…
3) TRAIL FEVER, about the 1996 presidential race, might be Michael Lewis' least-known book, but man is it fun—this was actually the first campaign book I ever read, as a teen, and it made me fall in love with the genre: betterworldbooks.com/product/detail…
4) Joe Klein's (a.k.a. Anonymous's) novel PRIMARY COLORS, about a fictionalized Bill Clinton race is also just a delicious book to read: bookshop.org/books/primary-…
5) Rebecca Traister (@rtraister) might be the sharpest observer of politics today and her book BIG GIRLS DON'T CRY will make you sad you never got to watch her cover a Hillary Clinton administration: bookshop.org/books/big-girl…
Before I go: Teddy White's MAKING OF THE PRESIDENT 1960 is his best, for sure, but all of his campaign books—1964, 1968, and 1972—are vital histories of those eras too. What he did that most other campaign writers skip is to tell the story of America, not just the candidates.
Anyway, those are tonight's #GMGReads. What are your favorite books about campaigns and politics? Share! #avidreadersunite
