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Race of a Lifetime: How Obama Won the White House
 
 
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Race of a Lifetime: How Obama Won the White House [Hardcover]

Mark Halperin , John Heilemann
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 464 pages
  • Publisher: Viking (11 Jan 2010)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0670918024
  • ISBN-13: 978-0670918027
  • Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.2 x 4.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 180,423 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Product Description

Review

The classic account of an epic presidential race... A book that reads like the fevered dream that everyone even remotely involved in the campaign insists it was - longer, more intense, more significant and peopled with vastly more fascinating candidates than any presidential race in living memory. Small wonder that HBO bought the film rights nine months before publication. (Giles Whittell The Times )

Race of a Lifetime is sleazy, personal, intrusive, shocking - and horribly compulsive. It is also thoroughly researched, well-paced and occasionally very amusing. Anyone who follows American politics will want to read it. (The Economist )

A spicy smorgasbord of observations, revelations and allegations... The authors mix savvy political analysis with detailed reconstructions of scenes and conversations. They employ the same sort of technique Bob Woodward pioneered in his bestselling books to create a novelistic narrative.

[Race of a Lifetime] leaves the reader with a vivid, visceral sense of the campaign and a keen understanding of the paradoxes and contingencies of history.

(Michiko Kakutani The New York Times )

THE book to read about the election... Three modern presidential campaigns produced riveting, definitive chronicles: 1960 (The Making of the President), 1968 (The Selling of the President) and 1988 (What It Takes). Now there's a fourth great campaign book, about 2008: Race of a Lifetime. (Kurt Andersen Very Short List )

Product Description

Forget everything you think you know about the making of the most powerful man on the planet. President Barack Obama's triumph was not inevitable: it was the end product of a brilliant, calculated, convention-defying political campaign. In a race that will be talked about for years to come, he faced down his rivals with ruthless focus and efficiency.

Race of a Lifetime is the gripping inside story of those thrilling months: from the meteoric rise of Obama and the collapsing House of Clinton to the erratic John McCain and the bewildering Sarah Palin.

Brimming with exclusive revelations, this compulsively readable book lays bare the characters of the candidates, warts and all; exposes the inner workings of their operations; and charts the true path to the White House. It's a tour de force: the sometimes shocking, often funny, and ultimately definitive account of the campaign of a lifetime.

This book is published in the US under a different title, GAME CHANGE.


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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Despite its heft this book is a page-turner, even if we all know what happens at the end. There's a good degree of detail about life in Hillaryland and Obamania that will appeal mostly to those interested in the machinations of the US political machine, yet this doesn't descend into policy wonkery (indeed, some would say neither did the Democrat campaign). It's the story of the personalities, the deep rivalries, the egos - oh, the egos! - and the media's capacity to surprise. Who now remembers the times when Wright, Ayers, guns and religion were threatening to derail Obama's candidacy? John Edwards? Giuliani?

This is, for sure, a story of the Democratic campaign: only a quarter of the book refers to the GOP although the widely trailed tidbits about Palin are both interesting to read and quite terrifying. I disagree with the reviewer who suggests that the authors are in awe of Obama: these are two very experienced journalists who understand what made him a standout candidate and the right man at the right time. There has also been criticism of the lack of sources for the work but if this is read as a piece of journalism rather than an academic history then this is not a big deal. If anyone disagreed with the narrative then you'd be sure to have heard about it.

If you're looking for a readable, enlightening reminder of the 2008 campaign then you'll find much to enjoy in this book. Recommended.
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42 of 45 people found the following review helpful
COOL RUNNINGS 23 Jan 2010
By Diacha TOP 1000 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Amazon Verified Purchase
" Race of a Lifetime" is a blow-by-blow account of the 2008 U.S. Presidential election. It contains few truly new revelations, but it maintains its pace and mildly prurient interest from beginning to end.

"Race" belongs to the school of "omniscient journalism." Its authors report not only what protagonists did and said ("F-bombs" and all) but also what they thought at the time. John Heileman and Mark Halperin, both established journalists ("New York" magazine and "Time", respectively), construct their narrative from a base of 300 interviews with over 200 people, including several of the principals. Since these interviews were "deep background," there are few attributions to specific sources. The account appears to be substantially accurate, though I understand that Sarah Palin's staff have disputed how their boss is portrayed - and well they might, since she is documented as "catatonic", ill informed, less than fully truthful and off message. Not worthy of high office, in other words. Hopefully this message will stick.

Most of the book addresses the epic struggle between Hillary Clinton and Obama in the Democratic primary as Clinton's seemingly assured victory melted away and Obama's quixotic insurgency morphed into a Movement. There is a brief digression to cover John Edwards' doomed bid: Edwards is revealed to be the egomaniac, sleazebag that we had suspected all along, though it was surprising to learn that his wife, tragically afflicted by cancer, is not the saint suggested by her public image but rather an unpleasant, vindictive bully. Once Obama wins the nomination, the focus turns to his battle with McCain. The earlier part of the Republican contest is barely covered, and by this time McCain is already on the way to losing, damned by his impetuous and ill-researched choice of Palin as his running mate and the exposure by the sudden financial crisis of his economic illiteracy.

The story of the campaigns is pretty much as expected: the massive demands on the candidates' physical and psychic stamina, the huge war chests needed every step of the way, the temporary victories, setbacks and bounce backs, the incessant bickering among campaign staff, the crude deals struck or implied with financial supporters and putative kingmakers and the ever rattling sexual skeletons in the closets of virtually every candidate - Obama being the principal exception. There is little substantive discussion of policy. Whether this is a reflection of fact or a bias in the reporting is not clear but it is probably the former - as Obama's law school mentor, Chris Edley comments "a focus group isn't policy-making."

The account is enlivened by numerous anecdotes: how Mitt Romney enters the men's room just before a Republican debate to find all of his rivals lined up at the urinals joking about how each of them detest him; of how Bill "Big Dog" Clinton lost his cool in a conversation with Ted Kennedy and undid a career long record of non-racism by snapping that "a few years ago, this guy (Obama) would be fetching us coffee"; how the Obamans were so worried about Joe Biden blowing the vice presidential debates that they not only enlisted Michigan Governor, Jennifer Granholm to act as Palin in a rehearsal, but they also rehearsed Granholm for the rehearsal against a stand-in for Biden; how an "undecided" voter in Ohio told a focus group that she feared that Obama might be a Muslim and soft on terrorists and when asked in return how, given that fear, she could remain undecided, responded " because if McCain dies Palin would be president."

Both Clinton and Obama come across quite well in the account. To be sure, Clinton is as ambitious, ruthless, convinced of her own entitlement and flexible in her positions as we thought, but she is also tough, smart, exceptionally well prepared, continuously learning and phenomenally hard working. Deep down, she is shown to have a core of principle, ideals, duty and patriotism. Arguably, she did deserve to win, for if anyone ever earns these things, she did.

Obama, for his part, walks on water. The authors seem in awe of him. He is cool, cerebral, rational, capable of stepping out of himself to see where he needs to adjust course or fix himself, certain in his destiny, idealist in his goals, equipped with a true moral compass, well-briefed and devoted to his family. He fights clean, announcing to his staff that "I will come out the other side as the same person I was on the way in...... if I ever catch anyone digging into the Clintons' personal lives, you will be fired." While we know today, one year into Obama's presidency, that he has his weaknesses, it is hard not to conclude in reading this book that he is a man superbly fitted to be president.

The ending of the book closes the circle by Hillary signing on as Obama's Secretary of State. He personally decides that he wants her, not merely for the political wow effect but because he believes that she is the most qualified and that she deserves it. Clinton is "anguished," she is shattered and exhausted by the campaign and just wants a normal life; she is afraid that if she accepts, Bill will somehow mess it up (though he, to his credit, rushes to make all the necessary disclosures of donors to his various causes to open the way for her). She declines. Obama won't give up until, overcome by duty and respect for the man whom until recently she despised, she reverses her decision. Obama's staff never saw their boss "prouder or more satisfied" than he was at this moment. Somehow, after all the cynical detailing of the dark side of politics, I found this uplifting.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By J A C Corbett VINE™ VOICE
Amazon Verified Purchase
Race of a Lifetime is the insider account of Barak Obama's stunning rise to the presidency of the United States. Co-authored by two of the country's top political journalists, it relies upon some 200 hundred off-the-record interviews with campaign insiders (we're never told which ones) and moves along with the pace of a novel.

Although Obama is the central character, the narrative revolves around other key players, principally Hillary Clinton, but also John Edwards, John McCain and Sarah Palin. It altered my opinion about Clinton - who comes across as thoroughly decent, diligent and admirable character - but reinforces what I knew about the others.

Those who saw and loved the last two brilliant series of the much-missed West Wing are in for a real treat. The powerful characters and breakneck narrative seem more in tune with a fictional creation than the staid world of politics.

Yet truth is stranger than fiction, and had that programme's creators devised characters such as Sarah Palin, they would have been accused of parody.

Palin - with the egomanic and sleazy John Edwards - comes off worst in this book, although it is her ignorance rather than cynicism or ego that is her worst sin. It remains a terrifying thought that she could have been a missed heartbeat away from being the most powerful person in the world.

One of the books' best episodes recounts her cramming sessions on forign affairs. During a lengthy primer on twentieth century history, of which she knew nothing, one ofe her aides suggests a break. "No, no, no, let's keep going," said Palin with the apparent wonderment of a child. "This is awesome."

The book should be read with a few reservations. It's certainly not (thankfully) political science, yet not even a work of journalism - which would be properly sourced - rather a piece narrative non-fiction. We have to trust the authors' integrity to faithfully and even handedly deal with their off the record sources, and for some readers that will invariably be a leap of faith too far.

Yet in my view, the book is richer and more candid for being off the record and gossipy. It's well-written, fascinating and a rare thing among books of its genre - a real page turner.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Stunning Book
Quite simply a brilliant book - even if you aren't interested in US politics or the Byzantine way in which primaries are run by the Republicans and Democrats this book is a... Read more
Published 12 months ago by CorkRebel67
enjoyed
I really enjoyed this book, I think it will not be fully appreciated for years.
Published 20 months ago by Patrick Troy
Gripping even when you know how it ends
Described by some reviewers as "high class political porn" its just about everything you might want to know about the 2008 presidential election. Read more
Published on 14 May 2010 by Aidan J. McQuade
"Fired up! Ready to go!"
The story starts before the campaign begins with Hillary preparing for her inauguration, months and months before the election, so certain was she of victory. Read more
Published on 2 April 2010 by Sam Quixote
Insider Track
FAscinating and fast paced. Find out what really went on behind the scenes etc. Lot of fun and profanity.
Published on 23 Feb 2010 by Cheery
Fantastic
I am only halfway through this book but am thoroughly engrossed. The pace is excellent, the writing style a perfect combination of factual detail, insight and intrigue. Read more
Published on 22 Feb 2010 by ronaldobiscottini
A book by journalists not political scientists
As others have noted, this book is a gripping account of the 2008 race, full of colourful and sometimes alarming incident. I read it quickly and with great pleasure. Read more
Published on 21 Feb 2010 by A reader, South London
Race for the Whitehouse
Race of a Lifetime is a very well written account of the events leading up to the US Presidential election held in 2008. Read more
Published on 19 Feb 2010 by Mr. Michael R. Howard
Five star research, one star presentation
Before reading this, I'd heard it was going to be THE book against which all others on the 2008 US presidential campaign would be measured. Read more
Published on 17 Feb 2010 by David A. Bede
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"Game Change" and "Race of a Lifetime" - same or seperate books? 1 17 Jan 2010
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