What It Takes: The Way to the White House (edit title)

Shelfari edited the description of What It Takes: The Way to the White House Friday, August 7 2009.

• An American Iliad in the guise of contemporary political reportage, What It Takes penetrates the mystery at the heart of all presidential campaigns: How do presumably ordinary people acquire that mixture of ambition, stamina, and pure shamelessness that makes a true candidate? As he recounts the frenzied course of the 1988 presidential race -- and scours the psyches of contenders from George Bush and Robert Dole to Michael Dukakis and Gary Hart -- Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Richard Ben Cramer comes up with the answers, in a book that is vast, exhaustively researched, exhilarating, and sometimes appalling in its revelations. "Quite possibly the finest book on presidential politics ever written, combining meticulous reporting and compelling, at times soaringly lyrical, prose." -- Cleveland Plain Dealer "The ultimate insider's book on presidential politics...an unparalleled source book on the 1988 candidates." -- San Francisco Chronicle

Shelfari edited the contributors of What It Takes: The Way to the White House Monday, July 27 2009.

• Added a contributor: Richard Ben Cramer: (Primary Author)

Shelfari edited the first sentence of What It Takes: The Way to the White House Friday, July 17 2009.

• THIS IS about as good as it gets, as close as American politics offers to a mortal lock.