Believer : my forty years in politics
Title:
Believer : my forty years in politics
Author:
ISBN:
9781594205873
Physical Description:
509 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm
General Note:
Includes index.
Contents:
Roots -- City of the big shoulders -- Deadline Dave -- Bow-tie bravado -- Strategist for hire -- Where the rubber hits the road -- Going national -- The natural -- Magic carpet ride -- Shot from a cannon -- Reluctant hero -- From "No, I won't" to "Yes, we...might" -- An audacious decision -- In Lincoln's shadow -- Growing pains -- Ecstasy in Iowa -- The empire strikes back -- To hell (or at least Altoona) and back -- From Berlin to Biden -- The test -- Winning the big one -- The dogs that caught the car -- Next door to history -- Nothing but bad choices -- Why we do the work -- War and Peace Prize -- The stubborn world -- "Brutal" -- From the outside looking in -- Resurgence -- Turbulent ride, smooth landing.
Summary:
David Axelrod has always been a believer. Whether as a young journalist investigating city corruption, a campaign consultant guiding underdog candidates against entrenched orthodoxy, or as senior adviser to the president during one of the worst crises in American history, Axelrod held fast to his faith in the power of stories to unite diverse communities and ignite transformative political change. As a child of the '60s in New York City, Axelrod worked his first campaigns during a tumultuous decade that began with soaring optimism and ended in violence and chaos. As a young newspaperman in Chicago during the 1970s and '80s, Axelrod witnessed another world transformed when he reported on the dissolution of the last of the big city political machines -- Richard Daley, Dan Rostenkowski, and Harold Washington -- along with the emergence of a dynamic black independent movement that ultimately made Obama's ascent possible. After cutting his teeth in the rollicking world of Chicago journalism, Axelrod switched careers to become a political strategist. His unorthodox tactics during his first campaign helped him get Paul Simon unexpectedly elected to the Senate, and soon Axelrod's counsel was sought by the greatest lights of the Democratic Party. Working for path breakers like Hillary Clinton, Deval Patrick, and Rahm Emanuel -- and morally conflicted characters like Rod Blagojevich and John Edwards -- Axelrod, for better and worse, redefined the techniques by which modern political campaigns are run. The heart of Believer is Axelrod's twenty-year friendship with Barack Obama. Taking a chance on an unlikely candidate for the U.S. Senate, Axelrod ultimately collaborated closely with Obama on his political campaigns, and served as the invaluable strategist who contributed to the tremendous victories of 2008 and 2012. Switching careers again, Axelrod served as senior adviser to the president during one of the most challenging periods in national history: working at Obama's side as he battled an economic disaster; navigated America through two wars; and fought to reform health care, the financial sector, and our gridlocked political institutions.
