Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President / by Candice Millard

The irony was that James A. Garfield never wanted to be president. Born into rural poverty in Ohio in 1831, it wasn't an easy road for the future chief of staff who, much like Abraham Lincoln, had to self-educate himself early in life. Limited financially, Garfield would eventually earn a Bachelor's from Williams College in Massachussetts and then a law degree before being commissioned as an officer in the Civil War, rising to the rank of Major General by the time it was all finished. In 1862 Garfield, then only 31, obtained a congressional seat in the House of Representatives and thereafter figured prominently in politics, serving 9 consecutive terms until 1880. Yet all of his merits and conspicuous achievements were, by all accounts, mere window dressing. Garfield was a true public servant, one of the few men who lived to advance the ideals which the country stood for. Never swayed by crooked political machinery and always opposed to "place-seeking" and career advancement, his actions warranted a high degree of public scrutiny but also a hefty amount of sincere praise which culminated in his rather awkward nomination for the presidency in 1880. Despite his personal objection, Garfield eventually capitulated and, though never expected to actually win, campaigned alongside his running mate Chester A. Arthur for the Republican cause. When he did win it was considered a minor miracle and had more than a few people speculating that the new President was merely a puppet in a ruse cooked up by the delegates to get their real man, Arthur, into office.

One person certainly amused at the outcome of the election was Charles Guiteau. Having experienced many of the same setbacks in life as the President himself, the squirrely little man from Wisconsin had tried his hand at many an occupation only to fail or quit at all of them. Many, including Guiteau's own father, considered him insane and various attempts were unsuccessfully made to have him committed. Following the 1880 election, Guiteau, intending to solicit employment in the White House, began stalking Garfield in person. By 1881, after being turned down for an office on more than one occasion, Guiteau resolved it was God's will that he kill the President. On July 2 of the same year, after pursuing Garfield in secret for several months, he encountered the President and Secretary of State James Blaine at Baltimore train station whereupon he fired two rounds of a .44 British Bulldog pistol, one winging the arm of the President and the other piercing one of his lower vertebrae and lodging near his spleen.

Garfield wasn't immediately killed. In fact he initially stood a good chance of survival. Doctors worked around the clock to locate the bullet only to worsen the President's condition with unsanitary procedures and detrimental hygiene, ultimately resulting in an infection which hastened Garfield's death in September of 1881 nearly three months after his assassination attempt. Guiteau meanwhile was immediately apprehended and tried. He persistently maintained he was innocent of all charges, claiming he had only shot Garfield to make Arthur president. An insanity defense was not out of the question as all who stood witness to his trial could see he was clearly deranged. But in the end he was executed in front 2,000 spectators, all watching as the madman danced his way up to the scaffold to be hanged, shaking hands with the executioner and requesting that a poem he had written while in prison be read prior to his death. This, one of the more colorful, though tragic events of American history is certainly a story worth telling and carries lessons worth learning. Millard's previous work The River of Doubt, chronicling Teddy Roosevelt's post-Presidential Amazonian adventure, was highly successful, winning the Best Book of the Year by the New York Times Book Review. This latest outing is as entertaining though perhaps not as discretely rendered. Destiny of a Republic runs in the same vein but the story has so many different dimensions it's hard to find a seminal theme to latch on to. There's two vastly different men on a path to destruction, a country still in post-war turmoil, a shady political climate and then the tragedy involved with the medical negligence. That's not even including the interesting tidbits about Garfield's family life which included the death of two young children and the survival of an unlikely marriage to his wife Lucretia. Or even the potentially life saving efforts made on the part of Alexander Graham Bell whose influential inventions attempted to locate the bullet inside the president's body by remote detection. It's a worthy effort however by an author who's fascinated by her subject and mainstream readers as well as history buffs will be pleased with the riveting manner in which the events are brought to life. (973.84092 MILLARD)

Deadly Indifference: The Perfect (Political) Storm: Hurricane Katrina, The Bush White House and Beyond / by Michael D. Brown

Anyone involved in the Hurricane Katrina mess likely won't have to remember too hard to recognize the author of this book. Michael "Brownie" Brown is someone a lot of people are still angry at. And while it may not be anytime soon that their opinions change, at least he gets to tell his side of the story. The former undersecretary of Homeland Security and FEMA chief who made a hollow mockery out of press conferences during the Hurricane Katrina disaster and who seemingly had the backing of former President Bush tries to counter the opinion most people have of him and the administration's handling of the disaster. But what could have been at least a semi-sincere, apologetic appeal to the masses is instead an account which places blame a little too often by a man more concerned about his own reputation than any apparent "indifference" shown during the disaster. Though he tries to be objective in some parts, Brown's narrative tends to implicate and and indict more than inform. Everyone from his boss Michael Chertoff (who must at least hold some of the blame) to his boss's bosses (President Bush and Donald Rumsfeld) to the state-level chain of command (Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin) to the media (an especially akward section of the book is dedicated to his on-air interview with Soledad O'Brien) and the American public who stand ready to condemn are included in Brown's rant. Though disappointing, his account is informative and most will want to at least take a look at it. It's also a book which still reflects on the local, cultural environment. (976.044 BROWN)

New Political Fiction

The Rules of the Game / by Leonard Downie
Sarah Page is a Washington Post reporter covering the national politics and the current presidential race. When Page’s investigation of the new Democratic nominee exposes corruption at the highest levels, she finds that some things are more important than the truth (i.e., national security) when it comes to big time politics. (FIC DOWNIE)
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Pursuit of Honor / by Vince Flynn
Washington, D.C. is in physical and political disarray after a terrorist attack on the National Counterterrorism Center (NCC) has killed 185 Americans. In the wake of things, White House officials as well as members of Congress are incensed about the extreme counter-terrorist initiatives taken which have seemingly endangered many lives. But NCC operative Mitch Rapp knows his business just like he knows the immediate measures he and other members of his agency must take in order to ensure National Security. (FIC FLYNN)
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Ultimatum / by Matthew Glass

In the near future, Joe Benton is president of the United States when he learns that the global warming damage and rising seas will mean that over thirty million coastal US residents will need to be relocated. Doing his best to negotiate internationally for help in the process, Benton comes up against his toughest political battle as the US butts heads with China in a high-stakes diplomatic affair. (FIC GLASS)
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The Capitol Game / by Brian Haig

A small independent company makes a miraculous scientific discovery: a metallic polymer which can reinforce any substance with the equivalent of 30 inches of steel. One of the privileged few to catch wind of the invention, Wall Street Banker Jack Wiley intends to enlist one of the country’s most powerful corporations, the Capitol Group, to takeover the small company. But he runs into problems when various Washington officials and members of the Pentagon begin investigating the deal. (FIC HAIG)
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Marine One / by James Huston
When the White House official helicopter, Marine One, crashes during flight killing everyone including the President, an investigation is immediately undertaken. WorldCopter, the parent contractor of Marine One, hires US attorney Mike Nolan to help defend the company against legal allegations and look deeper into the tragedy. Nolan arrives on the scene to discover some non-quite-right things about both the accident and the intended destination of the flight--Camp David--which gets him thinking that there may have been more than one reason for the fatal accident. (FIC HUSTON)
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The Confirmation / by Ralph Reed

There are many, many problems to confront during newly-elected U.S. President Bob Long’s tumultuous first few months in office. But he might catch a break when a chance to appoint a conservative judge to the Supreme Court falls into his lap, an act which would appease the masses of evangelicals and right wing partisans who voted him into office. Of course things are never that easy as Long’s appointee Marco Diaz succumbs to a series of vicious character allegations by the democratic caucus. (FIC REED)

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The Overton Window / by Glenn Beck

Wealthy bachelor Noah Gardner is more interested in living the high life than anything having to do with politics. But when his new girlfriend Molly Ross introduces him to a conspiracy theory called the Overton Window, laying the premise that American public perception could be manipulated en masse, Noah begins to pay a little more attention to the country’s well-being and swiftly takes action when the Overton Window plan is initiated. (FIC BECK)
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Capitol Betrayal: A Novel / by William Bernhardt
Disappointed Washington lawyer Ben Kincaid has just lost his bid for a Senate seat and is at the white house working on legal issues for the new President Roland Kyler when the nation comes under missile attack. Kincaid and the rest of the White House Staff retreat to the underground bunker where amidst all the chaos, Kincaid must help mediate an increasingly tense atmosphere which includes an attempt by the vice-president to seize power. (FIC BERNHARDT)

Freedom: A Novel / by Jonathan Franzen

St. Louis native Jonathan Franzen attended Swarthmore College and was a Fulbright Scholar priveleged enough to study in Germany. He's stuck close to his midwestern roots as an author though, setting many of his stories and characters places like Minnesota or Wisconsin and highlighting many of the themes inherent of the region. In addition to writing novels, he’s been a frequent contributor to The New Yorker and Harper’s where his talent as an essayist is well-known. His 2001 novel The Corrections won the National Book Award and became an Oprah’s Book Club selection despite Franzen’s personal opposition to the choice; he felt the ‘Oprah’s’ tag might designate the book for a predominately female audience whereas he'd personally hoped to reach more male readers. Freedom, his first novel since The Corrections, observes a family of progressive-minded Midwesterners through the latter decades of the twentieth century up until the most recent presidential election.
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The Berglunds of St. Paul, MN like to see themselves as making a difference. The liberal-minded couple, Walter and Patty, and their two children Jessica and Joey, are one of the first families to move back into the city from the suburbs, intent on renovating their “project” of a house and spearheading other urban renewal initiatives. From the neighbors’ perspective, the Berglunds are alright. Patty is the energetic mom, Walter is the level-headed lawyer promoting environmentalist causes, Jessica likes school and Joey, well, Joey likes his independence. From early on, Joey demonstrates his desire to do things his own way and with time develops severe rebellious streak, one which ironically fits well with his intense relationship with Connie Monaghan. Connie, the single-parent girl from down the street, starts a romance with Joey which sparks a rift between Joey and his parents. Tension escalates to an alarming level within the Berglund household and with their neighbors, so much so that Walter and Patty decide to relocate to Washington, D.C., a move forging a bitter physical and emotional rift with their son Joey.
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This period allows Patty to take into account her life up until now. Transcribing her autobiography at the request of her therapist, Patty pens down the events leading to the current situation and how the child she once was grew and changed into the woman she is now. In her youth Patty had been quite the athlete, a basketball star in high school seemingly destined for greatness. Breaking the mold of her more un-athletic, artistic minded family who want her to follow a more mapped-out Ivy League path, Patty attended the local state school on scholarship where she first met the hunky and ecologically consicious Richard Katz. A soulful musician with a passionate desire to help the environment, Richard became the object of Patty’s affection, increasingly more so when a knee injury ended her basketball career. The feeling wasn’t quite mutual though and a devastated Patty turned to Richard’s nerdy but available roommate Walter who ultimately became her husband. Walter, the man she thinks she still loves, has been a good provider and a loving father. But it all changes when Richard Katz reenters their lives and the drama of the Berglunds takes on a wholly different twist.
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Reminiscent of Updike with his thoroughly realist take on the American family and yet innovative in his approach to life in the contemporary sphere, Franzen has an adroitness about his writing which distinguishes him from other, similar writers. At times funny, lighthearted and satirical while at others dour, cynical and even morbid, Freedom introduces an archetype which is unlike any other in fiction. Here we have family in the modern generation with characters who've never really lacked for anything but aren't overly spoiled or inordinately warped, just unsure of themselves and their limitations. The Corrections was like this: a similar snapshot of nuclear family dynamics in the modern era where an overabundance of choices tends to cause problems. Characters have imbedded in them seemingly unbreakable convictions and yet aren't invulnerable to rash decisions and drastic changes of heart (Patty's marrying Walter, the Berglunds moving on a whim from the house they'd worked so hard on, Joey's switches in loyalty, etc.). It befits the title with its distinction of 'freedom', meant to connote the freedom felt within individual identity rather than the non-committal free-to-do-whatever mentality. (FIC FRANZEN)

Nashville (1975) DVD / a film by Robert Altman; starring Ned Beatty, Karen Black, Shelly Duvall, Lily Tomlin and Keith Carradine

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"Y'all take it easy now. This isn't Dallas, it's Nashville! They can't do this to us here in Nashville! Let's show them what we're made of. Come on everybody, sing! Somebody, sing!"

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Central to the American heartland is Nashville, home to Music Row, the Grand Ole Opry and numerous characters--musicians, event promoters, press agents, studio managers, etc.--involved with country music. In the summer of 1975, replacement party presidential candidate Hal Philip Walker is campaigning in Nashville, intending to hold a public rally at the city's Parthenon monument. The event, highlighted by the charismatic, buzz-worthy Walker, brings people from far and wide who intermingle with Nashville locals, participate in its festive atmosphere and partake of all it has to offer. Celebrities and semi-celebrities conglomerate to entertain the rally-goers just as lesser-known and unknowns try to get in on the action. Country music legends like Haven Hamilton and Timothy Brown, current starlets Connie White and Barbara Jean along with group acts like folk rock trio Bill, Mary and Tom are the scheduled performers though, to be sure, various wannabe acts will attempt to integrate themselves into the scene. Things may seem a little crazy, a little unfamiliar to the outside eye, but it's sure to be a one of a kind spectacle destined to entertain.

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Almost 30 years after its initial release, Nashville, Robert Altman's brilliant slice of Americana, has aged as well as anything. Made during the Vietnam era when Watergate was still fresh in the public's conscious (Nixon's resignation actually spawning the film's concept of a "replacement party" candidate), the film has lost none of its appeal; ironically, it's as relevant today as ever, perhaps more so within the celebrity-obsessed culture we inhabit. A snapshot of a single place and time, Nashville is as much about politics as it is country music, as much focused on families as it is on fame and stardom. It's a black comedy, a musical, a political satire and a documentary all in one, effortlessly and effectively interwoven by Altman into one mesmerizing cinematic production. In another way, Nashville is a character study, a film almost voyeuristically delving into the lives of the individuals within this peculiar cross-section of society. Rather than tell a story in a well-defined, contiguous pattern, scenes jump around from place to place, person to person, loosely interconnecting everything in graduated fashion, a method Altman would similarly adopt in his later films Short Cuts and Gosford Park. This overlapping style (definitely a moldbreaking nuance in those days) fits perfectly with the panoramic view of five days in the city, observing the 20 or so characters--some lifetime locals, some starry-eyed new arrivals and some complete foreigners--who all engross the viewer in clever fashion, capturing the identities of you-know-who-they-really-mean country music stars and other composite figures. Although he tosses aside the conventions of narrative storytelling, Altman allows us to get to know the characters in Nashville better than in many contemporary dramas with fewer characters. By the end the audience thoroughly understands each figure and their place and function within this eccentric though purely American setting--just maybe "the damndest thing you ever saw". (DVD NASHVILL)

The World That Never Was: A True Story of Dreamers, Schemers, Anarchists and Secret Agents / by Alex Butterworth

Much like our own era which has been plagued by terrorism, the latter half of the nineteenth century witnessed a distinct rise in subversive political activity in traditionalized Western societies and abroad. From approximately 1871 when the Paris Commune brought about a schism between Marxists and anarchists, countries all across Europe as well as America experienced a new wave of revolutionary and counter-revolutionary activity largely stemming from unstable economies and a strong divide between rich and poor. Underground political movements, independent groups of reactionary citizens and other socialist enterprises began forming as never before. Led by charismatic leaders who preached change and transformation, promoting new ideas and outright revolution towards the powers that be, the situation inevitably gave way to acts of insurrection which, then as now, were perpetrated through aggressive coercion and random acts of violence.

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Author Alex Butterworth well-characterizes the period by describing a collection of heretofore unknown about revolutionaries who never quite changed the world but nonetheless contributed some interesting anecdotes to history. It was an age, not unlike our own, in which middle-class citizens, ordinary working folk and others not affiliated with any of the popular radical ideologies remained subjects to fear, prone to anxiety over the instability of governments and the rising tide of rebellion. Staged protests and peaceful demonstrations gave rise to bombings, assassinations and other violent exploits. As aggressive power struggles spilled over into the political arena, creating diplomatic messes and wreaking further havoc internationally, things escalated into all out wars (World War I specifically) between nations and empires and, in the case of Russia, a full-blown revolution.
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The wave of upheaval a century ago was not only representative of today's world in terms of the paranoia, suspicion and skepticism, it was strikingly familiar claims Butterworth, almost a duplicate reproduction of the conflicting, sometimes arbitrary attitudes about our society. Mistrust of elected officials and ruling entities accompanied a pervading sense of unrest back then, just as nowadays partisan politics and terrorism has created instability even within our more prosperous New World Order. History repeats itself. (335.83 BUTTERWO)

The Lemon Tree: An Arab, A Jew, and The Heart of the Middle East / by Sandy Tolan

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The Lemon Tree tells many stories. It is the story of Bashir Al-Khairi, a Palestinian Arab born in Ramla (West Bank, Israel) just before the termination of the British Mandate, and who, throughout his life, devotes himself to the cause of a free Palestine for Palestinians only to wind up permanently maimed in battle, detained and torchered by occupying forces, imprisoned for over half his adult life and ultimately made a refugee in exile, forbidden ever to return to his homeland. It is the story of Dalia Eshkenazi, a Bulgarian Jew and Holocaust survivor who, while still a child in 1948, resettles in Israel with her family during the UN Partition Plan in the same Ramlah home Bashir and his own family were forced out of. It is the story of millions of people displaced by war and politics and of millions more divided by partisan causes. Ultimately though, it is the story of an age-old, still-simmering and unlikely-to-cease conflict, of a war which has waged for centuries between Jews and Arabs, Judaism and Islam, Israelis and Palestinians, though it has really only been infused into the global conscious for the last half century.

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While the Arab-Israeli conflict is a complicated one, embittered with hate and recrimination, Bashir and Dalia's lifelong friendship, linked by coincidence but proliferated through trust and love, is an enlightened union. The pair's unlikely friendship is one which endures despite the maddeningly stubborn socio-political debacle defining their age, the constant wars and violence causing many sad and troubling times of grief, isolation and despair, not to mention each's unchanging personal convictions. Tolan, a UC-Berkely professor and NPR syndicated journalist has written a compelling book on a very touchy, very saddening and very volatile situation of our time. (956.9405 TOLAN)

Boomsday / by Christopher Buckley

18-year-old Cassandra Cohane is more than a little peeved when her father blows her college tuition money (and all the family's savings) on his own startup company. Her dreams of Yale now ruined, Cassandra enlists in the Army, soon finding herself stuck in a European combat zone where life resembles anything but ivy-hewn sophistication. Things don't stay so dismal for very long though. One day Cassandra finds herself chauffering US Senator Randy Jepperson whose blunt manners and roguish behavior soon land the pair in a mine field of trouble after their hummer (the freewheeling senator having commandeered the vehicle for some joyriding) literally lands in, well, a mine field. This quite uncalled for accident holds some fortuitous karma for Cassandra. She's abruptly discharged in very hush-hush fashion and whisked off to Washington where she becomes part of Senator Jepperson's political staff, an opportunity finally allowing her the platform to promote her own radical, but no less serious, ambitions for social justice.
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Ten years later, Cassandra Devine (her permanent name-change enacted out of still-strong bitterness towards her father) is a prominent PR rep involved in Jepperson's campaign for the presidency. Having observed how the government's rapidly inflating deficit, which coupled with the demographic shift of baby boomers into retirement, has plunged the country into a catastrophic economic crisis, depriving her own generation of basically everything, Cassandra has become a vigilant advocate of "voluntary transitioning" for senior citizens--her own tongue-in-cheek term for euthanasia. Things are so strained economically, with so much backlash politically (i.e., daily attacks on Florida retirees who've bankrupted the country with their Social Security pensions and government benefits), that Cassandra's seemingly insane plan is actually being taken seriously. Things in Washington inevitably go haywire as both proponents and opponents fiercely lobby over the seemingly inconceivable, but at the same time feasible, solution to the country's desperate problem.
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Buckley's follow-up to his rollicking debut Thank You For Smoking shares the same over-the-top, zany concept as its predecessor. Boomsday stays relevant even with its outrageous ideas and frivolous, somehwhat reckless storyline. Most will recognize the book as just plain good humor, and yet will be able to understand the broader, ironically pandered ideas casually intended--enhancing awareness of the country's self-imploding financial crisis and promoting brainstorming about fiscal solvency. Not everyone will be able to appreciate, or understand Buckley's high-strung, lightning-paced and, yes, frequently absurd method of storytelling and readers needing a more fundamentally grounded style to their political satire may find the story fizzles out a bit in the second half. (FIC BUCKLEY)

The Politician: An Insider's Account of John Edwards' Pursuit of the Presidency and the Scandal that Brought Him Down / by Andrew Young

By the year 2000, John Edwards meteoric rise from trial lawyer to North Carolina senator had been well documented and more than a few political pundits prognosticated an unlimited future for the homegrown Democrat who preached family values, equal housing opportunities and "college for everyone". He became a household name during the 2004 presidential campaign when he was selected as running mate to then presidential hopeful John Kerry. Their subsequent defeat prompted Edwards' own ambitions for the highest office in the land and his campaign for the 2008 democratic nomination began in earnest in 2005. But in 2007, a scandal broke about an extramarital affair between Edwards and staffer Rielle Hunter, the latter claiming Edwards had fathered her child. Though denied by Edwards initially, the relationship and ultimately the parentage were finally acknowledged after months of abnegation. The presidential hopeful's dreams came to an end as his political career and life began spiraling downward.
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Author and former political consultant Andrew Young recounts his time as not only an inside man with tactical access to the senator, but, candidly and with remorse, as a primary player in the scandal--Young was induced by Edwards to initially claim (falsely) that he had fathered Rielle Hunter's child. Young chronicles his time with Edwards'--John and his family--from beginning to end: first as a volunteer in the campaign for the initial gubernatorial seat, becoming more intimate as the Democratic party eagerly adopted and promoted Edwards, and finally as the senator's right-hand man in his bid for the presidency. With time Young was drawn more and more into a series of comprimising assignments that culminated with Edwards asking him to help conceal the Senator's adultery and ultimately lie about the parentage of his own illegitmate child. More than a few sordid moments are encountered throughout the text as the reader is drawn closer in to this epic, personally wrenching scandal.

In Defense of Food: an eater’s manifesto by Michael Pollan

From the author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food: an eater’s manifesto looks at the history of Nutritionism and reductive science and their effects on the Western Diet. The first two sections of the book examine how the Western diet developed into a diet based largely on processed foods. Pollan explains the science and the politics behind this journey and the potential devastating effects it can have on our physical health.

The third and final section of the book suggests how we may modify our diet in order to lead a healthier life. Pollan is an advocate for a whole foods diet that limits the amount of processed foods and meat in the diet. He also recommends that people in the Western world, specifically North Americans, need to change their relationship to food. Eating shouldn’t be about eating as much as possible for the lowest cost in the shortest amount of time. Instead, eating should be an experience of preparation, reflection, and socializing like the diets of the French, Japanese, and those living in Mediterranean communities.

Don’t let the “manifesto” in the title deter you from reading or listening to this book. Pollan uses a factual approach to explain his case for adjusting the Western diet. The book does not preach at the reader, but rather suggests adjustments that need to be made to the modern diet in order to sustain a more healthy lifestyle.

In Defense of Food is available at the library in large and regular print, as well as in audio format. The Omnivore’s Dilemma is also available in regular print. These books are shelved in the general non-fiction area of the library. People interested in food and its context in social history may also want to read Paradox of Plenty: a social history of eating in modern America by Harvey Levenstein, Fast Food Nation: the dark side of the all-American meal by Eric Schlosser, and An Edible History of Humanity by Tom Standage.

American Gospel

'One Nation Under God' or 'Nation Under One God'?

At its inception, America was as contentious over religion as it is today; a fact less surprising considering the 'Age of Revolution' stood on the shoulders of reformation, enlightenment, and puritan separatism. Whatever attitudes persist now about religious freedom it must be acknowledged that, from the outset, the individual's declaration of faith played an integral part in Constitutional development. From John Adams' Episcopalian affinities to Jefferson's anti-dogmatic attitudes, this books explores the faith behind the men who were the founding fathers and the successors of their legacy.

Without overdoing the theology involved, Meacham strictly observes the facts rather than hint at a faith-forged national identity or speculate about religious influence on party politics. No president is disavowed or shown inordinate praise despite several lengthy sections concering the tenures of Washington, Jackson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt. Though a cultural diaspora is acknowledged, rarely does a specific doctrine, denomination, or 'movement' contribute to any one presidential policy. Presidents tend toward coalition beliefs more often than not. Soft on criticism, the author is equally omissive of any 'alternative' beliefs; essentially eliminating the possibility of a head of state ever being heretical or apostate.

Sammy's House by Kristen Gore

Sammy Joyce may be a trouble-magnet, a klutz, and a hypochondriac, but she is also the talented, young health-care advisor to the Vice President of the United States. Halfway through the Administration's first term, when success seems assured, a damaging leak to the press reveals that the President may be drinking heavily again. Before the source of the leak can be discovered, more scandal breaks concerning foreign drug agreements, illegitimate family members in the First Family, and drug addiction in the Administration. On the personal front, Sammy's deepening relationship with a Washington Post reporter brings more stress and confusion and the possibility of betrayal. Struggling to handle her personal life while dealing with multiple political crises, Sammy fights to keep her career, her dignity and her honesty intact.

Kristen Gore, the daughter of former Vice President Al Gore, writes from the perspective of a White House insider. This is West Wing in print, with all the drama, humor, and pathos of working at the center of American politics today. A fun and thought-provoking read.