The Campaign: Rudy Giuliani, Ruth Messinger, Al Sharpton, and the Race to Be Mayor of New York City

Amazon.com

Evan J. Mandery proves that it's possible to write an interesting book about a losing political campaign. And Mandery--who served as research director to Ruth Messinger's failed bid to unseat New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani in 1997--isn't even describing a close race. This one was a blowout, with the Republican Giuliani using his crime-fighting success to flatten a liberal opponent. The book is presented as a diary, covering roughly 10 months, through Messinger's early announcements, the Democratic primary, and finally the general election. Mandery is a political neophyte--he quit his job as a lawyer to work for Messinger on his first (and probably last) campaign. His newcomer status makes him occasionally naive (he's not sure what to do his first day at work), but also allows him to offer a fresh and wry look at the life of political professionals. The Campaign has plenty of humor, with off-the-wall observations on nearly every page, such as Mandery's anecdote about Giuliani drinking a celery-flavored soda. (A handful of illustrations by R.J. Matson, one of America's best political cartoonists, are also a treat.) The book's greatest strength, however, is the way it uncovers the gritty dynamics of a political campaign, or at least one waged in the strange world of New York City. --John J. Miller

Book Description

A behind-the-scenes look at a modern political campaign, examining how candidates go about the difficult and important business of defining themselves in the television era.

Evan Mandery, research director on Ruth Messinger's doomed challenge to Mayor Rudy Giuliani, offers a behind-the-scenes look at political campaigns in the television era. A day-to-day account of the 1997 New York City mayoral race, it takes us to the real battlegrounds of modern politics: polls, focus groups, and television editing studios. With Mandery as our guide, we watch first-hand as political consultants conceive of the ideal candidate and then attempt to fit their client into that ideal, no matter how uncomfortably. The stars of the story are memorable: Rudy Giuliani, popping his eyes and tweaking the truth; Al Sharpton, the colorful preacher and rising political force; and Ruth Messinger herself, torn between her populist political upbringing and the modern political world where money dominates over all other concerns. Sometimes cynical, often mirthful, and always honest, The Campaign will forever change your view of political campaigns.

Customer Reviews:

It's Oscar-riffic!.......2000-01-06

I loved the cover. How did Mandery draw all of those characters onto the book jacket? Very impressive!

Witty, insightful and eye-opening.......1999-11-30

This is not only an interesting, easy to read book, it shows a side of politcal campaigning from an interesting point of view. Mandery is an objective observer with an inside seat. He was part of the campaign, but not part of the culture. That, in my opinion, is to his credit.

The book he has written is rife with funny anecdotes, touching scenes and aggravating politics as usual. Mandery keeps his perspective through the whole mess.

A riveting and witty firsthand account of modern politics........1999-10-29

In his literary debut Mandery delivers a unique and thoughtful rumination on the machinations of a modern political campaign. With the fresh perspective of a campaign neophyte and his considerable skills of lawyerly analysis, Mandery offers a refreshingly honest chronicling of the 1997 New York mayoral race. Mandery's razor-sharp wit adds zip and readability to a topic lesser authors have consistently made bland.

Mandery asserts that the book is about modern political campaigns in general, and only "incidentally about the 1997 mayoral campaign." Indeed, his position as research director for the Messinger campaign affords the reader a fascinating insider's view of the nuts and bolts of a political campaign at the end of the twentieth century. We are privy to all of the key players, the sometimes-stilted decision-making process, strategy sessions, various private letters between campaigns, focus group sessions, and the research operations. We are even told how much the famous political consultants are paid (it will make you consider a career change!).

At each step of the way Mandery offers his insightful analysis of campaign maneuvers and press coverage. He asks the commonsense questions that any thoughtful outsider might ask. His logic is consistently solid, systematically and lucidly cutting through the muck of political "spin" to reveal the truth of the matter at hand. Though he often wonders aloud whether he can possibly be objective given his position, Mandery scores points for his even-handed critique of both sides.

Perhaps more importantly, and most interestingly, Mandery brings into high relief the cast of characters involved -- the men and women who eat, drink and sleep politics, whose lives move from one campaign to the next. From his boorish campaign manager Jim to colorful rival Sharpton and hilarious longshot Menendez, Mandery describes real characters to rival any of fiction's most entertaining. As Mandery himself might agree, 'you can't make this stuff up.'

A must read for the informed citizen.......1999-10-05

This book is the most insightful book about the nature of the modern campaign I have ever read. As a professional campaigner I know this from first hand experience. Here is a chance for the citizen to peel back the veil and view the inner workings of the campaigns that, in so many ways, choose our officials and shape our nation.

The great thing about the book is that much of it is universally true and important. The issues that Mandery writes about from fundraising, to polling, to the dangers of ethnic politics, to the motivations of the press are as true in the high-flying campaigns of Bill Clinton as they are the failed campaign of Ruth Messinger. The mayoral campaign is, in many ways, simply an entertaining backdrop to a thoughtful guide of the ins and outs of American politics.

That said, the book offers particular insights into the mind of the Mayor who would be Senator. New Yorkers in general and reporters in particular would do well to sit up and take notice before the coming election.

Mandery has a superb lucid writing style. The text brings to bear Mandery's unique perspective combines the laser like analysis of a Harvard lawyer with the ironic sense of humor of one of New York City's hottest amateur stand up comedians.

Customer Reviews:

Read.......1999-03-13

this book because it is a must for who have no faith of teens being good and believing in change for a better world to live in as well as ones who are like the ones potrayed so they can change making their environment better. Pg 75 is a good example.

It's down to earth emotions behind violence and teenagers........1998-08-24

If you have ever experienced violence in any form, as you read this book you will realize that you are not alone. The thoughts that struck your head when violence presented itself upon your life are guaranteed to be similar to these teenagers. It's down to earth, not toned down in any way. You feel the pain, frustration and anger of these kids. Makes you wonder what you can do for them.

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Volver al Centro
Eduardo Rojas
Manufacturer: Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Urban & Regional | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Spanish | Foreign Language Nonfiction | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Este libro analiza cómo invertir recursos públicos en la recuperación de áreas urbanas centrales, e identifica las mejores formas de financiar los programas destinados a ese fin y de mitigar los impactos sociales negativos del proceso. Presenta nueve programas representativos de recuperación urbana en Europa, América del Norte y América del Sur.

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Architecture and Power in Africa:
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Two of the most ambitious religious edifices of the 20th century are the Our Lady of Peace Basilica in the West African country of the Ivory Coast and the Hassan II Mosque in Morocco. Nnamdi Elleh not only provides a substantial architectural and pictorial analysis of the buildings themselves. Using these two buildings as case studies, he also investigates questions of national memory, urban form, architectural styles, concepts of democracy, social hierarchies as well as the elites who make the decisions to build Africa's post-independence monuments and capital cities. His book is an exciting synthesis of theoretical and empirical analysis that is bound to stimulate debate about the form and content of post-colonial identities in Africa.

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Review of Al Urban book.......2006-11-30

This was an interesting discovery for me. I had no knowledge of its existence until my husband discovered it a few months ago when googling Al Urban, who was my father. The preface, which described his life, provided some additional bits of information for me and also contained a few errors. I have since contacted the author by email to discuss the other material and information that I have about my father. Certainly unexpected and surprising.

Gustave Caillebotte, Urban Impressionist

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Caillebotte's vivid representations of Parisian life bridged the gap between Realism and Impressionism during the 1870s and early 1880s. His Paris Street: Rainy Day and Floorscrapers--each the subject of a fascinating, extensively illustrated analysis in this book--have become icons of the Impressionists' devotion to scenes of modern urban life.

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One of the largest and fastest-growing cities in the South, Charlotte, North Carolina, came of age in the New South decades of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, transforming itself from a rural courthouse village to the trading and financial hub of America's premier textile manufacturing region. In this book, Thomas Hanchett traces the city's spatial evolution over the course of a century, exploring the interplay of national trends and local forces that shaped Charlotte, and, by extension, other New South urban centers.

Hanchett argues that racial and economic segregation are not age-old givens, but products of a decades-long process. Well after the Civil War, Charlotte's whites and blacks, workers and business owners, all lived intermingled in a "salt-and-pepper" pattern. The rise of large manufacturing enterprises in the 1880s and 1890s brought social and political upheaval, however, and the city began to sort out into a "checkerboard" of distinct neighborhoods segregated by both race and class. When urban renewal and other federal funds became available in the mid-twentieth century, local leaders used the money to complete the sorting out process, creating a "sector" pattern in which wealthy whites increasingly lived on one side of town and blacks on the other.

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"I saw a naked fat lady....

humorous overview of life in LA. aspects not usually conside

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"I saw a naked fat lady...........2002-05-29

....in Los Angeles one day. She was striding determinedly across an overpass that spans the Hollywood Freeway just north of downtown..."

For reporter Al Martinez, the guy who looks like a Hispanic Einstein, this woman is type and metaphor of Los Angeles herself--and so it is, and so she is, to any one of us who've lived within her flashpoint gunpowder confines.

If you want to get under the skin of L.A., start with this book. I'm giving it a 4 rather than a 5 only because I've read Al's columns and have something to compare this book to. I know of only one newsman with the heart and guts and literary power of the author, let alone the worldweary humor that never wearies, and it's not Mencken, although his work sometimes reminds me of Mencken's. It's Mark Twain, who asked: "Can we afford Civilization?"

Here are two rather serious quotations from this oft-humorous gem:

You'd think that after all that anguish [he means the riots] we'd come up with some stable course of action to make things better between the races generally and in the South-Central section particularly. But what emerged wasn't a powerful program to enfranchise the forgotten, but a call, you guessed it, to improve our image. Keep the naked fat lady who in her madness strides no-where, but tie a nice little ribbon in her hair.

We create our own Skid Rows by turning our backs on segments of the population who no longer attract our interest. Because they dwell in economic brackets that allow their homes and apartments to fall into disrepair, we either label their dwellings slums and allow them to rot, or rip them out in the name of urban renewal. What we don't see won't hurt us, though we've learned the hard way that what we don't see now we'll later see in the crimes and riots that are the handmaidens of despair.

humorous overview of life in LA. aspects not usually conside.......1999-08-15

This book was not what I expected. The subject of life in Los Angeles, CA, seemed sort of narrow but after reading the book there were many aspects I never considered. Not being involved in show business, this gave me a humorous insite into the trials and tribulations of working with show biz types. It also gave me a look at L.A. that I hadn't even begun to consider. L.A. is just a vast, busy metroplis where no one knows anyone and everyone just lives their lives in a bubble. But maybe that isn't always so. Maybe there really is the possiblity of life in L.A. I very much enjoyed reading this book and was constantly delighted at the "out of the square" look at life in L.A.

Reflections on Regionalism: Bruce Katz, Editor ; Foreword by Al Gore (Brookings Metropolitan Series)

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The Cities of Tomorrow

Reflections on Regionalism: Bruce Katz, Editor ; Foreword by Al Gore (Brookings Metropolitan Series)

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Book Description

Academics, community activists, and politicians have rediscovered regionalism, insisting that regions are critical functional units in a world-wide economy and, just as important, critical functional units in individual American lives. More and more of us travel across city, county, even state borders every morning on our way to work. Our television, radio, and print media rely on a regional marketplace. Our businesses, large and small, depend on suppliers, workers, and customers who rarely reside in a single jurisdiction. The parks, riverfronts, stadia, and museums we visit draw from, and provide an identity to, an area much larger than a single city. The fumes, gases, chemicals, and run-off that pollute our air and water have no regard for municipal boundaries.

This book lays out a variety of opinions on regionalism, its history and its future. While the essays do not comprise a debate, pro and con, about regionalism, they do provide a wide array of perspectives, based on the authors' diverse backgrounds and experience. Some contributors have made close academic studies of how regional action occurs, in various states like Minnesota, California, and Oregon; others give an historical account of a particular region like that surrounding New York City; and yet others point out aspects of regionalism--race, especially-- that should not be ignored.

Why did past efforts at regional collaboration fall apart? What did regionalist efforts of decades ago leave undone, and what new goals should regionalists set? Without an understanding of these questions, policymakers and advocates may find themselves "reinventing the region." This book provides an important understanding of how regionalism has played out in the past, how policies shape places, and the possibilities and limits of regional action.

Customer Reviews:

The Cities of Tomorrow.......2000-04-12

This book lays it all out and tells you what it all means. Where the cities have been, where there are now, where they are going, and, most importantly, what we should be doing about it. These essays make it clear that, as we enter the twenty-first century,cities and the regions around them can no longer afford to act as if they are discreet entities. Necessarilly and irreversibly, the fate of one will be more and more intimately tied to that of the other. The sooner that politicians at every level understand this, the better. This book is a major contribution. No one involved with urban policy can afford to be ignorant of the information and insights it contains.

Governor Bush and his campaign should read Vice-President Gore's introduction and then be afraid, be very afraid. It is clear that Gore has the "vision thing" -- a way of approaching the future that brings everyone into a regional "big tent."

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Community Initiatives in Urban Infrastructure
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