Double Down: Game Change 2012 by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin

Summary:
In their runaway bestseller Game Change, Mark Halperin and John Heilemann captured the full drama of Barack Obama’s improbable, dazzling victory over the Clintons, John McCain, and Sarah Palin. With the same masterly reporting, unparalleled access, and narrative skill, Double Down picks up the story in the Oval Office, where the president is beset by crises both inherited and unforeseen—facing defiance from his political foes, disenchantment from the voters, disdain from the nation’s powerful money machers, and dysfunction within the West Wing. As 2012 looms, leaders of the Republican Party, salivating over Obama’s political fragility, see a chance to wrest back control of the White House—and the country. So how did the Republicans screw it up? How did Obama survive the onslaught of super PACs and defy the predictions of a one-term presidency? Double Down follows the gaudy carnival of GOP contenders—ambitious and flawed, famous and infamous, charismatic and cartoonish—as Mitt Romney, the straitlaced, can-do, gaffe-prone multimillionaire from Massachusetts, scraped and scratched his way to the nomination.

Double Down exposes blunders, scuffles, and machinations far beyond the klieg lights of the campaign trail: Obama storming out of a White House meeting with his high command after accusing them of betrayal. Romney’s mind-set as he made his controversial “47 percent” comments. The real reasons New Jersey governor Chris Christie was never going to be Mitt’s running mate. The intervention held by the president’s staff to rescue their boss from political self-destruction. The way the tense détente between Obama and Bill Clinton morphed into political gold. And the answer to one of the campaign’s great mysteries—how did Clint Eastwood end up performing Dada dinner theater at the Republican convention?

In Double Down, Mark Halperin and John Heilemann take the reader into back rooms and closed-door meetings, laying bare the secret history of the 2012 campaign for a panoramic account of an election that was as hard fought as it was lastingly consequential. (from GoodReads)

Review:
It's no secret that I love politics so a book that details a presidential election is right up my alley. Once I devoured the first Game Change (about the 2008 election) I knew I would have to get the one about the next election. Luckily for me I was not disappointed by this account.

What I love about these books is all the inside information the authors reveal about the campaigns. There are a lot of details shared that many people are not aware of. Since all the sources are anonymous, there's a chance some of this just might be rumors. But it's fascinating and entertaining all the same. What I also like is that I remember most of these events so it's interesting to see the author's take on them. That's why I wouldn't want to read a book about a presidential election that I didn't live through - part of the fun is remembering when Romney made the 47% comments or seeing Bill Clinton's speech at the Democratic National Convention and then reading about it.

The book is pretty long, and the authors use a lot of fancy words (The New York Times book review makes fun of this) but that didn't stop me from enjoying the book. If you're interested in politics then I definitely recommend this along with the first Game Change. Or you could check out the HBO movie which is just as good.

FTC: borrowed from my dad
Rating: 9 out of 10.

2013/Penguin Press/476 pages

An Atheist in the FOXhole: A Liberal's Eight Year Odyssey Inside the Heart of the Right-Wing Media by Joe Muto

Summary:
The "Fox Mole" - whose dispatches for Gawker made headlines in Businessweek, The Hollywood Reporter, and even on The New York Times website—delivers a funny, opinionated memoir of his eight years at the Fox News Channel working as an associate producer for Bill O'Reilly.

Imagine needing to hide your true beliefs just to keep a job you hated. Now imagine your job was producing the biggest show on the biggest cable news channel in America, and you’ll get a sense of what life was like for Joe Muto. As a self-professed bleeding-heart, godless liberal, Joe’s viewpoints clearly didn’t mesh with his employer—especially his direct supervisor, Bill O’Reilly.

So he did what any ambitious, career-driven person would do. He destroyed his career, spectacularly. He became Gawker’s so-called Fox Mole.

Joe’s posts on Gawker garnered more than 2.5 million hits in one week. He released footage and information that Fox News never wanted exposed, including some extremely unflattering footage of Mitt Romney. The dragnet closed around him quickly—he was fired within thirty-six hours—so his best material never made it online. Unfortunate for his career as the Fox Mole, but a treasure trove for book readers.

An Atheist in the FOXhole has everything that liberals and Fox haters could desire: details about how Fox’s right-wing ideology is promoted throughout the channel; why specific angles and personalities are the only ones broadcasted; the bizarre stories Fox anchors actually believed (and passed on to the public); and tales of behind-the-scenes mayhem and mistakes, all part of reporting Fox’s version of the news. (from GoodReads)

Review:
I followed the Fox mole story on Gawker over a year ago and I've been waiting ever since for this book to be published. I always wondered what it would be like to work for an organization whose values are not your own - and now I get a firsthand account. I was surprised that much of the book isn't ideological, but rather stories on how a television empire is produced.

I firmly believe that anyone can enjoy An Atheist in a FOXhole, regardless of your political beliefs. The book is more about our intrepid storyteller's life mixed with anecdotes and explanations of how Fox works. I was fascinated by how a television channel is run and what makes Fox different. It's definitely a team effort and since TV is so fast-paced, the work is often done seconds before it's aired live. The most interesting thing was that Fox used videotapes for everything up until a few years ago. For an organization that makes so much money you'd think they would have top of the line equipment.

I still think it's so crazy that Joe Muto worked for Bill O'Reilly - whether you like him or not, The O'Reilly Factor is the number one cable news show. That's pretty cool that our author was one of the people who pitched ideas and stories to O'Reilly and directly influenced what was on his show each  night.

You can tell that Joe Muto has some writing experience, especially since he's able to weave together the narration of the past and "present day," which is when he was caught at the mole. Some of his writing is a little over-the-top but I was still surprised that he was able to remember so many stories and encounters while working at Fox.

Honestly, if you're interested in tv or film and want to know how the inside is run, you should definitely check out this book. It's so fascinating and you get a pretty great story on top of it.

Rating: 8 out of 10.
FTC: borrowed from the library

2013/Dutton/323 pages

America Again: Re-becoming the Greatness We Never Weren't by Stephen Colbert

Summary:
Book store nation, in the history of mankind there has never been a greater country than America. You could say we're the #1 nation at being the best at greatness.

But as perfect as America is in every single way, America is broken! And we can't exchange it because we're 236 years past the 30-day return window. Look around--we don't make anything anymore, we've mortgaged our future to China, and the Apologist-in-Chief goes on world tours just to bow before foreign leaders. Worse, the L.A. Four Seasons Hotel doesn't even have a dedicated phone button for the Spa. You have to dial an extension! Where did we lose our way?!

It's high time we restored America to the greatness it never lost!

Luckily, AMERICA AGAIN will singlebookedly pull this country back from the brink. It features everything from chapters, to page numbers, to fonts. Covering subject's ranging from healthcare ("I shudder to think where we'd be without the wide variety of prescription drugs to treat our maladies, such as think-shuddering") to the economy ("Life is giving us lemons, and we're shipping them to the Chinese to make our lemon-flavored leadonade") to food ("Feel free to deep fry this book-it's a rich source of fiber"), Stephen gives America the dose of truth it needs to get back on track. (from GoodReads)

Review:
I'm in love with Stephen Colbert. I watch his show all the time and even got to see a live taping of The Colbert Report last summer. I think he's hilarious and so smart. Obviously I had to read his latest book! America Again was like his show in book form; he still uses satire and irony to make his point. Any fans of Colbert will love this book!

There isn't a whole lot to say since there aren't any characters or plot in this book. It's mostly Stephen speaking as his character about different topics, such as health care, the economy and taxes. The book provides 3D glasses for the pictures in the beginning of each chapter. There are fun footnotes and little extras by "other people" (aka Stephen Colbert pretending to be someone else).

I enjoyed this book a lot and it gave me a lot to think about! If you like his show, I would definitely recommend America Again! Or you might like it if you're interested in humor and politics!

Rating: 9 out of 10.
FTC: Christmas gift.

2012/Grand Central Publishing/240 pages.

Game Change by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin

In 2008, the presidential election became blockbuster entertainment. Everyone was watching as the race for the White House unfolded like something from the realm of fiction. The meteoric rise and historic triumph of Barack Obama. The shocking fall of the House of Clinton—and the improbable resurrection of Hillary as Obama's partner and America's face to the world. The mercurial performance of John McCain and the mesmerizing emergence of Sarah Palin.

Based on hundreds of interviews with the people who lived the story, Game Change is a reportorial tour de force that reads like a fast-paced novel. Character driven and dialogue rich, replete with extravagantly detailed scenes, this is the occasionally shocking, often hilarious, ultimately definitive account of the campaign of a lifetime. (Taken fron BarnesandNoble.com)

Game Change probably sounds extremely boring to some people. It's non-fiction, which ends up being a turn-off to some people and then it's about politics, which ends up being a turn-off to a lot of people. But not for me. Well, at least regarding the politics part because I love politics. Political science is a major for college that is floating around in the back of my head. So if you like politics you will love Game Change. It was the best non-fiction book I've ever read (which isn't saying much, unfortunately, because I usually go for fiction). Anyway, it was about the 2008 presidential election which was such a soap opera it might as well have been fiction. The book focuses a lot of content on the Democratic primary and mostly about the race between Obama and Hillary Clinton. But it was all extremely interesting. There are so many insider tidbits and information that I felt like I was delving into the intimacies of each campaign. What goes on behind closed doors is crazy. The book was extremely enlightening about the candidates, the campaign, and just presidential campaigns in general. I learned a lot from Game Change. Another plus to Game Change is that it's recent history and history I actually remember. Come on, we all know a book about the 1884 election would probably end up being a little boring, but the fact that we saw all these people on TV, saw their ads, their speeches, maybe even voted in the election, made it much more interesting. I recommend Game Change to anyone interested in politics or anyone who wants to learn more about presidential elections.

9 out of 10.

FTC: I borrowed this book from my dad.