All's Fair

Never before has a more revealing X ray been taken of the modern American presidential campaign than this compelling memoir of the nation's foremost political operatives, Democrat James Carville and Republican Mary Matalin.

Not since Theodore White's legendary Making of the President series has a book on presidential campaigns so intimately recounted the power plays and clandestine maneuvers that are at the heart of American political dueling. James Cherville and Mary Matalin, themselves the key players at the center of the political battles and election headlines that gripped America, tell in candid, stunning detail of the day-by-day pressures, near disasters, and triumphs of campaign life; they take the reader deeper than ever before into the art of getting a president elected.

For anyone interested in politics and the way our nation chooses its leaders, All's Fair is a vital resource, and the most telling guide available to the inner workings of today's partisan conflict.

Now, in the most provocative look at the inside of a national election battle ever published, Matalin and Carville, the chief strategists for the Bush and Clinton presidential campaigns, tell their sides of the story, laying bare how politicians and their cohorts really operate--and revealing how their romance flourished in the most unlikely circumstances imaginable. 16 pages of photos.

Never before has a more revealing X ray been taken of the modern American presidential campaign than this compelling memoir of the nation's foremost political operatives, Democrat James Carville and Republican Mary Matalin.

Not since Theodore White's legendary Making of the President series has a book on presidential campaigns so intimately recounted the power plays and clandestine maneuvers that are at the heart of American political dueling. James Cherville and Mary Matalin, themselves the key players at the center of the political battles and election headlines that gripped America, tell in candid, stunning detail of the day-by-day pressures, near disasters, and triumphs of campaign life; they take the reader deeper than ever before into the art of getting a president elected.

For anyone interested in politics and the way our nation chooses its leaders, All's Fair is a vital resource, and the most telling guide available to the inner workings of today's partisan conflict.

Library Journal

The economy, stupid. Bimbo eruptions. Chicken George. These and other highlights of the 1993 presidential campaign are recounted here by those who crafted these buzzwords, or at least gave them the most "spin." Bush campaign director Matalin and Clinton strategist Carville intrigued the world with their cross-party-and some say heretical-dating during the campaign, but upon reading this book, you understand the sparks. Both are colorful and ambitious, and both love the rather arcane world of top-level political campaigning. However, there's little of their romance here (they married after the election). Their memoir is more a juicy compendium of political insider info. We learn how both campaigns felt about Ross Perot; whether Clinton is really as testy as Bob Woodward says (Carville briefly describes Clinton's habit of SMO, or Standard Morning Outburst); and what Barbara Bush is really like (she's the only one who could stop the Bush campaign team from its ingrained swearing). Still, it's hard not to suspect most of the testimony here-after all, these people are paid to "stay on the message," even if it's untrue. An ominous testament to the rise of "handler" style over substance, this book is for all political collections. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 4/15/94.]-Judy Quinn, formerly with "Library Journal"

James Carville, cofounder of the political consulting firm of Carville & Begala, is an adviser to President Clinton.

James Carville is the best-known and most-loved political consultant in American history. He is also a speaker, talk-show host, actor, and author with six New York Times bestsellers to his credit. Part of a large Southern family, he grew up without a television and loved to listen to the stories his mama told. Mr. Carville lives with his wife, Mary Matalin, and their two daughters in New Orleans.