From Barnes & Noble
Larry King has seen it all, and then some. The venerable journalist is a common man seated on an uncommon perch, speaking to every newsmaker of note, asking the questions we wish we could ask. In Anything Goes! King looks back at the tumultuous 1990s, a decade in which he conversed with a parade of newsmakers and personalities from Monica Lewinsky to Bill Clinton, O. J. Simpson, Al Gore, George W. Bush, and Marlon Brando. King's is a unique vantage point, and in this book, he offers a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse of the people, places, and events behind the news.
People
...an entertaining, nostalgic memoir...
Publishers Weekly
As this collection of anecdotal, behind-the-scenes moments demonstrates, talk-show maven King enjoys incredible access to newsmakers. Indeed, private conversations with President Clinton and other high-level people help drive this breezy, entertaining book. King takes readers to a series of scenes--the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta in 1988, his TV studio in January 1992 after Clinton's famous appearance on 60 Minutes, and Miami in 1958, where King accidentally hit a car driven by a man named John F. Kennedy, who asked for King's vote in two years when he would run for president. With his customary down-to-earth simplicity, King offers his thoughts on such matters as Clinton's political tenure ("He stayed on course despite `bimbo eruptions'") and racism ("The [O.J.] verdict proved racism is quiet") and small glimpses of the famous, like JFK Jr. and Marlon Brando. The momentary snapshots of personalities and thoughts, along with juicy snippets from his show (for instance, how Ross Perot came to say he might be a candidate for president in 1992, followed by the debate King hosted in which Gore decimated Perot), don't add up to much, but it's a quick and easy summary of some of the major events of the last decade. King has a huge fan base. This book will be a mighty bestseller. (Nov. 3) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
The popular CNN talk-show host offers an informal memoir of the Clinton years. King (Future Talk: Conversations about Tomorrow with Today's Most Provocative Personalities, 1998) submits that the past eight years have been for him a continuous surprise party. He employs a self-deprecating tone, referring to himself as just"a Jew from Brooklyn" whose political instincts and predictions have proven as unreliable as anyone else's during these bizarre times when anything goes."Being wrong about Bill Clinton," he acknowledges,"was becoming a second career for me." Beginning with then—Gov. Clinton's interminable nomination speech for Dukakis at the 1988 Democratic convention, King moves with a growing bemusement and occasional indignation through the events and personalities that have defined the decade. From Ross Perot to NAFTA to Whitewater (King says he still has some actual dirt from the failed development, an on-air gift from James McDougal) to O.J., Paula Jones, Brando, Rush, Monica, Starr, Newt, impeachment, McCain, Columbine, and Elian—on all of these (and other matters) King weighs in, frequently with quotations from the principals who appeared on his show. Often he reveals odd and engaging details, such as the moment during the O.J. trial when Judge Ito chastised Robert Shapiro for his ringing cell phone: the call was from King, who, unaware that he was the cause of the judicial tongue-lashing, was watching the moment unfold on live TV. King declares that his show"has never been about what I think and feel; it's about how the major players in an issue think and feel. That's why it works." There are a few Duh Moments ("A father will never knowwhata mother has toendure during childbirth"), and King's history is shaky (he twice suggests that Thomas Jefferson, who was in France at the time, worked on the Constitution), but he nicely captures"a time when crazy ideas have a way of becoming real." A light and likable commentary on politics and the media.
