Call the Briefing!

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Presidential press spokesman from 1983 to 1993, Fitzwater offers few revelations (other than accounts of cabinet members' spats) but engaging recollections of the ``psychological wars'' he helped fight in the briefing room with the White House press corps. He also relates his Kansas childhood and his teenage attraction to journalism, as well as his move to the Washington bureaucracy. Fitzwater hardly appears ideological, offering few of his own political views, but his infrequent revisionism-suggesting that Bush should have been more expressive in his response to the fall of the Berlin Wall-makes for interesting reading. He offers tart views, though, of adversaries like the producers of 60 Minutes or Andrew Rosenthal, whose New York Times story about Bush's struggle with a supermarket scanner misled the public, according to the author, yet was picked up by most media. Increased competition, from unprincipled organs of information, Fitzwater fears, now makes it tough for ethical journalists to adhere to their own standards. Photos not seen by PW. Author tour. (Nov.)

Library Journal

With candor, wit, and fascinating detail, Fitzwater, press secretary to both Presidents Reagan and Bush, has written an excellent account of what goes on behind the scenes in the news media's coverage of the White House. He offers a rare insider's view of the "lions of the press," pulling few punches but also recognizing those reporters of talent and integrity. A surprise is Fitzwater's balanced assessments of many White House denizens; a lot is new here. And his chapter on the 1992 presidential campaign is worth the price of the book. His description of the confused, demoralized, "organizational fiasco" that was the Bush campaign is positively chilling. Recommended for all libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 7/95.]-Chet Hagan, Berks Cty. P.L. System, Pa.

Gilbert Taylor

As a former lion tamer to the presidential press pride, Fitzwater focuses on its collective habits in pursuit of its prey and the rituals he used to keep the pack at bay. Fitzwater picks two rituals from the Iran-Contra period, the daily briefing and the presidential press conference, to give a detailed day-in-the-life illustration of his press secretary job. From that base, he outlines some notable issues and announcements he delivered from the press room podium, with the exception of the Gulf War, which he omits out of deverence to the forthcoming memoirs by Colin Powell, James Baker, and George Bush. So what remain are events, from summits with Gorbachev to the 1992 election campaign, that typified the battle to control the "spin" in the inevitable press-power antagonism. Fitzwater critiques the press pack mentality while delivering dozens of the insider revelations that the public expects from insider books (example: a Kemp-Baker cussing match in the Oval Office). Despite their unfocused organization, these memoirs are already atracting attention; expect demand