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John McCain: An American Odyssey

Name: John McCain: An American Odyssey
Author: Robert Timberg
ISBN: 9781416559856

by Robert Timberg

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Overview

This reissue of the penetrating biography of Senator John McCain, the man who may be the next president of the United States, by celebrated author Robert Timberg now has a new foreword that updates readers on the politician's life since this book's original publication in 1999. In John McCain: An American Odyssey, Timberg provides a riveting account of McCain's remarkable life -- from his rambunctious childhood and his madcap escapades as a U.S. Naval Academy midshipman to his grim experiences as a combat pilot and POW in Vietnam, where the North Vietnamese held him prisoner for five and a half years. Most important, the author illuminates Senator McCain's postwar evolution into one of our country's most distinguished politicians and a formidable presidential candidate. This biography probes deeply into the life of this hugely colorful, straight-talking American original. It is a rich and captivating portrait of one of America's most fascinating and provocative public figures -- a man who has captured the imagination of millions of Americans and who will continue to be a most prominent figure in the American political landscape.

Synopsis

This account of Senator John McCain's life, extracted from his highly acclaimed "The Nightingale's Song, " offers a revealing look at a remarkable American.

USA Today

Timberg, a graceful and perceptive writer, fills in a more objective picture of McCain's pugnacious personality.

About the Author, Robert Timberg

Robert Timberg is the author of The Nightingale's Song and John McCain, An American Odyssey. He served with the First Marine Division in South Vietnam from March 1966 to February 1967. He has worked at The Baltimore Sun for three decades as a reporter, editor and White House correspondent. Currently deputy chief of the Sun's Washington bureau, he lives in Bethesda, Md.

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Editorials

USA Today

Timberg, a graceful and perceptive writer, fills in a more objective picture of McCain's pugnacious personality.

Kirkus Reviews

The remarkable story of a young man who believed in America and served in an unpopular war but was frustrated by no-win rules imposed by far-off Washington that prolonged the horror and caused mounting casualties. Timberg (The Nightingale's Song, 1995), a former White House correspondent and newspaper reporter, chronicles McCain's journey from Annapolis to Hanoi to Phoenix to Washington, D.C. The feisty McCain, whose father and grandfather were four-star admirals, was a self-admitted "hell raiser" in prep school and the US Naval Academy, which he graduated from near the bottom of his class. He qualified as a naval aviator and flew combat in Vietnam, where he was shot down and imprisoned for over five years by North Vietnamese communists. As a POW, McCain defied his captors and suffered broken limbs, near-starvation, and torture as he refused to condemn the US for propaganda purposes, until he reached his breaking point, which he has regretted ever since. His first marriage ended in divorce after he and his wife had been separated for eight years. McCain's second marriage has worked, and brought him to Phoenix, his wife's hometown. His natural magnetism, energy, and love of interacting with people led him to politics and friendship with Ronald Reagan. McCain proved a maverick congressman and senator, at times bucking his own Republican Party. His military expertise has drawn him into many debates, and he continues to take independent, confident stands. McCain's greatest political ordeal, which threatened to end his career, was the Keating savings-and-loan scandal; five senators ("the Keating Five") were involved in allegedly receiving funds to influence legislation. McCain waseventually cleared and found only to have used "bad judgment"—a lesson he took to heart. An honest, warts-and-all evaluation of a presidential candidate, a war hero with character, a politician who has matured after a hectic life. Who knows where his odyssey will take him next?