Warts and All

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Rather than policies, asserts Ridley, the Economist 's Washington correspondent, the successful marketing of a public person spells victory for presidential candidates, even one as roundly disparaged as former vice president Bush. In a discerning report on the 1988 campaign, covered here with caustic wit and astute portrayals of people and places, Ridley characterizes our TV-dominated electoral process as wasteful and frequently nasty--fraught with hyperbole and hypocrisy that reveal our national insecurities. Thanks to scripts prepared by well-funded professional handlers, Ridley argues, a carefully contrived image won Bush the small but requisite majority to become ``king'' of our democracy. (May)

Library Journal

To find something original to say about a subject--in this case, the much-covered 1988 presidential election--is no easy task, yet Ridley, Washington correspondent for the Economist , has succeeded in making a profound and vividly fascinating book of reporting and observation. In general approach--but in no other way--the book resembles Jack Germond and Jules Witcover's Whose Broad Stripes and Bright Stars? ( LJ 9/1/89). Much that Ridley has to say about the quadrennial contest in noise and frenzy reinforces the inescapable conclusion that polls set the candidates' agendas and that slogans, advertising hucksters, and a good picture-window will sell even the most inferior political ``product.'' Recommended.-- A.J. Anderson, Graduate Sch. of Library & Information Sci ences, Simmons Coll., Boston