Best Political Biographies/Autobiographies
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Author Topic: Best Political Biographies/Autobiographies  (Read 12530 times)
Phony Moderate
Obamaisdabest
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« on: August 03, 2010, 01:27:03 PM »

I've read about half of Bill Clinton's My Life and it's pretty good. Any others that you recommend?
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feeblepizza
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« Reply #1 on: October 15, 2010, 11:30:44 PM »

Definitely read Nixonland by Rick Perlstein. It's about America from 1965-1972, and the chaotic period that ended Nixon being elected POTUS
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Kaine for Senate '18
benconstine
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« Reply #2 on: October 16, 2010, 12:09:25 AM »

Read Caro's books on LBJ.  There is nothing better.
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Хahar 🤔
Xahar
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« Reply #3 on: October 19, 2010, 12:34:31 AM »

Read Caro's books on LBJ.  There is nothing better.

This is correct.
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The Mikado
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« Reply #4 on: October 19, 2010, 03:10:26 PM »

Seconding Xahar/Ben on Caro, and I'd also like to suggest A Conspiracy So Immense by David Oshinsky, an INCREDIBLE bio of Joseph McCarthy.
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Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
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« Reply #5 on: October 19, 2010, 05:35:39 PM »

I've been busy lately, but I've been trying to read Robert Kennedy: His Life by Evan Thomas and I've been liking it so far.
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FEMA Camp Administrator
Cathcon
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« Reply #6 on: October 26, 2010, 06:07:10 PM »

Definitely read Nixonland by Rick Perlstein. It's about America from 1965-1972, and the chaotic period that ended Nixon being elected POTUS

Good book, though I've only read about three chapters of it, including number 4, which was the Reagan one. It seemed kind of biased, though.
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FEMA Camp Administrator
Cathcon
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« Reply #7 on: October 28, 2010, 02:46:32 PM »

"Right from the Beginning" by Patrick J Buchanan, the book from before he went nuts.

It was actually pretty good. It explored what Conservatives were thinking during the sixties with things such as Vietnam and the Civil rights movement.
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Kaine for Senate '18
benconstine
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« Reply #8 on: December 19, 2010, 09:23:34 PM »

Team of Rivals is absolutely incredible.  I now feel ashamed it took me 5 years to get around to reading it.
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ViaActiva
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« Reply #9 on: September 22, 2012, 05:54:27 AM »

Team of Rivals
Friends and Rivals: Healey, Crosland and Jenkins (Giles Radice)
Harold Wilson (Ben Pimlott)
Hugh Gaitskell (Brian Brivati)
Ian Macleod (Robert Shepherd)
Supermac: The Life of Harold Macmillan (D. Thorpe)
Gladstone (Roy Jenkins)
Disraeli (Robert Blake)
John F. Kennedy (Robert Dallek)
Robert F. Kennedy (Arthur Schlesinger)
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norain
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« Reply #10 on: September 22, 2012, 02:15:17 PM »

Ele Alenius : Hidden paths - An autobiograpgy
An autobiography of a Finnish author, union man and socialist politician.
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Јas
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« Reply #11 on: September 24, 2012, 07:15:29 AM »

I don't read much in this category, but I did enjoy Chris Mullins's View from the Foothills.
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Хahar 🤔
Xahar
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« Reply #12 on: September 24, 2012, 10:29:34 AM »

I found RFK by Dick Schaap in the library a few years ago. I was struck by its being written by a sportswriter, so I decided to get it. It's picture-heavy and very odd, almost hagiographic, and written right before Kennedy died. It's like a window into a bygone world.
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DemPGH
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« Reply #13 on: December 03, 2012, 02:08:36 PM »

Actually, from what I've read, U.S. Grant's Memoirs are very well done, informative, and with wry humor. Good writer, and it's amazing that he basically wrote it while dying. Interesting and complex person was Grant.
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Cathcon
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« Reply #14 on: December 03, 2012, 02:21:00 PM »

Having read both of Perlstein's books, Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus and Nixonland: The Making of a President and the Fracturing of America, I endorse both of them as excellent books and more importantly entertaining (for someone like me) books.
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Lasitten
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« Reply #15 on: January 20, 2013, 05:12:35 PM »

Ele Alenius : Hidden paths - An autobiography
An autobiography of a Finnish author, union man and socialist politician.

I really much enjoyed reading this. Especially about the ears when Alenius was leader of the SKDL.
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traininthedistance
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« Reply #16 on: February 19, 2013, 09:53:29 PM »



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TNF
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« Reply #17 on: March 25, 2013, 10:02:20 PM »

FDR by Jean Edward Smith is probably the best biography on Roosevelt, though The Defining Moment by Jonathan Alter isn't bad. I haven't finished Conrad Black's massive tome on the subject either, so I'll reserve judgment on that one.

Truman by McCullough is an absolute classic.

Nixonland is really good, too.
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Enduro
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« Reply #18 on: November 12, 2015, 09:09:23 PM »

I like Born Again by Charles Colson
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