What It Takes: The Way to the White House

Last updated
What It Takes: The Way to the White House
What It Takes The Way to the White House.jpg
First edition
Author Richard Ben Cramer
Language English
Subject 1988 United States presidential election
Genre Non-fiction
Publisher Random House
Publication date
June 23, 1992
Publication place United States
Media typePrint (hardcover and paperback)
Pages1,047
ISBN 978-0394562605

What It Takes: The Way to the White House is a nonfiction book about the 1988 United States presidential election written by Richard Ben Cramer and published in 1992. [1] [2] [3] It follows the campaigns of Republicans George Herbert Walker Bush and Bob Dole and Democrats Joe Biden, Michael Dukakis, Dick Gephardt, and Gary Hart. [4]

Contents

The bulk of the book covers the early lives and political careers of the candidates, their campaigns leading up to the New Hampshire primary and the primary itself. [5] [6] Cramer spent six years researching and writing What It Takes. [7]

Reception

What it Takes was critically acclaimed and has been frequently cited by political aides and journalists as one of the most influential books ever written about politics. [8] [9] The Cleveland Plain Dealer called it "quite possibly the finest book on presidential politics ever written, combining meticulous reporting and compelling, at times soaringly lyrical, prose", [10] while the San Francisco Chronicle called it "the ultimate insider's book on presidential politics...an unparalleled source book on the 1988 candidates." [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tracy Kidder</span> American writer and Pulitzer Prize winner

John Tracy Kidder is an American writer of nonfiction books. He received the Pulitzer Prize for his The Soul of a New Machine (1981), about the creation of a new computer at Data General Corporation. He has received praise and awards for other works, including his biography of Paul Farmer, a physician and anthropologist, titled Mountains Beyond Mountains (2003).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Frum</span> Canadian-American political commentator (born 1960)

David Jeffrey Frum is a Canadian-American political commentator and a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush. He is currently a senior editor at The Atlantic as well as an MSNBC contributor. In 2003, Frum authored the first book about Bush's presidency written by a former member of the administration. He has taken credit for the famous phrase "axis of evil" in Bush's 2002 State of the Union address.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Trippi</span> American political strategist (born 1956)

Joseph Paul Trippi is an American political strategist. A member of the Democratic Party, Trippi most notably served as campaign manager of Howard Dean's 2004 presidential bid, and has served as a political commentator for CNN since 2018. He has worked on a number of prominent gubernatorial and United States Senate campaigns, including the successful bids of Jerry Brown for Governor of California and Doug Jones for U.S. Senate in Alabama.

Donna Rice Hughes is American activist, author, speaker and film producer who is president and chairperson of Enough Is Enough. In her work with Enough is Enough, Hughes has appeared on a variety of outlets as an Internet safety advocate. She first became known as a key figure in a widely publicized 1987 political scandal that contributed to the end of the second campaign of former Senator Gary Hart for the Democratic Party nomination for president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Carson</span> American neurosurgeon and politician (born 1951)

Benjamin Solomon Carson Sr. is an American retired neurosurgeon, academic, author, and politician who served as the 17th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2017 to 2021. A pioneer in the field of neurosurgery, he was a candidate for President of the United States in the 2016 Republican primaries. Carson is one of the most prominent Black conservatives in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allan Lichtman</span> American political historian

Allan Jay Lichtman is an American historian. He has taught at American University in Washington, D.C., since 1973.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Drew</span> American political journalist and author

Elizabeth Drew is an American political journalist and author.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Villard (imprint)</span>

Villard, also known as Villard Books, is a publishing imprint of Random House, one of the largest publishing companies in the world, owned in full by Bertelsmann since its acquisition of a final 25% stake in 2019, and grouped in Penguin Random House since 2013. Villard was founded in 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Ben Cramer</span> American journalist, author, and screenwriter

Richard Ben Cramer was an American journalist, author, and screenwriter. He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 1979 for his coverage of the Middle East.

<i>The Case Against Barack Obama</i> 2008 book by David Freddoso

The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media's Favorite Candidate, by author David Freddoso, is an American non-fiction book published in late 2008, providing a critical examination of the life and opinions of the then United States presidential candidate and Senator Barack Obama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Karl</span> American journalist (born 1968)

Jonathan David Karl is an American political journalist and author. Throughout his career, Karl has covered the White House, Capitol Hill, the Pentagon, and the U.S. State Department, and has reported from more than 30 countries, covering U.S. politics, foreign policy, and the military.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eugene Puryear</span> American journalist, writer, activist, and politician

Eugene Puryear is a far-left American journalist, writer, activist, politician, and host on BreakThrough News. In 2014, he was a candidate for the at-large seat in the DC Council with the D.C. Statehood Green Party. In the 2008 and 2016 United States presidential elections, Puryear was the vice presidential nominee of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), despite being ineligible to become vice president due to his age.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penguin Random House</span> American multinational conglomerate publishing company

Penguin Random House LLC is an Anglo-American multinational conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, with the merger of Penguin Books and Random House. Penguin Books was originally founded in 1935 and Random House was founded in 1927. It has more than 300 publishing imprints. Along with Simon & Schuster, Hachette, HarperCollins and Macmillan Publishers, Penguin Random House is considered one of the 'Big Five' English language publishers.

<i>Hard Choices</i> 2014 book by Hillary Clinton

Hard Choices is a memoir of former United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, published by Simon & Schuster in 2014, giving her account of her tenure in that position from 2009 to 2013. It also discusses some personal aspects of her life and career, including her feelings towards President Barack Obama following her 2008 presidential campaign loss to him. It is generally supportive of decisions made by the Obama administration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maggie Haberman</span> American journalist (born 1973)

Maggie Lindsy Haberman is an American journalist, a White House correspondent for The New York Times, and a political analyst for CNN. She previously worked as a political reporter for the New York Post, the New York Daily News, and Politico. She wrote about Donald Trump for those publications and rose to prominence covering his campaign, presidency, and post-presidency for the Times. In 2022, she published the best-selling book Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America.

<i>Insane Clown President</i> 2017 book by Matt Taibbi

Insane Clown President: Dispatches from the 2016 Circus is a non-fiction book by Matt Taibbi about Donald Trump and the 2016 United States presidential election. The book contains illustrations by Rolling Stone artist Victor Juhasz. Taibbi's choice of title for the book was motivated by Trump's marketing style and is wordplay based on the name of American horrorcore band Insane Clown Posse. His work was inspired by Hunter S. Thompson, who had previously published Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72.

<i>Time to Get Tough</i> 2011 book by Donald Trump

Time to Get Tough: Making America #1 Again is a non-fiction book by Donald Trump. It was published in hardcover format by Regnery Publishing in 2011, and reissued under the title Time to Get Tough: Make America Great Again! in 2015 to match Trump's 2016 election campaign slogan. Trump had previously published The America We Deserve (2000) as preparation for his attempt to run in the 2000 U.S. presidential campaign with a populist platform. Time to Get Tough in contrast served as his prelude to the 2012 U.S. presidential campaign, with a conservative platform.

This bibliography of Bill Clinton is a selected list of generally available published works about Bill Clinton, the 42nd president of the United States. Further reading is available on Bill Clinton, his presidency and his foreign policy, as well as in the footnotes in those articles.

<i>A Promised Land</i> 2020 memoir by Barack Obama

A Promised Land is a memoir by Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. Published on November 17, 2020, it is the first of a planned two-volume series. Remaining focused on his political career, the presidential memoir documents Obama's life from his early years through to the events surrounding the killing of Osama bin Laden in May 2011. The book is 768 pages long and available in digital, paperback, and hardcover formats and has been translated into two dozen languages. There is also a 29-hour audiobook edition that is read by Obama himself.

This bibliography of Joe Biden is a chronological list of written and published works, by and about Joe Biden. In addition to works authored by Biden, the titles listed here are limited to notable non-fiction books about Biden or his presidency, published by well-known authors, journalists, and scholars. Tertiary sources, satire, and self-published books are excluded.

References

  1. Ben Smith (30 December 2010) The book that defined modern campaign reporting Politico. Retrieved 20 December 2013
  2. Cramer, Richard Ben (August 2, 2011). What It Takes: The Way to the White House. Open Road Media. ISBN   9781453219645 via Google Books.
  3. "Election by Ordeal : WHAT IT TAKES: The Way to the White House By Richard Ben Cramer, (Random House: $28; 1,047 pp.)". Los Angeles Times. July 12, 1992.
  4. "Nonfiction Book Review: What It Takes: The Way to the White House by Richard Ben Cramer, Author Vintage Books USA $25 (1072p) ISBN 978-0-679-74649-2". PublishersWeekly.com.
  5. Ball, Molly (January 8, 2013). "What I Learned From Richard Ben Cramer". The Atlantic.
  6. Troy, Gil (1995). "Stumping in the Bookstores: A Literary History of the 1992 Presidential Campaign". Presidential Studies Quarterly. 25 (4): 697–710. JSTOR   27551506.
  7. "Book Review: 'What It Takes: The Way to the White House'". EW.com.
  8. Warren, Ellen (15 February 2013). "'What It Takes': A true political classic". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2020-09-16.
  9. Ball, Molly (2013-01-08). "What I Learned From Richard Ben Cramer". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2020-09-16.
  10. 1 2 "What It Takes by Richard Ben Cramer: 9780679746492 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books". PenguinRandomhouse.com.