The Ambition and the Power

New York: Viking, 1989. First Printing. Hardcover. 24 cm. vii, [3], 768 pages. Methodology and Acknowledgments. Inscribed by the author. John M. Barry (b. 1947) is an American author and historian who has written books on the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, the influenza pandemic of 1918, and the development of the modern form of the ideas of separation of church and state and individual liberty. He is a professor at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and Distinguished Scholar at Tulane's Bywater Institute. His first book, The Ambition and the Power: A True Story of Washington, appeared in 1989 and explored the operation of the U.S. Congress, the use of power by Speaker of the House Jim Wright, and the rise of future Speaker Newt Gingrich. In 1995 the New York Times named it one of the eleven best books ever written on Congress and Washington. With Steven Rosenberg, MD, Ph.D., chief of the Surgery Branch at the National Cancer Institute and a pioneer in the development of "immunotherapy" for cancer—stimulating the immune system to attack cancer—Barry co-authored his second book, The Transformed Cell: Unlocking the Mysteries of Cancer, which was published in 12 languages. Barry's 1997 book Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list and won the 1998 Francis Parkman Prize from the Society of American Historians for the year's best book on American history. In 2005, the New York Public Library named it one of the fifty best books of all kinds—fiction, nonfiction, and poetry—in the preceding 50 years. Derived from a Publishers Weekly article: Barry, a Washington-based author, was granted the kind of access political journalists dream about: Speaker of the House James Claude Wright allowed him to attend virtually every meeting in which he participated, with nothing off the record. The result is a uniquely intimate look at the way the Washington power-game works. It is also a detailed account of the rise and fall of Wright. Barry reveals how Wright expanded the Speaker's role and attempted to change the institutional balance between Congress and the White House. Resentment over his tactics led to a relentless anti-Wright campaign by Georgia Congressman Newt Gingrich which resulted in multiple charges of impropriety and the Speaker's resignation on June 29, 1989. Barry describes Wright's considerable accomplishments during the session of the 100th Congress, but suggests how a mixture of hubris and poor judgment was his undoing. Students of the Washington scene should not miss this highly readable study of ``vilification politics.'' This was first serialize by Esquire and was a Literary Guild alternate. Condition: Very good / Very good.

Keywords: Democratic Party, Texas, Dick Cheney, George Bush, Newt Gingrich, Ronald Reagan, James Baker, James Wright, Daniel Ortega

ISBN: 0670819247

[Book #18801]

Price: $55.00

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