"A thoroughly entertaining book about modern-day American politics and how it's played. . . . Hardball is a must-read textbook that should be read with a marker."
Hardball
How Politics Is Played Told By One Who Knows The Game
Description
How politics is played by one who knows the game...
Chris Matthews has spent a quarter century on the playing field of American politics—from right-hand man of Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill to host of NBC's highest rated cable talk show Hardball. In this revised and updated edition of his political classic, he offers fascinating new stories of raw ambition, brutal rivalry, and exquisite seduction and reveals the inside rules that govern the game of power.
Pages240
Released1999
LanguageEnglish
PublisherFree Press
ISBN9781416562610
SellerSimon & Schuster
About the author(s)
Chris Matthews is the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit, Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero, Kennedy & Nixon: The Rivalry that Shaped Postwar America, and Hardball: How Politics Is Played, Told by One Who Knows the Game. Matthews was a presidential speechwriter and top aide to Speaker of the House Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill Jr. For a generation he hosted Hardball with Chris Matthews on MSNBC, which is now exclusively on Substack.
Reviews
"Every so often a writer reads a book so incisive and so good that when he finally puts it down he says, 'Damn, I wish I had written this.' I just finished Christopher Matthews' Hardball. And damn, I wish I had written this."
Stephen Stark
"Matthews is half Huck Finn and half Machiavelli in this exuberant guide to the great game of politics."
George F. Will
"Savvy and amusing. . . . Fresh and original."
Christopher Lehmann-Haupt
"Christopher Matthews writes about politics with relish—the way sports writers cover boxing."
Ben Bradlee
"People will be quoting Hardball as long as the game of politics is played."
Hendrik Hertzberg
"The best in the business!"
Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, Jr.
"Brilliant! God may take care of fools, drunks and the United States, but Chris Matthews has the goods on how Washington politicians take care of the rest of us."
Sam Donaldson
"Chris Matthews hits a political homer with Hardball. For political sagacity and humor, this ranks with the work of George Washington Plunkitt."
William Safire
"In Washington, everyone says they 'practice' politics, and 'develop' policy. But to succeed they know they must 'play hardball.' This book smartly captures that central truth!"
Tim Russert
