Claude R. Marx is an award-winning journalist who writes extensively about politics, policy, and history. He is currently writing a biography of William Howard Taft. Marx earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Washington University and did graduate work at Georgetown University. His book reviews have appeared in publications such as The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and the Claremont Review of Books.
Former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell is famously terse and inscrutable and likes it that way. But the senior senator from Kentucky is a more complicated figure, and his successes as a legislator and leader are just part of what makes him an intriguing subject. Michael Tackett captures McConnell in all his complexity.
Lauren Lassabe Shepherd reminds us that we are still living with the impact of the conservative campus activism of the 1960s and 1970s. And she argues that the current leaders of the right are the natural heirs to their ideological forefathers, not an aberration as some maintain.
The Reagan Renaissance will no doubt be helped by Max Boot’s thorough, engaging, and balanced new biography, Reagan: His Life and Legend. Although the book is 736 pages, it rarely drags and while the author admires his subject, he is not blind to Reagan’s faults.
Edward O’Keefe posits that despite Theodore Roosevelt’s image as a ruggedly individualistic, über-masculine figure, his career was heavily shaped by five women: his mother, two wives, and two sisters. The result is an interesting, though ultimately unsatisfying, book, The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt: The Women Who Created A President.
David Chrisinger analyzes Pyle’s writing and looks at it through a modern lens by visiting some of the key battle sites in his engaging and fast-paced book ‘The Soldier’s Truth: Ernie Pyle and the Story of World War II.’ This is not a full-scale biography, but rather a deep dive into the most important part of Pyle’s life.
My Name is Barbra gives readers a peek into the multi-faceted world of this famous, yet quite private woman, along with glimpses of those in her orbit. If you can get past the length, lack of an index, and extensive back-patting, you will enjoy yourself and learn a great deal.
Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s remarkable and often tragic life is one that could have been scripted by Shakespeare. John A. Farrell has a great deal to work with and handles it well. He is respectful but not fawning. And those who love political history and complex characters will learn a lot from and enjoy Ted Kennedy: A Life.
Trump supporters may consider William P. Barr something of a modern-day Judas Iscariot, while Trump critics will deem him to be a shameless apologist. But those who take the time to read One Damn Thing After Another: Memoirs of an Attorney General will learn a great deal and have the chance to draw their own conclusions.
While Susan Page conducted several interviews with her subject and clearly admires her, Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi and the Lessons of Political Power is no work of is hagiography.
Washington Post columnist Karen Tumulty does a great service in her new book by taking us behind the public façade. The Triumph of Nancy Reagan is a detailed, insightful, and gossipy look at the wife of Ronald Reagan, one of our most consequential, yet controversial presidents.
Susan Berfield’s book reads like a novel and she proves the adage that truth can be just as engaging as fiction. This is no small feat given that there are extensive discussions of century-old legislation and litigation, which only a true antitrust nerd can love.