Lawrence O'Donnell is the host of The Last Word on MSNBC. Formerly an Emmy Award-winning executive producer and writer for "The West Wing," O'Donnell also served as senior advisor to Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY), chief of staff to the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works and the Senate Finance Committee. He is the author of Deadly Force and his writing has appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and elsewhere. Born in Boston, O'Donnell graduated from Harvard College.
"In this delightful combination of vivid storytelling and sharp
political insight, Lawrence O'Donnell brings to life the most
fascinating election of modern times. His book is filled with
memorable anecdotes and colorful characters, from Roger Ailes and
Richard Nixon to Bobby Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. But beneath the
rollicking tale is a truly profound historical truth: how the
Sixties still reverberates in our nation's soul." —Walter
Isaacson
"But O'Donnell, a former aide to Democratic Sen. Daniel Patrick
Moynihan, understands politics and its impact. He writes with an
assurance and steady sense of pace that makes much of this seem
new." —Ray Locker, USA Today
“I love the way Lawrence thinks, I love the way he writes. Playing
with Fire is him at his best -- this is a thriller-like, propulsive
tour through 1968, told by a man who is in love with American
politics and who knows how all the dots connect. Brilliant
and totally engrossing.” ―Rachel Maddow
“From the anguish of the Vietnam War to the dazzling minds and
feverish ambitions of the 1968 presidential election, Playing with
Fire not only tells the story of one extraordinary year in American
politics, it brings back to vivid, riveting life the men and women
who changed the course of history.” ―Candice Millard, Author
of Hero of the Empire
“A breathtaking, "buckle your seatbelt" ride through what might be
the most dramatic and brutally consequential presidential election
in modern U.S. history. Lawrence O'Donnell leaves no detail and no
key historical player unexamined as he maps out the often
treacherous route to America becoming its modern political
self. Playing with Fire is a brilliant and necessary read for
everyone who cares about politics, and loves history.” ―Joy-Ann
Reid
“If ever there was a bygone presidential campaign crying out for
the Game Change treatment, it’s the one that convulsed
America in 1968—and Lawrence O’Donnell delivers the goods
in Playing With Fire. Wars at home and abroad, secret plots
and assassinations, riots in the streets and punches thrown on the
convention floor, poets and protestors, movie stars and Kennedys,
hippies, Yippies, and Black Panthers: 1968 had it all and then
some. And now it has a chronicler in O’Donnell who brings coherence
to the chaos, rendering the story with the crackle and flow of a
dynamite Hollywood screenplay.” ―John Heilemann
“An excellent account of the 1968 presidential race, a political
season of spoilers, outsiders, and broken machines eerily like our
own time . . . [A] sharp, nuanced account . . . A careful,
circumstantial study that compares favorably to Theodore H. White's
presidents series and that politics junkies will find
irresistible.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred)
"Asmoothly written history of the 1968 campaign..., he tells the
story exceedingly well. Appropriately, there is nothing dull about
this book, just as there was nothing dull about this specific
election or period in American history...O’Donnell writes
accessibly for all readers, creating a beneficial work for anyone
interested in modern political history." — Library Journal
"O’Donnell capably sets the historical context...O’Donnell’s breezy
style, an outgrowth of his broadcasting persona, makes the chaos
decipherable...Satisfying popular
history." — Booklist
"[An]...in-depth examination...a unique thesis on what drove the
year’s events...a unique thesis on what drove the year’s
events." — Publishers Weekly
|
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
