November 15 - Booklist: RPCV Chris Matthews writes about Peace Corps Days

Peace Corps Online: Peace Corps News: Peace Corps Library: Reference: RPCVs in the News: November 15 - Booklist: RPCV Chris Matthews writes about Peace Corps Days

By Admin1 (admin) on Monday, November 19, 2001 - 3:30 pm: Edit Post

Read this short review of the most recent book by News Commentator Chris Matthews in which he discusses among other subjects, his days in the Peace Corps at:

Now, Let Me Tell You What I Really Think

Nov 1, 2001 - Booklist, The Author(s): Cooper, Ilene

Matthews, Chris. Now, Let Me Tell You What I Really Think. Nov. 2001. 256p. index. Free Press, $25 (0-684-86236-0).070.1

Matthews, the breathless host of the MSNBC show Hardball, assumes that a rapt nation is eager to learn what he really thinks. Among his thoughts: "Freedom is this country's greatest gift to the world," and "Bush won the election because he was more likable" (this, even though Gore won the popular vote by 500,000 votes). Also, "the password to getting what you want is very often the simple, courageous act of asking for it." Despite the bromides, Matthews likes to think of himself as a guy who stirs things up. Heck, he just likes to think of himself, as shown, first, by his willingness to share his writings as a 14-year-old and then by the way he drags the reader down memory lane for a tour of the Matthews Peace Corps years.

Most interesting are his reflections on the time he spent working for Democratic Majority Leader Tip O'Neill. As with many political books published this fall, this one seems dated in light of the events of September II (a few pages concerning the World Trade Center attack have been added to the manuscript, but most of the text remains unchanged). Perhaps the best thing to be said about this volume is that it catches the frenetic tone Matthews brings to Hardball, and it's that quality that so appeals to his fans. -Ilene Cooper

By Admin1 (admin) on Friday, November 23, 2001 - 11:03 am: Edit Post

Here's another excerpt from Chris Matthews new book from the Buffalo News at:

Let Me Tell You What I Really Think

Chris Matthews came to journalism via politics. He comes from a family of die-hard "cloth-coat Republicans" and admits that Nixon's loss to Kennedy marked the first time he remembers crying. In the midst of Vietnam, he went to Swaziland with the Peace Corps and returned a changed man - a Democrat, starting his career in Washington as an officer with the U.S. Capitol police. He worked as a speechwriter for Jimmy Carter and as a senior staffer to Tip O'Neill and shares that, at the height of the Monica Lewinsky saga, he was often lambasted by his former colleagues in the House as a turncoat.


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