Boston Globe reviews Chris Mathews' "Life's a Campaign"



Matthews's self-satisfaction is a force of nature. The anecdotes serve mainly to advertise his presence in the halls of power. Why he decided to cast a Washington memoir as a "How to Succeed" manual is puzzling. The vast majority of Americans don't equate success in government with "real" success, and those few who do care about politics will cringe at his principle-free criteria. Television Journalist Chris Matthews served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Swaziland in the 1960's.

Boston Globe reviews Chris Mathews' "Life's a Campaign"

Short Takes

By Amanda Heller | November 4, 2007

[Excerpt]

Life's a Campaign
By Chris Matthews
Random House, 224 pp., $24.95

Not one to hide his light, political pundit Chris Matthews - ringmaster, as he reminds us repeatedly, of "Hardball With Chris Matthews" and "The Chris Matthews Show" - has been clawing his way up the Washington ladder ever since the early 1970s, when he first hustled himself into a legislative-assistant job in Congress. He wrote speeches for Jimmy Carter and worked for the immortal Tip O'Neill before joining the chattering class.

In short, he has been studying political power, how it is gained and how it is wielded, for nearly 40 years. This book, subtitled "What Politics Has Taught Me About Friendship, Rivalry, Reputation, and Success," offers anecdotes about the Machiavellian maneuverings of congressmen and presidents as hooks on which to hang generalized advice to the ambitious, like "Relish the contest," "Express yourself," and "Listen," this last a surprise to anyone familiar with Matthews's motormouth TV shtick.

Matthews's self-satisfaction is a force of nature. The anecdotes serve mainly to advertise his presence in the halls of power. Why he decided to cast a Washington memoir as a "How to Succeed" manual is puzzling. The vast majority of Americans don't equate success in government with "real" success, and those few who do care about politics will cringe at his principle-free criteria.

Links to Related Topics (Tags):

Headlines: November, 2007; RPCV Chris Matthews (Swaziland); Figures; Peace Corps Swaziland; Directory of Swaziland RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Swaziland RPCVs; Journalism; Television

When this story was posted in November 2007, this was on the front page of PCOL:




Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers

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