Reviews for Hardball

The average rating for Hardball based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-01-31 00:00:00 Tristan Burns I'd seen Chris Matthews' show Hardball and was really looking forward to reading his book. The title alone got me interested. The inner workings of Washington. Maybe now I'll understand why things are the way they are. I read almost half of the book and came away with only two basic premises that were repeated and exampled ad nauseum. 1. Get to know everyone you can. They could help you in the future. 2. Be nice to your enemies. They could help you in the future. This would have been a good book if Matthews made a point and backed it up with a pertinent story or two. Unfortunately, it was a story or ten. I found myself reading the first paragraph or two of a topic, then skipping to the next subject. Ok, Chris, I get your point. We've beaten the horse. Let's move on. Maybe it was his writing style that couldn't hold my interest. Who knows. After a while I got tired of it all.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-01-01 00:00:00 Denise Higgins This book was given to me at Christmas as sort of a joke gift, because I like watching Chris Matthews and his irrepressible hosting of Hardball on MSNBC. I love his two-minute bellowed commentaries posing as questions, and I enjoy wondering whether Matthews will, in fact, let his guests have a turn to speak. So I was surprised to enjoy this book as much as I did--as Matthews describes it in his introduction, "This is not a civics book. It is not about pristine procedures, but about imperfect people. It is not an aerial judgment of how leaders of this or any country ought to behave, but an insider's view of the sometimes outrageous way they actually do. Its subject is not the grand sweep of history, but the round-the-clock scramble for position, power and survival in the city of Washington." In reading this book, I was somewhat surprised to see that the man who gleefully steamrollers over his guests--interrupting them, arguing with them, at times dismissing them--is in reality a very thoughtful, insightful, and careful observer. The book is full of funny and interesting anecdotes--but here's what I found pretty fascinating. Each chapter discusses, more or less, a principle by which successful politicians operate (e.g., "Keep Your Enemies in Front of You" or "Don't Get Mad; Don't Get Even; Get Ahead") And as I was reading this book, it struck me again and again how very closely the whole thing meshes with Barack Obama's political style in general and his presidential campaign in particular. For all the talk about Obama emulating Lincoln, it sounds very much as if he'd read this book (first written in 1988--since updated) and used it as his personal playbook. That, or else it's just a big ol' coincidence. If you are at all interested in U.S. politics, this is a fun and easy read.