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| 2008 Election: | McCain's book | Obama's book | Biden's book | Palin's booklet | Keyes' book | Nader's book | Barr's book | 2008 Debates |
Giuliani: Flawed or Flawless? The Oral Biography by Deborah & Gerald Strober  (Click for Amazon book review) BOOK REVIEW by OnTheIssues.org: This is a very odd political biography, or as the authors acll it, an "Oral Biography". It feels like the authors had a cute idea for an easy book, then wrote it according to the cute formula, without much regard for the reader. The cute formula is that the authors asked a dozen knowledgeable people about key issues of Giuliani's mayoral term, and simply wrote down their answers. One can imagine the authors pitching this book to a publisher: "This book just writes itself!" The people asked (or "interviewees", as the book calls them) are well-balanced to explore whether Giuliani is nideed flawed or flawless -- from Al Sharpton, to NYC Police representatives, to Giuliani's mayoral rivals. And the questions asked are well-chosen too: frmo the Louima and Diallo police killings, to Giuliani's 9/11 actions and aftermath. In other words, following the cute formula, this book is as successful as it could be. The same formula could be followed to produce lots of other books about other people, very easily, without actually having to write an actual book. But we say "without much regard for the reader" because, well, authors SHOULD have to write their books, rather than let them "write themselves." The authors provide a paragraph or two, in most cases, to explain the issue in question, and then leave it to the interviewees to explain the rest. That's fine for people who are intimately familiar with the issues, such as the interviewees -- but it's inadequate for most readers. For example, how many of us know the details of the Louima and Diallo police killings? Readers need more -- the basic facts, as well as the implications of the event, and maybe some hindsight about how it played in later campaigns. And readers certainly need more insight into how these issues affect Giuliani's presidential run. The book was published in 2007, when Giuliani's presidential ambitions were well-established. There should be no reason for coyness about the implications of each issue on a Giuliani presidency -- but that's not explored until the final chapter of the book, 7 pages out of 315, entitled "Gazing into the Crystal Ball: The Presidency in Rudy's Future". The interviewees answer again, as per the formula, but readers really need a summary of the issues, to encapsualte the relevance of the book. In summary, this book is good raw material -- but not good reading, and not good insight into Giuliani's character. Giuliani's autobiography, Leadership, provides superior insight. -- Jesse Gordon, jesse@OnTheIssues.org, March 2008
The Oral Biography by Deborah & Gerald Strober.
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