THE WASHINGTON BOOK: HOW TO READ POLITICS AND POLITICIANS (HC)

The Pulitzer Prize–winning opinion columnist at The New York Times and “an absolutely original genius” (Bob Woodward, The Washington Post) Carlos Lozada explores how people in power reveal themselves through their books and writings and, in doing so, illuminate the personal, political, and cultural conflictions driving Washington and the nation.

A longtime book critic and columnist in Washington, Carlos Lozada dissects all manner of texts: commission reports, political reporting, Supreme Court decisions, and congressional inquiries to understand the controversies animating life in the capital. He also reads copious books by politicians and top officials: tell-all accounts by administration insiders, campaign biographies by candidates longing for high office, revisionist memoirs by those leaving those offices behind. With this “unsparing and gentle, erudite and entertaining” (Steve Coll, Pulitzer Prize­–winning author of Ghost Wars) essay collection, Lozada argues that no matter how carefully political figures sanitize their experiences, positions, and records, they almost always let the truth slip through. They show us their faults and blind spots, their ambitions and compromises, and their underlying motives and insecurities. Whether they mean to or not, they tell us who they really are.