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How Not to Be a Politician : A Memoir by Rory Stewart (2023, Hardcover)
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About this product
Product Identifiers
PublisherPenguin Publishing Group
ISBN-100593300327
ISBN-139780593300329
eBay Product ID (ePID)16059006172
Product Key Features
Book TitleHow Not to Be a Politician : a Memoir
Number of Pages464 Pages
LanguageEnglish
Publication Year2023
TopicCommentary & Opinion, Political, Civics & Citizenship
GenrePolitical Science, Biography & Autobiography
AuthorRory Stewart
FormatHardcover
Dimensions
Item Height1.5 in
Item Weight24.4 Oz
Item Length9.6 in
Item Width6.4 in
Additional Product Features
Intended AudienceTrade
LCCN2023-943203
Reviews" How Not to be a Politician is one of the most enjoyable and revelatory political memoirs to appear in ages--beautifully written, self-mocking but insistently principled. Stewart manages to make a life in professional politics seem laughable, entirely indefensible, and yet ennobling. This is a book that will be read for decades, as a document of its time and as timeless literature." --Steve Coll " How Not to be a Politician offers a ringside view of recent geopolitics, through the eyes of an insider who simultaneously manages to maintain a wry distance. The result is a mix of high-minded (even utopian) idealism combined with gritty (and sometimes deflating) realism. This book is far more than a political memoir; it''s an ethnography of the corridors of power, an honest, hilarious, and sometimes lacerating exposition that explains why the world is the way it is." --Akash Kapur, Better to Have Gone: Love, Death, and the Quest for Utopia "Rory Stewart''s book is essential reading for our times. In this age of populism, nostalgic nationalism, and the routine distortion of truth, Stewart reminds us that politics (and politicians) can still inspire and change our world. Stewart manages to whisk us into the antechambers of power and provide a ''behind the scenes'' look at politics, in the manner that the best science and medicine books reveal insiders'' views of those realms. And he leaves us with optimism, hope, faith, and a genuine desire to engage with political systems. Like his previous books, this one is also the chronicle of a journey--and it''s ''unputdownable''." --Siddharta Mukerjee "Brilliantly written, completely gripping, and darkly funny--this is one of the most devastating insider accounts of Westminster I have ever read. An instant classic of political memoir, and an absolute must for anyone who wants to understand how British politics works--and why it really, really doesn''t. Rory Stewart is deeply unsparing, including of himself. I have to warn you that this book contains mind-boggling scenes featuring some of the leading politicians we''ve been cursed with over the past few years, several of which were so excruciating I had to read them through my fingers." --Marina Hyde ''If you want to know what it''s like--really like--to be a politician, read Rory Stewart''s intense, funny, savage and profound account. It''s the best there is on life inside the modern palaces of power." --Michael Ignatieff, author of Fire and Ashes: Success and Failure in Politics "Enthralling, appalling and occasionally hilarious." --Tom Stoppard "Within politics and without, Rory Stewart has always worked to reconcile opposing interests. This powerful memoir counts the costs as well as measuring the rewards of his efforts, in ways that are themselves paradoxical: it''s engaged but objective, candid but not gossipy, and braced with strong conviction while accepting limitation. It''s hard to imagine anyone better placed to report on the convulsions of the last twenty-odd years in British politics (and their effects overseas as well as at home); Rory Stewart has written a book that breathes life back into the cliché ''essential reading''." --Andrew Motion "Any combination of insight, humanity, self-awareness and style in a political memoir is valuable. To achieve them all, as Rory Stewart has done, is exceptional." --Rafael Behr "At last a politician who can write. In a decade at Westminster, Rory Stewart worked alongside--indeed for--most of the con-artists and dimwits of recent governments. The problem is not just one of personal calibre, however. The book suggests it is the party political system itself that tends to stifle innovation and practical change. Opinionated, lucid and thought-provoking." --Sebastian Faulks, " How Not to be a Politician is one of the most enjoyable and revelatory political memoirs to appear in ages--beautifully written, self-mocking but insistently principled. Stewart manages to make a life in professional politics seem laughable, entirely indefensible, and yet ennobling. This is a book that will be read for decades, as a document of its time and as timeless literature." --Steve Coll " How Not to be a Politician offers a ringside view of recent geopolitics, through the eyes of an insider who simultaneously manages to maintain a wry distance. The result is a mix of high-minded (even utopian) idealism combined with gritty (and sometimes deflating) realism. This book is far more than a political memoir; it''s an ethnography of the corridors of power, an honest, hilarious, and sometimes lacerating exposition that explains why the world is the way it is." --Akash Kapur, Better to Have Gone: Love, Death, and the Quest for Utopia "Rory Stewart''s book is essential reading for our times. In this age of populism, nostalgic nationalism, and the routine distortion of truth, Stewart reminds us that politics (and politicians) can still inspire and change our world. Stewart manages to whisk us into the antechambers of power and provide a behind-the-scenes look at politics, in the manner that the best science and medicine books reveal insiders'' views of those realms. And he leaves us with optimism, hope, faith, and a genuine desire to engage with political systems. Like his previous books, this one is also the chronicle of a journey--and it''s unputdownable''" --Siddharta Mukerjee "Brilliantly written, completely gripping, and darkly funny--this is one of the most devastating insider accounts of Westminster I have ever read. An instant classic of political memoir, and an absolute must for anyone who wants to understand how British politics works--and why it really, really doesn''t. Rory Stewart is deeply unsparing, including of himself. I have to warn you that this book contains mind-boggling scenes featuring some of the leading politicians we''ve been cursed with over the past few years, several of which were so excruciating I had to read them through my fingers." --Marina Hyde "If you want to know what it''s like--really like--to be a politician, read Rory Stewart''s intense, funny, savage and profound account. It''s the best there is on life inside the modern palaces of power." --Michael Ignatieff, author of Fire and Ashes: Success and Failure in Politics "Enthralling, appalling and occasionally hilarious." --Tom Stoppard "Within politics and without, Rory Stewart has always worked to reconcile opposing interests. This powerful memoir counts the costs as well as measuring the rewards of his efforts, in ways that are themselves paradoxical: it''s engaged but objective, candid but not gossipy, and braced with strong conviction while accepting limitation. It''s hard to imagine anyone better placed to report on the convulsions of the last twenty-odd years in British politics (and their effects overseas as well as at home); Rory Stewart has written a book that breathes life back into the cliché ''essential reading''." --Andrew Motion "Any combination of insight, humanity, self-awareness and style in a political memoir is valuable. To achieve them all, as Rory Stewart has done, is exceptional." --Rafael Behr "At last a politician who can write. In a decade at Westminster, Rory Stewart worked alongside--indeed for--most of the con-artists and dimwits of recent governments. The problem is not just one of personal calibre, however. The book suggests it is the party political system itself that tends to stifle innovation and practical change. Opinionated, lucid and thought-provoking." --Sebastian Faulks, " How Not to be a Politician is one of the most enjoyable and revelatory political memoirs to appear in ages--beautifully written, self-mocking but insistently principled. Stewart manages to make a life in professional politics seem laughable, entirely indefensible, and yet ennobling. This is a book that will be read for decades, as a document of its time and as timeless literature." --Steve Coll "If you want to know what it's like--really like--to be a politician, read Rory Stewart's intense, funny, savage and profound account. It's the best there is on life inside the modern palaces of power." --Michael Ignatieff, author of Fire and Ashes: Success and Failure in Politics "Enthralling, appalling and occasionally hilarious." --Tom Stoppard "Within politics and without, Rory Stewart has always worked to reconcile opposing interests. This powerful memoir counts the costs as well as measuring the rewards of his efforts, in ways that are themselves paradoxical: it's engaged but objective, candid but not gossipy, and braced with strong conviction while accepting limitation. It's hard to imagine anyone better placed to report on the convulsions of the last twenty-odd years in British politics (and their effects overseas as well as at home); Rory Stewart has written a book that breathes life back into the cliché 'essential reading'." --Andrew Motion
Dewey Edition23/eng/20230828
Dewey Decimal941.086/1092
SynopsisNamed a Best Book of the Year by Foreign Affairs , Financial Times , and Kirkus Reviews The #1 Sunday Times bestseller, published in the UK as Politics on the Edge. "One of the best books on politics our era will see . . . A book of astonishing literary quality." -- Matthew Parris, The TLS "[Rory Stewart] walked across Asia, served in British Parliament, and ran against Boris Johnson. Now he gives us his view of what's wrong with politics, and how we can make it right." --Adam Grant, "The 12 New Fall Books to Enrich Your Thinking" From a great writer--legendary for his expeditions into some of the world's most forbidding places--a wise, honest, and sometimes absurdist memoir of a most remarkable journey through British politics at the breaking point Rory Stewart was an unlikely politician. He was best known for his two-year walk across Asia--in which he crossed Afghanistan, essentially solo, in the months after 9/11--and for his service, as a diplomat in Iraq, and Afghanistan. But in 2009, he abandoned his chair at Harvard University to stand for a seat in Parliament, representing the communities and farms of the Lake District and the Scottish border--one of the most isolated and beautiful districts in England. He ran as a Conservative, though he had no prior connection to the politics and there was much about the party that he disagreed with. How Not to Be a Politician is a candid and penetrating examination of life on the ground as a politician in an age of shallow populism, when every hard problem has a solution that's simple, appealing, and wrong. While undauntedly optimistic about what a public servant can accomplish in the lives of his constituents, the book is also a pitiless insider's exposé of the game of politics at the highest level, often shocking in its displays of rampant cynicism, ignorance, glibness, and sheer incompetence. Stewart witnesses Britain's vote to leave the European Union and its descent into political civil war, compounded by the bad faith of his party's leaders--David Cameron, Boris Johnson, and Liz Truss. Finally, after nine years of service and six ministerial roles, and shocked by his party's lurch to the populist right, Stewart ran for prime minister. Stewart's campaign took him into the lead in the opinion polls, head-to-head against Boris Johnson. How Not to Be a Politician is his effort to make sense of it all, including what has happened to politics in Britain and the world and how we can fix it. The view into democracy's dark heart is troubling, but at every turn Stewart also finds allies and ways to make a difference. A bracing, invigorating mix of irony and love infuses How Not to Be a Politician . This is one of the most revealing memoirs written by a politician in living memory., Named a Best Book of 2023 by Financial Times and Kirkus Reviews The #1 Sunday Times bestseller, published in the UK as Politics on the Edge. "One of the best books on politics our era will see . . . A book of astonishing literary quality." -- Matthew Parris, The TLS "[Rory Stewart] walked across Asia, served in British Parliament, and ran against Boris Johnson. Now he gives us his view of what's wrong with politics, and how we can make it right." --Adam Grant, "The 12 New Fall Books to Enrich Your Thinking" From a great writer--legendary for his expeditions into some of the world's most forbidding places--a wise, honest, and sometimes absurdist memoir of a most remarkable journey through British politics at the breaking point Rory Stewart was an unlikely politician. He was best known for his two-year walk across Asia--in which he crossed Afghanistan, essentially solo, in the months after 9/11--and for his service, as a diplomat in Iraq, and Afghanistan. But in 2009, he abandoned his chair at Harvard University to stand for a seat in Parliament, representing the communities and farms of the Lake District and the Scottish border--one of the most isolated and beautiful districts in England. He ran as a Conservative, though he had no prior connection to the politics and there was much about the party that he disagreed with. How Not to Be a Politician is a candid and penetrating examination of life on the ground as a politician in an age of shallow populism, when every hard problem has a solution that's simple, appealing, and wrong. While undauntedly optimistic about what a public servant can accomplish in the lives of his constituents, the book is also a pitiless insider's exposé of the game of politics at the highest level, often shocking in its displays of rampant cynicism, ignorance, glibness, and sheer incompetence. Stewart witnesses Britain's vote to leave the European Union and its descent into political civil war, compounded by the bad faith of his party's leaders--David Cameron, Boris Johnson, and Liz Truss. Finally, after nine years of service and six ministerial roles, and shocked by his party's lurch to the populist right, Stewart ran for prime minister. Stewart's campaign took him into the lead in the opinion polls, head-to-head against Boris Johnson. How Not to Be a Politician is his effort to make sense of it all, including what has happened to politics in Britain and the world and how we can fix it. The view into democracy's dark heart is troubling, but at every turn Stewart also finds allies and ways to make a difference. A bracing, invigorating mix of irony and love infuses How Not to Be a Politician . This is one of the most revealing memoirs written by a politician in living memory.
LC Classification NumberDA591.S733A3 2023
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