It’s that special season again! It only comes every four years. Of course, I’m talking about the Presidential primary election season. One of the best and most interesting books ever written about this distinctive season is Game Change by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin. It was written during the historic 2008 election when Barack Obama seemed to have come out of nowhere to upset Hillary Clinton and defeat John McCain. HBO made a movie based on the book but it only concentrated on the one or two chapters about Sarah Palin. This book is largely about the battle between Obama and the Clintons.
The first chapter begins in a hotel in Iowa. Bill Clinton is furious as the results of the Iowa Caucus are rolling in showing Obama beating Hillary across the state. He doesn’t understand how this can be happening because it’s “her turn”, and how this upstart with so little political experience can be in the lead. The Clintons seem to underestimate Obama at every turn, while Obama’s camp was using cutting-edge social media tools to run circles around the Clinton campaign.
Game Change covers many other characters involved in the 2008 election. Some of the most shocking revelations in the book are about John and Elizabeth Edwards and Rielle Hunter. You’ll think differently about that sordid affair after reading this book. The Republican race is covered as well and it’s really interesting to read the story of how Sarah Palin became McCain’s running mate. She seems the perfect running mate at first but then, “goes rogue”.
Game Change is a highly engaging nonfiction book that is fun to read and hard to put down. You’ll learn something about all of the candidates and a little about how the primary process works. Some of the main characters are with us again during the current election season. It will be interesting to see if history repeats itself.
You can place a hold on the book in the Deerfield Public Library catalog right now. If you have to wait, be sure to check out “You Might Also Like These…” at the bottom of the catalog page.
