Books to Beguile

Political books are hot, but are they just spin? In the April 22 New York Times, Michiko Kakutani wrote, "Most books by politicians are, at bottom, acts of salesmanship: efforts to persuade, beguile or impress the reader, efforts to rationalize past misdeeds and inoculate the author against future accusations. And yet beneath the sales pitch are clues — in the author’s voice, use of language, stylistic tics and self-presentation — that provide some genuine glimpses of the personalities behind the public personas."