Saturday, October 14, 2006

Top books on political insiders

Mike Murphy, who has run campaigns for Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mitt Romney, John McCain and Jeb Bush, named five top books on political insiders for Opinion Journal.

Topping Murphy's list:
You're the Boss by Edward J. Flynn (Viking, 1947)

Depression-era Bronx County machine boss Ed Flynn's autobiography is a great inside history of the rise of Franklin Roosevelt, but it is also a how-to manual on the long-lost art of city machine politics. The likable Flynn eventually became the Democratic National Committee chairman under FDR, but he failed to land a coveted ambassadorship during World War II. Why? Because rival boss Ed Crump of Tennessee instructed one of his senators to torpedo Flynn's nomination--payback to FDR for being too stingy with Tennessee Valley Authority patronage jobs. Live by machines, die by machines.
Click here to see Murphy's other picks. (Note: none of these books are still in print.)

--Marshal Zeringue