The Good Fight (Hardcover)

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Key Phrases: searchlight school, gaming license, Las Vegas, White House, President Bush (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Reid became the leader of the Democrats in the Senate in 2004 when his friend, Tom Daschle of South Dakota, lost his reelection in a bitterly contested race as the Republicans pushed for the kind of domination that White House advisor Karl Rove hoped would last a generation or longer. Reid was part of the push back as Democrats began defying President Bush, most prominently on issues of the war in Iraq and efforts to privatize Social Security. Reid recalls his own support of the war, his regrets, and the sickening realization that Congress had been misled. He is blunt in his criticism of Bush, acknowledging that the animosity is likely mutual. Reid alternates between details of political battles in Washington, D.C., and the struggle of growing up in the hardscrabble gold-mining town of Searchlight, Nevada. The town had no steady schoolteacher but plenty of prostitutes, and no indoor plumbing in most houses. The reader might expect the switch between the two to be jarring, but both arenas are populated with interesting characters and hard-fought battles. --Vanessa Bush

Product Description

One of the remarkable books of this season— a tough, plainspoken, deeply passionate narrative by one of our most important national figures.

We all know them: politicians’ books that read as if they’ve been cobbled together from old speeches. The Good Fight is as far from that as it is possible to get.

In a voice that is flinty, real, and passion-filled, Senator Harry Reid tells the tale of two places, intertwining his own story, particularly his early life of deep poverty in the tiny mining town of Searchlight, Nevada—“a place that boasted of thirteen brothels and no churches”—with the cautionary tale of Washington, D.C.: “If I can do nothing greater in this book than explain those two places to each other, then I will have done something important.”

Reid is inspired by obstacles. Brought up in a cabin without indoor plumbing, he hitchhiked forty-five miles across open desert to high school. He worked full-time as a Capitol Hill policeman to get through law school, after the school refused him financial aid, telling him he wasn’t cut out to be a lawyer. As head of the Nevada Gaming Commission, he led an unrelenting fight to clean up Las Vegas, despite four years of death threats —and much worse. And in Congress, Reid’s spent more than twenty-five years battling those who would take the country in the wrong direction: “The radical ideologues degrade our government, so much so that when they are in charge of it, they do not know how to run it.”

And, always, it all comes back to Searchlight: “Who I am now, and what I am doing now, began in that town, with those people, in those mines.” This book is the story of a man who knows what a good fight is, because he has had to fight like hell for everything his whole life. It is populated by a rich and raucous cast of great and failed men, eccentrics, visionaries, gangsters, and presidents who make up his life and times. And it is for all those who not only like a good story, but wonder what we should do now in America.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult (May 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039915499X
• ISBN-13: 978-0399154997
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.4 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #108,737 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Review should be of the book, not the man..., May 7, 2008

By	Truth Speaker "zoezoe" (St. Louis, MO United States) - See all my reviews

In response to the previous review, it is unfair to rate the book based on one's personal feeling about Reid. I have just begun reading the book and am moved by the very personal look at Reid and what has compelled him in this life. Reid does not present himself as perfect, but reveals the man he is - which is a man of honor, ethics, dedication, and love of country.

He has spoken out against George Bush's policies in a way that other members of Congress have failed to do. The passages that reveal insiders moments with George Bush offer personal snapshots of a President who is most probably the worst President so far that we've ever known. Reid shines a light on why that is true as he describes Bush's utter lack of interest during briefings and meetings - his inability to ask questions, a lack of curiousity that speaks of a lack of depth, of intelligence, of critical thinking skills, of leadership. It is frightening, nothing new, but frightening to have this nuanced understanding of what has been happening in the Bush White House.

Reid is eloquent and passionate and this book offers an inside look at the man and his politics. I recommend it to others who are feeling discouraged by the political system and its machinations - especially this election season - and who need a shot in the arm to energize them and help them roll their sleeves up and get back to work. Our country needs us!

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The Good Fight Is Not a Good Read, September 19, 2008

By	Jake "Weekend Political Junkie" (St. George, UT) - See all my reviews

While I enjoyed Senator Reid's narrative of his life experiences (growing up in Searchlight, his education, his religious conversion, his career as a Las Vegas attorney, and his time spent on the Nevada Game Commission), I was disappointed with the events he shares during his time in the Senate. He repeatedly descends into partisan politics and hyperbole. For example, he writes that, "George W. Bush will rank among the worst presidents--if not the worst--in the history of our country." While I do not agree with much of President Bush's tenure, Reid's assessment is disrespectful, mean-spirited, and certainly over the top. I also read Clarence Thomas' biography, My Grandfather's Son, who admirably avoids this type of bashing. Reid spends 6 pages (a bit much) discussing Jim Jeffords change in party affiliation. He praises Jeffords for his "act of bravery". It seems it would have been braver for Senator Jeffords to resign his senate position since he felt he could no longer represent those who voted for him.

Reid is quite candid about some of his personal failings, but he does not mention how he has personally benefited from his powerful position. What about his land deal? Or how his son and son-in-law were generously paid as special interest lobbyists? Positions they would not have enjoyed had they not been related. What about his several other embarrassing missteps?

As someone who shares a religion with Senator Reid, I had hoped he would do a better job explaining why I should not doubt his honesty or integrity. It seems to me he merely represents why so many of the American public are dissatisfied with their elected officials.

9 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read this book!, May 13, 2008

By	Noel Harrison - See all my reviews

I would venture to say that most of the other reviewers of this book
(so far) haven't bothered to read it, but are instead just teeing off on
Harry Reid because they don't like his politics. I know, reading can be hard,
but do yourself a favor and ignore those other reviews. Read this book.
Like Harry Reid, don't like Harry Reid, whatever. Read this book. It's kind
of an unbelievable American story, shockingly candid, and well told. The odds
of anyone emerging from Searchlight, Nevada, when Reid came up there, and
to then go on to do anything of note, are infinitesimal. But the man we
only know as the soft-spoken, kind of opaque leader of the senate, has
actually lived an astonishing life. To be where he is, an impossible life.
Raised in a broken-down town with 13 whorehouses and no churches, taught honesty
by a "whoremonger" because his parents were too drunk to bother, hitchhikes
across the desert to high school, fist fights with his future father-in-law,
defends a murderer in a case right out of In Cold Blood, take on the mob in
Vegas (blacklists Lefty Rosenthal!) and gets a bomb planted in his car
for his troubles, and now faces his biggest problem - Bush. Unlike many
books by politicians, which are full of falsity and pomposity, The Good Fight
doesn't is told plainly and doesn't prettify anything, isn't pompous, and
doesn't read like a collection of tired speeches. This is a surprising book,
and a good story. Highly recommended.