Customer Reviews

It's My Party: A Republican's Messy Love Affair with the GOP

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Peter Robinson poses a simple question: who are these people, the Republicans? He proceeds to answer it with a series of interesting interviews and portraits from around the country: with leaders on Capitol Hill, with governors and would-be governors (his interview with Giuliani makes one wish he were still in the race), with academics, with ordinary folk. Although the questions Robinson poses are serious -- why are men more likely than women to vote Republican -- and although the answers he gives often insightful -- his tone is consistently light and often laugh-out-loud funny. In short, this is a book that one can take to the beach, or indeed anywhere, read relatively quickly, and yet learn something about the GOP, and indeed America. A great book.

Finally, an answer to the question - why the heck AM I a Republican?? Aside from being very well written and a lot of fun, there's a lot of truth here. I found myself nodding in agreement in almost every chapter. Definitely a must read for the curious Republican - and any Democrat who knows one!

You don't have to be a Republican to enjoy Peter Robinson's "It's My Party." At the start, Robinson tells us that we're about to follow him on a tour of the GOP, circa 2000. We do, but somehow along the way we learn almost as much about the Democrats and about political America generally, how it got this way and where it is going. Robinson writes like a humorist, and so he's an easy read -- lots of fun. But don't let his wit fool you. Even as you're chuckling, he's sketching for you an extraordinarily sophisticated and penetrating portrait of our nation and the great institutions, issues and trends that are shaping it as it enters the new millenium. I enjoyed every chapter and, when I finished, felt tremendously glad that I'd read it.

Peter Robinson avoids taking a pedantic look at the Republican Party, instead taking a fun trip through the morass known as the GOP. Of course, it's not a new trip, these surveys on the Republican Party have been done before but Robinson manages to do it in an engaging style. I also appreciated the fact that he doesn't simply take a cheerleader approach to the subject but also excoriates the party for not doing more to reach out to communities that are not traditional supporters or have moved away from the party in the recent past. Although he says at the beginning of the book that he's always tried to maintain a distance between him and the party -- even while serving as a true believer/speech writer on the staff of Ronald Reagan in the 1980s -- the book makes it clear that he really does have a love affair with the party. That's a strength in my opinion, given that it is the people that love you that can generally best describe you. Robinson managed that. Is it perfect? Of course not, but it's certainly one of the best entries in an election year which is seeing an increasing amount of throwaway books being released.

"It's My Party" is one of the most enjoyable books I have ever read in my life. In this book the author takes us on a tour of the Republican Party (circa 2000) and highlights the highs and lows of the party as well as pointing out things like the regional distribution of the party, why people tend to be either Republican or Democrat, and his own personal journey in life as a Republican.

You will meet various personalities in the party such as George W. Bush, Brett Schundler, Rudy Gulliani, Henry Hyde, Haley Barbour, and many others. The chapter called "A Tale of Two Cities" shows that the voters of New Jersey made a huge mistake in not electing Brett Schundler as their governor while also showing that the country as a whole made a huge mistake in not supporting the House Republicans on the matter of Clinton's Impeachment. Robinson shows this not by criticizing groups, but by revealing what a great man Schundler is and also while telling the story of the House Republicans and Impeachment honestly (which the news media did not).

Another great strength in the book is the discussion on how the Republicans can reach out to non-traditional Republican groups such as African-Americans, Roman Catholics, and others.

In short, "It's My Party" is highly recommended.

Don't you love it when people leave negative feedback when in fact they never read the darn thing!

Author has good credentials but a silly irritating style. Finds it necessary to shove a smarmy apology for about a paragraph for throwing in some history (Anti-Federalists, Whigs, etc.) which is essential to understanding Republican roots and the daytime TV level apology ends up running almost longer than the very brief historical background. Part personal memoire, part daily journalism on a USA Today level, part sophmore poli-sci term paper...and none of these parts fit or work together. Buy Republican Party Reptile by PJ instead.