Customer Reviews

Like No Other Time: The Two Years That Changed America

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This book tells well of the two momentous years, 2001 and 2002, for most of which time the principal author was majority leader of the United States Senate. One gets a very good insight into the workings of the Senate, and the book is easy to read and full of logic and sensibleness. He explains well the reasons why he did what he did, and one finishes the book sad that South Dakota in 2004 rejected a man who had served his state so well for so many years.

The most interesting parts of this book are its descriptions of the goings-on inside the Capitol while the events of September 11, 2001 were unfolding. (In a word, it was chaos.) Also little anecdotal tidbits make reading this book more than worthwhile. My favorite among these was the Senator's report that upon their initial private meeting then President-elect George W. Bush said coldly to him, "You aren't going to lie to me, are you?" The irony in Like No Other Time is that while this book describes the very recent 107th Congress and talks throughout about events which transpired within this present decade, the narrative already reads like a discussion of distant political history. There is also the ironic fact that Like No Other Time ends with Senator Daschle preparing a run for the 2004 Presidential campaign, when in hindsight we know not only would this not occur, but the voters of his own home state, South Dakota, would vote him out of a job in a mere two years. Daschle and his ghost writer have crafted a nice, never-boring read that is about the right length and is refreshingly devoid of grandiosity and self-congratulations: Daschle comes across seeming very much a decent fellow. Like No Other Time introduces us to the personalities of Washington, in and out of the public arena, and provides an overview not only of the happenings within that history-making Congress, but shows some of what being a United States Senator entails. Ultimately it is a good book, even if it is somehow slightly anachronistic.