The Politician: An Insider's Account of John Edwards's Pursuit of the Presidency and the Scandal That Brought Him Down [Hardcover]

Andrew Young (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 30, 2010

“The greatest political saga, the one that has it all, that gets to the real heart of American politics, is the John Edwards story... This isn’t just politics, it’s literature. It’s the great American novel, the kind that isn’t written anymore.” --Michael Wolff on John Edwards's trajectory, on VanityFair.com

The underside of modern American politics -- raw ambition, manipulation, and deception -- are revealed in detail by Andrew Young’s riveting account of a presidential hopeful’s meteoric rise and scandalous fall.  Like a non-fiction version of All the King’s Men, The Politician offers a truly disturbing, even shocking perspective on the risks taken and tactics employed by a man determined to rule the most powerful nation on earth. 

Idealistic and ambitious, Andrew Young volunteered for the John Edwards campaign for Senate in 1998 and quickly became the candidate’s right hand man. As the senator became a national star, Young’s responsibilities grew.  For a decade he was this politician’s confidant and he was assured he was ‘like family.”  In time, however, Young was drawn into a series of questionable assignments that culminated with Edwards asking him to help conceal the Senator’s ongoing adultery. Days before the 2008 presidential primaries began, Young gained international notoriety when he told the world that he was the father of a child being carried by a woman named Rielle Hunter, who was actually the senator’s mistress. While Young began a life on the run, hiding from the press with his family and alleged mistress, John Edwards continued to pursue the presidency and then the Vice Presidency in the future Obama administration.

Young had been the senator’s closest aide and most trusted friend.  He believed that John Edwards could be a great president, and was assured throughout the cover-up that his boss and friend would ultimately step forward to both tell the truth and protect his aide’s career. Neither promise was kept.  Not only a moving personal account of Andrew Young’s political education, THE POLITICIAN offers a look at the trajectory which made John Edwards the ideal Democratic candidate for president, and the hubris which brought him down, leaving his career, his marriage and his dreams in ashes.

 

 

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A book worth reading for its larger drama. With a title that ultimately works like a shiv in the ribs, Mr. Young’s book examines what a politician really is:  the value of his words... the extent of his feelings of entitlement, the outrageousness of his ego...and the gap between his public convictions and private behavior" - Janet Maslin, The New York Times

“Mesmerizing...This is not a political memoir. It’s a morality tale with the chill of Hitchcock.” ---Tina Brown, The Daily Beast

“Replete with colorful anecdotes and vignettes, this forceful memoir offers a familiar, if a bit slippery, tale of lost youthful innocence.” --The New York Times Book Review

“How often does the quest for the White House become an unhealthy obsession, not just for a candidate and his spouse, but for the people around them?” --The Boston Globe

From the Back Cover

John Edwards’s longest-serving former aide gives us the inside story—in shocking, explosive detail—about the meteoric rise and scandalous fall of

THE POLITICIAN

Andrew Young volunteered for the Edwards campaign for U.S. Senate in 1998 and soon became the Democratic candidate’s right-hand man and most trusted friend. As Edwards became a national star, Young’s responsibilities grew to include a series of questionable assignments that culminated with being asked to conceal the Senator’s ongoing adultery. Then, days before his run in the 2008 presidential primaries began, Edwards was faced with a publicity nightmare: Rielle Hunter, the campaign videographer with whom he’d been having an affair, was pregnant. Edwards insisted that Young claim paternity—but America would eventually learn the truth…

“A book worth reading for its larger drama. Mr. Young’s book examines what a politician really is.”—Janet Maslin, The New York Times

Young believed that Edwards could be a great president, and was assured throughout the cover-up that one day Edwards would come clean to his cancer-stricken wife, Elizabeth—and the rest of the country—and take responsibility for his actions. Instead, Young watched as his own career and family life fell apart. With this memoir, he finally has the chance to share his account of what really happened—and go beyond the headlines to show who John Edwards really is.

 “Mesmerizing...This is not a political memoir. It’s a morality tale with the chill of Hitchcock.” —Tina Brown, The Daily Beast

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; First Edition edition (January 30, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031264065X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312640651
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (269 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #158,833 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

144 of 151 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars FASCINATING AND VERY DISTURBING, February 8, 2010

By 

L. Miles - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Politician: An Insider's Account of John Edwards's Pursuit of the Presidency and the Scandal That Brought Him Down (Hardcover)

Reading this book is like falling down a rabbit hole into a world where everyone is mad.

John Edwards is portrayed as a sociopath with a Cheshire grin. Elizabeth Edwards, (with her creepy voicemails), comes across as menacing and unstable. From where I'm sitting, the author appears to be a spineless, yes-man, flunky who repeatedly cites his "need for healthcare" as an excuse for his questionable behavior.

Not only is this book a devastating indictment of the Edwards family and their cronies -- it really gives one pause as to what is going on in Washington, in general. How can government ever improve when the inmates are literally running the asylum?

I wouldn't let any of these people within 100 yards of my family much less give them a vote for anything.

This is 301 pages of lying, cheating, power-grabbing and backstabbing. It is a veritable encyclopedia of how not to live your life.

307 of 347 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MIND BLOWING !!!!, January 30, 2010

By 

Gordon Prentiss "History Buff" (Santa Barbara, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Politician: An Insider's Account of John Edwards's Pursuit of the Presidency and the Scandal That Brought Him Down (Hardcover)

If someone had asked me three years ago what the future for John Edwards would look like, I most certainly would have said he would one day be President of the United States. He had everything going for him--wonderful wife, lovely children, the story of a dad finding the strength to overcome the death of his teenage boy, wealth most of us can only dream of, a background as a tremendously successful lawyer, an already established career as a US senator, charismatic speaking ability, good looks, a clean past, a failed, yet flattering showing as John Kerry's running mate, and a reputation as a populist who was willing to fight for poor people like no one else. Enter 2008 and Edwards' admission of having an affair with Rielle Hunter. And then fast-forward to 2010 and the admission of fathering a child that all of us already knew was his. Oh how the mighty have fallen! The book is written by a true insider, and whether you agree with that idea or not, Andrew Young isn't shy about opening up.

I remember first hearing about the affair back in 2008. I couldn't believe it--not because I enjoy judging people who cheat--that's none of my business--but rather for the unforgivable timing of it...and I think most Americans felt the same way. His wife had incurable cancer for God's sake! And he had been a serious candidate for the democratic nomination. His asking for my vote made the affair "my business" because in most cases (save Clinton) cheating on your wife is an automatic political disqualifier--and Edwards knew this yet did it anyway. I remember saying, "You mean to tell me that this guy was running a serious campaign with the complete knowledge that he had had this intense affair?" What if he had gotten the nomination, won the presidency, and just before the inauguration this had all come out? Democrats would have been ROYALY screwed and Republicans would have been dancing in the streets.

The book makes this point well beyond what I just said. Young not only points all of this out with great depth, but he tells us much more, and it is so shocking that it's hard to believe. But considering that ever since the book's release date was made public, Edwards has admitted fathering the child and the Edwards' have split up, I think the book has solid credibility as a result. They wanted to air all of their dirty laundry before the American people could read about it. Perhaps they were thinking that this would take some of the shock value away. Well, it did no such thing. Most of what is in the book is news to me and will be news to you. It will be interesting to see what parts of it the Edwards' try to deny and discredit, because right now, I want to believe that a lot of this is false.

At first I couldn't believe that a close Edwards ally was disgusting enough to spew all of this private information in a book. But it needed to be written because the Edwards' ran for the presidency while deceiving the American people. And they will pay a painful price for the rest of their lives. They don't need me to pile on. I have compassion for them. People don't have to be perfect for me to like them. Unfortunately, for the Edwards', many people want to worship unflawed individuals. But the book made me realize how the world of high stakes politics can tear even the most decent people down, eat away at them, and lead them to do the unimaginable. It made me wonder if Elizabeth wanted the White House more than John did. I read just about everything to do with the current political discourse and climate. I'm a political junkie. And if you like reading about the intimate details of a family clawing its way to the powerful, political top, and want to understand the mind-blowing things that can happen on that journey, "The Politician" is for you. I've read two books this year that stopped me in my tracks and shook the heck out of me--71 Days: The Media Assault On Obama by Michael Jason Overstreet and this one. Both are extraordinarily and shockingly eye opening and historically powerful. 71 Days: The Media Assault On Obama will likely get some people in the media FIRED!!!

134 of 156 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, a page turner, January 30, 2010

By 

Reader - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Politician: An Insider's Account of John Edwards's Pursuit of the Presidency and the Scandal That Brought Him Down (Hardcover)

I bought this book and read it in one sitting and you will too. It is almost impossible to beleive that this is not fiction. It reads like one of the best of Dominick Dunne's tales of power and privelege run amok. But its all true, nobody comes out of this one smelling like a rose, nobody, but Edwards and the women who surround him are actually frightening!
Whatever the authours sins of ommision or commision are, he is a nice man who is clearly trying to put his life back in the face of a surfeit of failed idealsim. Not one wasted page, its a gripping read, most fun book I have read in a long while.