Customer Reviews

Rudy!: An Investigative Biography Of Rudy Giuliani

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

If you like Rudy, you won't like this book.
If you don't like Rudy, the book will provide abundant ammunition when you make your case. Barrett is obviously biased against Rudy, and there's no ambiguity about that. But only the ignorant, of the hopelessly dogmatic, will accuse him of not doing his homework, or of being a 2nd rate journalist. Every assertion he makes is backed up with facts and data, sometimes ponderously so.
It's not light reading, or particularly entertaining, but if you want the facts (nothing but the facts, ma'am) on the phenomena that is Rudy Giuliani, this is the only book to read.

As a lifelong resident of New York City who came of age during the Giuliani years, i found this book very interesting. I was particularly impressed with Barrett's research into Giuliani's family history and his pre-mayoral career. The chapters on his '89 and '93 races for mayor were also interesting. a chapter dedicated to crime statistics seemed mundane but i guess was part of Barretts quest to give as much data to support his claims against Giuliani's success in bringing down crime. Most biographies have a level of bias, this one does have a high level of bias against Giuliani. it was still great reading and a good account on a portion of new york city history.

Being a pro-Giuliani guy, I ignored the book initally, knowing the tone of it was anti-Rudy. I had then picked this book from the library after I read that it was the inspiration for the Woods TV film. I was disappointed in the TV movie and hoped this book would be better.

Whether the TV film used any of this material or not is questionable, since whatever similarities Barrett's book and the film share are very minor and could be found from other sources besides this book.

But enough of the film, what about this book? It turned out not to be quite as Anti-Rudy as I thought. I don't think Barrett intended to write a full smear on Rudy. In fact, for one who knew very little of Rudy before he became mayor, the book was quite revealing. Barrett was friends with Rudy during this time and his insider knowledge shows at this point. I learned a lot about Rudy as a prosecutor in his early days and how the one time Bobby Kennedy-Democrat became a republican. Considering how pro-cop Rudy is, I was also surprised to learn he was involved in the Serpico cases and the other whistle blower case that led to the movie"Prince of The City." Also, we find out that Rudy had relatives involved in organized crime, which might explain his toughness to stand up to the mob.

Barrett and Giuilani stop being friends about the time he became Mayor. And it is there, the book falters. Not so much because it is anti-Rudy but more because of what Barrett reveals during his mayor days. We find out Rudy is like most politicans: flip-flops on issues, takes more credit that he deserves for certain things, and because he joined the Republican party became more Republican-like than he was before he became mayor. Rudy's typical politican actions seem to surprise and dissapoint Barrett. A journalist with Barrett's insight and knowledge has no excuse not to realize this makes him look exteremely naive. He, of all people, should know that those who are purists as Ralph Nader and Pat Buchanan don't survive in politics mainly because of their inability to compromise.

A lot is spend on Rudy's infidelities. Barrett treats this as that makes Rudy a bad mayor the same way those Republicans who think Clinton is a bad president because he is a philanderer. His attempts to discredit Rudy's successes as mayor are the same way Republicans would discredit Clinton's booming economy days. His precedessor(Bush I/Dinkins) already made the steps necessary to get on the right track and that he (Clinton/Giuilani) was lucky to be at the right place at the right time. Now I don't credit Clinton or Giulani 100% for everything, but to say that he had nothing to do with it and their precedessor did, sorry I ain't buying that.

Strangely, on what might be valid criticism on Giuliani is either briefly mentioned(the NYPD police brutality flap) or ignored(the Brooklyn Art Museum flap).

So, the book(although better than the TV movie) ends up being a disappoinment. It's even more disappointing because the first half is very strong. A great bio on Rudy has yet to be written. Barrett's book isn't it.

Wayne Barrett's biography of Rudolph Giuliani is more than an expose of the mayor's family album. It is a textbook to be carefully read by anyone who admires meticulous research and scrupulous documentation, or wants to know what muckraking is all about. It is living, up-to-the-moment history presented with a point of view by a masterful reporter/detective.

One chapter (that is as detailed as it is eye-opening) probes New York City's famous crime reduction statistics. The author reveals that almost 60% of the crime decrease under Mayor Giuliani is the result of large declines in only a few property crimes (such as auto theft and attempted burglary).

Based on these findings, logical conclusions are drawn to show that, contrary to Giuliani-speak, the reductions have little to do with police work or mayoral policies. Instead, the case is made that more credit for the reversal should go to community and church groups (particularly in the rejection of crack).

Standing alone, but representative of the high journalistic standards reached in the entire book, this impressive chapter penetrates the oversimplified, self-serving version of truth that Mr. Giuliani has conditioned us to accept as wisdom.

Finally getting a chance to look at the facts and patterns behind the crime statistics curtain should stimulate informed discussion of what's really been happening in New York and across the country.

The book is a total breakthrough.

I am still waiting for someone who gave this book a bad review to point out inaccuracies and patently false statements by the author. This book is a gem. The emperor has no clothes and is only wearing a bad rug. Thank you Mr. Barrett.

What a book.

Mayor Rudy Giuliani has national name recognition because Americans perceive him as having singlehandedly cleaned up the streets of the world's greatest city, and in large measure, he has. Or so he has said, alleges author Wayne Barrett. Whether Rudy did it or not, he's managed to get the credit, and visitors to New York probably aren't too concerned about the particulars so long as they can walk the streets feeling measurably safer. Non-New Yorkers must wish their leadership would snatch a page from his book. This is Rudy's book.

Barrett tells Rudy's story in a narrative so riveting that the reader forgets this is non-fiction. Even though we know how the story ends, one wonders how Barrett will present what had previously seemed so obvious and straightforward.

This author is a master of research as evidenced by the sure way he maneuvers through the twists and barbed tangles of Rudy's life, confidently using punchy adjectives to describe each episode as if he had been there. Some vignettes are so embarrassing, so personal, that an involuntary cringe is inevitable, but the reporting of such events, oddly enough, makes Rudy seem a little more like an ordinary man, vulnerable at times, cruel at others, ambitious, driven and self-absorbed. Barrett spends considerable time discussing Rudy's family especially some of Rudy's unsavory relatives, the kind that mothers won't discuss or have to dinner. We all know how that is.

Unlike most of us, however, Rudy was and is a powerful man whose negative influence made life worse for the people of Haiti, for example, when he, as a key member of the Reagan Justice Department, was responsible for erecting "the floating Berlin wall" which prevented desperate refugees from seeking asylum in the United States from a vicious and repressive government.

Barrett has known Rudy for a long time. He knew him as a morally scrupulous younger man who once wanted to be a priest, but Barrett takes us touring from those days to these when political success is vastly more important than caring for the disenfranchised. The question implicit in the reporting seems to be, `If you could knock down crime, keep the city clean, and entice the tourists and their dollars into what was fairly recently a seedy city, why can't you just as well transform the lives of the poor and provide a decent education for children who are as poor as you once were?'

"Rudy!" is an exceptional work that will leave the reader marveling at the detail and the author's intimacy with his subject, an interesting man who is sorrowfully, just another politician.

By any standard, Wayne Barrett's "investigate biography" of Rudy Giuliani is an incredible disappointment. After weaving my way through this political hit job, I have a hard time finding anything positive to write about it. In retrospect, I should have realized that this would be a whiny smear campaign when I first saw the book's cover. The book's title is "Rudy! An Investigative Biography of Rudy Giuliani." This gives the impression that the author has done some hard-nosed investigative work that will alter the reader's impression of the protagonist. After 500 pages of political fury, we only have two tidbits of gossip to satisfy our appetite. First, Giuliani's father was briefly imprisoned for robbery a decade before the mayor's birth. Second, Dear Old Dad also hung around some shady mafioso characters. Some investigation! If every person is disqualified by the indiscretions of their relatives, every public figure from Ronald Regan to Bill Clinton, from Oprah Winfrey to Steffi Graf, would be forced into early retirement. This is journalistic guilt-by-association at its worst. And sadly, these are the worst accusations that Mr. Barrett can hurl at the mayor. But this book claims to be more than an indictment of Giuliani's family. In the introduction, Mr. Barrett reveals far more about himself than he ever does about Mayor Giuliani. The author claims that he and Rudy were once good friends but "when he left law enforcement for politics, our relationship changed. I never had another meal with him...I became more and more critical." After only seven paragraphs, what purports to be an objective biography loses all of its credibility. "The book clearly has a point of view," writes Barrett. Sadly, that's about the only thing he DOES get right in the book. Mr. Barrett could have written about the political and social changes that have swept New York City in the 1990s and Mayor Giuliani's important role in them. But that would be too academically serious and too damning to his liberal ideology. Instead, according to Barrett, "race is at the heart of Rudy's story." This comment is absolutely outrageous. As a young man, Mayor Giuliani was a strong supporter of the civil rights movement and no one - not even Mr. Barrett himself - has claimed that Rudy is a racist. The only race crime that Giuliani has committed, in the establishment's eyes, is that as a white man he beat David Dinkins, an African-American, in the 1993 mayoral election. Years later, following a dramatic cut in the city's crime rate, Mayor Giuliani was asked for his most important legacy regarding the black community. His answer: more of them were alive. In other words, the 1,000-1,5000 fewer deaths of African-Americans during his tenure is a mark of his service. This was denounced as an insensitive and even racist comment by liberal ideologues like Mr. Barrett. Why? The mayor believes that the actually lives of African-Americans is more important than symbolic political acts like paying homage to Al Sharpton or repeating the old script of supporting affirmative action. That comment more than anything should reveal the logic of New York's liberal establishment: the actual lives of African-American children are disposable in comparsion to the political theatrics that win votes on Election Day. Letting liberals feel good about how virtuous they are is more important than good public policy. And under Mayor Giuliani, New Yorkers have been the beneficiaries of good public policy. The crime rate is down more than 60% since 1993, the streets are cleaner and safer, budget deficits have turned into surpluses, and there is a new optimism regarding the city's future. Mr. Barrett wants New Yorkers and others to believe that the crime drop is a mirage, that the city isn't cleaner or better-run. As a resident of New York, I'm not buying it. And neither should you. There's nothing more maddening for an ideologue that the success of a politician with whom he disagrees. Mr. Barrett could have written a book ten times its length and it still wouldn't convince anyone of anything. I'm just disappointed that I wasted my time. Don't waste yours.

Do not waste your money to buy this book. For that matter, don't even try to get it at your library. Barrett admits to an anti-Rudy bias in the preface almost as if to forewarn readers of what is to come and to give himself license to indulge in the worst kind of reportage. I stopped reading it on page 19 after reading the following......."The Italy from which the ...Giulianis had emigrated was even then fractured by an ancient cultural and economic fault separating north and south. Northerners, many of whom identified culturally with Germany and Switzerland, were lighter-skinned, often blue-eyed, while southerners were darker-skinned, with thick shocks of black hair and deep brown eyes....Southern Italy, referred to in some circles as the Africa of Italy, was populated, some Northerners would have told you, with dirty peasants, boisterous drunks and conniving criminals...Italy's cultural chasm......was bridged by some families who married across it......" Barrett then points out that Rudy's southern Italian mother and northern Italian father attempted this "bridge" by their marriage.
Case closed!

After reading this book I have decided that a rule of mine should be never to read a book with an exclamation mark in the title. I picked this book up to learn more about the man that has been every where over the last year, what I got was a book filled with innuendo, conjecture and slanted comments meant to dirty the reputation of the subject. I would think that if this author dug into anyone's background and used his form of slash and burn reporting, the person - any person - would come off bad. Some of the barbs do have some truth, but given that Guiliani is a hard charging politician, they come with the territory. Sure he has stepped on some toes, changed or flip flopped on a few campaign statements, and maybe like all of us, taken a little too much credit for positive accomplishments, but that is not the view this author wants you to come away with. Lets face it, the author has a great deal of animosity toward Guiliani and he used this book to vent.

I also was bothered by the book setup, I like a biography to follow chronologically - I want to learn about the person through their life. This book takes subjects or topics and details his life via the subject so each part of the book covers the mans whole life. I also felt the writing was somewhat choppy and just not very smooth. To tell the truth I kept reading to find errors in what the author was saying. If you are looking for an unbiased look at Guiliani then keep looking, this book is nothing more then a political hack job.

THIS BOOK IS FAR TOO BIASED TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY. THROUGHOUT THE BOOK IT APPEARS THAT THE AUTHOR HAS AN AXE TO GRIND AND MAKES IT ABUNDANTLY CLEAR THAT RUDY IS NOT ONE OF HIS FAVIORITE PEOPLE. SAVE YOUR MONEY AND BUY A BOOK ABOUT MAYOR GUILIANI THAT IS WRITEN BY SOMEONE WHO PRESENTS MORE BALANCE-