Review
“Scheiber writes with ease and authority about complicated financial matters . . . and proves particularly adept at showing how [the Obama economic team’s] personalities, philosophies and previous experiences with one another shaped their interactions and the policy-making process.”
—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times“A Woodwardian account of infighting in the White House’s economics team . . . Scheiber is a smart, clear-eyed reporter who frames his arguments elegantly.”
—Bloomberg Businessweek“
The Escape Artists is a compelling narrative, deeply reported and beautifully written.”
—Jonathan Chait, New York“Diligently reported and informative.”
—John Cassidy, The New Yorker"
The Escape Artists reads like a Bob Woodward book—albeit better written and informed by a more sophisticated understanding of economics and policymaking."
—Daniel Gross, Yahoo! Finance“Noam Scheiber offers a persuasive take on administration policymaking . . . [and] provides a template for future administrations—even a future Obama administration—to avoid the trap of thinking too narrowly and too politically in a crisis.”
—Matthew Yglesias, Slate“What Scheiber offers is a judicious, nuanced and ultimately . . . persuasive chronicle of how contentious experts jockeyed to influence a young president stuck with an almost impossible set of challenges. . . . Such sophisticated analysis of how the nation’s most powerful officials think—however one regards the wisdom of that thinking—distinguishes Scheiber’s book.”
—Paul M. Barrett, The New York Times Book Review“
The Escape Artists offers great insight into Obama’s self-perception. . . . Scheiber’s reporting has naturally sparked a great deal of second-guessing in Democratic circles, and his book will provide plenty of ammunition for the president’s liberal critics . . . [and] to those critics on the right who believed that the White House never really earned their trust.”
—Reihan Salam, The Daily
About the Author
Noam Scheiber is a senior editor at
The New Republic, writing about politics and Obama administration economic policy. He has written for the
New York Times,
The Washington Post,
New York magazine, and
Slate and has appeared on CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, and NPR. He lives in Washington, D.C.
