Inventing Al Gore: A Biography (Hardcover)

by Bill Turque (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Bill Turque's biography of Vice President Al Gore will probably be remembered mainly for its charge that Gore smoked pot much more often in the 1970s than he has previously acknowledged. Yet this allegation--delivered by apparently credible sources--is just a tiny snippet from Gore's life story, as told by this Newsweek reporter. Turque begins with Gore's childhood years in Washington as the son of a senator and traces his steady climb to become the Democratic Party's favored candidate for president in 2000. The author admires Gore's liberal politics, but is also frustrated by what he considers the vice president's tendency to trim:

Gore is an usually thoughtful politician who has been an important, even prophetic voice on issues like global warming, arms control, and the changes wrought by the Information Age. But his life and career have also been punctuated by separations never quite achieved, and by bold strokes never quite converted into personal or political liberation.

Turque recounts a number of Gore scandals, most notably his questionable fundraising at Buddhist temples and heavy-handed calls to party donors (over which he famously claimed there was "no controlling legal authority"). And these stories clearly trouble Turque: Gore, like President Clinton, plays "games with the truth. But where Clinton's lies have been those of self-protection and survival, Gore's have by and large been ones of self-aggrandizement and glorification." Overall, Inventing Al Gore is a balanced and authoritative portrayal of a man whose most important years may lie ahead. --John J. Miller

From Publishers Weekly
Veteran Newsweek journalist Turque has produced a marvel of reportingAa dispassionate election-year biography without an agenda. In contrast to last year's fiercely partisan Gore: A Political Life by conservative pundit Bob Zelnick, Turque's book offers a balanced, insightful critique of the man who seems to have been groomed for the presidency from birth. ("We raised him for it!" Gore's father, a former U.S. senator, exulted in 1992 when he learned his son was headed for the White House as vice-president.) Turque shows how the pressure to succeed has shaped virtually every aspect of Gore's careerAfrom his decision to volunteer for service in Vietnam to his "Faustian bargain" with Clinton in 1992. The same ambition, Turque believes, has also led to Gore's most embarrassing missteps, including the 1996 fundraising scandals and his preposterous claim that he invented the Internet. The focus throughout the book is on Gore's record, although Turque can't resist a few speculations about the characteristics of a possible Gore presidency: Gore, the author predicts, would be a vigorous, high-minded executive, prone to techno-evangelism and moral exactitude; he would also tend to be ideologically inconsistent and politically tone-deaf. Sharply written and well researched, Turque's book laudably refuses to dismiss Gore as either a wooden caricature or the country's most famous beta male. It depicts him as a complex individual capable of both stalwart leadership, as when he stiffened Clinton's spine during the 1995 budget fight with Gingrich, and callous exploitation, as when he went against the wishes of his environmental constituency to aid a polluting paper mill during his 1988 campaign for president. This biography should be indispensable reading for anyone wishing to make an informed decision in the 2000 election. First serial to Newsweek. (Mar.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin; First American Edition edition (March 23, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395883237
• ISBN-13: 978-0395883235
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,688,564 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Before you go to the polls, read this book!, April 4, 2000

By	Todd Weiner (Gambier, OH) - See all my reviews

Bill Turque's biography of Al Gore is fair, informative, and well-written. In terms of comprehensiveness and analysis, it compares favorably with David Maraniss's biography of Gore's boss. Having read Turque's book, I'm struck by how contradictory Al Gore is as a person and as a politician. In many ways, Gore is even more complex and interesting than Bill Clinton. The title of the book, "Inventing Al Gore" accurately portrays Gore as a work in process; a man who continuously changes himself and his image even as he's redirected by political and societal forces. Turque portrays Gore and Clinton as ideological allies ("New Democrats") but it is striking how different their backgrounds are and the contrast in their personalities. Clinton was a product of a middle-class meritocracy whereas Gore enjoyed all the privildges of a political aristocracy. Clinton's father died three months before he was born. Gore's father was a large and powerful influence on his life and career. Clinton's ambition never deserted him whereas Gore - like many young men burdened by others' expectations - experienced an existential crisis early in life. Clinton's political career has been punctuated by character problems even as he dodges the gravest threats; Gore is the "Eagle Scout" whose slightest indiscretions stick to him like velcro (see Buddhist temple). On a personal level, Clinton is a people person who seems more comfortable on the campaign trail than as an executive behind a desk. Gore is the opposite. Indeed, Gore gives the image of a man completely uncomfortable in his own skin. Perhaps it is because he has reason to feel uncomfortable. From Turque's book you get the impression that Gore came into politics with serious moral grounding - along with high ambition. You see through the book that during his career, this morality has been thwarted by the "realities" of political life. You get the sense that the author is disappointed in Gore; that the VP has bought into a sleazy way of life to satisfy his father's unrealized ambitions. Gore at times has reasserted this Doubting Thomas persona. His environmental treatise is a catharsis, a release from the show and games that politics often is. His abandonment of the environment as vice-president, along with episodes such as the fundraising calls of 1996, show how far he has slidden during the Clinton years. The question for our purposes is what kind of president would Gore be should he be elected? Turque is skeptical of any impact Gore could make because of his record for caution. Moreover, there is no consensus for a redirection in domestic policy in America today. Any potential for getting Gore's mug on Mount Rushmore seems to be snuffed out long before Inaugeration Day. Nevertheless, on the most important issues of the Clinton era - the budget deficit, welfare reform, Bosnia - Gore was on the right side of history and pushed his boss toward these policies. Indeed, Clinton should have listened to Gore late in 1993 when the VP urged him to be completely open on Whitewater. He didn't listen. The result was Kenneth Starr, then Monica, then an electoral backlash that could keep Gore out of the White House in 2001. The record is mixed but the likeliest scenario is that a President Gore would be much like his Republican opponent's father, President Bush. Bush was basically a guy who prisided over the tiring of the Reagan Revolution; a managerial president who worked over the hard edges of his predecessor's accomplishments. Of course, we all know Bush's fate for not mastering the "vision thing." To avoid that fate as president, Gore must become something he has rarely been in the past - a leader.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent account of an enigma, November 20, 2002

By	J. Gillespie "gettingthere" ([e-mail]) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Inventing Al Gore: A Biography (Hardcover)

Al Gore recently emerged from "mending fences" in Tennessee to launch a media-driven national charm offensive that he hopes will land him in the White House in 2004. Even though the former vice president seems more at ease these days as he exchanges barbs with the likes of David Letterman, Gore still comes across as uncomfortable and at times coached (did handlers teach him to laugh?) largely because he is the enigma Bill Turque describes in Inventing Al Gore: A Biography. For those who love and despise the former vice president, and for the vast majority in whom he inspires absolutely no emotion one way or the other, Turque's biography, written before the 2000 election debacle, remains relevant today. After you finish Turque's fair and balanced account of Gore, you will be pumped full of the substantive and trivial and won't be any closer to knowing who the former vice president is than you were in 2000, 1996, 1992, 1988, or last week on Larry King. This in no way detracts from Turque's biography, and if anything proves the author knew his subject is a mystery. Neither David Maraniss nor anyone else has been able to unravel this complex politician, and unlike Turque they didn't have the insight to know it is impossible.

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a thoughtful unbiased account, August 11, 2000

By	Susan Daniel (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews

I think that this is a biography worth reading whether you are a Gore supporter or not. The author has done extensive research and writes an evenhanded account of Gore's life. Gore comes out as a man like any other with his own share of conflicts. He does not come out badly. This is not a puff biography or a book intended to villify. It is well worth your time.