Barney Frank: The Story of America's Only Left-Handed, Gay, Jewish Congressman (Hardcover)

~ Stuart Weisberg (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Barney Frank is a masterful legislator and one of the great political minds of our generation. His style principled but pragmatic, tenacious yet fair, and always brilliant and funny has won him the respect of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle. Stuart Weisberg s lively biography of Barney Frank documents all of these extraordinary qualities, and the many ways in which he enriches our democracy. --Nany Pelosi, Speaker of the U. S. House of Representatives

Barney Frank is one of the most brilliant, effective and funny lawmakers of his generation. Not many Congressmen are worthy of a book, but Stuart Weisberg s carefully researched and authoritative account proves that Barney s life and career are indeed the stuff of fine biography. --Cokie Roberts, ABC News political commentator, and Steven V. Roberts, Shapiro Professor of Media and Public Affairs, George Washington University

Product Description

In a survey conducted by Washingtonian magazine, Barney Frank was rated the smartest, funniest, and most eloquent member of Congress. A mainstay in the House of Representatives since 1981, he has come to be known for his talent as a legislator, his zeal for verbal combat, his imposing intellect, and a quick wit that both disarms and entertains other lawmakers. Most recently, as chair of the Financial Services Committee, he was instrumental in crafting a compromise bill to stem the tide of home mortgage foreclosures, as well as the subsequent $700 billion rescue plan.
Based on interviews with over 150 people, including more than twenty-five hours with Frank himself, this biography reconstructs for the first time his life and career, from his working-class childhood in Bayonne, New Jersey, to his years at Harvard and in Boston politics, through his rise to national prominence. Stuart Weisberg captures Frank in all his quirkiness, irreverence, and complexity. He also examines his less appealing side his gruff exterior, his legendary impatience, his aversion to wasting time. Weisberg reveals the pressure Frank has felt as the most prominent openly gay politician in the United States, one whose career was nearly derailed by a highly publicized sex scandal involving a male prostitute.
Above all, this book shows Frank to be a superb legislator a pragmatic politician who has dedicated his career to pursuing an unabashedly liberal agenda and whose depth of intellect and sense of humor have made him one of the most influential and colorful figures in Washington.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 584 pages
• Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press; 1 edition (September 30, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558497218
• ISBN-13: 978-1558497214
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #84,055 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Outstanding Biography of a Truly Unique Politician, October 16, 2009

By	William Black (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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First, a disclaimer. I was a source for this book. That said, the book is an extraordinary political biography that describes the life of an amazing politician, but also of an era. While the term, "the spirit of the sixties" has been trivialized over time, this book highlights the best of that decade by showing the genuine idealism at its heart. Moreover, this "spirit" is transcended to the degree that Barney Frank combined - and combines - the idealism of that era with a practical approach to politics. His goal was to have a measurable effect on the lives of poor people, who were then and are today, neglected by the political elites at all levels of government. This book shows how he did this and is a very valuable primer for those driven by results in public policy rather than scoring political points. Even to this day, in his very powerful position as Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Rep. Frank remains true both to those ideals and to the practical approach to politics. Of course, the book is also peppered with endless examples of Rep. Franks wicked wit, which provides chuckles throughout.

Having proudly worked for Barney Frank, I can't claim to be objective about the book. But I can report on its accuracy, which is scrupulous. I was deeply involved with a particularly period in Rep. Frank's career and I could not find a single error of fact or even interpretation on things on which I had personal knowledge. I have to say, I was surprised by the candor I found in this authorized biography. This is a "warts and all" account that is very honest about some of Rep. Frank's personal struggles and, shall we say, challenging personality traits.

In the end, however, this is a story of a political leader who remains uncorrupted by the power he currently wields. He entered politics to "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." Unlike many, he has stayed true to his original ideals and I believe the country is fortunate to have him at the center of our current economic travails.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great read, September 27, 2009

By	Lee Jackson (Orlando, FL) - See all my reviews

This is a very interesting biography of a captivating figure. Very well written and actually quite quick and easy to read. Would recommend to anyone.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Legislator, a Politician and an Incredible Man, September 25, 2009

By	Amos Lassen (Little Rock, Arkansas) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

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Weisberg, Stuart. "Barney Frank: The Story of America's Only Left-Handed, Gay, Jewish Congressman", University of Massachusetts Press, 2009.

A Legislator, a Politician and an Incredible Man

Amos Lassen


Unless you live in a vacuum you know who Barney Frank is. He possesses one of the most masterful minds in the United States Congress and he is a wonderful legislator. He has principles but he compromises, he will fight for something but only in the fairest of ways and he is funny and smart and well respected. When Stuart Weisberg's biography of Frank arrived I was surprised at the size of it. Over 500 pages tell the Frank story and Weisberg has done quite a job. His research is amazing and he writes with ease about one of our most brilliant politicians. Even though this is a biography it reads like a novel and we are made privy to the incredible person that is Barney Frank.
Weisberg has based his book on interviews with more than 150 people as well as more than 25 hours of interviews with Barney Frank himself. We learn all about Frank and get a complete look at his life including his New Jersey childhood, his Harvard years and his tenure in the politics of Boston through his rise to national political prominence. It surely has not been easy for Frank to be openly gay and in the national spotlight and his scandal with a male prostitute was highly publicized. But Frank has opened doors for us and fought for us and been there for us even during the time when his own future was unsure. He is, above all, a liberal and his influence is widely felt.
Frank has never been a really private person and now Stuart Weisberg puts it all out there for us and he does so in an extremely readable way. This is quite a book about quite a man written by quite a man.