A PATRIOT PLAYS HARDBALL Chris Matthews has been playing "hardball" since the day he was born. From his first political run-in in the first grade to his years working as presidential speechwriter for Jimmy Carter, Matthews grew up loving his country and dreaming of his chance to protect it. In Now, Let Me Tell You What I Really Think, Chris Matthews is at his brilliant, blunt, bulldogged best. From the Cold War to the Clinton years, Matthews gives the straight-up account of what it means to be an American. Matthews tells us about his "God and Country" Catholic school education in Philadelphia, complete with Cold War air-raid drills, and his early enthusiasm for politics. He shares with us his life's adventures -- two years in Africa with the Peace Corps, the challenge of running for Congress in his twenties, and his three decades deep in the "belly of the beast" of American politics -- using his own experiences to give us an irreverent look at who we are and whom we trust to lead us.