All by Myself: The Unmaking of a Presidential Campaign

页数:0

价格:81.00

isbn号码:9780871065476

具体描述

From Library Journal In Dukakis: An American Odyssey ( LJ 4/15/88)， Charles Kenney and Robert L. Turner identified the Massachusetts governor as a person who displayed steadiness of purpose， discipline， and determination in achieving his goals. In this book， journalists Black and Oliphant paint quite a different picture， going into great detail to explain where and how Dukakis's presidential campaign strategy went awry. Dukakis's numerous mistakes are fully outlined here， all of them "colossal， stupendous， dramatic， intricate . . . ." Dukakis， for example， often left himself open to attacks from the Bush camp， especially in the case of his espousal of prison furlough in the face of its glaringly bad example， William Horton. While this will not be the final analysis of the 1988 Democratic campaign， it is an auspicious first attempt. Highly recommended for most libraries.- Gary D. Barber， SUNY at Fredonia Lib.Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information， Inc. From Independent Publisher As usual， the postmortems of presidential elections based on "insider" accounts have begun to flood the book market. Black and Oliphant， two Boston Globe investigative journalists， have diverged from the Germond and Witcover or Goldman and Matthews mold of examining each of the candidates to train their sites on their fellow citizen from Massachusetts， Michael Dukakis. They analyze why his campaign seemed to selfdestruct after the euphoria of the primaries and nomination. Clearly， a prophet is without honor in his own land. Black and Oliphant， adopting the "kick the man while he is down" approach-evident in past analyses of McGovern's race in 197Z Carter's in 1980， and Mondale's in 1984--plumb the depths of the campaign staff which was incapable of producing a "winning" message and selling it even to the candidate. Not surprisingly， they unearth self-serving staffers pointing the finger at the Duke. The Estriches， Sassos and the like will want to be involved in campaigns for president in the future-， is it any surprise that Black and Oliphant find them characterizing their candidate as a methodical， brooding， close-minded， indecisive， colorless， fireless technocrat who lacked the stomach for the low Toad of mud-slinging politics? In the process of this character assassination， the authors make the now ahnost cliche references to the clear sins of the Bush carnpaign involving the Willie Horton case， Boston Harbor， and so on. No mention is made of why the brilliant staffers let the picture of the Duke with the heltnet go out. No question is asked of the Democratic party for nominating what the authors see after the fact as damaged goods. Where were those in the kriow when he was made standard beater? Black and Oliphant make no attempt to ask the lasting question: Why the Democrats have failed to win the White House rather than why Dukakis lost the election? When will journalists examine the groups and issues and not the packagers? It does little good to shoot the messenger when it is the message and the producers of that message that are flawed. This book is exciting writing and a case study in staff disloyalty and journalistic pique for Dukakis' inability to do what his Democratic predecessors couldn't do. Win.

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这本书的知识密度和信息量是惊人的，但作者的处理方式非常高明，他没有采用那种堆砌数据的枯燥方式，而是将所有的背景信息和政策细节，巧妙地融入到人物的对话和日常的琐碎事务中。这使得即便是对美国政治运作不甚了解的读者，也能轻松地跟随故事的脉络前进。更难得的是，作者在处理那些复杂的法律、筹款和媒体策略时，保持了一种近乎百科全书式的准确性，但同时又绝不让这些技术性的内容喧宾夺主，它们始终是服务于人物情感和情节发展的工具。这种平衡处理，使得本书既有极高的学术参考价值，又不失其作为一部引人入胜的文学作品的阅读乐趣。它提供了一个罕见的窗口，让我们得以一窥现代政治机器的庞大和冷酷，以及在其中搏斗的人们所付出的巨大心力。

这本书的叙事节奏简直让人欲罢不能，作者对于人物心理的刻画入木三分，即便是那些在公众视野中光鲜亮丽的政治人物，其内心深处的挣扎、怀疑和疲惫，也被描绘得淋漓尽致。我尤其欣赏作者在描绘那些幕后决策过程时的那种冷静而敏锐的笔触，它不像许多政治回忆录那样充斥着对胜利者的赞美或对失败者的控诉，而是更像一个精准的外科手术刀，剖开了权力运作的复杂肌理。读到那些关键的策略会议和私下交谈的场景时，我仿佛能真切地感受到空气中弥漫的紧张感和不确定性。那些看似微不足道的决定，是如何一步步导向最终的命运转折点，作者用极其细腻的笔触构建了一个宏大而又充满人性挣扎的棋局。整本书读下来，感觉不仅仅是了解了一场政治竞选，更像是窥视了人类在巨大压力下，如何平衡理想与现实，如何权衡道德与功利的一部深刻寓言。故事的张力保持得非常好，从头到尾都充满了引人入胜的戏剧性，让人很难放下书本，去思考自己对政治、对人性究竟抱持着怎样的看法。

这本书的语言风格是一种近乎冷峻的、带着后现代解构意味的散文体，与传统政治传记那种严肃说教的腔调截然不同。作者似乎对宏大叙事抱有一种审慎的怀疑态度，他更热衷于捕捉那些碎片化的、非线性的叙事线索，将它们编织成一张错综复杂的网。阅读过程中，我经常需要停下来，回味某些段落中那种略带反讽的幽默感，它不是那种让人捧腹大笑的喜剧，而是一种深植于对现实荒谬性的洞察之中的黑色幽默。这种独特的写作腔调，使得原本可能枯燥的政治细节变得鲜活有趣，充满了哲学思辨的意味。它迫使读者跳出传统的二元对立思维，去审视那些在“对”与“错”之间摇摆不定的灰色地带。我尤其喜欢作者在处理时间线时那种自由切换的能力，它时而穿插着对历史事件的回溯，时而又聚焦于一个突发的、决定性的瞬间，这种跳跃感非但没有造成阅读障碍，反而增强了作品的立体感和深度。

我发现这本书最引人入胜的地方在于它对“失败的艺术”的探讨。它没有将竞选的失利仅仅归咎于某一个错误决策或对手的强大，而是深入挖掘了“完美”与“现实”之间不可调和的矛盾。作者似乎在暗示，竞选本身就是一种对纯粹理想的系统性背叛，而真正的考验，恰恰发生在坚持自我与屈服于政治现实的拉锯战中。书中的那些关键转折点，往往不是因为外部的打击，而是因为内部信念体系的动摇或重构。这种内在驱动力的剖析，比任何外部的政治分析都来得更为深刻和震撼。它让我思考，一个政治人物的价值，是否真的仅仅由其能否赢得选举来定义？作者似乎在挑战这一传统观念，通过对竞选过程中无数次“小败”的细致记录，展示了在巨大的体制压力下，个体如何努力保持其核心价值的坚韧性。

从文学角度来看，这本书的结构设计堪称精妙。它似乎在尝试打破传统线性叙事的桎梏，采用了多重视角叙事的策略，虽然主要聚焦于核心人物的内心世界，但时不时地插入一些“局外人”的观察和记录，形成了一种奇妙的共鸣与错位。这种手法极大地丰富了文本的层次感，让人感觉自己不是在被动地接收信息，而是在主动地参与构建这个复杂的故事图景。特别是作者对于环境和氛围的营造，达到了令人惊叹的程度，无论是竞选总部的灯火通明，还是深夜长途飞行中的孤寂感，那种环境对人物心境的影响被描摹得细腻入微。这种对“在场感”的强调，使得这本书超越了单纯的政治记录，更像是一部探讨“空间如何塑造身份”的社会心理学著作。它不是在告诉你发生了什么，而是在让你“感受”到那个特定的时空背景下，一切是如何发生的。