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The Red and the Blue: The 1990s and the Birth of Political Tribalism Audiobook
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From MSNBC correspondent Steve Kornacki, a lively and sweeping history of the 1990s—one that brings critical new understanding to our current political landscape.
In The Red and the Blue, cable news star and acclaimed journalist Steve Kornacki follows the twin paths of Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich, two larger-than-life politicians who exploited the weakened structure of their respective parties to attain the highest offices. For Clinton, that meant contorting himself around the various factions of the Democratic party to win the presidency. Gingrich employed a scorched-earth strategy to upend the permanent Republican minority in the House, making him Speaker.
The Clinton/Gingrich battles were bare-knuckled brawls that brought about massive policy shifts and high-stakes showdowns—their collisions had far-reaching political consequences. But the ’90s were not just about them. Kornacki writes about Mario Cuomo’s stubborn presence around Clinton’s 1992 campaign; Hillary Clinton’s star turn during the 1998 midterms, seeding the idea for her own candidacy; Ross Perot’s wild run in 1992 that inspired him to launch the Reform Party, giving Donald Trump his first taste of electoral politics in 1999; and many others.
With novelistic prose and a clear sense of history, Steve Kornacki masterfully weaves together the various elements of this rambunctious and hugely impactful era in American history, whose effects set the stage for our current political landscape.
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“Kornacki, political correspondent for NBC News and MSNBC, delivers a hard-hitting look at 1990s election politics in this engrossing account of two political rivals and the cultural phenomena they shaped…With rich detail about ’90s pop culture and astute political commentary, Kornacki tells an enlightening tale.”
— Publishers Weekly
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“Insightful, learned, and thought-provoking theory…An illuminating argument from a master political journalist and analyst.”
— Jon Meacham, #1 New York Times bestselling author -
“Every political fan’s playbook about how we got here and where we’re going. I loved it.”
— Tom Brokaw, New York Times bestselling author -
“Superb. . . . Kornacki recounts these events stylishly and objectively. . . . [An] absorbing narrative.”
— Washington Post -
"[Kornacki] is one of the most perceptive political analysts on cable TV. . . . A crisp and fast-paced narrative.”
— Guardian (London) -
“Kornacki holds nothing back about how the 1990s have come to define our nation’s current partisan politics. In many ways it was a banner year for political involvement, and The Red and the Blue is a perfect primer on how we can learn from our past if we want to make a better future for ourselves.”
— Audible.com -
“A smart and welcome take on US politics over the past two decades.”
— American Conservative -
“[Kornacki’s] journalistic prowess is on display in this sharp narrative tracking the steps and missteps over the last quarter-century that brought us to today’s combative political stasis.”
— Booklist (starred review) -
“An instructive assessment of the contentious politics of the 1990…This work reads like a novel with many footnotes and is ideal for anyone interested in contemporary American politics.”
— Library Journal -
“Revealing reading to think about before the midterms heat up.”
— Kirkus Reviews
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About Steve Kornacki
Steve Kornacki is a national political correspondent for NBC News and MSNBC. His work has also appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Roll Call, and the New York Times, among others. He is a native of Groton, Massachusetts, and a graduate of Boston University. He lives in New York City.
About Steve Kornacki
Ron Butler is a Los Angeles–based actor, Earphones Award–winning audiobook narrator, and voice artist with over a hundred film and television credits. Most kids will recognize him from the three seasons he spent on Nickelodeon’s True Jackson, VP. He works regularly as a commercial and animation voice-over artist and has voiced a wide variety of audiobooks. He is a member of the Atlantic Theater Company and an Independent Filmmaker Project Award winner for his work in the HBO film Everyday People.