A brilliant and brilliantly entertaining tour de force of American politics from one of journalism's most acclaimed commentators.History turns on a dime. A missed meeting, a different choice of words, and the outcome changes dramatically. Nowhere is this truer than in the field where Jeff Greenfield has spent most of his working life, American politics, and in three dramatic narratives based on memoirs, histories, oral histories, fresh reporting with journalists and key participants, and Greenfield's own knowledge of the principal players, he shows just how extraordinary those changes would have been.These things are true: In December 1960, a suicide bomber paused fatefully when he saw the young president-elect's wife and daughter come to the door to wave goodbye...In June 1968, RFK declared victory in California, and then instead of talking to people in another ballroom, as intended, was hustled off through the kitchen...In October 1976, President Gerald Ford made a critical gaffe in a debate against Jimmy Carter, turning the tide in an election that had been rapidly narrowing.But what if it had gone the other way? The scenarios that Greenfield depicts are startlingly realistic, rich in detail, shocking in their projections, but always deeply, remarkably plausible. You will never think about recent American history in the same way again.
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"Although the book is about Cold War politics, it ends up being genuinely engaging by taking three events considered to be turning points in the careers of certain politicians (a failed assassination attempt on JFK during the 1960 presidential race, RFK's assassination, and Gerald Ford's public relations fiasco related to Eastern Europe during the 1976 Presidential race) and goes with what almost happened. From there, the author uses his political knowledge to construct an alternate history. All three narratives are interesting based on the merits of the extremely realistic presentation (each alternate timeline is meticulously researched and could easily have happened in real life); however, another fun part of the book are the minor political shout-outs scattered throughout. While some are easy to catch, others are a little trickier and encourage the reader to pay attention to how events that came very close to happening, and, more importantly, the events that actually happened, have influenced more modern political figures. I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in politics, especially that of the Cold War era."
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Jamie (4 out of 5 stars)