The Red and the Blue - Steve Kornacki

The Red and the Blue

By Steve Kornacki

  • Release Date: 2018-10-02
  • Genre: Political Science
4.5 Score: 4.5 (From 54 Ratings)

Book Synopsis

From MSNBC correspondent Steve Kornacki, a lively and sweeping history of the birth of political tribalism in the 1990s—one that brings critical new understanding to our current political landscape from Clinton to Trump

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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Latest Impressions

  • Great

    5
    By Old Guards
    A great political history of the eighties and nineties. Also an interesting parallel of the political paths of Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich. Although he only loosely connects those events to the invention of the terms red and blue.
  • The red and the blue

    5
    By traffic lawyer
    Any student of late 20th century politics should read this book as a reference to the divisions that have occurred in the United States and still exist today. Thanks Steve! Good job!
  • Naw

    1
    By PraiseKekffff
    Not even slightly realistic.