Life Among the Cannibals
A Political Career, a Tea Party Uprising, and the End of Governing As We Know It
Senator Arlen Specter with Charles Robbins
Thomas Dunne Books
A revealing memoir of how Washington is changing---and not for the better
During a storied thirty-year career in the U.S. Senate, Arlen Specter rose to Judiciary Committee chairman, saved and defeated Supreme Court nominees, championed NIH funding, wrote watershed crime laws, always staying defiantly independent, "The Contrarian," as Time magazine billed him in a package of the nation's ten-best Senators. It all ended with one vote, for President Obama's stimulus, when Specter broke with Republicans to provide the margin of victory to prevent another Depression.
Shunned by the GOP faithful, Specter changed parties, giving Democrats a sixty-vote supermajority and throwing Washington into a tailspin. He kept charging, taking the first bursts of Tea Party fire at public meetings on Obama's health care--reform plan. Undaunted, Specter cast the key vote for the health plan.
In Life Among the Cannibals, Specter candidly describes the battles that led to his party switch, his tough transition, the unexpected struggles and duplicity that he faced, and his tumultuous campaign and eventual defeat in the 2010 Pennsylvania Democratic primary.
Taking us behind the scenes in the Capitol, the White House, and on the campaign trail, he shows how the rise of extremists---in both parties---has displaced tolerance with purity tests, purging centrists, and precluding moderate, bipartisan consensus.
ONE
THE NEW SUPER TUESDAY
On May 18, 2010, which the media had dubbed "the New Super Tuesday," CNN anchor T. J. Holmes opened the network's 9 a.m. newscast from Atlanta:
We've got a test going on today of the nation's...
Praise for Life Among the Cannibals
“Worth reading because it might be a long time (if ever) before somebody so unarguably knowledgeable will exercise such candor about partisan American politics.” —Philadelphia Daily News
“Specter ... offers his knowledgeable, withering critique of brutal partisanship in national politics.” —Publishers Weekly
“A highly readable battle cry from the moderate center—and timely, given the tenor of politics today.” —Kirkus Reviews
“A remarkable work, as Specter courageously chastises the Republican Party for its fixation on litmus tests. Specter -- a veteran Republican who left the party in April 2009 -- is right to warn of the risks posed to America by hyper-partisanship. … An impassioned call for the return of moderation to the party” —D.R. Tucker, The Huffington Post
“Written in Senator Specter's trademark candor, Never Give In is a compelling tale of survival---both personal and political---from one of the Senate’s most independent voices.” —Vice President Joe Biden on Never Give In
“Never Give In brims with the singular tenacity and humor that have characterized Arlen Specter's nearly thirty years in the United States Senate. This book is both an entertaining read and an unflinching account of the experience of fighting an intensely personal battle on a highly public stage.” —Michael J. Fox
“He knows a thing or two about illness and politics. It's a hell of a read.” —Larry King on Never Give In
“Worth reading because it might be a long time (if ever) before somebody so unarguably knowledgeable will exercise such candor about partisan American politics.” —Philadelphia Daily News
“Specter ... offers his knowledgeable, withering critique of brutal partisanship in national politics.” —Publishers Weekly
“A highly readable battle cry from the moderate center—and timely, given the tenor of politics today.” —Kirkus Reviews
“A remarkable work, as Specter courageously chastises the Republican Party for its fixation on litmus tests. Specter -- a veteran Republican who left the party in April 2009 -- is right to warn of the risks posed to America by hyper-partisanship. … An impassioned call for the return of moderation to the party” —D.R. Tucker, The Huffington Post
“Written in Senator Specter's trademark candor, Never Give In is a compelling tale of survival---both personal and political---from one of the Senate’s most independent voices.” —Vice President Joe Biden on Never Give In
“Never Give In brims with the singular tenacity and humor that have characterized Arlen Specter's nearly thirty years in the United States Senate. This book is both an entertaining read and an unflinching account of the experience of fighting an intensely personal battle on a highly public stage.” —Michael J. Fox
“He knows a thing or two about illness and politics. It's a hell of a read.” —Larry King on Never Give In
In the Press
LIFE AMONG THE CANNIBALS by Arlen Specter, Charles Robbins | Kirkus Book Reviews
Read the Kirkus Review of LIFE AMONG THE CANNIBALS A Political Career, a Tea Party Uprising, and the End of Governing As We Know It. Senator Specter, swept out of office in 2010, takes a hard look at what happened--and at the collapse, as he sees it, of civil politics. - Kirkus Reviews
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Sen. Arlen Specter
Sen. Arlen Specter
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Charles Robbins
Charles Robbins
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