This Town: Two Parties and a Funeral-Plus, Plenty of Valet Parking!-in America's Gilded Capital

The inside-front cover blurb touts Mark Leibovich's THIS TOWN as a "blistering, stunning - and often hysterically funny - examination of our ruling class's incestuous `media industrial complex.' '' That's somewhat overstated, in my opinion, but the details unfurled by the author certainly flap with gossip and name dropping.Leibovich is chief national correspondent for "The New York Times Magazine" and based in Washington, D.C. He is deeply imbedded in the nexus of politics and media, a position he has no trouble making fun of. An important aspect of his book is political a** kissing by reporters trying to get inside information about the workings of our government. He doesn't hide the fact that he's right there on his knees, scrambling with the pooched-up multitudes, trying to get newsy tidbits.The book has an abundance of snarky comments and hearsay gossip. His background material must be pretty solid because there's not much retribution being reported and he still gets to attend glitzy parties. It's apparent that the feathers of our political and media elite are well-conditioned to the downpour of criticism heaped upon them. Their memories are also short and, with a few exceptions, long-lasting enmity is a rare occurrence.Massive egos and self-advancement agendas are readily accepted among the elite in Washington. Indeed, the practitioners of normally frowned upon mannerisms seem to rise to the top of the power heap where they are idolized and caressed. That's not to say they are admired. The author cites numerous comical and critical comments passed around under the breaths of observers as the political parrots strut around.Being somewhat of a gossip-monger myself, I enjoy mud-slinging and "foul whisperings," as Shakespeare put it. I admire Leibovich's willingness to put himself out there as he spreads the slime found within the workings of our government. It's apparent that he doesn't consider it hazardous to shovel dirt and that makes for an entertaining read.I had some problems with the book, as I always seem to have. I thought there were too many names of non-important people thrown around who really have nothing to do with the author's scandalous look at the political world in our nation's capital. I also thought the account of his involvement in some questionable e-mail distribution practices was too lengthy and not particularly earth shattering. I found him somewhat long-winded in places, going on at great length to describe events that didn't fit into his theme. But I don't know the guy; that may well be his modus operandi.I enjoyed the book. My impatience with his wordiness was overshadowed by my appreciation of his writing skills and the inside look at our seemingly ineffective political process. I also appreciated his nonpartisan reporting. Pomposity, stubbornness, and greed have no political party. Authors who can be neutral when writing about politics are in short supply these days.Schuyler T WallaceAuthor of TIN LIZARD TALES

For decades I noticed first cable TV and later social media was either dumbing the population down by feeding them really stupid, illogical, emotionally contrived fodder that is usually the slop for hogs OR they have revealed this slop is actually what at least one third or more of population desires in order to feel alive. 😳No wonder so many seemingly intelligent folk fall for obvious romance scams. They are WILLING to pay to be defrauded so as to feel alive, important. DC figured this out too with help of media and legal grifter-thugs!

Alice Roosevelt Longworth, Teddy's daughter, had it just about right about gossip: "If you haven't got anything nice to say about anybody, come sit next to me." Harry Truman, no big fan of D.C., supposedly said this: "You want a friend in Washington? Get a dog." Oscar Wilde had the best lines though: "Gossip is charming. History is merely gossip. But scandal is gossip made tedious by morality." And this: "Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about it." And especially this: "If there is anything more annoying in the world than having people talk about you, it is certainly having no one talk about you."Why do people despise Washington D.C.'s smugness and shallowness but love its gossip? Come on. Admit it. You love the gossip about all the politicos inside the Beltway. If you don't or you have deluded yourself into thinking that you don't, you will not like this book called This Town by Mark Leibovich. If you enjoy a good scandal or a ripe rumor or juicy gossip, like me, you will eat it up like a piece of dense chocolate fudge cake from the fridge at midnight. This bitchy confection and sugary expose of a book is politically, socially, and narcissism-baringly delicious. It is schadenfreude-like heaven.Leibovich, The New York Times Magazine chief national correspondent and previous national political reporter in the Times' D.C. bureau and formerly lead political writer at The Washington Post, does one heck of a job capturing all the sins--all that Machiavellian skullduggery and court jester buffoonery. Not only does he know where all the bodies are buried in our nation's capital, metaphorically speaking of course, but as the old R&B song says, he'll take you there. And he reveals them in a satirically hilarious way. It is the result of over 300 interviews conducted over a three year period.Leibovich writes with that fly-on-the-wall perspective prevalent in any expose published these days. But not only are you there, you are there with an intelligent, critical mind telling you about what just happened. His writing style is reminiscent of Tom Wolfe in his Electric Kool-Aid Acid New Journalism days of the late 1960s. And Leibovich is just as keen about human foibles as Tom was and is--in this case, excavating eccentricities from the "influencers" in Congress, media, and lobyistland. Leibovich amusingly dissects the "Washington Club" of power as he calls it and draws our attention to what Jim VandeHei of Politico characterizes as the "New World Order" of journalism: "speed, information, gossip, and buzz." Promoting and protecting your "brand" is the sine qua non of survival in This Town (Washington), "the most socially networked city in the United States."There are so many instances of pooh-poohing the pomposities that you almost get desensitized to them. Well, almost but not quite. Here's one from John Harris at Politico, talking about the Obama administration's notorious self-importance and "transparency": "What's notable about this administration is how ostentatiously its people proclaim to be uninterested in things they are plainly interested in." And make no mistake, Leibovich is an equal opportunity satirist, ridiculing Liberal and Conservative, Republican and Democrat. He gores sacred cows on both the left and right, Richard Holbrooke and Haley Barbour being two such victims. Many ideological favorites don't recover unscathed from the anecdotes. He does have his own sacred cows that he doesn't eviscerate as you get toward the end of the book. But, hey, he's got three kids, a house in D.C. and a job to protect.There are lots of major players in the political playpen here, including the movers and shakers of Obama World, tweeting, instagraming, and texting away on their latest BlackBerrys, iPhones, and Galaxies. The intense navel-gazing of those who drive the politics/media/lobyistland machine is scrutinized. Mike Allen, the genius behind the Politico website and Playbook web page with serious buzz, is featured prominently because his media empire disseminates all that narcissism to the world. Leibovich also examines the "rise of ideological journalism" and the strategy of "winning the morning" by "new-media entities" such as Politico's Playbook and the old media highways like Morning Joe on MSNBC. Kurt Bardella, Republican Congressman Darrell Issa's right-hand man, is profiled as well. Here is Bardella's reaction when Leibovich proposed to include him in the book: "Clearly enamored of his own narrative, Kurt was intrigued by my proposition. Actually, if I was reading his face correctly, he had already been thinking about who would play him in the TV treatment. But Kurt said he also believed his was an important story to tell. He could be an instructive vehicle for showing how Washington works in the twenty-first-century information carnival." Humility is not in evidence emanating out of the subjects of this book, but self-aggrandizement is a constant heavy fog surrounding their public personas.Leibovich may not have a power lunch in his town again for a while for telling tales out of the inner circles or The Club as he terms it. But he sure gave us one jaw-dropping, sardonic look at the ridiculousness of some of the powers that be at those lunches and their media, lobbyist, and PR sycophants who fawn over every word they say, write, and utter and every tweet they tweet and text or email they send. You will be shocked and awed at all the "false narratives" he exposes. As he states: "Washington ceased being about true narratives long ago."At the end of the book, you come away feeling not just a cynicism about some of the powerful in our nation's capital but an appreciation of and wonder at the immense human weaknesses involved in all of it, especially when you understand that people have allowed themselves to be corrupted by the dark forces of political power, celebrity, and greed. Many consider Washington an incestuous nest of self-involved and devious power-mad types surrounded by "fixers" of all stripes who are glorified in movies and on TV by characters such as Olivia Pope in ABC's Scandal. No, D.C. is not for the squeamish. But, do people ever come through it with their integrity and honor intact? Yes, many do. There are a few who do in this book. However, Leibovich's superb satire provides all the cautionary tales and absurdities that define the territory when you dare to become a player in the Dante's Inferno-like inner circles of This Town. It's one hell of a town and one glorious read.

This is the book of the season in political Washington. In a very accessible style, Leibovich waltzes through the real world of Washington today. It is a city in which people come to serve the public and remain, indefinitely, to serve themselves. There was always an element of this but Leibovich documents the new and frightening normal in which, for example, the overwhelming majority of defeated politicians stay on as lobbyists, moving through the revolving doors. In its own, entertaining way, it helps to illuminate some of the root causes of the dysfunction of the capital of the most powerful nation on earth. A very good, quick introduction to modern politics inside the beltway. Recommended.

I read only the beginning because it wasn't possible to read smoothly and with enjoyment. It is packed with names probably known only to DC insiders as well as words I had never read before. (I thought I had a large vocabulary until this book.) Add to that, the story doesn't flow smoothly. I wanted to enjoy this book as I had others by political reporters in DC or NYC.This may be of more interest to other DC insiders.

I really loved this book, as its a snapshot into a place we all watch and deal with but also a place most of us will never be.You get to really see how Washington is a corrupt, self serving sewage on the potomac. At once grand and gilded, and at other times just a sad mess.Funny and humurous, but also corrupt and incompetence. All there on display.

A clear eyed view of the unimagineable cynicism and venality of the politician-media-lobbyist- ... complex.Appeared to be a bit discontinuous at times.

This demonstrates the author's knowledge of "DC". He fails to address the audience he claims to write for. "Inside" politics in the USA have almost never had good description except in presidential biographies.