Man of Tomorrow

Starred review from March 1, 2020
Los Angeles Times reporter, columnist, and editor Newton brings his deep knowledge of California politics to an engaging, sympathetic biography of the state's 34th and 39th governor, Jerry Brown (b. 1938). Drawing on abundant media coverage, archival sources, and interviews with key figures, including Brown himself, the author, who has written biographies of Earl Warren and Dwight Eisenhower, recounts the career of an unconventional, influential political figure. The son of politician Pat Brown, Jerry entered a Jesuit seminary in 1955 to study for the priesthood. He left after a few years, bristling under the "rules of obedience." He enrolled at the University of California, where an activist counterculture swirled around him, inspiring him "to bring the liturgical Catholicism of his training" and his "searching, restless intellect" to addressing real-world problems. After graduating from Yale Law School, he returned to California to work in politics. First elected to the Los Angeles School Board, in 1970, he campaigned as a reformer for secretary of state, winning by a small margin. A run for governor followed, and in 1974, after a narrow victory, he ascended to the State House, promising "energy, youth, clean and constructive government." Although supporters praised the "rambunctious, ambitious and unorthodox aspects" of his personality, his popularity waned. After a second term, Brown reflected, "I believe the people of California would like a respite from me. And in some ways, I would like a respite from them." He lost a Senate race, failed three times to win nomination for president, and took a few years for introspection before staging a comeback, facing down 10 opponents to win election as mayor of the benighted city of Oakland. What he learned from being mayor, he admitted, shaped his return to the governorship in 2011. He was older and, he believed, wiser than he had been decades earlier. Climate change became his overriding issue, for which he earned accolades at home and abroad. Newton follows all of Brown's ups and downs in a fluid, highly readable biography. A well-delineated portrait of an accomplished leader.

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March 23, 2020
In this overblown hagiography, journalist Newton (coauthor, Worthy Fights) views the life of four-term California governor Jerry Brown through the lens of the state’s post-WWII cultural, economic, and political upheavals. Charting Brown’s path from 18-year-old seminary student to Yale Law School graduate to governor (from 1975 to 1983 and again from 2011 to 2019) and presidential candidate (in 1976, 1980, and 1992), Newton highlights Brown’s “lifelong unwillingness to accept convention” and “the Oedipal impulses that connected and divided” him and his father, two-term California governor Pat Brown. In interviews conducted between 2016 and 2019, Brown reveals little about the rationale behind his career choices (which also included stints as mayor of Oakland and California attorney general) and stances on issues such as nuclear power, criminal justice reform, real estate development vs. environmental protections, and “fiscal responsibility.” Newton fills in the gaps with colorful sketches of California history, including the Manson murders and the rise of Silicon Valley, and exhaustive details about budget proposals and statewide ballot measures, but doesn’t get far beyond the shallow assessment that Brown’s mix of conservative and liberal principles makes him “thoroughly and completely his own person.” Readers hoping for deeper insight into California’s longest-serving governor will be disappointed.

May 1, 2020

Jerry Brown, former four-term governor of California, has been in the public eye for nearly a half-century, having been the longest-serving governor of the state. Elected twice in different decades, 1975-83 and 2011-19, Brown also served as mayor of Oakland (1999-2007) and attorney general of California (2007-11). Newton, a writer for the Los Angeles Times, has spent years observing the politician's long record of public service, and his years out of office. This lengthy, detailed yet accessible account delves into the leader's public and private life, including his childhood as the son of former California governor Pat Brown. Throughout, Newton offers insight into the personal and intellectual influences that shaped his subject's approach to government. This work sets itself apart from others, such as Miriam Pavel's The Browns of California, by contributing a more complete picture of this political figure, using firsthand interviews with Brown himself as well as numerous secondary sources. By also describing unsuccessful efforts to run for California senate in 1982 and the presidency in 1992, Newton gives a nuanced portrait of Brown as well as his complex political philosophy. VERDICT An insider political biography that will have national appeal.--Ed Goedeken, Iowa State Univ. Lib., Ames

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April 15, 2020
Newton (Eisenhower, 2011) brings serious cred to this project, having spent 25 years covering California government as a reporter, columnist, editorial-page editor, and editor at large for the Los Angeles Times. All of which is needed to trace the political life of one of the more thoughtful, influential, enigmatic, and resilient public servants in modern America. As the son of two-term California governor Pat Brown (1959-67), young Jerry Brown early on created a belief system, honed by three years of study with the Jesuits, that paired moral grounding with equal parts ingenuity, austerity, and political savvy. Newton avoids the quicksand of detail while still laying out the issues closest to Brown's heart and the political races he ran, from the L.A. Community College Board of Trustees (1969) to secretary of state (1971-75), governor (1975-83), U.S. Senate (an election he lost), chairman of the state Democratic party (1988-91), mayor of Oakland (1999-2007), attorney general (2007-11), and, again, governor (2011-19). Brown's failed campaigns for president are well covered, too. Very nearly a must for the politics collection.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)