Crashing the Party

December 17, 2001
This jaunty, provocative and entertaining on-the-road memoir/manifesto maps out Nader's political philosophy and provides the Nader take on the contemporary U.S. political scene. Whether it is what he sees as the corruption of the national media—"I can't overemphasize the influence of The New York Times
and Washington Post
in setting the scene for the rest of the media"—or the need to resuscitate the town meeting as he did repeatedly during his campaign tour, Nader presents a strong case that national politics is run more by money than issues and that there is a "democracy gap" that "discourages people from shaping the future for our country." Like a plucky protagonist in a Frank Capra film, Nader insists on speaking up for the little people and backs his arguments and decent sentiments with hard facts: an appendix of stats on affordable housing needs, "corporate welfare," personal bankruptcies, uneven distribution of wealth and the current minimum wage (which, adjusted for inflation, is lower than it was in 1979) is an impressive indictment of the state of the national economy. Holding up last November's squalid election bickering as the end result of a fatigued system—"To tell you the truth, I think they never really liked either one of them," he quotes Gore's own campaign manager as saying—Nader, ever optimistic, ends his book with a pragmatic 10-point "First Stage Goals for a Better America." (Jan.)Forecast:Despite the general shift of interest away from last year's election, Nader's faithful and other opponents of two-party domination will undoubtedly seek this out. It should do well in areas where he has strong support.

May 15, 2001
What made Ralphie run: billed as an unrepentant memoir.

Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2001
Lifelong consumer, environmental, labor, and women's and minority rights advocate Nader always seems to be in a hurry. It was a trait that stood him in good stead for his Green Party run for the presidency in 2000, during which he campaigned in all 50 states and plenty of poor communities whose votes the Democrats take for granted and the Republicans write off. Nader's point throughout this breathless memoir is that both parties ought to be doing something for such communities; instead, he argues with plenty of factual ammunition, they are marginalizing more and more Americans, so they won't have to pay them any attention, either, and can concentrate exclusively on the corporations that bankroll elections. The two big parties have taken over the presidential debates by creating the corporation that runs them and sets eligibility rules to shut out third-party candidates. They have seen to it that nearly all the states put gargantuan hurdles before ballot access by third parties. And the Democrats, Nader's political family of origin, have betrayed virtually all the constituencies that historically made up that party's formerly electorally invincible coalition--never more so than during the Clinton-Gore years, as the book's last appendix summarizes in a 20-point bill of indictment piquantly entitled "Wouldn't President George W. Bush and Vice President Cheney Have Done the Same?" While elaborating his complaint, Nader valorizes seemingly everyone who helped his campaign, which, along with his clear but impetuous, often imprecise verbal style, makes for a punishing as well as an exhilarating read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)