
Double Down
W H Allen (Publisher)
Published on 7. August 2014
Book
Paperback/Softback
528 pages
978-0-7535-5557-6 (ISBN)
Description
'What am I supposed to do when he starts spewing his bullshit?' Barack Obama preparing for his first debate with Mitt Romney
In their runaway bestseller Game Change / Race of a Lifetime, Mark Halperin and John Heilemann captured the full drama of Barack Obama's improbable, dazzling victory over the Clintons, John McCain and Sarah Palin. With the same masterly reporting, unparalleled access, and narrative skill, Double Down picks up the story in the Oval Office, where the president is beset by crises both inherited and unforeseen - facing defiance from his political foes, disenchantment from voters, disdain from the nation's powerful finance figures and dysfunction within the West Wing. As 2012 looms, leaders of the Republican Party, salivating over Obama's political fragility, see a chance to wrestle back control of the White House - and the country.
So how did the Republicans screw it up? How did Obama survive the onslaught and defy the predictions of a one-term presidency? Double Down follows the gaudy carnival of Republican contenders - ambitious and flawed, famous and infamous, charismatic and cartoonish - as Mitt Romney, the straitlaced, can-do, gaffe-prone multimillionaire from Massachusetts, scraped and scratched his way to the nomination, while Obama is seen storming out of a White House meeting with his high command after accusing them of betrayal, and gradually transforming a tense detente with Bill Clinton into political gold.
Double Down takes you into back rooms and closed-door meetings, laying bare the secret history of the 2012 campaign in a panoramic account of an election that was as hard fought as it was lastingly consequential.
In their runaway bestseller Game Change / Race of a Lifetime, Mark Halperin and John Heilemann captured the full drama of Barack Obama's improbable, dazzling victory over the Clintons, John McCain and Sarah Palin. With the same masterly reporting, unparalleled access, and narrative skill, Double Down picks up the story in the Oval Office, where the president is beset by crises both inherited and unforeseen - facing defiance from his political foes, disenchantment from voters, disdain from the nation's powerful finance figures and dysfunction within the West Wing. As 2012 looms, leaders of the Republican Party, salivating over Obama's political fragility, see a chance to wrestle back control of the White House - and the country.
So how did the Republicans screw it up? How did Obama survive the onslaught and defy the predictions of a one-term presidency? Double Down follows the gaudy carnival of Republican contenders - ambitious and flawed, famous and infamous, charismatic and cartoonish - as Mitt Romney, the straitlaced, can-do, gaffe-prone multimillionaire from Massachusetts, scraped and scratched his way to the nomination, while Obama is seen storming out of a White House meeting with his high command after accusing them of betrayal, and gradually transforming a tense detente with Bill Clinton into political gold.
Double Down takes you into back rooms and closed-door meetings, laying bare the secret history of the 2012 campaign in a panoramic account of an election that was as hard fought as it was lastingly consequential.
Reviews / Votes
Explosive * Daily Mail * Compelling * The Observer * An energetic and entertaining account of the knives-out behind-the-scenes living during the world's most hard-fought election * The Irish Times * Full of page turning details ... translates insider politics for mass-market readers * Washington Post * The authors ability to get inside the campaigns and dramatise them make the book essential reading for those addicted to US politics * Financial Times * Vigorous ... gripping * New Statesman * The book testifies to its authors' energetic legwork and insider access ... creating a novelistic narrative that provides a you-are-there immediacy * The New York Times *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Ebury Publishing
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 126 mm
Thickness: 31 mm
Weight
608 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7535-5557-6 (9780753555576)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

John Heilemann | Mark Halperin
Double Down
E-Book
11/2013
1st Edition
Virgin Digital
€12.99
Available for download
Persons
John Heilemann and Mark Halperin are two of the most acclaimed political reporters in the United States, with unrivalled access to the presidential candidates and their teams throughout the campaign. John Heilemann is the national political correspondent and columnist for New York magazine. He is a National Magazine Award finalist and a former staff writer for the New Yorker, the Economist, and Wired. Mark Halperin is editor-at-large and senior political analyst for Time, founding editor of The Page on time.com, and former political director of ABC News.