How Washington Really Works

by Charles Peters

Brought up to the minute in this new edition, How Washington Really Works exposes the Washington insiders know and hope you don't find out about. From the lobbyist and the bureaucrat straight up to the Congress and the President, Peters turns his sharp eye and ironic wit on the foibles and follies of the people running our country, and uncovers one basic The present system is designed to protect those within it, not to serve those outside. This book will not only explain this system of make-believe—it will make you want to change it.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, American History

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Charles Given Peters Jr. (December 22, 1926 – November 23, 2023) was an American journalist, editor, and author. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of the Washington Monthly magazine and the author of We Do Our Part: Toward A Fairer and More Equal America (Random House, 2017). Writing in The New York Times, Jonathan Martin called the book a “well timed … cri de coeur” and “a desperate plea to his country and party to resist the temptations of greed, materialism and elitism.”

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Charles T. Peters Jr.: Erotic

Reviews

[Jimmie Pike]

Its definitely dated but it gives good insights into the workings of Washington and why its seemingly so busy without anything to show for.

This book made me hate government.

[Edward Sojuwa]

As it stands we are in the midst of the 2020 election, and once more a total doofus is on the cusp of being President of the un-United States. But of course it's been done before, just now it's on a grander scale. And this little rebel rouser of a book might have warned us when Charles Peters, late editor in chief of the Washington Weekly and a former Congressman, wrote scathingly on how Washington Really (REALLY???) works. But a lot of people haven't read it (yet) because lots of you out there already know the truth: it works....NOT! Peters claims that DC and politicians in general live under a cloak of make believe which has been forced upon us so that we ourselves can believe in what America is doing. Yeah right. Tell us something we don't know! It's considered old news nowadays that FOR THE PEOPLE is a concept in terms only, and that if you believe you've seen Washington politics at its most corrupt and deceptive...well Americans, lemme tell ya, Trump or no Trump, we ain't seen nothing yet. Peters book is quite insightful especially when it cuts down everybody that deserves it, from CBS News anchors getting special perks for getting stories wrong, to the Carter administration doing hardly anything not because it didn't want to but because rules and reputations made it helpless to begin with, but Peters has only, I think, covered the tip of an iceberg that's getting bigger and bigger. Not that it can't be melted. In fact, this book, written in 1980, can be seen as a call to battle four decades later. Until then, God bless America...what's left thereof.
Three stars
Read my lips...PETERS ROCKS POLITICS TP THE BONE!

[Vannessa Anderson]

How Washington Really Works outlined the roles of the Press, Lobbies, Bureaucracy, Foreign Services, Military, Courts and Regulations, Congress and The White House. We learn how politicians are influenced through financial payoffs and blackmail.

How Washington Really Works was well written and informative.