Politics: Observations and Arguments, 1966-2004

by Hendrik Hertzberg

Here at last are Hendrik Hertzberg’s most significant, hilarious, and devastating dispatches from the American scene he has chronicled for four decades with an uncanny blend of moral seriousness, high spirits, and perfect rhetorical pitch. Arranged thematically, each section contains the choicest, most illuminating pieces from his body of work and begins with a new piece of writing that frames the subject at hand. A tour of the defining moments of American life from the mid-’60s to the mid- ’00s, Politics is at once the story of American life from LBJ to GWB and a testament to the power of the written word.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History, Essays, United States

720 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2004

Reviews

[Kyle Neale · Rating 5 out of 5]

I now want Hertzberg to explain anything and everything to me.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the New Yorker's political essayist (the column "Comment"), Hertzberg is known to many as the most stylish liberal writer in America and far be it from me to argue. As this anthology spanning four decades shows, his work is usually the most concise and well, correct, take on the controversies of the day - be they real (Watergate/9/11) or manufactured ones (flag burning, Terry Schiavo). His columns display an easy grace and his logic has the feel of inevitability to it - though a glance at the turgid spew that passes for conventional wisdom proves that such clarity is anything but guaranteed. An essential anthology of a master of the genre. Highest recommendation.

[Steve Kierstead · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished it a while back. At first it was like reliving the 80s (which was unpleasant). Later it became like reliving the G W Bush years, which was more than unpleasant. But the writing was good, and the thought mostly clear.

I appreciated his observations on the unrepresentativeness of our voting system, and his hope that a proportional system night improve things. The Senate is of course unrepresentative by design and hard to fix, and the Electoral College is ridiculous. I'm not sure what it might take to begin to change either of those things.

[Neal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Political commentary written lucidly. An indispensable guide to the political struggles in America of the past forty years. I cannot imagine thinking about contemporary political issues without having an understanding of their antecedents, and Hertzberg illuminates them. Many dispatches are prescient; others aren't. But that's the cost of thinking aloud.

[Eugene Ahn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richly displays a rarely seen humanity in politics. Emotionally connects with the figures he writes about, and gives you hope in the potential good of the system. One of my favorites.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

New Yorker columnist hertzberg nails it almost every time.

[Sarah Pascarella · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the perfect companion during the madness of Election 2008. Hertzberg's arguments are always well-reasoned, pragmatic, engaging, inspiring, and hopeful. And he's funny to boot. I loved it.

[marcali · Rating 4 out of 5]

love Hertzberg; if you read the NYer then these will all be familiar. Reading the 2000 election columns are brutal.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hertzberg has a way with words, and this is almost 40 years of published shorter essays, arranged thematically. Who is this guy? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hendrik...

As such, this book is a nice little time capsules of what was in the news, and because it's history, we know what is going to happen next. So, this guy has lots of opinions and take on lots of things that have happened over the years. Some of them you will likely disagree with, as perhaps too idealistic, or woolly-headed. He generally means well.

Why did I read this 16 years after the last essay was finished? Good question. I bought it around 2010 in New York City somewhere, for just a buck or two, and it's sat on a shelf since then - I could never get around to forging my way through it. But hey, pandemic. You have time to things now. Life is slower. I decided to read 2 essays a day until I got through the whole damn thing. I didn't make it sometimes. A few times, whole weeks would go by. But then the end of the year was looming. I'd made it halfway. I'd made it 75%! I could see the end of the tunnel. A final dash to get to the end. AHH, SENSE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's not that it's bad, or badly written, or badly thought out, not at all. Hertzberg seems like a wise, educated, sensible, decent fellow who writes very well and very persuasively. The blurbs from eminences rain down across page after page. One of the best books of the year...in 2004.

Which isn't necessarily a bad thing in itself. But it is kind of the problem.

The problem is that so much of it is just so dated. Granted, sure, journalism is "the first draft of history" and all that and political journalism is probably even more vulnerable to that than most.

That said, W Bush's 2000-2004 era, maddening and frustrating and illiberal as it was, looks like a fucking five year old's birthday party compared to now.

And that's just history doing it's thing, the problem is that there isn't much here that is really new.

Which is also how it goes, widening gyre, plus ca change and all that. Such similar concerns are at play now, the usual culture war bullshit has been blown up on steroids. Shot through with spite and tabloid and reality TV and hysterics.

So the movie never ends it goes on and on and on and on...wish the, that wise and seasoned Hertz offered more insight, more generative incisions, and give across time something that would break through that perpetual cycle of action and re-action. Lay something on me that could help us see through this shit we're well and truly in.

Some say that if you make the same mistake over and over again, that's your character coming through. Who you really are inside bumping up against the shape of reality. It's not them, it's you. That's your character coming out. Learn to adjust it as needed.

Ok.

What if we said the same for the identity of countries. Cities, maybe. Humanity itself.

Banging our heads against the wall over and over again, because we (meaning a sort of general, Whitman-esque, collective human we here) instinctively WANT to make the same mistakes over and over again because that's really who we are. Proof is in the pudding. The double exposure. Wheat from the chaff. The dialectic. Yin/yang. Action, reaction. Back and forth and around and around we go.

Maybe the mark of the moral universe only bends towards itself.

What then.

Urgent question, even if, especially if, we're talking the polis. People actually doing things through institutions to and for and about other people.

What was once a farce lately feels more like a snuff film.

[Adrian]

When my dad bought a subscription for The New Republic in the 1980s-90s it was columnists like Hertzberg that made it one of my favourite magazines. This is a collection of his pieces for NR and other magazines that run from the late 1970s till 2004. There are excellent profiles of RFK and Jimmy Carter (Hertzberg was one of his speechwriters) and a perceptive history of tabloids in New York City. In 651 pages not everything is going to stand out and some of the political reporting is dated but even within these there are insights. HH is a devoted proponent of proportional representation which he details in several articles. Very good.

[seth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Caveat - this author certainly writes from a left-leaning perspective. That being said I believe the writing crisp, informative and not preachy (of course it helps that I often agree with his perspectives). This is basically a collection of his pieces from the New Yorker and other publications that deal with many of the main themes of the day over the last 40 years (from Vietnam to The War on Terror, Drugs, Middle Class etc..)

Its also nice, because you can pick it up in various parts and not feel you are missing the flow...

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hertzberg is one of the most knowledgable, witty, and eloquent political writers of today; however Politics would have benefited from some curation. The book contains some excellent writing--Hertzberg's best pieces are his history of the newspaper industry and arguments for proportional representation--and even the worst pieces are eminently readable; however, little would be lost by cutting its length by a a third.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

My only problem with Hendrik is that I tend to believe everything he says.

[Sarah Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hertzberg is a very fine writer.

[Catherine Teh 陳婉然 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truthfully engaged! Hilarious, Frustrating, Provocative yet amusing! Must read!