A Pryor Commitment: The Autobiography of David Pryor

by David Pryor, Don Harrell

David Pryor’s career of public service is unparalleled in Arkansas he has been elected state representative, congressman, governor, and, alongside Dale Bumpers, U.S. senator (1979–1997), a seat his son Mark Pryor now holds. Through it all, Pryor’s curiosity, compassion, and concern for ordinary Americans draw the reader from one colorful vignette to another.

388 pages, Hardcover

First published September 5, 2000

Reviews

[Lynn Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. David Pryor is one of my favorite politicians. I first became aware of him when he ran for the U.S. Senate in Arkansas in 1972 against John McClellan and lost. He came back and won the Governor's race in 1974 and was reelected in 1976, before running for Senate again in 1978 and winning, then successfully being reelected in 1984 and 1990 before retiring in 1996.

I was privileged to meet David Pryor in 1974 at a fish fry in Lonoke, Arkansas. I even got his autograph, which I still have somewhere in a scrapbook. I always considered David to be a very nice, humble, honest man who happened to be a politician. It is obvious throughout the book how much he loves politics and public service. The book has many great stories of growing up in Arkansas and any Arkansan would love this book. It is not filled with self-deprecating humor like Dale Bumpers' autobiography, but the writing is good and you can tell he wrote this himself and it is not boring at all.

My one criticism of this book (and the reason I did not give it 5 stars) is the last third of the book has too much about Bill Clinton. I understand David was Senator when Bill was President and they were very familiar with each other (Bill followed David into the Governor's Office in Arkansas) and David was involved in Bill's impeachment defense and later in the Clinton Foundation as well. I just wish he hadn't gone into so much detail and had given more about his life and left the Clinton's to tell their own story.

I didn't always agree with David's politics. He was believed to be a moderate but many of his positions were liberal, to the left but not far-left. But I always trusted he was a good man who stood for his beliefs and I've always admired him for that. This book only served to increase my admiration for one of Arkansas' greatest politicians ever.

[Oliver Blue · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so good. It had a lot of great interesting stories about Arkansas and politics. There were also parts in the book that made me laugh as well. All in all, it was a great book and I learned more about David Pryor than I did before. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to learn more about Arkansas or David Pryor!

[Nancyjames · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots about Camden people and Camden stories