Most Popular Books by Mark Halperin

"Sacrifices must be made, not just for the party, but for history" MORE THAN 100 MILLION ANXIOUS AMERICANS WANT TO KNOW: HOW CAN DONALD TRUMP BE BEATEN IN 2020 AND EVICTED FROM THE WHITE HOUSE? Mark Halperin interviewed the nation’s most experienced political strategists to discover what they think the Democratic nominee needs to do to win the 270 electoral votes required for victory. Drawing on first-hand experience, tactical savvy, and war stories from presidential campaigns past, America’s top operatives explain how to meet the daunting challenge of defeating President Trump. They provide expert advice on bracing for psychological battle, understanding Trump’s voters, picking a running mate, mastering the debates, and dodging black swans—time-tested and creative ideas that reveal the secrets every presidential hopeful wants to know, with specific insights on tackling the volatile, unpredictable force of nature that is Donald Trump. While endlessly controversial, the 45th president remains one of the most formidable political campaigners in modern history, with a staggering financial advantage and powerful allies. Only four elected incumbent American presidents have lost reelection bids since 1900. Few of the strategists think beating Trump will be easy. But none believe it is impossible. Their best ideas, gleaned from years of experience at the highest levels of American politics, are all presented in this compelling and fast-paced book. HOW TO BEAT TRUMP will give voters tools to evaluate which candidates are best positioned to defeat the incumbent. More than seventy-five strategists were interviewed for HOW TO BEAT TRUMP, including Jill Alper, David Axelrod, Donna Brazile, James Carville, Tad Devine, Karen Dunn, Adrienne Elrod, Jennifer Granholm, Ben LaBolt, Jeff Link, Jim Margolis, Mike McCurry, Mark Mellman, Amanda Renteria, John Sasso, Kathleen Sebelius, Bob Shrum, Ginny Terzano, and David Wilhelm.

In The Way to Win, two of the country’s most accomplished political reporters explain what separates the victors from the victims in the unforgiving environment of modern presidential campaigns. Mark Halperin, political director of ABC News, and John F. Harris, the national politics editor of The Washington Post, tell the story of how two families–the Bushes and the Clintons–have held the White House for nearly a generation and examine Hillary Clinton’s prospects for extending this record in 2008. Based on years of research, including private campaign memos and White House communications, The Way to Win reveals the surprising details of how the Bushes and Clintons have closely studied each the other’s successes and failures and used these lessons to shape their own strategies for winning elections and wielding power. In the case of George W. Bush, the strategic genius is Karl C. Rove, arguably the most influential White House aide in history. For the first time, Halperin and Harris cut through the myths and controversies surrounding Rove to illuminate in brilliant, behind-the-scenes detail what he actually does–his Trade Secrets for winning elections. In the case of the Clintons, the chief strategist is Bill Clinton himself. Drawing on their fifteen years reporting on and interviewing him, Halperin and Harris deconstruct and decipher the Clinton style, identifying the methods that all candidates can use in their pursuit of the White House. The Way to Win takes a lively and irreverent approach, but Halperin and Harris also show the disturbing ways that American politics has become a Freak Show–their name for a political culture that provides incentives for candidates, activists, interest groups, and the news media to emphasize ideological extremism and personal attack. For the first time, Halperin and Harris describe how Freak Show campaigns orchestrated by the likes of Internet pioneer Matt Drudge forced Al Gore and John Kerry to lose control of their public images (with considerable help from the candidates’ own ineptitude) and lose the White House. On the brink of what will be one of the most intense, most exciting presidential elections in American history, The Way to Win is the book that armchair political junkies have been waiting for. Filled with peerless analysis and eye-opening revelations from the trenches, it is a must read for everyone who follows American politics.

The gripping inside story of the 2008 presidential election, by two of the best political reporters in the country. “It’s one of the best books on politics of any kind I’ve read. For entertainment value, I put it up there with Catch 22.” —The Financial Times “It transports you to a parallel universe in which everything in the National Enquirer is true….More interesting is what we learn about the candidates themselves: their frailties, egos and almost super-human stamina.” —The Financial Times “I can’t put down this book!” —Stephen Colbert Game Change is the New York Times bestselling story of the 2008 presidential election, by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, two of the best political reporters in the country. In the spirit of Richard Ben Cramer’s What It Takes and Theodore H. White’s The Making of the President 1960, this classic campaign trail book tells the defining story of a new era in American politics, going deeper behind the scenes of the Obama/Biden and McCain/Palin campaigns than any other account of the historic 2008 election.

Who's ready for the oval office? They call it a horse race, and in this election the candidates got out of the gate early. But it's still hard to tell them apart and make a choice. Mark Halperin, veteran reporter and political analyst, sizes up the White House hopefuls with intelligence, insight, and his trademark wit, offering engaging, in-depth examinations of the histories, qualifications, agendas, and personal beliefs of the major candidates—including Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, and Fred Thompson, as well as some "dark horse" contenders. Among the features in this book: Issue-by-issue charts defining where each candidate stands on the war in Iraq, health care, taxes, the economy, and other significant points of debate. An assessment of each candidate's strengths and weaknesses. A hypothetical glimpse into the future of each candidate's potential presidency. Areas of possible controversy that could spark heated discussion and affect the outcome of the race. Personal facts and anecdotes about each candidate—including exclusive Q&As covering everything from their junk food weaknesses to their biggest superstitions.

Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times: "Those hungry for political news will read Double Down for the scooplets and insidery glimpses it serves up about the two campaigns, and the clues it offers about the positioning already going on among Republicans and Democrats for 2016 ... The book testifies to its authors’ energetic legwork and insider access... creating a novelistic narrative that provides a you-are-there immediacy... They succeed in taking readers interested in the backstabbing and backstage maneuvering of the 2012 campaign behind the curtains, providing a tactile... sense of what it looked like from the inside." In their runaway bestseller Game Change, 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 the voters, disdain from the nation’s powerful money machers, and dysfunction within the West Wing. As 2012 looms, leaders of the Republican Party, salivating over Obama’s political fragility, see a chance to wrest back control of the White House—and the country. So how did the Republicans screw it up? How did Obama survive the onslaught of super PACs and defy the predictions of a one-term presidency? Double Down follows the gaudy carnival of GOP 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. Double Down exposes blunders, scuffles, and machinations far beyond the klieg lights of the campaign trail: Obama storming out of a White House meeting with his high command after accusing them of betrayal. Romney’s mind-set as he made his controversial “47 percent” comments. The real reasons New Jersey governor Chris Christie was never going to be Mitt’s running mate. The intervention held by the president’s staff to rescue their boss from political self-destruction. The way the tense détente between Obama and Bill Clinton morphed into political gold. And the answer to one of the campaign’s great mysteries—how did Clint Eastwood end up performing Dada dinner theater at the Republican convention? In Double Down, Mark Halperin and John Heilemann take the reader into back rooms and closed-door meetings, laying bare the secret history of the 2012 campaign for a panoramic account of an election that was as hard fought as it was lastingly consequential.

Poetry of forgotten moments and bygone people.

In Falling Through the Music, his fifth major book of poetry, Mark Halperin gives us consolation, guidance, and companionship while delivering an accomplished meditation on the first real glimpses of the limits on a life. Displaying an agility of formal invention--he moves easily from a Whitmanesque and witty litany to rhymed quatrains--Halperin deftly melds technique to theme. As in "Someone Pausing, he is able to place us in the mind of someone--any one of us--who has stood on an island in the street, fully attentive and present, knowing nothing stays, not even the observer.

Race of a Lifetime- How Obama Won the White Houseis Published in the USA asGame Change- Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime. The American presidential election of 2008 was as riveting a spectacle as modern politics has ever produced. The meteoric rise and historic triumph of Barack Obama. The shocking fall of the House of Clinton - and the improbable resurrection of Hillary as Obama's partner and America's face to the world. The mercurial, at times erratic, performance of John McCain. The mesmerizing and bewildering emergence of Sarah Palin. In 2008, the battle for the White House became blockbuster entertainment. Everyone was watching. But despite the wall-to-wall media coverage, remarkably little of the real story behind the headlines has yet been told. Race of a Lifetime pulls back the curtain on the Obama, Clinton, McCain, and Palin campaigns. How did Obama convince himself that, against enormous odds, he should be, and could be, the nation's first African-American president? How did the tumultuous relationship between the Clintons shape - and warp Hillary's supposedly unstoppable bid to return to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue? What drove her husband's loss of composure and devastating political miscalculations? Why did McCain put the unknown, untested governor of Alaska on the Republican ticket? And was Palin merely as out of her depth as she appeared - or troubled in more unsettling ways? Based on hundreds of interviews with the people who lived the story and packed full of exclusive revelations, Race of a Lifetime answers those questions and more. Vivid and novelistic, fast-paced and character driven, this is a tour de force- an intimate, often hilarious, sometimes shocking portrait of the quest for power.

"The intense piety of late T’ang essays on Buddhism by literati has helped earn the T’ang its title of the “golden age of Chinese Buddhism.” In contrast, the Sung is often seen as an age in which the literati distanced themselves from Buddhism. This study of Sung devotional texts shows, however, that many literati participated in intra-Buddhist debates. Others were drawn to Buddhism because of its power, which found expression and reinforcement in its ties with the state. For some, monasteries were extravagant houses of worship that reflected the corruption of the age; for others, the sacrifice and industry demanded by such projects were exemplars worthy of emulation. Finally, Buddhist temples could evoke highly personal feelings of filial piety and nostalgia. This book demonstrates that representations of Buddhism by lay people underwent a major change during the T’ang–Sung transition. These changes built on basic transformations within the Buddhist and classicist traditions and sometimes resulted in the use of Buddhism and Buddhist temples as frames of reference to evaluate aspects of lay society. Buddhism, far from being pushed to the margins of Chinese culture, became even more a part of everyday elite Chinese life."

ung devotional texts shows, however, that many literati participated in intra-Buddhist debates. Others were drawn to Buddhism because of its power, which found expression and reinforcement in its ties with the state. For some, monasteries were extravagant houses of worship that reflected the corruption of the age; for others, the sacrifice and industry demanded by such projects were exemplars worthy of emulation. Finally, Buddhist temples could evoke highly personal feelings of filial piety and nostalgia. This book demonstrates that representations of Buddhism by lay people underwent a major change during the T’ang–Sung transition. These changes built on basic transformations within the Buddhist and classicist traditions and sometimes resulted in the use of Buddhism and Buddhist temples as frames of reference to evaluate aspects of lay society. Buddhism, far from being pushed to the margins of Chinese culture, became even more a part of everyday elite Chinese life.

"This book provides high school and college classroom teachers (and students) with a handy, carefully explained guide to meta in poetry. The 600 contains lots of examples of poems--the authors scan some and explain their decisions-and they also offer poems for the reader to practice on. They also include a helpful glossary of poetry terms."

Como Barack Obama, senador iniciante com poucas realizações políticas tangíveis se convenceu de que deveria e poderia ser o primeiro presidente afro-americano dos Estados Unidos? Que papel Bill Clinton desempenhou efetivamente na campanha da esposa? Por que McCain escolheu a desconhecida governadora do Alasca, uma incógnita, como companheira de chapa? E quem é realmente Sarah Palin? Em Virada no jogo, John Heilemann e Mark Halperin se valem de um privilegiado acesso aos meios políticos para responder a essas e a outras perguntas, revelando o que de fato se passou nos bastidores da corrida presidencial norte-americana em 2008. Mesmo com a exaustiva cobertura da imprensa diária, para Heilemann, colunista da revista New York, e Halperin, da Time, boa parte da história por trás das manchetes não fora contada. Por isso, Virada no jogo se empenha em traçar um retrato íntimo dos candidatos e cônjuges que possuíam chances razoáveis de ocupar a Casa Branca: Barack e Michelle Obama, Hillary e Bill Clinton, John e Elizabeth Edwards e John e Cindy McCain. Com base em centenas de entrevistas, Virada no jogo é um tour de force jornalístico que pode ser lido como um romance de ritmo frenético. É a narrativa definitiva, às vezes chocante e não raro hilariante, de uma campanha presidencial que entrou para a história.

"This shit would be really interesting if we weren't in the middle of it."—Barack Obama, September 2008 In 2008, the presidential election became blockbuster entertainment. Everyone was watching as the race for the White House unfolded like something from the realm of fiction. The meteoric rise and historic triumph of Barack Obama. The shocking fall of the House of Clinton—and the improbable resurrection of Hillary as Obama's partner and America's face to the world. The mercurial performance of John McCain and the mesmerizing emergence of Sarah Palin. Based on hundreds of interviews with the people who lived the story, Game Change is a reportorial tour de force that reads like a fast-paced novel. Character driven and dialogue rich, replete with extravagantly detailed scenes, this is the occasionally shocking, often hilarious, ultimately definitive account of the campaign of a lifetime.

Poetry. "In his latest collection, TIME AS DISTANCE, Halperin explores some of his and our various lives, traveling along a time-line from Yakima, Washington, and Tallinn, Pennsylvania, back to Tallinn, Estonia, deep into his own Russian-Jewish ancestry. Along that time-line he and we all live, still, always: for Halperin, time strands and estranges us; it streamlines and brings us together. These are poems that travel immense distances very quietly, without gimmicks, but with saving heart and irresistible grace" - Nancy Eimers.

This collection of poems is a creel of lovely rainbows. Halperin snaps his line into deep pools and reels in flashing revelations. Whether he watches a flock of jays jabbering or observes Satan murmuring to Eve, this poet catches, with a particular perfection, the nuances between nature and myth in Changing Weather.—Richard Denner author of Collected Poems:1961-2000, Comrades Press and The Collected Books of Richard Denner: Volumes 1-12, dPress

The imperative, essential, and news-breaking account of the 2016 presidential campaign, focusing on the explosive final forty-five days. Print run 300,000.

A poem by Mark Halperin of his interpretation of Gomer printed on handmade paper with drawing by printer/papermaker Suzanne Ferris, wrapped in linen and encased in a raku jar by Neal Bonham.

«Esta mierda sería realmente interesante si no estuviéramos metidos en ella.» BARACK OBAMA, septiembre 2008 Las últimas elecciones presidenciales americanas fueron las más mediáticas de la historia; se trata de una campaña cubierta por todos los medios y sobre la que parecía que ya se había publicado todo. ¿Todo? Este libro demuestra que no; aún quedaban datos por relevar, sin duda los más interesantes, todo lo que se produjo entre bambalinas. Dos periodistas americanos, John Heilemann y Mark Halperin, ofrecen ahora al gran público dicha información, gracias a su acceso privilegiado a la misma.