num_pages: 1072
description: An American Iliad in the guise of contemporary political reportage, What It Takes penetrates the mystery at the heart of all presidential campaigns: How do presumably ordinary people acquire that mixture of ambition, stamina, and pure shamelessness that makes a true candidate? As he recounts the frenzied course of the 1988 presidential race -- and scours the psyches of contenders from George Bush and Robert Dole to Michael Dukakis and Gary Hart -- Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Richard Ben Cramer comes up with the answers, in a book that is vast, exhaustively researched, exhilarating, and sometimes appalling in its revelations.
language: English
title: What It Takes: The Way to the White House
titlecomplete: What It Takes: The Way to the White House
characters: Bob Dole, Michael Dukakis, Joe Biden, Gary Hart, George H. W. Bush, Dick Gephardt
genres: American, History, Presidents, American History, Politics, The United States Of America, Journalism, Biography, Nonfiction, Political Science
ratings_count: 2835
publisher: Vintage