Burning Down the House

February 1, 2020

To understand the political strategy of Donald Trump, one should revisit Newt Gingrich's insurgent takeover of the Republican Party in the 1980s and 1990s, maintains Zelizer (history, public affairs, Princeton Univ.; co-author, Fault Lines) in this compelling work of political history. The first half of the book covers Gingrich's arrival in Congress in 1979, as a member of Georgia's House of Representatives, where the politician became an early proponent of refusing to compromise with Democrats and manipulating media. Zelizer details the Conservative Opportunity Society (COS) Gingrich formed with like-minded congressmen, which significantly impacted Republicans' opposition to Democratic control of the House. The focus of the book then shifts to Texas congressman and House Speaker Jim Wright, who was forced to resign in 1989 after Gingrich conducted an ethics investigation. Meanwhile, Gingrich is elected Minority Whip by two votes, and when Republicans took control of the House after the 1994 midterm election, Gingrich became Speaker; his own ethical problems eventually drove him out of that position. VERDICT Zelizer's accessible study of political behavior and leadership directly relates to today's tumultuous political scene. Anyone interested in American politics will devour this book.--Thomas Karel, Franklin & Marshall Coll. Lib., Lancaster, PA

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 2, 2020
Today’s hyperpartisan politics can be traced to Republican congressman Newt Gingrich’s 1989 ouster of Democratic House Speaker Jim Wright, according to this meticulously researched account. Zelizer (coauthor, Fault Lines), a professor of history at Princeton University, sketches Gingrich’s working-class background, frustrated career in academia, and two failed attempts to flip Georgia’s sixth district from blue to red. Victorious on his third try, Gingrich entered Congress in 1979 vowing to root out establishment corruption and win the first Republican majority since 1954. Weaponizing post-Watergate reforms and skillfully framing his narrative in the media, Gingrich, according to Zelizer, transformed accusations that Wright had been involved in shady oil deals and had schemed to get around limits on how much he could earn from speaking fees into the appearance of corruption. After Wright resigned his speakership and then his seat in Congress, Gingrich orchestrated the Republican takeover of the House in 1994 before being forced to resign his own speakership following an ethics reprimand and the disastrous 1998 midterms. Zelizner’s witty, well-informed narrative occasionally bogs down in an excess of insider details, but successfully presents this episode as a foretaste of congressional warfare to come. Political junkies will be thrilled.

Starred review from February 1, 2020
Politics is war without blood, said Mao, but Newt Gingrich emerges as red in tooth and fang in this thoughtful study of his politics in action. According to Zelizer's (History and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.; The Fierce Urgency of Now: Lyndon Johnson, Congress, and the Battle for the Great Society, 2015, etc.) account, Gingrich had acquired a thirst for political power by high school, announcing to a teacher that he intended to move to Georgia "to create a Republican Party." That there was already such a party didn't matter: He wasn't in charge of it, and that was his first aim, certain as ever of the correctness of his views and the wrongness of his opponents. It took a few failed runs, but Gingrich rose steadily through the ranks of the Republican Party in Congress, undercutting his allies while waging ugly, unforgiving battles against his enemies. Gingrich, writes Zelizer, learned valuable lessons in leadership style and strategy alike from Richard Nixon, whom he credits with having gone after the overlooked blue-collar (and traditionally Democratic) vote shunned by the liberal/moderate wing of the GOP; he also changed the terms of the argument from "establishment versus outsider, not liberal versus conservative." There are few admiring moments in the book since Gingrich is not an admirable man, but the author does give him points for chutzpah. After all, Gingrich based his empire-building campaigns in Congress on a war against corruption even as he was as guilty of it as anyone. Still, building much of his power on a concerted action to remove Speaker of the House Jim Wright from his post, he "made his biggest impact on the GOP by defining what partisanship should look like and by expanding the boundaries of what was permissible in the arena of congressional warfare." In the bargain, writes Zelizer in this sharp, lucid portrait, he drew people even more radical than he into the party; in the end, they overthrew him, too. A masterfully written political road map for anyone wondering how we got to where we are, a bad place indeed.

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