Rating: 
Summary: I just hope he runs again in 2004...
Review: "Crashing the Party" chronicles the Nader campaign and details the many issues surrounding it. It is very interesting, particularly if you support Nader, or believe in progressive politics. However, you're not going to learn a tremendous amount about the issues.If you're even slightly curious about Nader, read this book. You'll find out what he's all about and will respect the man and his campaign...
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Summary: Necessary vitamins for coporate media fed minds...
Review: As a young man of 18 years of age I have been been raised by parents telling me to "read the paper [LA Times]" or watch the "news" aka abc 7 with Paul Moyer at 6 AND 6:30. Well America, there are a few things which they forget to mention between the commercial breaks and car chases. For example who owns and censors abc 7, well Walt Disney of course! Do you really want your news censored and selected from the Disney corporation? Much has changed in the constitution in the last months not to mention years as well as the way in which Washington runs. You need to make yourself aware of the problems facing modern day America because the fact is there is a great chance your news and information is being censored or limited to what the broadcasting company thinks is going to keep you interested. At times this book might seem self righteous or even boring but it is vital that you at least be aware of what is happening to our political system and the problems it is facing. Crashing the Party will help you do this but you may have to sift through some story telling to do so. I personally like Ralph Nader so I didn't mind. This is a great book which explores a variety of issues that all Americans must be aware of but are not. It is a sad fact but it is true.
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Summary: Staggering Conceit of the Man who Handed Bush the Election
Review: Three percent of voters in Florida marked Ralph Nader's name on their ballots in 2000. Had Nader, knowing he couldn't win, but having made his point, graciously endorsed Al Gore, this nation wouldn't be in its current nightmare state. His conceit, evident throughout this obvious piece of self-promotion, has resulted in the most undemocratic, anti-environmental, anti-middle class and poor, anti-woman administration in recent history. I hope, that as the Bush administration continues to raze forests, cut environmental regulations and commit other atrocities in the name of big business and oil, Mr. Nader sees how much damage his ego has caused.
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Summary: Ralph gets his party started
Review: Ralph Nader is the real thing. For longer than some younger elected officials have been alive, Nader has been the nation's conscience, raising questions about the safety of everyday items to demanding that the government take a greater responsibility towards the well being of all its people and territory. His book, CRASHING THE PARTY, conveys two separate messages. First, it's the story of Nader and the Green Party's 2000 Presidential Campaign, based on rejecting both the notion of corporate influence and money on politics, and attempting to establish a genuinely progressive political party. Second, it's a condemnation of the current political landscape, which currently is motivated, not by the votes of the people, but by the dollars of the wealthiest few. Democrats and Republicans alike should find much to interest them, though the more partisan amongst them will no doubt find much that they'll find upsetting. It's become increasingly true of late that the Electoral College system in the United States has forced Presidential hopefuls to concentrate their efforts on small numbers of "swing states" while taking a lot of their key constituencies for granted. Tellingly, Ralph Nader was the only Presidential Candidate in the 2000 election who actually campaigned all 50 states (and the District of Columbia). What an idea. And Nader describes his travels in great detail, pointing out all the issues ignored by the two main parties. In an amusing aside, Nader posits that the state of airline travel today would be in much better shape if politicians took commercial flights from rally to rally (as Nader did) instead of having their flights chartered. But mainly the focus is on the poor who, Nader states, are getting poorer, yet are mentioned less and less in political speeches, their voices being lost out to the power of the wealthy, the corporations, and the special interests groups. Nader's take on how left-wing organizations will react differently to the same actions depending on which party is talking certainly makes for interesting reading, and is probably more than a little disturbing if you happen to be someone who supports one of those concerns. Worth the price of the book alone is the chapter dealing with Nader's attempts to gain entry to the Presidential Debates. Having gone through the entire twisted legal process himself as a legitimate third-party candidate, Nader angrily but carefully points out how arbitrary the current system is, where the two major parties get to decide what topics the debates will cover, the number and format of the debates, and, most importantly, who is allowed to participate in the debates. Not surprisingly, Nader found it very difficult as a third-party candidate to join a club hosted by the two exclusive parties. His frustration would be laughable if it were not such a serious matter. The Presidential Debates are the single best way for a candidate to connect with millions of voters, and despite his own efforts (and the polls that clearly stated most Americans being in favor of his and Pat Buchanan's inclusion) it turned out to be a members-only club. If you don't feel a stir of rage inside of you when reading these sections, then your last name probably rhymes with "Gush" or "Bore". To be fair, Nader's prose can often be wooden and repetitive. He's a little bit too fond of dryly listing names and organizations, and there are places where the writing can get in the way of message. But what Nader is saying is much more important than how he is saying it. There may not be a large number of memorable poetic turns of phrase (although he'll surprise you every so often with a striking bit of language), but it's the facts and the reasoning that you'll remember. And despite the lack of flowery speech, the one thing that does come across is Nader's passion and emotion. He may not be the most dramatically expressive author in the world, but there is a fiery fervor that burns through his words. Nader offered people a choice in the 2000 elections. Refusing to give in to the philosophy of voting for the "least worst" candidate, Nader shows us how this reasoning results in politicians becoming gradually worse rather than progressively better. He outlines how the failure of the Democratic Party to field viable and broadminded, left-wing candidates has resulted in that party's move towards the center, and helped deliver the Republican Party to its more extreme members. Nader isn't waiting for the Democrats to move back to their old positions; if they aren't going to rally around those ideals, then he will. CRASHING THE PARTY is not a terribly old book (it's been published and updated fairly recently), but it is already making Ralph Nader look frighteningly prophetic. With each new piece of breaking news, it seems that everything that Nader has been warning us about has come to pass. In the Enron scandal, we see the justification for Nader's claims concerning the corruption that goes on when giant corporations are left unchecked. With the Democrat's historic loses in the 2002 mid-term elections, we see his warnings about what happens when voters are given a choice between two identical candidates. Read this book to see not only the Green Party's struggle to get some respect, but the scary evidence as to how much influence money plays in the political moves and motivations of the two big parties.
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Summary: CANNOT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN!
Review: Amazing, insightful, will change the way you think. Makes me proud to have voted for Nader for president despite almost getting disowned by my Democratic family. Great bonuses in the appendix- full text of Nader's announcing he is running, and a stirring speech by Tim Robbins for all of us getting "blamed for Bush". I am buying this for my parents!!
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining and Informative
Review: I bought this book after seeing Ralph speak in Bend, OR last year. This book is as enlightening and entertaining as he was in person. I enjoyed the insight into his campaign and how it evolved over the year or so. It's a great introduction into the other side of politics that you don't hear to much about or perhaps the media doesn't want you to hear about.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a party
Review: Nader spends a good amount of time complaining about media coverage. The media kept focusing on the campaign rather than the issues. Nader's response? Write a book about the campaign rather than the issues. What a disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, enlightening and honest account
Review: Like thousands of others, I followed Ralph Nader's 2000 closely -- I agreed with everything he said, but yet on election day I got cold feet and voted for Al Gore. Hindsight is 20/20. If I had it to do over, I would have voted proudly for Nader. This book enlightened me to what is really going on with our political system, which is truly frightening. Since reading "Crashing the Party," I have gone on to read both of Michael Moore's books ("Stupid White Men" and "Downsize This") as well as Jim Hightower's thoroughly revealing "If the Gods Had Meant Us to Vote They Would Have Given Us Candidates." All Americans should read these books in order to cast a truly informed vote.
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Summary: This is a book I
Review: throughly enjoyed. Politics being a hobby of mine I found this book funny, and enlightening. Ralph Nader provides a different perspective on the 2000 elections, one that I would reccomend to anyone who has heard the Democrat, and the Republican point of view, and doesn't buy it.
Rating:
Summary: Crashing the Party
Review: The story of Nader's 2000 presidential bid, told with his trademark wooden verve and his equally trademark clarity and passion for the civic good. American politics is squalid, myopic, and beholden, says Nader (No Contest, 1996, etc.), who offers plenty of proof for his allegations; the time for a third party-make that, in reality, a second party, since the Democrats and Republicans routinely tie each other's shoes-is long overdue. Here, Nader recalls, with righteous anger and a storm of facts, all the obstacles that were thrown in his way, from ballot-access barriers to being shut out of the presidential debates, as the Green Party sought to establish a long-term political platform movement. Nader marvels at how people could scorn him for taking votes from Gore: Shouldn't politics be about access to ideas and choosing among them? Democracy is not a spectator sport, he says, nor is it the trivial, sensational, salacious rubbish reported by the media; democracy requires a daily act of citizenship, of engagement often enough pitting outsiders against insiders, including corporate greedheads, bought politicians, and image handlers. At every whistle stop, Nader has something intelligent to say about a local issue, then brings politics home by explaining how the concentration of economic, political, and technological power is incompatible with a democratic society. That's the meat of this story: nationwide examples of how politics has been corrupted, and a shrewd analysis of how the presidential election played out. Why McCain was dumped despite his popular appeal, why Bradley went down in flames, how the fagade of the system crumbled before the simplicity of a recount. It soon becomes clear why Nader was reluctant to move from citizen-activist to electoral candidate, and why he felt he had to. A salubrious, icy ethical bath that leaves no doubt about the serious need for third party-not to mention a fourth, and so on.
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