Rating: 
Summary: 1st-hand, candid insight into late 20th cent. US politics
Review: This is a must-read for anyone even slightly interested in American politics of the late 20th century. I have admired Jack Germond's straightforward, thoughtful manner for years on the McLaughlin Group, and can remember thinking how fascinating it would be to end up sitting on a plane next to him. Imagine my surprise and delight when the title of his memoirs was "Fat Man in a Middle Seat." Germond pulls no punches in his descriptions of politicians he has known, from Averill Harriman and Nelson Rockefeller to George Bush and Bill Clinton. Most of the other reader reviews here are on the mark, but I would add one important point: Germond's discussion on race relations in the US, from the civil rights era to the present, is as insightful a commentary as I have read anywhere. He went to high school in Louisiana, and travelled through the South in the 60's covering the civil rights movement. He has known the players from George Wallace to Jesse Jackson, and, as with the other people in the book, describes their personalities and motivations with great insight. I rarely re-read a book, but when I finished the book I immediately re-read the chapter, "Race and Politics." Germond's constant references to his drinking and skirt-chasing were a little distracting, but since this is a memoir from someone who tells it like it is, one should not be surprised that he included his own vices as part of the narrative.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book but...
Review: We enjoyed Germond's stories and insights on the political scene. However, we were sadly dismayed to read of his views regarding the abortion issue. Mr. Germond, either something is alive or not, and uninterrupted, will live or not. Aren't you at all concerned to make that judgment call? Scares us. You wrote so very well - at times one could almost hear your voice.
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