Believer: My Forty Years in Politics

by David Axelrod

Overview

“A portrait of political campaigning that is more like what we hope than what we fear . . . a stout defense—indeed, the best I have read—of the Obama years.” —David Gergen, The New York Times Book Review
 
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
 
David Axelrod has always been a believer. Whether as a young journalist investigating city corruption, a campaign consultant guiding underdog candidates against entrenched orthodoxy, or as senior adviser to the president during one of the worst crises in American history, Axelrod held fast to his faith in the power of stories to unite diverse communities and ignite transformative political change. Now this legendary strategist, the mastermind behind Barack Obama’s historic election campaigns, shares a wealth of stories from his forty-year journey through the inner workings of American democracy. Believer is the tale of a political life well lived, of a man who never gave up on the deepest promises our country has to offer.
 
The heart of Believer is Axelrod’s twenty-year friendship with Barack Obama, a warm partnership that inspired both men even as it propelled each to great heights. Taking a chance on an unlikely candidate for the U.S. Senate, Axelrod ultimately collaborated closely Obama on his political campaigns, and served as the invaluable strategist who contributed to the tremendous victories in 2008 and 2012. Switching careers again, Axelrod served as senior adviser to the president during one of the most challenging periods in national history: working at Obama’s side as he battled an economic disaster; navigated America through two wars; and fought to reform health care, the financial sector, and our gridlocked political institutions. In Believer, Axelrod offers a deeper and richer profile of this extraordinary figure—who in just four years vaulted from the Illinois State Senate to the Oval Office—from the perspective of one who was at his side every step of the way.
 
Spanning forty years that include corruption and transformation, turmoil and progress, Believer takes readers behind the closed doors of politics even as it offers a thrilling call to democratic action. Axelrod’s Believer is a powerful and inspiring memoir enlivened by the charm and candor of one of the greatest political strategists in recent American history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780143128359
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/02/2016
Pages:	544
Sales rank:	904,662
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

David Axelrod spent eight years as a reporter and columnist for the Chicago Tribune. As a political consultant, Axelrod has managed strategy for more than 150 local, state, and national campaigns. Axelrod most recently served as senior strategist to President Obama’s successful reelection campaign. He served in that same role in then-Senator Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, before going on to serve in the White House as senior adviser to the president. After the 2012 campaign, Axelrod founded the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago.

Read an Excerpt

Not everyone can point to a moment, the exact time and place, when a lifelong passion began. I can.
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Believer"
by .
Copyright © 2016 David Axelrod.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part 1

1 Roots 13

2 City of the Big Shoulders 25

3 Deadline Dave 38

4 Bow-Tie Bravado 62

Part 2

5 Strategist FOR Hire 73

6 Where the Rubber Hits the Road 85

7 Going National 95

8 The Natural 119

Part 3

9 Magic Carpet Ride 135

10 Shot from a Cannon 148

11 Reluctant Hero 163

12 From "No, I Won't" To "Yes, We… Might" 174

13 An Audacious Decision 189

14 In Lincoln's Shadow 203

15 Growing Pains 216

16 Ecstasy in Iowa 235

17 The Empire Strikes Back 250

18 To Hell (Or At Least Altoona) and Back 269

Part 4

19 From Berlin to Biden 287

20 The Test 303

21 Winning the Big One 314

22 The Dogs That Caught the Car 324

Part 5

23 Next Door to History 343

24 Nothing but Bad Choices 351

25 Why we do the Work 369

26 War and Peace Prize 390

27 The Stubborn World 403

28 "Brutal" 415

Part 6

29 From The Outside Looking In 435

30 Resurgence 442

31 Turbulent Ride, Smooth Landing 463

Epilogue 479

Acknowledgments 489

Index 493

What People are Saying About This

Deval Patrick

In telling the vivid tales of his own forty years behind the curtain of modern politics, Axelrod reminds us that elections matter to those who don't engage as well as those who do, effectively challenging us all to get involved. --Deval Patrick, Governor of Massachusetts

George Stephanopoulos

David Axelrod was present at the creation of President Obama's political career. He reflects on their improbable journey with the faithfulness of a reporter, the ferocity of a political operative, and the passion of a true believer. A riveting read. --George Stephanopoulos, Chief Anchor, ABC News

Doris Kearns Goodwin

Beautifully written with warmth, humor, and remarkable self-awareness, Believer is one of the finest political memoirs I have ever read. Through one memorable anecdote after another, Axelrod tells a revealing and moving story of his long and honorable career in public life. This is a thoroughly terrific book. --Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of The Bully Pulpit and Team of Rivals

Mike Murphy

David Axelrod has written a remarkable book, a deeply honest and unflinching memoir of his journey from cub journalist to political adviser to the President of the United States. From the boisterous wards of Chicago politics to the Oval Office, Believer takes you inside the political warrior's life, with its larger-than-life personalities, exhilarating victories, and gut-wrenching defeats. For Axelrod, the goal is victory, but the enemy is cynicism. Anybody, Democrat or Republican, who loves politics should read this book. --Mike Murphy, Republican strategist

From the Publisher

Praise for David Axelrod's Believer

DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN, author of The Bully Pulpit and Team of Rivals
“Beautifully written with warmth, humor, and remarkable self-awareness, Believer is one of the finest political memoirs I have ever read. Through one memorable anecdote after another, Axelrod tells a revealing and moving story of his long and honorable career in public life. This is a thoroughly terrific book.”

DEVAL PATRICK, governor of Massachusetts
“In telling the vivid tales of his own forty years behind the curtain of modern politics, Axelrod reminds us that elections matter to those who don’t engage as well as those who do, effectively challenging us all to get involved.”

MIKE MURPHY, Republican strategist
“David Axelrod has written a remarkable book, a deeply honest and unflinching memoir of his journey from cub journalist to political adviser to the President of the United States. From the boisterous wards of Chicago politics to the Oval Office, Believer takes you inside the political warrior’s life, with its larger-than-life personalities, exhilarating victories, and gut-wrenching defeats. For Axelrod, the goal is victory, but the enemy is cynicism. Anybody, Democrat or Republican, who loves politics should read this book.”

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, chief anchor of ABC News
“David Axelrod was present at the creation of President Obama’s political career. He reflects on their improbable journey with the faithfulness of a reporter, the ferocity of a political operative, and the passion of a true believer. A riveting read.”

Editorial Reviews

New York Times Book Review (David Gergen):  
"Would Barack Obama have been elected president without David Axelrod? That question is less far-fetched than it may seem... what emerges is important: a portrait of political campaigning that is more like what we hope than what we fear, that rises above the machinations and muck... a stout defense—indeed, the best I have read—of the Obama years... Judging from his first book, Obama has the talent to write the best presidential memoir in modern tunes. It is worth waiting for. But for now, David Axelrod has written a highly readable, uplifting account of the candidate he loves—and, reassuringly, has shown politics can still be a calling, not a business."

The Los Angeles Times: 
"Axelrod, liberated from the constraints of messaging, is warm and wry, loyal to Obama without being uncritical, and occasionally acid in his appraisals of others — now-Secretary of State John Kerry, political consultant Mark Penn and former Sen. John Edwards will not be among this book's biggest fans. It helps that Axelrod can write. A journalist before he was a political consultant, his book is revealing... but best of all, it is well told — the work of a capable, professional storyteller."

The Economist
"Mr Axelrod has uncommon insights to offer."

New York Times
"The three dominant characters in this political memoir by David Axelrod, one of the Democratic Party’s best-known strategists, are Mr. Axelrod, his once-in-a-lifetime client Barack Obama and belief... Believer is a well-written and often moving account of how a committed liberal measures his principles against the bruising imperatives of high-stakes politics. And, it should be noted, there is ample juice in Mr. Axelrod’s literary steak."

Chicago Tribune: 
“For sure, political junkies will have trouble putting the book down. And much of Washington will be yanking "Believer" off the shelf and turning to the index to see how they were treated…if you're interested in how the sausage is made, you'll want to read this book.”

DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN, author of The Bully Pulpit and Team of Rivals
“Beautifully written with warmth, humor, and remarkable self-awareness, Believer is one of the finest political memoirs I have ever read. Through one memorable anecdote after another, Axelrod tells a revealing and moving story of his long and honorable career in public life. This is a thoroughly terrific book.”

DEVAL PATRICK, governor of Massachusetts
“In telling the vivid tales of his own forty years behind the curtain of modern politics, Axelrod reminds us that elections matter to those who don’t engage as well as those who do, effectively challenging us all to get involved.”

MIKE MURPHY, Republican strategist
“David Axelrod has written a remarkable book, a deeply honest and unflinching memoir of his journey from cub journalist to political adviser to the President of the United States. From the boisterous wards of Chicago politics to the Oval Office, Believer takes you inside the political warrior’s life, with its larger-than-life personalities, exhilarating victories, and gut-wrenching defeats. For Axelrod, the goal is victory, but the enemy is cynicism. Anybody, Democrat or Republican, who loves politics should read this book.”

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, chief anchor of ABC News
“David Axelrod was present at the creation of President Obama’s political career. He reflects on their improbable journey with the faithfulness of a reporter, the ferocity of a political operative, and the passion of a true believer. A riveting read.

From the Publisher

As a journalist, Axelrod learned how to write for a mass audience, so he tells stories well from Obama's campaigns and from the first couple of years at the White House…what emerges is important: a portrait of political campaigning that is more like what we hope than what we fear, that rises above the machinations and muck…David Axelrod has written a highly readable, uplifting account of the candidate he loves—and, reassuringly, has shown politics can still be a calling, not a business.

The New York Times Book Review - David Gergen

…Believer is a well-written and often moving account of how a committed liberal measures his principles against the bruising imperatives of high-stakes politics.

The New York Times - Robert Draper

04/01/2016
Axelrod's autobiography is refreshingly devoid of cynicism, and his love for politics shines throughout. As a strategist and advisor to Barack Obama's 2008 and 2012 campaigns, he has a close relationship with Obama that is shared by very few others; insights and anecdotes abound. Although Axelrod's enthusiasm does lead to excessive detail about some minor campaigns, political junkies will relish the ride. (LJ 4/15/15)

Library Journal

David Axelrod, top political advisor to Presidents Clinton and Obama, was 5 years old when John F. Kennedy was running for president. He got to shake Kennedy’s hand on a day he stopped in Illinois. Axelrod recounts the details of the encounter that marked the beginning of his fascination with all things political. As he describes working his way from political reporter to political advisor of some of the most powerful men in this country, his memoir is filled with compelling anecdotes. Although his delivery is monotone in some instances, it doesn’t diminish the power of his words. In particular, the last quarter of the production, which describes Barack Obama’s successful campaign and election to the presidency, is dynamite listening. E.E.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

APRIL 2015 - AudioFile

★ 2015-03-03
Longtime political adviser Axelrod, late of the White House, tells most of what he's seen in the cloakroom. Barack Obama is intensely competitive, a fighter. He drinks a little and swears a lot, sometimes exultantly, and he's disappointed: he thought he could do business with John Boehner, but no—and if you think racism has nothing to do with it, as Axelrod resignedly writes, "some folks simply refuse to accept the legitimacy of the first black president and are seriously discomforted by the growing diversity of our country." Though the comedians Key and Peele have hilariously imagined an angry black alter ego for the president, Axelrod assures us that Obama remains above the racial fray, always rational and calm, "welcome qualities after the bombast and bluster of the Bush-Cheney era." Partisan zingers are comparatively and surprisingly few for so renowned a street fighter. Instead, Axelrod concentrates on spinning yarns about how things get done in the day-to-day tumble of politics and, of course, on his former boss, whom he obviously admires while wishing, perhaps, that the gloves would come off a bit more often. The author writes that he was introduced to Obama in 1992 with the assurance, from a Democratic activist, that here "could be the first black president," but the actual mechanics of how that happened are of greater interest in the telling, with Axelrod tracing deep connections to the political enterprise of another Illinoisan—not Lincoln but Paul Simon, the nerdy but powerful scholar who managed to get a lot done in his years in Washington. Axelrod's careful connection of the dots provides an illuminating study in how political power moves from generation to generation. The book-closing call to remake politics would sound like so much cheerleading in other hands, but Axelrod's connecting of Obama to JFK makes it work. Obama has been profiled many times but seldom with so practical an outlook. An excellent view of politics from the inside.

Kirkus Reviews