The Political Animal: An Anatomy

by JeremyPaxman (Author)

• Used

  International Edition
  2007

  $3.25

  Jeremy Paxman knows every maneouvre a politician will make to avoid answering a difficult question, but in The Political Animal he seeks an answer to just one: What makes politicians tick? Embarking on a journey in which he encounters movers and shakers past and present, he discovers: that Prime Ministers have often lost a parent in childhood why Trollope is the politician's novelist of choice that Lloyd George once hunted Jack the Ripper how an Admiral's speech in parliament helped win WWII. Where do politicians come from? How do they get elected? What do they do all day? And why do they seek power? All these questions and many more are addressed in Paxman's thrilling dissection of that strange and elusive breed - the political animal. Lively, persuasive, excellent. Boisterous and funny, provocative and punchily written ...an intelligent romp . (Matthew Parris, Spectator ). Entertaining, informative, incisive and insightful . (Andrew Rawnsley Observer ). One of the best primers on the vicissitudes of political life I have read . (Christopher Silvester, Sunday Times ). Jeremy Paxman is a journalist, best known for his work presenting Newsnight and University Challenge . His books include Empire , On Royalty , The English and The Political Animal . He lives in Oxfordshire.

• Used

  Paperback
  2003

  $3.25

  Why don't we like politicians? In The Political Animal , Jeremy Paxman takes a look at why governments and politicians so often fail to live up to expectations. It can be an unforgiving business for MPs - caricatured as either power-hungry hypocrites or hopeless idealists - years of effort can lead only to defeat, disgrace or obscurity. What sort of person likes having his or her business or family affairs all over the news, or mistakes trumpeted and triumphs belittled? What drives people to go into it - and what do they get from it all? Jeremy Paxman sets out to explore this strange world - and on the way gives us an unsparing, but essentially sympathetic portrait of modern politicians.

• Used

  Hardcover
  2002

  $3.25

  What is it about the business of politics which turns hope, vision and ambition to despair? Jeremy Paxman proposes to find out. Among the things this book examines are: where politicians come from; how they are chosen; the promises and compromises they must make to get on; how the party machines control them or fail to do so; how to win elections; how to fake sincerity; the terror of power; riding the civil service; what the cabinet is really like; and why democracy - the least bad form of government we can imagine is destined always to disappoint.