Free Ebook Act of Congress: How America's Essential Institution Works, and How It Doesn't, by Robert G. Kaiser

Free Ebook Act of Congress: How America's Essential Institution Works, and How It Doesn't, by Robert G. Kaiser

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Act of Congress: How America's Essential Institution Works, and How It Doesn't, by Robert G. Kaiser

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Review

“An exceptionally informative, candid, evenhanded description of the congressional process.” —Choice“Mr Kaiser depicts the gruesome business of legislating in the wickedly honest fashion only a journalistic veteran, liberated from the restraints imposed on daily reporters, could get away with…[he] names names and spares no one.”—The Wall Street Journal“Like [Robert] Caro, Kaiser has a gift for writing a legislative page-turner…This should be a book on every informed voter’s reading list.”—New York Journal of Books“If you want to know how Washington really works, read this book. It’s the ultimate inside story of a major piece of legislation that will affect the way the country does business for decades to come. Robert G. Kaiser, who knows the terrain like few others, was given unique access to the key players as they pasted this complicated package together. Kaiser shows us the personalities, the politics, and the process.” -Cokie Roberts, political commentator, NPR and ABC News “It’s wonderful to read a story about how Congress can actually get something done. This is an exclusive behind-the-scenes tale of how an important bill became law. It’s a book we really need now.” -Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs  “Kaiser writes with the clarity of a world-class journalist, the depth of a scholar, and the evocative style of a novelist. His latest book about Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, and financial reform is a master class in understanding the modern Congress.” -David Maraniss, author of Barack Obama: The Story“Robert Kaiser knows so much about how Congress works, and writes so well about it, it makes me—as a former legislator—both uneasy and grateful. He spots our limitations but leaves every reader with a much better understanding of ‘America’s least understood important institution.’” —Lee H. Hamilton, former member of the House of Representatives“Robert G. Kaiser’s Act of Congress is the most detailed, fascinating and sophisticated case study of congressional law making to appear in years. It shows how thoroughly polarized partisanship has reshaped the entire process, but also how exceptionally skillful politicking can nonetheless still occasionally produce landmark legislation. It will be ideal for courses on Congress (I’m adding it to my own syllabus) and the policy making process, but it will also enlighten anyone who wants a better understanding of how present-day national institutions work—or fail to do so. It's a great read.”  —Dr. Gary C. Jacobson, professor of political science at the University of California, San Diego“Act of Congress captures the story of the historic assertion of federal power known as Dodd-Frank in all its complexity, with its lasting implications for the balance of power between Washington and Wall Street. Robert Kaiser’s triumph is to make this complex subject an intimately human tale. Thanks to reporting and insight, the story of Dodd-Frank is revealed not simply as a collision of public and private interests on Wall Street, but as a kind of case study in the anthropology of modern Washington. A great story by a journalist singularly well-equipped to tell it.”—John Harris, editor in chief of Politico“We have been waiting for this. Robert G. Kaiser, one of our most skilled and thoughtful journalists, has written the inside story of one of the most important legislative measures of the last decade. Kaiser weaves a compelling story of institutions, parties, personalities, and strategy. This book is essential reading for students of Congress and national policy making, for everyone interested in the policy response to the Great Recession, and for citizens who care about the dysfunction of American national government.”—Steven S. Smith, professor of political science at Washington University“Act of Congress is easily the best book on Congress I have read in decades. It is a stupendous achievement—richly informative, a pleasure to read, wise in its assessments of why Dodd-Frank was able to succeed and how this case is more exception than rule in these difficult governing times.  Congressional scholars have much to learn from the book (I certainly did) and generations of students will find it their favorite and most rewarding assigned reading in classes.  A classic.”  —Thomas E. Mann, Senior Fellow, Governance Studies, The Brookings Institution“Richly detailed…Remember that old saw about making sausages and making laws—that you don’t want to know too much about either one? Kaiser disproves it with this lucid…book.”—Kirkus Reviews“Bob Kaiser has written a captivating and insightful account of the Dodd-Frank reform of financial services regulation. He convincingly explains both the successes of key actors and why, in the current Congress, such successes are increasingly rare.”—Congressman David E. Price“Today’s Congress is not yesterday’s Congress. The rules may seem the same, but new players, bigger campaigns, more partisanship and less civility means more time raising money, fewer hours in session, minimal socialization across the aisle and more delegation to committee staffs. Act of Congress is the first book to describe in detail what it takes to legislate in the ‘new’ Congress. Robert Kaiser was present at the creation of the Dodd-Frank Act. His reputation as a straight-shooting reporter earned him open access to the staffs of Congressman Barney Frank and Senator Chris Dodd, and extensive interviews with the key players in both parties. The result is an enlightening, sobering, tour de force. Any teacher who hasn’t read this book should have his syllabus examined.”  —Samuel L. Popkin, author of The Candidate “Robert Kaiser’s Act of Congress is a great read. He makes a complex issue and an arcane process understandable and interesting. Readers get a real sense for the interplay of politics and policy and of personality and structure that goes into passing major legislation. Not just for Congress junkies, Kaiser’s book is a fascinating ‘How Done It.’” —Barbara Sinclair, professor emerita of American politics at UCLA“Intricate [and] incisive…Kaiser…finds the drama in arcane parliamentary procedure and paints extraordinary fly-on-the-wall scenes of legislative sausage making…His absorbing true-life political saga exposes the good, the bad, and the ugly in Congress.”—Publishers Weekly"Act of Congress is a tour de force, an unparalleled account of the difficulty of legislating in an intensely polarized political era.  Robert Kaiser brings decades of experience to the task, deftly showing how lawmakers balanced policy goals and political risk to build bicameral majorities for landmark Wall Street reform.  I look forward to assigning this masterful work to my students in the years to come."—Sarah Binder, professor of political science at George Washington University“Congress is the most powerful, and least well understood, branch of the American government. Luckily, Robert Kaiser is here to explain it to us. Required reading for anyone who is affected by Washington, which is, as Kaiser demonstrates in this book, all of us.”—Ezra Klein, columnist, The Washington Post “The great value of Robert G. Kaiser’s Act of Congress is its refusal to accept the Washington cliché that the Dodd-Frank legislation represents a moment when Congress worked the way it is supposed to . . . It uses the passage of the most far-reaching piece of financial reform legislation since the New Deal to show not how Congress works, but how it doesn’t, even when a result is attained.”—Michael Tomasky, The New York Review of Books “Riveting . . . Kaiser offers an insightful primer on how laws are made, from conception to passage, as well as the characters and culture of the U.S. Congress, observed from an astonishing perspective most citizens never see.”—Booklist“Certain to become a classic, this rich and beautifully crafted book tells the story of a rare moment of congressional success. Who would have thought such a thing possible?”—Lawrence Lessig, professor at Harvard Law School“One of the best books on the [legislative] process in a long time.”—Bloomberg“A crackling page-turner…Kaiser…delivers a clear understanding of the issues as well as the exhausting, exhilarating and often appalling political process. His extensive original reporting and deep research lend both richness and authority to the lively text.”—The Plain Dealer“Informative, incisive and timely, Act of Congress provides essential lessons in civics about how business is done in Washington, D.C.”—The Boston Globe“For those interested in the legislative process…[Act of Congress] is essential reading.”—PolicyMic.com“Instructive [and] colorful…a classic study of how Congress works. You don’t have to be a wonk to want to read on.”—National Catholic Register“An exceptionally informative, candid, evenhanded description of the congressional process.”—Choice

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About the Author

Robert G. Kaiser was on the staff of The Washington Post for over fifty years. He eported on the House and Senate; was a correspondent in Saigon and Moscow; served as national editor and managing editor; and as associate editor and senior correspondent. He retired from The Washington Post in 2014. He has also written for Esquire, Foreign Affairs, and The New York Review of Books. His books include Russia: The People and the Power; So Damn Much Money; and, with Leonard Downie Jr., The News About the News. He received an Overseas Press Club award, a National Press Club award, and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. He has also been a commentator on NPR's All Things Considered. He lives in Washington, D.C.

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Product details

Paperback: 464 pages

Publisher: Vintage; 1 edition (January 28, 2014)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0307744515

ISBN-13: 978-0307744517

Product Dimensions:

5.2 x 0.9 x 8 inches

Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review:

4.4 out of 5 stars

66 customer reviews

Amazon Best Sellers Rank:

#87,653 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Definitely one of the best books I've read about politics and policy in the U.S. government. The author provides a detailed account of the creation of the Dodd-Frank bill, which imposed new laws and regulations over the country's financial system. For a reader like me who has read dozens of books over the years trying to understand the workings of our government amid the growing problems we are facing, this book serves as a valuable tool in understanding why things aren't getting done. The final chapter, entitled "Still Broken," is worth the cost of the book alone — it assesses the reasons for the dysfunction and lack of will to move the country forward, and also explains the current motivations of each political party (HINT: one faction has zero interest in governing at all). Thus the negative reputation the Congress has earned. I will leave you with a few quotes from the last chapter: "Legislating is no longer the principal preoccupation of our legislators —politics is." Also, "...in the era of partisan warfare , substantive leadership in Congress has become as rare as bipartisan harmony. Its decline has come with the ascendency of politics over policy that has transformed the House and Senate over the last generation."If you are sick and tired of how things are run in our U.S. government, and you want to further educate yourself on the "how's" and "why's" things aren't getting done, then be a responsible citizen and start reading books like these, and get out of your bubble of social media and corporate media that barely does a decent job of properly informing you.

I have been studying the substance of the Dodd Frank act elsewhere (see Regulating Wall Street by Acharya, et al., a nice solid introduction). I teach law but had not walked through a recent end-to-end blow-by-blow of the "sausage-making" of federal legislation. I guess I wanted more legal substance here, in terms of who wrote what and why, but (though some fair amount of that is here) this is quintessentially not about the financial/theoretical complexities (vis a vis legislating) so much as it is (as advertised) a book at the Congress member-to-member and house-to-house level, and gives a cogent view of that world, and how things get done. So, it did fulfill my expectations. I wouldn't call it great storytelling, but it has a workmanlike tone, detail and pace of events. This is a good opportunity to express my admiration and gratitude for the staffers who do so much work. As with many businesses, we tend to mostly see the figureheads, but the importance of the staffers (who are, in Congress, undercompensated by any measure of the modern financial world they are affecting) is on display here. Also, we get to see some congress members' personalities as waffling around, making friendly assurances and then being nudged in other directions by key staffers, with their message wandering around. There are many different levels of intelligence and ability on display here.

Recommend the book if you are a political "junkie". Act of Congress—the newest book from longtime Washington Post reporter and editor Robert G. Kaiser—it's an attempt to explain this contradiction: How can the most productive Congress since the 1970s also stand as the most dysfunctional in more than a century? His case study is the successful two-year effort to pass financial reform and deal with the regulatory aftermath of the economic crisis.

This author takes a particular situation and weaves into the story a real description of the workings of Congress. A lot of it I knew, but this author tells it like it is. For many readers it will be shocking. For cynics who think it is even worse, they will be disappointed in this. But if things are to get done in politics, a perfectionist is not being realistic. Deals have to be made. Factions need to be catered to. To get things done pragmatists are required. Barney Frank, about whom most of this book is about, was a pragmatist. Idealists, who won't compromise, have no business in Congress. This book shows how a pragmatist got something done. What was done is not perfect, but is a good deal better than nothing.

Long-time Washington reporter Kaiser has reported a dismal story of dysfunctional Congress, rife with partisan aggression, filled with campaign-fund raisers, empty of policy makers and virtual blank slates regarding the laws it passes. Any informed citizen is vaguely aware of this, but Kaiser's detailed reporting of the passage of the Dodd-Frank finance bill brings these problems together to show us what a true horror story Congress is right now. I would have preferred more focus on the substance of the legislation, and the book has a few earmarks of a newspaper reporter's difficulty with sustained narrative, but these are quibbles. It's a cliche, but true: every American citizen needs to know the ills of our legislative branch and how extraordinarily complex any solution is.

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