Book Recommendation: "The Last Campaign"

From time to time, I hope to pass along book recommendations from the pleasure reading I try to squeeze into my schedule.

For those interested in politics, grassroots campaigning and true "straight talk," I can't recommend highly enough "The Last Campaign," by Thurston Clarke. It's a quick read, summarizing the 82 frenzied days that Robert Kennedy ran for President before his tragic assassination.

The campaign is a remarkable story of a candidate putting it all out there, often in the face of deep hostility, but winning audiences over again and again by speaking directly, sincerely and from the heart--even if the views he expressed or issues he cared about had little in common with those audiences.

In such a short time, Kennedy put together an incredibly broad and diverse coalition of support--and he did it by going directly to the people, touching them, engaging them, and listening to them for hours at a time, day after day, up to the last day of his life (which tragically was the biggest, most important victory of the campaign).

Trust me, if you have any interest in politics, you will be glad you read this book.