Veteran journalist Jon Ralston, founder and CEO of The Nevada Independent, has written a detailed, page-turning biography of the late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, "The Game Changer: How Harry Reid Remade the Rules and Showed Democrats How to Fight," offering political junkies and the politically indifferent alike an expansive look at one of Capitol Hill's most influential lawmakers.
Ralston pairs meticulous reporting with lively prose to chronicle the rise of the former boxer from Searchlight, Nevada – a figure who was rarely the most likable person in U.S. politics, even within his own party – in a way that makes his 300-plus-page book hard to put down. He argues that Reid's lack of charm may have only heightened his effectiveness: Reid delivered results, including shepherding former President Barack Obama's signature legislative achievement, the Affordable Care Act.
Ralston first covered Reid in 1986 as the Las Vegas Review-Journal's political beat writer, and he became fascinated by him for the same reason so many others dismissed him: Reid seemed almost devoid of charisma, a congressman trying to make the leap to statewide office.
Ralston fills the story with fascinating details that show how he built a political powerhouse at home, assembling the famed "Reid Machine" in Nevada, and then leveraged it into influence far beyond the state.
Ralston deftly engages the reader through dense legislative processes by populating the story with vivid characters, family, staffers, critics, and enemies alike, making the book every bit the page turner that Robert Caro's series on Lyndon B. Johnson was.
Ralston interviewed Reid before his death in 2021 and left no stone unturned. Spanning a generation of U.S. political upheaval, the book captures how both parties changed, and how Washington works, and often doesn't, amounting to a clear labor of love.
It's evenhanded, colorful, and spirited reporting that never lets Reid be anything other than himself – a flawed, often ruthless man who wrestled with his own impulses. The result is a vivid piece of U.S. political history well worth reading.
Salena Zito is a staff reporter and columnist for the Washington Examiner. She reaches the Everyman and Everywoman through shoe-leather journalism, traveling from Main Street to the beltway and all places in between.
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