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Library Journal Review

A kind of ``junior Reader's Digest'' version of O'Neill's popular political memoir, Man of the House ( LJ 10/15/87), this personalized political primer boils down many of the entertaining true and apocryphal stories from the first book to bare-bones incidents and one-line lessons; no story runs more than three pages, and many are shorter. In these anecdotes about his own experiences and those of the politically famous (such as Truman, JFK, LBJ, and Reagan), O'Neill treats politics both as a game during which he must outwit opponents and as a serious vocation whose purpose is to serve his constituents. Always straightforward and occasionally funny (but not as often as he wants to be), the former Speaker of the House serves up a platter of trite homilies and political folk wisdom that have served him very well: ``Be in the right place at the right time,'' ``never criticize the family of an opponent,'' ``in politics, your word is everything,'' ``don't forget the people who elected you''--and ``keep your speeches short.'' He did here, and very few readers will fail to get his messages.-- Jack Forman, Mesa Coll. Lib., San Diego (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

In this day of cookie-cutter, blow-dried political candidates, it's refreshing to recall the rules of the game with a master politician. Former Speaker of the House O'Neill ( Man of the House ) and Hymel, his former press secretary, here compile a primer for the campaigner. O'Neill knows how to humanize the political process. He provides us with wonderful anecdotes: from LBJ riding a police horse in downtown Boston to how Harry Truman became a U.S. Senator (Missouri political boss Tom Pendergast thought Truman ``wasn't smart enough'' to be a county assessor). ``For me,'' writes O'Neill, ``politics always was about values combined with instincts. Put those together and you get a rule.'' Among his rules are these: no contribution is too small; never get introduced to the crowd at a sporting event, only boos will ensue; to be a successful public speaker, memorize poetry; avoid bunk; remember names; tip well. O'Neill is also outspoken on diverse topics ranging from term limits to whiskey. A book that all 535 members of Congress should be made to read. Author tour. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved