What It Takes
The Way to the White House
by Richard Ben Cramer
3 more
More Recommenders
“@CarlosLozadaWP @JenSeniorNY What It Takes remains The best book I?ve ever read on American politics, and politics more generally. Well over 1000 pages, but I reread it every few years. And what everybody close to Joe Biden will tell you is that this captures Biden better than anything else. | @CarlosLozadaWP @JenSeniorNY What It Takes remains The best book I’ve ever read on American politics, and politics more generally. Well over 1000 pages, but I reread it every few years. And what everybody close to Joe Biden will tell you is that this captures Biden better than anything else. | @rachsyme What It Takes by Richard Ben Cramer. Best book on politics ever. | Everybody should read it. | The late, great Richard Ben Cramer’s birthday today. If you haven’t read his book “What It Takes,” you really should. In my opinion, and I know I’m not alone, it’s the best book about presidential politics.”
Source →“@CarlosLozadaWP @JenSeniorNY What It Takes remains The best book I?ve ever read on American politics, and politics more generally. Well over 1000 pages, but I reread it every few years. And what everybody close to Joe Biden will tell you is that this captures Biden better than anything else. | @CarlosLozadaWP @JenSeniorNY What It Takes remains The best book I’ve ever read on American politics, and politics more generally. Well over 1000 pages, but I reread it every few years. And what everybody close to Joe Biden will tell you is that this captures Biden better than anything else. | @rachsyme What It Takes by Richard Ben Cramer. Best book on politics ever. | Everybody should read it. | The late, great Richard Ben Cramer’s birthday today. If you haven’t read his book “What It Takes,” you really should. In my opinion, and I know I’m not alone, it’s the best book about presidential politics.”
Source →“@CarlosLozadaWP @JenSeniorNY What It Takes remains The best book I?ve ever read on American politics, and politics more generally. Well over 1000 pages, but I reread it every few years. And what everybody close to Joe Biden will tell you is that this captures Biden better than anything else. | @CarlosLozadaWP @JenSeniorNY What It Takes remains The best book I’ve ever read on American politics, and politics more generally. Well over 1000 pages, but I reread it every few years. And what everybody close to Joe Biden will tell you is that this captures Biden better than anything else. | @rachsyme What It Takes by Richard Ben Cramer. Best book on politics ever. | Everybody should read it. | The late, great Richard Ben Cramer’s birthday today. If you haven’t read his book “What It Takes,” you really should. In my opinion, and I know I’m not alone, it’s the best book about presidential politics.”
Source →Recommended by 5 notable people, including Tom Hanks and Ezra Klein
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Reading Profile
Should I read this?
An obsessively detailed, scene-by-scene account of the 1988 presidential race that builds intimate portraits of candidates, aides, and families. Its useful part is the depth of character reporting—small moments, contradictions, and private motives feel palpable. Its main limitation is scale: long digressions, repeated anecdotes, and thick backstory slow momentum and demand patience, so readers seeking tidy summaries or quick syntheses will likely find the narrative exhausting rather than clarifying.
Read this if...
- •a political reporter about to embed on a national campaign who needs concrete, character-based case studies of how personal ambition shapes tactics and decisions
- •a graduate student in modern American history researching late-20th-century campaign culture who wants rich, scene-level narrative and detailed biographical context
- •a mid-level campaign staffer wrestling with ethical trade-offs who wants grounded examples of how ambition and pressure play out behind the scenes
Skip this if...
- •You'll likely put it down when long multi-chapter biographical digressions and blow-by-blow campaign minutiae take over—the middle-section grind is where readers most often quit.
- •Annoying if you prefer tidy, analytical summaries or prescriptive lessons; the book favors immersive portraiture over concise takeaways.
- •Not for readers seeking a quick read: it's long, repetitive, and anecdote-heavy, and it lacks hands-on exercises or practical checklists.
An American Iliad in the guise of contemporary political reportage, What It Takes penetrates the mystery at the heart of all presidential campaigns: How do presumably ordinary people acquire that mixture of ambition, stamina, and pure shamelessness that makes a true candidate As he recounts the frenzied course of the 1988 presidential race and ...
Before You Buy
Reading Specifications
Difficulty:hard
Audience Fit
- a political reporter about to embed on a national campaign who needs concrete, character-based case studies of how personal ambition shapes tactics and decisions
- a graduate student in modern American history researching late-20th-century campaign culture who wants rich, scene-level narrative and detailed biographical context
- a mid-level campaign staffer wrestling with ethical trade-offs who wants grounded examples of how ambition and pressure play out behind the scenes
- You'll likely put it down when long multi-chapter biographical digressions and blow-by-blow campaign minutiae take over—the middle-section grind is where readers most often quit.
- Annoying if you prefer tidy, analytical summaries or prescriptive lessons; the book favors immersive portraiture over concise takeaways.
- Not for readers seeking a quick read: it's long, repetitive, and anecdote-heavy, and it lacks hands-on exercises or practical checklists.
Check formats, pricing, and availability options for Kindle, physical print, or audiobooks directly.
View available editions on AmazonKey themes
Why recommended
Recommended by 6 sources and appears in Most Recommended Books, Politics, and History.
Recommended by notable people
People and public figures who have recommended this book.
Recommendation Signals
Recommendation proof is sourced from public posts, interviews, reading lists, and cited references.
Yashar Ali
“@CarlosLozadaWP @JenSeniorNY What It Takes remains The best book I?ve ever read on American politics, and politics more generally. Well over 1000 pages, but I reread it every few years. And what everybody close to Joe Biden will tell you is that this captures Biden better than anything else. | @CarlosLozadaWP @JenSeniorNY What It Takes remains The best book I’ve ever read on American politics, and politics more generally. Well over 1000 pages, but I reread it every few years. And what everybody close to Joe Biden will tell you is that this captures Biden better than anything else. | @rachsyme What It Takes by Richard Ben Cramer. Best book on politics ever. | Everybody should read it. | The late, great Richard Ben Cramer’s birthday today. If you haven’t read his book “What It Takes,” you really should. In my opinion, and I know I’m not alone, it’s the best book about presidential politics.”
View sources (4) ▾80%
Appears In
Not sure if this is the right fit?
Consider The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy. Recommended by 8 sources.
“Soft-spoken, heavily illustrated fable built from short dialogues and watercolor sketches. Each spread pairs a spare line of text with a loose drawing, so the pleasure is visual and aphoristic rather than narrative; readers collect felt-true sentences more than plot. Most useful when you want quick consolations, a prompt for conversation with a child, or a pause during a rough day. Limiting if you want sustained argument, concrete advice, or tightly plotted storytelling: the repetition of gentleness can feel sentimental or thin after a while.”
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Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.