Who recommended What It Takes?

5 people have recommended What It Takes in the interviews, articles and reading lists we track, including Ezra Klein, Tom Hanks, Christina Reynolds and Norman Ornstein. Each name links to their full reading list.

Is What It Takes worth reading?

5 people we track recommend it. It is best for: 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. It may not suit: 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..

What books are like What It Takes?

Readers of What It Takes also turn to The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, The World as It Is and Out of Control, based on the lists and recommenders these books share.

What It Takes by Richard Ben Cramer: Recommended by 5 People

Name: What It Takes
Author: Richard Ben Cramer

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 ...