Bare Knuckles and Back Rooms: My Life in American Politics

In a book as fierce and stunning as a prize fight, Ed Rollins tells of hismany triumphs and sometimes spectacular blunders during a thirty-year career inAmerican politics. From the Reagan presidency to the campaigns of Ross Perotand Christine Todd Whitman, Rollins has long been at the red-hot center. Now,in Bare Knuckles and Back Rooms, he gives us the inside story onWashington and many of its most prominent players with sharp reflections,revealing and frequently irreverent anecdotes, and always astonishingcandor.

Once a champion amateur boxer, Rollins brings the pugnacious spirit of a bornfighter to everything he does. Never shy about his opinions, he now deliversthe kind of take-no-prisoners honesty for which he is notorious. He dissectsthe personalities of Richard Nixon, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, George Bush, RossPerot, James Baker, Michael and Arianna Huffington, and Newt Gingrich. He showshow political campaigns really operate, and he offers keen insight on thisyear's contenders, from Bill Clinton to Bob Dole and Pat Buchanan.

Part autobiography and part political primer, this is a deeply compelling storyand a highly personal look into the inner workings of government and campaigns.Ed Rollins's passion for the game and thoughtful insight into our politicalsystem make this a must-read for anyone interested in how the game ofcontemporary politics is really played.

Who else but Ed Rollins—the brilliant, bare-knuckled politicalconsultant—would dare give us the inside story on how Washington really works?Famously outspoken, Rollins is a true maverick whose gift for winning campaignsis matched only by his talent for generating controversy. Now, inthisastonishingly candid book, he delivers a no-holds-barred, hugely entertainingaccount of his thirty-year career in American politics.

Rollins has worked for almost every major Republican politician of the past twodecades, but he was never a member of the Washington aristocracy. Raised inthe tough shipyard town of Vallejo, California, he fought as a championshipamateur boxer and won over 160 bouts. His love of politics was kindled when heworked for Bobby Kennedy's presidential campaign in 1968, but after Kennedy'sassassination and a life-changing experience during a violent anti-wardemonstration, he joined the Republican party. By 1981, he had worked his wayup to a job in the Reagan White House; the following year, he became thepresident's top political advisor. He has battled at the center of thepolitical arena ever since, and he and his candidates have won far more oftenthan they have lost.

If Rollins loves anything more than a good fight, it's a good story. Here isRichard Nixon complaining to him about the lack of a "nutcutter" in the Reaganadministration; Nancy Reagan berating him for his atrocious attire; BarbaraBush telling him he's not welcome in the White House; Ross Perot wailing abouthow expensive campaign advertising is; Arianna Huffington hiring a privatedetective to investigate an unfriendly journalist. But Rollins has made somespectacular blunders of his own, and now he tells stories on himself too—mostparticularly when he provides the first full account of his role in the scandalthat followed Christine Todd Whitman's election as governor of New Jersey.

Ed Rollins is an American original—a power-punching, street-smart insider wholoves politics and his country with equal fervor. Fast and funny, pugnaciousand passionate, this is one of the best books ever written about how the modernpolitical game is really played.