From Publishers Weekly
"I talk as simply and directly to people as possible," claims Dean, and though his official campaign biography-cum-manifesto is notable for its plainspokenness, it mostly lacks the passionate forcefulness the front-running Democratic candidate has shown on the campaign trail. The toning down appears deliberate; not only does Dean apologize for intemperate remarks, he goes out of his way to describe himself as a nonradical during his late '60s college years and compares his fiscal outlook to that of his "moderate business-oriented Republican" father. (He also has kind words for President Bush and his family, though he turns critical on the subject of the president's aides.) The account of his childhood and college years is bland, the result of downplaying his family's wealth. A feeling of enthusiasm doesn't set in until his decision to enroll in medical school, perhaps because this is also the period when he met his wife. Dean's flat facade also cracks in passages recalling the circumstances of his older brother's capture (and probable execution) by the Pathet Lao in Laos in 1974. Obliquely touching on the emotional effects of this trauma on his family, Dean also discusses how it has increased his reluctance to send American soldiers into combat and put their families through the same process. The final sections of the book veer away from the personal to the political, and much of its rhetoric will be instantly recognizable to anyone who's seen a Dean stump speech, possibly frustrating those who want to learn more deeply about the man and what he stands for.
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Book Description
GOVERNOR HOWARD DEAN'S GRASSROOTS BID FOR THE PRESIDENCY IS GENERATING EXCITEMENT IN EVERY CORNER OF AMERICA.
In Winning Back America, Governor Dean writes for the first time about his life and the people and events that have shaped him, beginning with his upbringing in New York and taking us through his medical career, eleven and a half years as governor of Vermont, and finally into his presidential campaign. Howard Dean writes about:
• The years at college that changed the way he looks at America
• His decision to attend medical school and the origins of his commitment to children and to universal health care
• Meeting his wife, Judith Steinberg, and bringing up a family in Vermont
• One dramatic day that he began as an internist and ended as governor
• The successes of his governorship
• His decision to run for president of the United States
• His vision for the country
Winning Back America is Howard Dean in his own words. Dean tells his story with characteristic verve and forthrightness and also with emotion as he reflects on the death of his father and on the disappearance of his brother Charlie in Southeast Asia at the end of the Vietnam War.
Howard Dean's personal recollections bring us a full portrait of the candidate as a father, a husband, a son, and as a political leader.
