This Town

Two Parties and a Funeral - Plus, Plenty of Valet Parking! - in America’s Gilded Capital

By: Mark Leibovich

Narrated by: Joe Barrett

Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

One of the nation's most acclaimed journalists, The New York Times' Mark Leibovich, presents a blistering, penetrating, jaw-dropping - and often hysterical - look at Washington’s incestuous "media industrial complex".

The great thing about Washington is no matter how many elections you lose, how many times you're indicted, how many scandals you've been tainted by, well, the great thing is you can always eat lunch in that town again. What keeps the permanent government spinning on its carousel is the freedom of shamelessness, and that mother's milk of politics, cash.

In Mark Leibovich’s remarkable look at the way things really work in D.C., a funeral for a beloved television star becomes the perfect networking platform, a disgraced political aide can emerge with more power than his boss, campaign losers befriend their vanquishers (and make more money than ever!), "conflict of interest" is a term lost in translation, political reporters are fetishized and worshipped for their ability to get one's name in print, and, well - we're all really friends, aren't we?

What Julia Phillips did for Hollywood, Timothy Crouse did for journalists, and Michael Lewis did for Wall Street, Mark Leibovich does for our nation's capital.

©2013 Mark Leibovich (P)2013 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"This Town is funny, it's interesting, and it is demoralizing.... I loved it as much as you can love something which hurts your heart." (John Oliver, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart)

"In addition to his reporting talents, Leibovich is a writer of excellent zest. At times his book is laugh-out-loud (as well as weep-out-loud). He is an exuberant writer, even as his reporting leaves one reaching for Xanax.... [This Town] is vastly entertaining and deeply troubling." (Christopher Buckley, The New York Times Book Review)

"It's been the summer of This Town. What lingers from This Town is what will linger in Washington well after its current dinosaurs are extinct: the political culture owned by big money." (Frank Rich, New York Magazine)

great book

great book. informative, interesting and funny. very insightful. what else do i need to say to meet the 15 word minimum.

There are already three parties in Washington, D.C

The biggest thing that this book proved to me is that there are already three parties, the hard core Left, the hard core Right and the Progressives. Right now, the Progressives are running both of the name parties, and they are scratching each other's backs all day, everyday.

Get Off Your High Horse

I am not a fan of politicians, media personalities, etc. but this book paints a picture of a town filled with evil, heartless, backbiting demons . If it's true no wonder we have so many enemies around the world.

Says what we already thought, but now with facts

We already have cynical views of perhaps every one of our politicians, particularly those who oppose our personal views.

Now we can rest assured that politicians on "both sides of the aisle" are entirely cynical in their dealings with each other and particularly with the voters.

In today's world, even a terrific loss can be "monetized" to the point that losers such as Generals McChrystal and Petraeus are far better off financially now after being fired from their jobs.

The books is quite humorous, and I highly recommend it.

The amounts of money involved here are extraordinary!

Best Narration Ever

A caustic, but fair account of Washington insiderism.

The narrator was brilliant. Laugh out loud funny delivery and some great impersonations too!

It’s still ThisTown

Leibovich is accurate about Washington but it’s problems are so much worse now. His next book is also too nice to the SOB’s in ….

Depressing but informative

Why don't things seem to work in America any more? The author, a Washington insider, dishes on his friends and sources to provide this glimpse into the world of the privileged charged with the people's business. He reveals specifics of their concern with image, connection and fortune while ignoring the fate of our nation.

An inside look from a junkie who can't quit

Any additional comments?

Have you ever had a friend who nurtured a vice to the level of art form? Maybe he's always got a story about the times he's gotten royally wasted -- the one where he passed out naked on the steps of the fraternity house with all of his body hair shaved off and a dozen penises drawn on him in Sharpie. Maybe she's the party animal who breathlessly tells you about the time she was tripping so hard she saw Jesus riding a unicorn while Bob Marley played a funky reggae rendition of "Ride of the Valkyries". Maybe he's the guy with a hundred stories of nearly getting shot, stabbed or pummeled by jealous lovers as he escaped from some late-night tryst with yet another pretty face. Whatever the misdeeds, they'll finish their story by shaking their head and saying, "I've gotta stop doing this" -- but you see that glint in their eyes, the grin they can't quite wipe off their face, and you know they love it way too much to give it up.

That's the feeling I get from listening to This Town.Mark Leibovich describes the antics of the DC crowd -- variously called "This Town," "The Club", "The Gang of Five Hundred", or most blandly, "The Establishment" -- with the same rueful glee as your friend with the unhealthy love of the bottle, the pill, or the conquest. Leibovich is self-aware enough to realize that his community is ethically bankrupt, outrageously out of touch with reality, and contemptibly self-involved ... but his Serious Face keeps slipping, and he can never muster the outrage that is an outsider's only rational response to his exposé. The most he can manage is to paint a picture, sardonically, of what DC people actually think about the events that surround them, when all of the spin and "messaging" are stripped away. The end result is plenty outrageous and disgusting without him even needing to layer on any moralizing commentary. Ironically, by presenting himself as a near-totally unapologetic insider to the world he uncovers, he ends up coming off as a lot more credible and authentic than the hordes of writers and pundits who wax holier-than-thou about the way business is done in Washington.

The Washington elite inhabit hypocrisy like a fish inhabits water, so surrounded by it that they are rarely even conscious of its existence. This astonishing cognitive dissonance is what Leibovich portrays the most vividly and effectively. It's not that these people are bad, at least not in the sense of being ill-intentioned; they're just so monumentally self-absorbed, so trapped in their bubble of self-congratulation and mutual admiration, that every aspect of their lives has become hollow and inauthentic. Leibovich shows how even the supremely well-intentioned get waylaid, co-opted and subverted by the Washington machine; the Obama people, fresh from the 2008 campaign with big plans about how they're going to "change the game in Washington", illustrate this especially well. Nobody inside the Beltway lost much sleep about the Obama Change Brigade, because they knew from the start what the Obamas didn't discover until too late: You don't change Washington. Washington changes you.

Special props go to the narrator for this production, Joe Barrett. He perfectly conveys the sardonic, self-aware tone of Leibovich's book, as well as the genuine pleasure that he feels in the company of these people whom we, the audience, are so ready to be disgusted by. It would have been easy to get the feel wrong on this book, but Barrett nails it.

Are you kidding, who are all these people ?

What made the experience of listening to This Town the most enjoyable?

It was quick. I did know a few of the names. List of who make or Gov't work?

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

What a bunch of phonies and back stabbing, self absorbed, .........."Party animals!"

What does Joe Barrett bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

His voice was easy to listen.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes. A sitting may include drive time. Once I started it was interesting.

I never wanted this book to end.

I laughed. I fumed. I lost a little of my will to live. Everything a political book should accomplish. This book is incredible.