The Red and the Blue Audiobook By Steve Kornacki cover art

The Red and the Blue

The 1990s and the Birth of Political Tribalism

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The Red and the Blue

By: Steve Kornacki
Narrated by: Steve Kornacki, Ron Butler
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About this listen

From MSNBC correspondent Steve Kornacki, a lively and sweeping history of the 1990s - one that brings critical new understanding to our current political landscape.

In The Red and the Blue, cable news star and acclaimed journalist Steve Kornacki follows the twin paths of Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich, two larger-than-life politicians who exploited the weakened structure of their respective parties to attain the highest offices. For Clinton, that meant contorting himself around the various factions of the Democratic party to win the presidency. Gingrich employed a scorched-earth strategy to upend the permanent Republican minority in the House, making him speaker.

The Clinton/Gingrich battles were bare-knuckled brawls that brought about massive policy shifts and high-stakes showdowns - their collisions had far-reaching political consequences. But the ’90s were not just about them. Kornacki writes about Mario Cuomo’s stubborn presence around Clinton’s 1992 campaign; Hillary Clinton’s star turn during the 1998 midterms, seeding the idea for her own candidacy; Ross Perot’s wild run in 1992 that inspired him to launch the Reform Party, giving Donald Trump his first taste of electoral politics in 1999; and many others.

With novelistic prose and a clear sense of history, Steve Kornacki masterfully weaves together the various elements of this rambunctious and hugely impactful era in American history, whose effects set the stage for our current political landscape.

©2018 Steve Kornacki (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers
History & Theory Politics & Government Social Sciences United States American History Thought-Provoking
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Editorial Review

Required listening for the 2018 midterms

Our current brand of political polarization is not new, and though at times it might seem we are more divided than ever, political correspondent Steve Kornacki (NBC and MSNBC) holds nothing back about how the 1990s have come to define our nation’s party politics in 2018. Centered around two ambitious Southern political players from both sides of the aisle—former President Bill Clinton and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich—The Red and the Blue has a classic narrative nonfiction style that makes it a must-listen for anyone from hardcore political junkies to anyone who is simply interested in garnering some solid political talking points to bring up at their next dinner party. Put this at the top of your wish list as we race toward the midterms; there are few better primers for the debates to come in 2018. —Kyle S., Audible Editor