Review by Choice Review
Few legislators--perhaps only Lyndon Johnson in the post-WW II era--matched Phillip Burton's political acumen. Burton represented a San Francisco district in the California assembly from 1956 to 1964, and in the US Congress from 1964 to 1983. He narrowly missed selection as Democratic majority leader in 1976. He had no peer in his ability to employ gerrymandering, campaign financing, lobbying, coercion, congressional reorganization, pork barreling, and the lawmaking process itself to influence legislation. A prominent liberal whose career spanned the high tide of liberalism, Burton engineered laws to benefit the poor, minorities, and miners, and to protect public lands. His legislative victories often came after bitter political battles that reflected Burton's complex, often acerbic personality and demonstrated the crusading "rage" of the book's title. Jacobs conducted nearly 400 interviews in assembling a "warts-and-all" (and there are plenty of warts) portrait of one of the most influential congressmen of the 20th century. The author's experience as a reporter covering California politics informs this excellent biography, which captures not only the driving character of its subject but also the nature of the environment in which he worked. All levels. A. J. Dunar; University of Alabama in Huntsville
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
