A rage for justice : the passion and politics of Phillip Burton /

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

California Democratic Congressman Phillip Burton was not well known outside of Washington, D.C., and his home state. However, prior to his death in 1983 at the age of 56, Burton was one of the most influential legislators in Congress. He was a skillful broker of legislative coalitions that successfully passed liberal legislation dealing with civil rights, the environment, public welfare, and other issues. But he also had a personality that was as likely to repel others as to attract them. A member of his own party once described him as "the most unpleasant man in American government ...but the most competent Congressman in the country." Journalist Jacobs's well-researched account of Burton's career captures both his exceptional political skills and the personality flaws that probably kept him from realizing his goals of becoming majority leader and later Speaker of the House. This is one of the best biographies of an American politician published in recent years. Highly recommended for academic and public libraries.-Thomas H. Ferrell, Univ. of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.