'parlous'?

We need more alternate history novels about the Civil War.

'The Last Hurrah' should be obvious _ significantly, it's not a Washington novel and it's about a dying type of politics. And what about Trollope's Parliamentary novels?

The folks over at The Valve had a good discussion of this a while ago, too. Check it out.

Right or wrong I like what you said. It could be used to declare the current Administration as doing exactly the right thing. Which is conforting in times of uncertainty.

All the Kings Men

Though, admittedly, not at the national level, and not a satire (I'm not sure if those were prerequisites or not). And its all about loss of innocence.

Steve

Gore Vidal, Burr

Before your time, The Gay Place (think LBJ) 1961 by Billy Lee Brammer
http://www.library.txstate.edu/swwc/archives/writers/brammer.html

I liekd that episode of "Stella" where the guys are running for appt. co-op board and the leader gives his Big Speech: "I was going to start by reading my prepared speech, and then stopping to speak from the heart instead. But I'm not going to do that tonight! I'm just going to read from my prepared speech!"

I won't be watching "The West Wing" fake debate tonight. I'm too busy following the taut political drama happening in real life. Who has time (and preference) for fiction?

If I may be so bold as to suggest Tom Clancy as my political fiction author of choice (admittedly drawn from a pool of one.) While his stuff may focus on idealized politics, I find the detailed descriptions of political manuvering to be what I read him for. Specifically, Executive Orders and The Bear and the Dragon, both books that spend a lot more time talking than shooting.

Of course, there is always that sub book that he wrote.

The Last Hurrah, All the King's Men, The Gay Place, and I'd add William Kennedy's Albany novels -- the problem isn't lack of good American political novels, it's lack of good Washington novels. I could quote Thomas Holley Chivers, but I won't.

Not exactly sure if this counts, but Charlie Wilson's War is one of the best books I've ever read. Great characters, good evolving story. Even the despicable characters are interesting, fun and insightful.

Supposedly Aaron Sorkin is writing the movie version with Tom Hanks as Wilson (Hanks's production company picked it up). I'd very seriously recommend this book to anyone who wants a good political thriller and/or history of 1980s US involvement in Afghanistan.

The Columnist, by Jeffrey Frank, is about a political columnist rather than a politician, but it's hilarious.

The opening scene, in which the protagonist is in a restaurant with George H.W. Bush and suspects that people are trying to eavesdrop on what _he_ (rather than the former President) is saying, covers the character as well.

For political fiction try the novels of Charles McCary; especially Lucky Bastard (a satire on the Clintons), Shelly's Heart, The Tears of Autumn (the Kennedy Assassination) and The Old Boys. He is a former CIA agent and they are good spy novels too.

Hands down for me, Advise and Consent by Allen Drury.

One of the better political movies too although Preminger took out the harsh characterization of liberals (Leffingwell was Hiss after all) that was in the book.

SMG

The Stainless Steel Rat for President, by Harry Harrison.

To quote my own review on Amazon:
The Stainless Steel Rat stories are generally entertaining , sometimes amusing, written with a sense of the ridiculous and a touch of political comment.

"The Stainless Steel Rat For President" is my favourite of them all. Jim Di Griz (alias the Stainless Steel Rat) takes his beautiful but deadly wife Angelina to the delightful holiday world of Paraiso-Aqui, which bears a strong resemblance to the Latin American countries of our Earth - Hispanic and full of gorgeous women, brave men and excellent rum.

Unfortunately Paraiso-Aqui suffers from the worst of Latin American politics. The whole planet is ruled by the sadistic and evil tyrant General-President Julio Zapolote. He has stayed in power by winning 41 consecutive rigged elections (and by regular use of longevity drugs!) Jim decides that Zapolote is going to be unlucky the 42nd time...

From this point on the plot involves a car full of hidden technology, unpredictable political rallies, desperate chases , short skirts , spacecraft rustling and sabotaging of election broadcasts.

I've taken part in about 25 elections and never seen spacecraft rustling once, but this book actually conveys the EXCITEMENT of a close election better than any other book I've read. Every decent politician would love to take part in a contest like this one.

On a more serious note, this book serves as a warning to those who would like to get rid of old-fashioned paper ballots and rely on computers!

Re: Whitney's recommendation of Charles McCarry. McCarry's later, more political, novels such as Shelley's Heart are entertaining, but feel forced. (However, the basic joke of Lucky Bastard is so good that it makes up for severe weaknesses in the book.)

By contrast, McCarry's middle-period, more purely spy oriented, novels, including Tears of Autumn, The Secret Lovers, and The Last Supper are among the very best spy stories ever written.

One of the least known, but most interesting political novels I have ever read, albeit French, is Stendhal's unfinished but still readable Lucien Lieuwen. If I recall correctly, the book takes place under the constitutional monarchy of Louis Phillipe in the 1830s or 40s. In Book II, sometimes published separately as "The Telegraph," the young hero (who in Book I was kicked out of college for not very seriously participating in a political demonstration and later quit the army following a failed romance) is placed by his rich and influential father in a position as assistant to a cabinet minister, where he finds that his major role is to act as a conduit for inside information to support his father's speculations (with kickbacks to the minister, of course). In the second half of book II, he is sent to a provincial area (maybe Brittany or Normandy) to support pro-administration candidates in parliamentary elections. He finds himself frantically trying to convince the out-of-touch party leaders back in Paris, via the newly constructed national semaphore telegraph system, that their local candidates are in trouble and that drastic changes in strategy are needed. There is a very good, and exciting, sense of an electoral clock running out as well as some interesting reflections on the possibilites and limits of new communications technologies for politics.

(Stendhals better known masterpiece, the Charterhouse of Parma, also has a lot of interesting politics in it, particularly the relation between politics, culture and personality, albeit in a less obviously modern context -- primarily the court of the autocratic ruler of an Italian city-state, but also some treatment of the impact of Napoleon and the Hapsburghs.)