The Contender, Michael Shnayerson
The Contender, Michael Shnayerson
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The Contender
Andrew Cuomo, a Biography

Author: Michael Shnayerson

Narrator: Robert Petkoff

Unabridged: 23 hr 11 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Twelve

Published: 03/31/2015


Synopsis

A no-holds-barred biography of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Andrew Cuomo is the protagonist of an ongoing political saga that reads like a novel. In many ways, his rise, fall, and rise again is an iconic story: a young American politician of vaunting ambition, aiming for nothing less than the presidency. Building on his father's political success, a first run for governor in 2002 led to a stinging defeat, and a painful, public divorce from Kerry Kennedy, scion of another political dynasty, Cuomo had to come back from seeming political death and reinvent himself.

He did so, brilliantly, by becoming New York's attorney general, and compiling a record that focused on public corruption. In winning the governorship in 2010, he promised to clean up America's most corrupt legislature. He is blunt and combative, the antithesis of the glad-handing, blow-dried senator or governor who tries to please one and all. He's also proven he can make his legislature work, alternately charming and arm-twisting his colleagues with a talent for political strategy reminiscent of President Lyndon Johnson. Political pundits tend to agree that for Cuomo, a run for the White House is not a question of whether, but when.

Author Bio

Michael Shnayerson became a contributing editor at Vanity Fair in 1986 and is the author of eight books on a range of nonfiction subjects, including Boom: Mad Money, Mega Dealers, and the Rise of Contemporary Art. He lives in New York City.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Alex Clemens on April 13, 2015

Solid, detail-filled, and unsparing You get the sense that Shnayerson admires and reviles his subject matter, all at once. This is a hell of a political biography.......more

Goodreads review by Rosemary on April 14, 2015

I listened to the audio version of this book, an unauthorized biography of NY State's current governor, Andrew Cuomo. As a life- long New Yorker and former NYS employee under both Cuomo governors, I felt like I already knew as much as I wanted about the Cuomos and would merely scan this book. However......more

Goodreads review by Emily on July 06, 2015

This was at least as much fun as I was expecting. I was hate-reading b/c I despise Cuomo II and this book makes him out to be as nasty as I'd imagined. Shnayerson isn't much of a stylist, and he is leaning WAY too much on his Man Who Would Be King meme. I think he started the book fully expecting Cu......more

Goodreads review by Barb on October 28, 2015

Well worth reading, especially if you do not like Cuomo II. This book gives a thorough background to his rise to power and how every decision in his life has been calculated in planning for his future. The man doesn't care who he uses or destroys on his way up, as long as his goal of getting to the......more

Goodreads review by Lucinda on April 08, 2015

This is a book for those who love politics--but also for those who never read books on politics. It's a riveting, page-turning portrait of a second-generation American family, including insights into the characters of both Mario and Andrew. Shnayerson's writing is rich and engrossing on the page--hi......more