Tolu Ogunlesi

Quest for the Presidency gathers in a single volume the compelling stories behind every presidential campaign in American history, from 1789 through 2020. Bob Riel takes us inside the 1800 clash between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, the 1860 election that launched the Civil War, the 1948 whistle-stop comeback of Harry Truman, the Kennedy-Nixon drama of 1960, the 1980 Reagan Revolution, the historic 2008 election of Barack Obama, the turbulent 2020 battle between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, and everything in between. This engaging and insightful book includes a trove of entertaining stories about campaigns and candidates, and it goes beyond the campaign tales to also consider the threads that link elections across time. It sheds light on the continually evolving story of American democracy in a way that helps us to better understand present-day politics.

The book captures the political intrigues that characterized the period following the crash of Governor Danbaba Danfulani Suntai of Taraba State. The author, who was the commissioner for Information at the time, found himself drawn into the whirlpool of maneuverings amongst the actors. Although he pitched his tent with the Suntai camp at the time, in this book he attempts to dispassionately dissect the various angels to the dramas of the period from the viewpoint of a reporter. The book therefore covers the comments, actions and thought-patterns of many involved in the saga. It also attempts to show the motives of the major stakeholders in the development and the various tendencies that informed their roles. It is essentially a tribute to the dramatis personae who all acted from their vantage positions, intensely pursuing what they believed was the truth.

We all know the bad news. Our economies are stagnant. Wages are flat and income inequality keeps rising. The Middle East is burning and extremism is spreading. Frightened voters are embracing populist outsiders and angry nationalists. And no wonder: we are living in an age of unprecedented, irreversible decline—or so we’re constantly being told. Jonathan Tepperman’s The Fix presents a very different picture. It identifies ten pervasive and seemingly impossible challenges—including immigration reform, economic stagnation, political gridlock, corruption, and Islamist extremism—and shows that, contrary to the general consensus, each has a solution, and not merely a hypothetical one. By taking a close look at overlooked success stories—from countries as diverse as Canada, Botswana, and Indonesia—Tepperman discovers practical advice for problem-solvers of all stripes, making a data-driven case for optimism in a time of crushing pessimism.