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This is a thread which can be used to discuss the House of Representatives.

I recently purchased this book and am looking forward to reading it.

Capitol Men: The Epic Story of Reconstruction Through the Lives of the First Black Congressmen

by Philip Dray

Synopsis:

Reconstruction was a time of idealism and sweeping change, as the victorious Union created citizenship rights for the freed slaves and granted the vote to black men. Sixteen black Southerners, elected to the U.S. Congress, arrived in Washington to advocate reforms such as public education, equal rights, land distribution, and the suppression of the Ku Klux Klan.
But these men faced astounding odds. They were belittled as corrupt and inadequate by their white political opponents, who used legislative trickery, libel, bribery, and the brutal intimidation of their constituents to rob them of their base of support. Despite their status as congressmen, they were made to endure the worst humiliations of racial prejudice. And they have been largely forgotten—often neglected or maligned by standard histories of the period.

In this beautifully written book, Philip Dray reclaims their story. Drawing on archival documents, contemporary news accounts, and congressional records, he shows how the efforts of black Americans revealed their political perceptiveness and readiness to serve as voters, citizens, and elected officials.
We meet men like the war hero Robert Smalls of South Carolina (who had stolen a Confederate vessel and delivered it to the Union navy), Robert Brown Elliott (who bested the former vice president of the Confederacy in a stormy debate on the House floor), and the distinguished former slave Blanche K. Bruce (who was said to possess “the manners of a Chesterfield�). As Dray demonstrates, these men were eloquent, creative, and often effective representatives who, as support for Reconstruction faded, were undone by the forces of Southern reaction and Northern indifference.

In a grand narrative that traces the promising yet tragic arc of Reconstruction, Dray follows these black representatives� struggles, from the Emancipation Proclamation to the onset of Jim Crow, as they fought for social justice and helped realize the promise of a new nation.

Thank you very much Alisa for this add especially for this new thread.

A history of the House:

Robert V. Remini

Booklist:
The unrivaled scholar of the Jacksonian era of American history, Remini is also a skillful popular historian, as evident in accessibly vibrant histories such as The Battle of New Orleans (1999). The latter spirit infuses this chronicle of the U.S. House of Representatives. It bears no trace of dreary institutional history but, rather, emphasizes the most prominent figures among the 10,000 people who have been its members. Another successful strategy Remini adopts is his manner of illustrating how the House operates. Rather than explain parliamentary procedure, he dramatizes it in episodes such as the debate over the Wilmot Proviso. In the aggregate, Remini's narratives make memorable how the pendulum of the House's powers has swung, both within its committees and the office of speaker, and in its external power struggle with the presidency and the Senate. Published under the aegis of the House itself, Remini's work is nonpartisan, civic-minded, and deserving of every library's consideration.

Great add Bryan.

I can see that these threads are going to impact my to-read list. Great addition Bryan, this looks really interesting.

Robert V. Remini worked for the House when he wrote this. He was hired to write this book and from reviews, he did a good job. It is on my TBR list.

I suspect this is hard to find, but a worthwhile read:

D.B. Hardeman

Publisher's Weekly:
Sam Rayburn made available his congressional papers, personal correspondence and taped conversation with the late Hardeman to Bacon (Congress and You, who completed this biography. The book presents an intimate look at a man who had the longest law-making career in American history, having served in the House of Representatives for 49 years at the time of his death in 1961. As Speaker of the House, "Mr. Sam" epitomized honesty and integrity in public service. Referred to here as "arguably the most underrated public official in twentieth-century politics," he is revealed as a major architect of New Deal legislation, adviser to presidents from Wilson to Kennedy, and a man whose "outrageously optimistic dreams came true." Rayburn's legislative battles are described in detail, from his confrontation with public-utility holding companies in the '30s to his last major victory, a showdown with conservatives over control of the House Committee on Rules. Also covered are Truman's reliance on the Speaker's counsel and the father-son relationship between Rayburn and his protege, Lyndon Johnson. An inspiring portrait of a politician who may have been the last of his kind.

The long-time Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) is retiring. Here is a link to an interesting Politico article. You can't help but think that we need to look in the mirror.



Here is some more biographical info:

Fighting for the Speakership: The House and the Rise of Party Government

(no image)Fighting for the Speakership: The House and the Rise of Party Government by Jeffery A. Jenkins

Synopsis

The Speaker of the House of Representatives is the most powerful partisan figure in the contemporary U.S. Congress. How this came to be, and how the majority party in the House has made control of the speakership a routine matter, is far from straightforward. Fighting for the Speakership provides a comprehensive history of how Speakers have been elected in the U.S. House since 1789, arguing that the organizational politics of these elections were critical to the construction of mass political parties in America and laid the groundwork for the role they play in setting the agenda of Congress today.

Jeffery Jenkins and Charles Stewart show how the speakership began as a relatively weak office, and how votes for Speaker prior to the Civil War often favored regional interests over party loyalty. While struggle, contention, and deadlock over House organization were common in the antebellum era, such instability vanished with the outbreak of war, as the majority party became an "organizational cartel" capable of controlling with certainty the selection of the Speaker and other key House officers. This organizational cartel has survived Gilded Age partisan strife, Progressive Era challenge, and conservative coalition politics to guide speakership elections through the present day. Fighting for the Speakership reveals how struggles over House organization prior to the Civil War were among the most consequential turning points in American political history.

This looks interesting:

The Logic of Congressional Action
by R. Douglas Arnold

Synopsis:

Congress regularly enacts laws that benefit particular groups or localities while imposing costs on everyone else. Sometimes, however, Congress breaks free of such parochial concerns and enacts bills that serve the general public, not just special interest groups. In this book, the author offers a theory that explains not only why special interest frequently triumph but also why the general public sometimes wins. By showing how legislative leaders build coalitions for both types of programs, he illuminates recent legislative decisions in such areas as economic, tax, and energy policy. The author's theory of policy making rests on a reinterpretation of the relationship between legislators' actions and their constituents' policy preferences. Most scholars explore the impact that citizens' existing policy preferences have on legislators' decisions. They ignore citizens who have no opinions because they assume that uninformed citizens cannot possibly affect legislators' choices. Arnold examines the influence of citizens' potential preferences, however, and argues that legislators also respond to these preferences in order to avoid future electoral problems. He shows how legislators estimate the political consequences of their voting decisions, taking into account both the existing preferences of attentive citizens and the potential preferences of inattentive citizens. He then analyzes how coalition leaders manipulate the legislative situation in order to make it attractive for legislators to support a general interest bill.

Bryan wrote: "I suspect this is hard to find, but a worthwhile read:

D.B. Hardeman

Publisher's Weekly:
Sam Rayburn made available his congressional papers, personal correspondence an..."

I just ordered a used copy.

Just added this to my to-read list (always growing) and thought others might be interested.

24 Years of House Work-- And the Place Is Still a Mess: My Life in Politics

by Pat Schroeder (no photo)

Synopsis:

When Democrats in Colorado's First District were looking for a candidate to run against the Republican incumbent in 1972, no one saw Pat Schroeder as a viable candidate-least of all Schroeder herself. A lawyer by training and the mother of two, she was shocked at her triumph in the primary and further astonished when she actually won the election. But in an era when voters were calling for change, Schroeder rose to the challenge.Pat Schroeder's autobiography, 24 Years of House Work ... and the Place Is Still a Mess, details her struggle to find a place and a voice in the male-dominated world of politics. The book is a fascinating look at how the longest-serving woman in congressional history balanced politics and power with family and children.

This candid autobiography begins with politics as they were when Schroeder first turned the political scene on its ear twenty-five years ago and continues to the present day. The book traces her controversial fight for the Equal Rights Amendment and her passionate advocacy for social justice, equal opportunity, and children's welfare. Sprinkled throughout are humorous and amazing tales from her years on Capitol Hill, stories of how she kicked open doors for women and tried to level the playing field, and her views on politics -- and the politicians -- of the present day. And, just as in the days when she was the most quotable person in Washington, Schroeder doesn't think twice about sharing her views throughout 24 Years of House Work.

"Many things are much better than they were when I arrived in Congress in 1973. But before we all join hands and sing, 'Kumbaya, the autocracy is dead, ' let me tell you about Newt Gingrich".

Some peoplelove her. Some people revile her. But everyone responds to her.

In 24 Years of House Work, Schroeder dusts off dozens of fascinating stories, polishes her stances on a spectrum of controversial political issues, and even cleans a few clocks of her past and present political colleagues.

Love the title

Ha! Yes, it certainly is eye-catching. I thought it was great.

I met her once in the Amtrak train in the first class car with Geraldine Ferraro who had gone back to talk to Mondale who was right across the aisle from me.

Boy was that car packed with all of them. Never forget it. They were like a bunch of gossiping honey bees.

Wow, what a hoot, and how random! That must have been quite memorable. I love the image of gossiping honey bees. Ha!

They were in their own element (like a hive) - none of them was sitting in their own seat - but working the car.

It was memorable to say the least.

D.B. Hardeman(no author photo)
Sam Rayburn was born on January 6, 1882 and died on November 16, 1961. He was Speaker of the House of Representatives three times: From 1940 to 1947, from 1949 to 1953 and from 1955 to his death (the breaks were when Republicans had control of the House; in these periods Rayburn was Minority Leader).

Rayburn: A Biography is a good basic biography. Hardeman and his co-author, Donald C. Bacon, trace Rayburn from his roots in rural Texas to the House and up its leadership hierarchy. They do a good job of portraying the man and his role in history. Rayburn didn't fit easily into the liberal conservative continuum - he varied issue by issue, being conservative on civil rights, moderate on labor and liberal on many other issues. However, people of all political views realized that Rayburn was honest and politically wise. He famously ran the "Board of Education" - which were meetings after hours in one of his offices, where he dispensed some of this wisdom in aphorisms such as "There are no degrees of honesty. Either a man is honest or he isn't".

The book is somewhat marred by an odd style that is hard to describe except by example; in particular, they use similar sentence constructions over and over in a way that is almost comical. The most common is (adjective)(adjective)(person's name or state he/she was from) - "The crusty Texan", "The affable, kindhearted Missourian".

It was interesting to read this book just after reading Robert Caro's Master of the Senate about Lyndon Johnson. Rayburn was Johnson's mentor and reading both books makes for interesting comparisons of perspective. It was also interesting to compare the two on civil rights: Both came from the same part of the world. One in which racism was universal. Johnson eventually overcame his opposition to civil rights, Rayburn never really did.

Robert A. Caro

by D.B. Hardeman (no author's photo)

I found the book cover Peter under other editions.

Peter, also make sure you add the Caro book you mentioned in your comment.
Robert A. Caro

Great addition, thanks for adding your perspective.

Jeannette Rankin


On this day in 1916, Jeannette Pickering Rankin became the first woman elected to the United States Congress, remarkably before the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote was even passed! Her success sparked a long line of women in Congress whose presence on the Hill continues to grow.

Known for doing things that women weren't supposed to do, Rankin graduated from high school and from the University of Montana with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology. From there she attended the New York School of Philanthropy, becoming involved with the New York Women's Suffrage Party and then becoming a lobbyist for the National American Woman Suffrage Association.

A driving force in the Women's Suffrage movement, Rankin successfully rallied for Montana to grant women the right to vote in 1914. With the support of her brother, a powerhouse in the Montana Republican Party, Rankin led a campaign for a 1916 Congressional seat. Despite an early announcement by the press that she lost, Rankin wound up winning by over 7,500 votes.

During her time in Congress she helped to pass the Nineteenth Amendment, and as an ardent pacifist, voted against entering both World Wars explaining that "as a woman I can't go to war, and I refuse to send anyone else."

Rankin's legacy as a groundbreaker in U.S. politics has continued to shine on as a record number of women are currently represented in Congress like MAKERS Kirsten Gillibrand, Senator; Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the first Latina elected to Congress; Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to hold office as Speaker of the House; and previously, Pat Schroeder, the longest serving woman in Congress.

Source:

by Gretchen Woelfle
by Norma Smith
by James J. Lopach

This is more a reflection on what goes on daily on Capitol Hill, but I like the mix of routine, politics, and a little history.

A Lunchroom Called Capitol Hill

The epicenter of eating on the House side of the Capitol is the cafeteria in the Longworth House Office Building. In Washington, lawmakers are largely too busy to eat out.

By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
Published: March 5, 2013

WASHINGTON � All American cities have their lunch spots where deals are sealed and careers are upgraded over Cobb salads and tuna rolls. On Capitol Hill, the powerful eat in.

Voting With Their Forks
He who can leave for an extensive lunch is not writing a bill, strong-arming a senator, hectoring a committee witness or doing a spot on Fox Business Network. Let the low-level staff members trek to Seventh Street for pizza. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, has his lunch (usually chicken) brought in from the Senate dining room. (That’s a double power play: the dining room is for senators only, yet a staff member carts food to him.)

And so the sprawling Capitol complex is both our nation’s legislative center and its food court. While House members often repair to their partisan clubs for lunch, coffee and post-vote martinis, and senators can sometimes be found eating and drinking at the Monocle restaurant, which has fed generations of them, lawmakers are largely too busy to eat out. For them and their staffs � and the tour guides, reporters, art restoration experts, hairdressers and others among the cast of thousands who work on Capitol Hill � lunch is generally a quick in-house affair.

There are more than a dozen restaurants, cafes, sandwich bars and formal dining rooms on the Hill � most of them prosaic, some a little weird and almost all good for people watching, when you can get in. (The House and Senate dining rooms are generally reserved for members and their guests; many others are open to the public, but those in the Capitol building require an escort from someone who works there.)

Where one eats here is driven mostly by convenience, but also a bit by sociology, with food quality a rare consideration.

“The Capitol is sort of like a little town,� said Don Ritchie, the Senate historian, noting its collection of hair salons, gift shops and post offices. “Food has always been part of that.�

Most of the eating spots are run by Restaurant Associates, the New York-based company, and much of the fare has mild Southern influences like barbecue and stewed greens, perhaps reflecting the District of Columbia’s location south of the Mason-Dixon Line and its large African-American population. It takes time to master the offerings, but for every overcooked hamburger and depressing excuse for pizza, there is the odd sublime slice of coconut cream pie, the perfectly cooked salad-bar brussels sprouts, the daring chicken tikka masala.

Still, the real pleasure, for those who care about such things, is observing, and listening to the confluence of policy and politics that dribbles into the lunch break. It’s a place of salad and sequester. Standing in line to pay for your greens, you will hear people speaking in bill numbers, or gossiping about which member from a Southern state is really mean to her staff.

The history of dining in the Capitol mirrors the culinary and social history of the District. In the 19th century, senators ate at the Hole in the Wall, near the Old Senate chamber, where they lunched on oysters and wine. “Oysters were abundant in the Chesapeake,� Mr. Ritchie said. “They were easy to transport and an affordable delicacy.� Long before buzzers signaled to lawmakers that it was time to vote, pages were dispatched there to pull senators away from their boozy snacks.

Also on the Senate side was one of the first Capitol Hill restaurants to be integrated; in 1947, when the first black reporter was admitted to the press gallery, he joined the white reporters for lunch in their cafeteria.

Contemporary politics still infuse the restaurants. In 2003, displeased with the French government’s opposition to the Bush administration’s Iraq policies, the chairman of the House Administration Committee ordered that French fries be renamed freedom fries. This did not last.

When Republicans took over the House in 2010, one of their first moves was to end a composting program started by the former speaker Nancy Pelosi, citing its high cost. The return of plastic foam and the jettisoning of noncompostable forks, which Republicans insisted could not stand up to aggressive salad fixings, presaged the next two years of deep divide.

Today, the divisions over lunch are many: between chambers, parties and castes. On the House side of the Capitol, cafeterias are primarily outposts of young staff members and lobbyists waiting for midday meetings. The epicenter of eating is the large cafeteria in the Longworth House Office Building, where House members often dine together on sandwiches or offerings from the various hot stations, and young staff members train their eyes on BlackBerries as they sip from their (plastic foam) cups of soda.

On the Senate side, the equivalent is in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, where a cafeteria featuring a giant salad bar and an “international station� of ethnic foods attracts a broad swath of members and their staff. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, has been spotted there, but a reporter who runs into him is not fooled into thinking that he will be inclined to make small talk; he will almost certainly regard her as a raccoon he just discovered in the attic, and glance around for someone to dispose of her.

Just as they compete for dominance elsewhere, the House and Senate have dueling takeout spots in the building. On the Senate side, Miss Shawnee will whip up bacon in the morning and grilled cheese sandwiches during lunch. Yes, you do want a pickle. Miss Rose will ring you up.

Senate bean soup, as elsewhere, is always available at many places around the Capitol, and routinely oversalted.

The House-side Capitol Market attracts Senate staff members because it has a salad bar, as well as Noodle Bowl Tuesday, which ignites undue excitement. Both sides have Taco Salad Thursday, and there is intense debate over which side makes the superior version.

Over at the newly constructed Capitol Visitor Center, the same fare available elsewhere is for sale at higher prices. Visitors should avoid it and head to the National Museum of the American Indian, which has the best food on the Mall.

There are two crown jewels in the Capitol culinary complex. One is Cups & Company, a New York Korean-deli-style joint in the Russell Senate Office Building, which has been operated by Charles and Kathy Chung for more than a dozen years. Their excellent coffee (a rare commodity here) and demonlike efficiency with their hot sandwiches are Washington’s most convincing arguments for private enterprise on government property. Secretary of State John Kerry, on his last day as a senator, stopped at Cups for lunch.

“Everything is made fresh here every day,� Mrs. Chung said. “Nothing is processed. That is what makes us different.�

While its food is less exciting, the cafeteria in the Library of Congress is the best-kept secret. There, vistas of the Potomac River and a good swath of the city can be viewed from a window seat on the sixth floor of the Madison Building.

It’s a trek to get there, but a bowl of chili or a slice of pedestrian pumpkin pie nibbled as you peer out into the foggy city provides a bracing reminder of the rest of the world just outside, which lives by the rules set inside this impenetrable sprawl.

Source:

What an interesting story. Politics reign supreme even in the choice of cutlery and the environment.

We live in a contradictory country when the first black reporter was not allowed to be in the press gallery until 1947. Really telling.

It is not a wonder how proud we were of the country when they voted and put in office the first black president (even if he is half white) - this was still a day forward for our country and in putting into action what we have so proudly stated as one of our principles: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all".

Bentley wrote: "What an interesting story. Politics reigns supreme even in the choice of cutlery and the environment.

We live in a contradictory country when the first black reporter was not allowed to be in the..."

I agree that we were proud to elect a Black man to the highest office; we will also be proud when we finally elect a woman.

But I'll be most proud when we no longer find it remarkable to elect Blacks or women or members of any other group and when we finally fulfill Martin Luther King's dream to judge people "not by the color of their skin but the content of their character". We're making progress but we're not there yet

True Peter, very true.

Cannot but agree with your statements.

Peter, well stated.

Here's another good book for this thread:

James Grant(no photo).

Tom Reed may be the most important historic figure that almost no one has heard of (although that risks being a "world's shortest giant" type statement). He helped create the modern speakership. I read this book back in 2011 (before I joined Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ).

Reed was a Republican in the Gilded Age (back when Republicans were one in favor of more government) from Maine, and rose to be speaker of the House. He was way ahead of his time, being a proponent of women's suffrage and equal rights for Blacks, among other things. As speaker, he broke the ability of the minority party to fillibuster in the House. House members used to be able to prevent a quorum by sitting in the House but not giving their names in roll calls. Reed started recognizing people himself. He also resigned from the House on a matter of principle - he opposed the USA starting and fighting in the Spanish American war.

Nice Peter, thanks

Here is a nice interview with the House historian, Matthew Wasniewski, from the History News Network:

Contemporary history:

Act of Congress: How America's Essential Institution Works, and How It Doesn't

Robert G. Kaiser

Synopsis

In the wake of the 2008 economic collapse, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act introduced the most sweeping changes to financial regulation since the New Deal. In Act of Congress, longtime Washington Post reporter Robert G. Kaiser chronicles the journey of this bill from its introduction to its signing into law by President Obama in 2010. Never before has the birth of a major bill been dissected in such vivid detail.

Kaiser focuses on two of the major players behind the legislation: colorful, wisecracking congressman Barney Frank, and careful, insightful senator Christopher Dodd, both of whom met regularly with Kaiser while they worked on the bill. Taking us beyond these key figures, he shows how congressional staff play a critical role, writing the legislation and often making the crucial deals. And he also had access to the key Republican actors in this story, which enables him to illuminate the hidden intricacies of legislative enterprise and offer a clearer picture than before of how Congress works best—or sometimes doesn’t work at all.

Due out this fall:

Tip and the Gipper: When Politics Worked

by Chris Matthews

Synopsis:

From the author of the New York Times bestseller Jack Kennedy—and Tip O’Neill’s former chief-of-staff—comes the firsthand, one-of-a-kind story of the friendship between President Reagan and the Speaker of the House. They were the political odd couple—the two most powerful men in the country, a pair who, in author Chris Matthews’s words, “couldn’t be more different or more the same.� For six years Matthews was on the inside, watching the evolving relationship between President Ronald Reagan and Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill. Their philosophies were miles apart—Reagan intent on scaling back government, O’Neill fervent in defending it. Yet there was common ground too: long lunches shared on St. Patrick’s Day and a mutual respect—political and personal. Three days after Reagan’s shooting, Tip was the first outsider at the president’s bedside.

Drawing not only on his own remarkable knowledge but on extensive interviews with those closest to his subjects, Matthews brings this unlikely friendship to life in his unique voice, rendering as lively and novelistic a read as Jack Kennedy and a timely object lesson in how bipartisan cooperation can work.

mentioned:
by Chris Matthews

As long as we are on Tip . . .

Man of the House: The Life and Political Memoirs of Speaker Tip O'Neill

by Tip O'Neill (no photo)

Synopsis:

Canny folk hero O'Neill alludes here to another such, the legendary mayor of Boston: ``When the good Lord made James Michael Curley, He broke the mold''; and if you substitute his own name, you have the flavor of this knowing, pietistic, jolly, seductive memoir, written with Novak, coauthor of Iacocca. In the all-but-vanished tradition of ward healer, the retired Speaker of the House, writing in the first person, blends treacle (``I would work to make sure my own people could go to places like Harvard'') and shrewdness (``power accumulates when people think you have power''), idealism and pragmatism, humor and heft as he relates anecdotes about the national figures he has dealt with in Washington, D.C., and politicians in Massachusetts where he spent eight terms in the legislature before joining Congress in 1952. Like ``a good Irish pol who can carry on six conversations at once,'' O'Neill talks about baseball, poker and his boyhood gang, issues of governance and the functioning of Congress, in which he served for 34 years. ``All politics is local,'' he writes, and this memoir makes that a truism, bringing national imperatives back home to the national constituency.

Short and sweet, this story is still being written.

Nancy Pelosi: First Woman Speaker of the House

by Lisa Tucker McElroy (no photo)

Synopsis:

Mother of five, grandmother of six, and Speaker of the House! Nancy Pelosi made history when she became the first woman Speaker of the House in January 2007. As second in the line of succession for the U.S. presidency, should something happen to the president and vice president, she has attained the highest political position ever held by a woman.

Another one on Nancy Pelosi ~

Woman of the House: The Rise of Nancy Pelosi

by Vincent Bzdek (no photo)

Synopsis:

While the Democratic nominee for President will likely emerge from the 2008 primaries bloody and bruised, the always-smiling, confoundingly popular Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, will be front and center as the party heads to its National Convention in August. Not only has she somehow won the confidence of the boys' club of the House and returned her party to majority status after twelve years of Republican rule, but she has managed, in her first 100 hours on the job, to pass much of the legislation she promised. Pelosi is also leading the vocal, in-your-face opposition to the Iraq War, this generation's defining event, and is likely one of the most important political figures of the last few decades.

In this balanced, thoroughly researched biography, Bzdek chronicles the career of the country's most powerful woman, shining a light on the woman who is two heartbeats away from the presidency, and whose incredible example is already inspiring a new generation of American women.

Honor in the House: Speaker Tom Foley

by Thomas S. Foley (no photo)

Synopsis:

One of the nation's most influential and respected members of Congress in the post-World War II period reflects on his 30 years in office, including five years as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Biggs and Foley have provided an unusual collaboration of reminiscences in a book that reveals how Congress and the nation's government really work.

Aaaah, the machinations of politics within the House.

Setting the Agenda: Responsible Party Government in the U.S. House of Representatives

by Gary W. Cox (no photo)

Synopsis:

Scholars of the U.S. House disagree over the importance of political parties in organizing the legislative process. On the one hand, non-partisan theories stress how congressional organization serves members' non-partisan goals. On the other hand, partisan theories argue that the House is organized to serve the collective interests of the majority party. This book advances a partisan theory and presents a series of empirical tests of that theory's predictions (pitted against others). The evidence demonstrates that the majority party seizes agenda control at nearly every stage of the legislative process in order to prevent bills that the party dislikes from reaching the floor.

You may agree with this author or you may disagree, but it is still worth the read no matter what side you take.

Do Not Ask What Good We Do

by Robert Draper

Synopsis:

The U.S. House of Representatives;a large, often unruly body of men and women elected every other year from 435 distinct microcosms of America has achieved renown as the people's House, the world's most democratic institution, and an acute Rorschach of biennial public passions. In the midterm election year 2010, recession-battered Americans expressed their discontent with a simultaneously overreaching and underperforming government by turning the formerly Democratically controlled House over to the Republicans. Among the new GOP majority were eighty-seven freshmen, many of them political novices with Tea Party backing who pledged a more open, responsive, and fiscally thrifty House. What the 112th Congress instead achieved was a public standing so low (a ghastly 9 percent approval rating) that, as its longest-serving member, John Dingell, would dryly remark, "I think pedophiles would do better.". What happened? The author dissects this problem and provides answers.

Speaker: Lessons from Forty Years in Coaching and Politics


by Dennis Hastert (no photo)

Synopsis:

In Speaker: Lessons from 30 Years of Coaching and Politics, Denny Hastert breaks his silence to tell a remarkable American story: of how he grew up among the fields of Northern Illinois, made a name for himself as a high school and collegiate wrestler, became a high school wrestling and football coach and civics teacher...and eventually found himself teaching, and learning about, civics in the most important forum in the world: in the United States Congress as Speaker of the House, the third most powerful man in government. Speaker is a true Mr. Smith Goes to Washington story, full of lived-in wisdom, funny anecdotes, and straight talk about what goes on in the "smoke-filled" rooms of congressional power. Along the way, you'll learn: * The secret of winning in politics: under-promise and over-produce (the reverse of what most politicians do) * The Hastert formula: Build a team, leave the spotlight to others, be honest, be fair, and stick to your objectives as tenaciously as a fullback hammering at the goal line * Lessons from wrestling: there's no one to blame but yourself if you get pinned * The shock of September 11-or actually, the non-shock: how Speaker Hastert kept Congress running smoothly during the crisis * How the Vatican could never find time to receive the Congressional Medal of Freedom that was voted for the pope-until it became clear that then-President Clinton would not be awarding it * Speaker Hastert's agenda for the next Congress Denny Hastert grew up in the back of a feed truck and still remembers, fondly, a boyhood spent of hard work and high dreams, of harvesting hay and of living in a state of upstanding, well-meaning people. That same sort of down home grit and determination, idealism, and belief in the goodness of America makes Speaker one of the most refreshing, enjoyable, and enlightening political books of the year.

Thank you Bryan, Alisa and Jill

I just have to mention that former Vice President John Nance Garner is my husband's Great Great Grandfather. Cactus Jack died just a few months before my husband was born, but he lived for a few years in one of the family houses behind Jack's main house. Jack's house is still standing and is now the home of the Briscoe-Garner Museum. The museum just re-opened December 2013 and we were able to attend the ribbon cutting/grand re-opening. He and his wife were fascinating people.

Briscoe-Garner Museum

An upcoming book:
Release date: June 23, 2015

The First Congress: How James Madison, George Washington, and a Group of Extraordinary Men Invented the Government

by Fergus M. Bordewich

Synopsis:

The little known story of perhaps the most productive Congress in US history, the First Federal Congress of 1789�1791.

The First Congress was the most important in US history says prizewinning author and historian Fergus Bordewich, because it established how our government would actually function. Had it failed—as many at the time feared it would—it’s possible that the United States as we know it would not exist today.

The Constitution was a broad set of principles. It was left to the members of the First Congress and President George Washington to create the machinery that would make the government work. Fortunately, James Madison, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and others less well known today, rose to the occasion. During two years of often fierce political struggle, they passed the first ten amendments to the Constitution; they resolved bitter regional rivalries to choose the site of the new national capital; they set in place the procedure for admitting new states to the union; and much more. But the First Congress also confronted some issues that remain to this day: the conflict between states� rights and the powers of national government; the proper balance between legislative and executive power; the respective roles of the federal and state judiciaries; funding the central government. Other issues, such as slavery, would fester for decades before being resolved.

The First Congress tells the dramatic story of the two remarkable years when Washington, Madison, and their dedicated colleagues struggled to successfully create our government, an achievement that has lasted to the present day.

Sounds like a good idea to me!!

Setting the Agenda: Responsible Party Government

by Cox/McCubbins (no photo)

Synopsis

Scholars of the U.S. House disagree over the importance of political parties in organizing the legislative process. On the one hand, non-partisan theories stress how congressional organization serves members' non-partisan goals. On the other hand, partisan theories argue that the House is organized to serve the collective interests of the majority party. This book advances a partisan theory and presents a series of empirical tests of that theory's predictions (pitted against others). The evidence demonstrates that the majority party seizes agenda control at nearly every stage of the legislative process in order to prevent bills that the party dislikes from reaching the floor.

Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives

by Robert Draper

Synopsis:

The U.S. House of Representatives—a large, often unruly body of men and women elected every other year from 435 distinct microcosms of America—has achieved renown as “the people’s House,� the world’s most democratic institution, and an acute Rorschach of biennial public passions. In the midterm election year 2010, recession-battered Americans expressed their discontent with a simultaneously overreaching and underperforming government by turning the formerly Democratically controlled House over to the Republicans. Among the new GOP majority were eighty-seven freshmen, many of them political novices with Tea Party backing who pledged a more open, responsive, and fiscally thrifty House. What the 112th Congress instead achieved was a public standing so low—a ghastly 9 percent approval rating� that, as its longest-serving member, John Dingell, would dryly remark, “I think pedophiles would do better.� What happened?