Chris K. Hardball Essay
Dear Mr. Matthews,
Let me start of by being completely honest and saying that I thought your book was going to be boring and terrible. Many political books are written in a formal language that often intimidates the reader, making them feel unintelligent as well. Not only that, many authors of political books have a tendency to scold the readers for thinking a certain way. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I began to read your book. The first thing I noticed is that the language you use is simple, but not such that it seems like an elementary book. It’s written in a way a person not involved with politics can understand. I was also happy to see that this book is not about your beliefs on controversial issues such as health care or abortion, but about the game of politics, something that we all can relate to.
Technically speaking, the book is well formatted, using two sets of categories, rather than a timeline of events which would have been excruciatingly boring. I’m glad at how the book is broken into four parts, all of which are broad topics that are related to one’s work: alliances, enemies, deals, reputations. I was also happy to see that instead of common names for your sub-categories (Or chapters), you used interesting titles such as; “Don’t Get Mad; Don’t Get Even; Get Ahead”. Also nice touches were the interesting quotes you used to introduce each new chapter from people such as Alice Roosevelt Longworth and Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, Jr. Some I found were formal and logical, while others were completely outrageous such as James A. Baker’s quote in the chapter “Spin!” (Which had a plethora of words not used professionally). These quotes are usually humorous or have a sense of irony that can apply to experiences most people have had occur and were, in my opinion, well picked.
Something I must compliment was your tone throughout the book. It can easily be understood how much you love politics by your enthusiastic, yet serious tone throughout the
Let me start of by being completely honest and saying that I thought your book was going to be boring and terrible. Many political books are written in a formal language that often intimidates the reader, making them feel unintelligent as well. Not only that, many authors of political books have a tendency to scold the readers for thinking a certain way. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I began to read your book. The first thing I noticed is that the language you use is simple, but not such that it seems like an elementary book. It’s written in a way a person not involved with politics can understand. I was also happy to see that this book is not about your beliefs on controversial issues such as health care or abortion, but about the game of politics, something that we all can relate to.
Technically speaking, the book is well formatted, using two sets of categories, rather than a timeline of events which would have been excruciatingly boring. I’m glad at how the book is broken into four parts, all of which are broad topics that are related to one’s work: alliances, enemies, deals, reputations. I was also happy to see that instead of common names for your sub-categories (Or chapters), you used interesting titles such as; “Don’t Get Mad; Don’t Get Even; Get Ahead”. Also nice touches were the interesting quotes you used to introduce each new chapter from people such as Alice Roosevelt Longworth and Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, Jr. Some I found were formal and logical, while others were completely outrageous such as James A. Baker’s quote in the chapter “Spin!” (Which had a plethora of words not used professionally). These quotes are usually humorous or have a sense of irony that can apply to experiences most people have had occur and were, in my opinion, well picked.
Something I must compliment was your tone throughout the book. It can easily be understood how much you love politics by your enthusiastic, yet serious tone throughout the