Purchase

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Books-A-Million

Indie BookShop

Ripped Bodice

Add to Wish List

Also by John Heilemann:

Double Down, November 2013
Hardcover / e-Book
Game Change, January 2010
Hardcover
The Valley, September 2009
Hardcover
Pride Before the Fall, May 2002
Paperback

Also by Mark Halperin:

Double Down, November 2013
Hardcover / e-Book
Game Change, January 2010
Hardcover
The Undecided Voter's Guide to the Next President, October 2007
Trade Size
The Way to Win, October 2006
Hardcover

GAME CHANGE
By: John Heilemann, Mark Halperin

Obama And The Clintons, Mccain And Palin, And The Race Of A Lifetime

Harper
January 2010
On Sale: January 1, 2010
464 pages
ISBN: 0061733636
EAN: 9780061733635
Hardcover
Add to Wish List

Non-Fiction Political

"This shit would be really interesting if we weren't in the middle of it."
—Barack Obama, September 2008

In 2008, the presidential election became blockbuster entertainment. Everyone was watching as the race for the White House unfolded like something from the realm of fiction. The meteoric rise and historic triumph of Barack Obama. The shocking fall of the House of Clinton—and the improbable resurrection of Hillary as Obama's partner and America's face to the world. The mercurial performance of John McCain and the mesmerizing emergence of Sarah Palin. But despite the wall-to-wall media coverage of this spellbinding drama, remarkably little of the real story behind the headlines has yet been told.

In Game Change, John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, two of the country's leading political reporters, use their unrivaled access to pull back the curtain on the Obama, Clinton, McCain, and Palin campaigns. How did Obama convince himself that, despite the thinness of his résumé, he could somehow beat the odds to become the nation's first African American president? How did the tumultuous relationship between the Clintons shape—and warp—Hillary's supposedly unstoppable bid? What was behind her husband's furious outbursts and devastating political miscalculations? Why did McCain make the novice governor of Alaska his running mate? And was Palin merely painfully out of her depth—or troubled in more serious ways?

Game Change answers those questions and more, laying bare the secret history of the 2008 campaign. Heilemann and Halperin take us inside the Obama machine, where staffers referred to the candidate as "Black Jesus." They unearth the quiet conspiracy in the U.S. Senate to prod Obama into the race, driven in part by the fears of senior Democrats that Bill Clinton's personal life might cripple Hillary's presidential prospects. They expose the twisted tale of John Edwards's affair with Rielle Hunter, the truth behind the downfall of Rudy Giuliani, and the doubts of those responsible for vetting Palin about her readiness for the Republican ticket—along with the McCain campaign staff's worries about her fitness for office. And they reveal how, in an emotional late-night phone call, Obama succeeded in wooing Clinton, despite her staunch resistance, to become his secretary of state.

Based on hundreds of interviews with the people who lived the story, Game Change is a reportorial tour de force that reads like a fast-paced novel. Character driven and dialogue rich, replete with extravagantly detailed scenes, this is the occasionally shocking, often hilarious, ultimately definitive account of the campaign of a lifetime.

Media Buzz

Charlie Rose - January 7, 2013
Charlie Rose - May 22, 2012
Morning Edition - March 8, 2012
Studio 360 - January 29, 2011
Charlie Rose - January 6, 2011
Today - October 28, 2010
On Point - October 8, 2010
Campbell Brown - April 15, 2010
Anderson Cooper 360 - March 15, 2010
Today - January 30, 2010
Fresh Air - NPR - January 29, 2010
Charlie Rose - January 25, 2010
Early Show - January 23, 2010
Good Morning America - January 22, 2010
Meet the Press - January 17, 2010
All Things Considered - January 14, 2010
Colbert Report - January 13, 2010
Today - January 13, 2010
Today - January 12, 2010
Early Show - January 11, 2010
Good Morning America - January 11, 2010
The View - January 11, 2010
The O'Reilly Factor - January 11, 2010
Countdown with Keith Olbermann - January 11, 2010
PBS News Hour - January 11, 2010
Today - January 11, 2010
Anderson Cooper 360 - January 11, 2010
Larry King Live - January 11, 2010
60 Minutes - January 10, 2010
Today - January 10, 2010
Meet the Press - January 10, 2010
Good Morning America - January 10, 2010
Inside Edition - January 8, 2010