内容简介
McCain, with help from his administrative assistant Salter,picks up where the bestselling Faith of My Fathers left off, afterhis release from a North Vietnamese POW prison. After two decadesin Congress, he has plenty of stories to tell, beginning with hisfirst experiences on Capitol Hill as a navy liaison to the Senate,where he became friends with men like Henry "Scoop" Jackson andJohn Tower. (The latter friendship plays a crucial role in McCain'saccount of the battle over Tower's 1989 nomination for defensesecretary.) He revisits the "Keating Five" affair that nearlywrecked his career in the early '90s, pointedly observing how theinvestigating Senate committee left him dangling for politicalreasons long after he'd been cleared of wrongdoing. There's muchless on his 2000 presidential campaign than one might expect; asingle chapter lingers on a self-lacerating analysis of how he lostthe South Carolina primary. (He admits, "I doubt I shall havereason or opportunity to try again" for the White House, and mayeven consider retiring from the Senate.) Self-criticism is arecurring motif, as the senator berates himself for speakingrecklessly or letting his temper get the best of him. Henevertheless takes pride in his status as a maverick and paystribute to inspirational figures like Theodore Roosevelt, TedWilliams and Robert Jordan, the fictional protagonist ofHemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls. Luckily for McCain, he's suchan engaging storyteller most readers will readily accept thesedigressions from his own remarkable history.