TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Nonfiction

Week of September 22, 1996

FictionNonfiction
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2
UNLIMITED ACCESS
Gary Aldrich
Cover of UNLIMITED ACCESS
7
1
BAD AS I WANNA BE
Dennis Rodman with Tim Keown
Cover of BAD AS I WANNA BE

BAD AS I WANNA BE

by Dennis Rodman with Tim Keown · Delacorte Press

19 wks on list

Autobiography from one of the most popular and eccentric basketballers currently playing in the US.

8
1
BARE KNUCKLES AND BACK ROOMS
Ed Rollins with Tom DeFrank
Cover of BARE KNUCKLES AND BACK ROOMS

BARE KNUCKLES AND BACK ROOMS

by Ed Rollins with Tom DeFrank · Broadway

5 wks on list

"Who else but Ed Rollins - the brilliant, bare-knuckled political consultant - would dare give us the inside story on how Washington really works? Famously outspoken, Rollins is a true maverick whose gift for winning campaigns is matched only by his talent for generating controversy. Now, in this astonishingly candid book, he delivers a no-holds-barred, hugely entertaining account of his thirty-year career in American politics." "Rollins has worked for almost every major Republican politician of the past two decades, but he was never a member of the Washington aristocracy. Raised in the tough shipyard town of Vallejo, California, he fought as a championship amateur boxer and won over 160 bouts. His love of politics was kindled when he worked for Bobby Kennedy's presidential campaign in 1968, but after Kennedy's assassination and a life-changing experience during a violent anti-war demonstration, he joined the Republican party. By 1981, he had worked his way up to a job in the Reagan White House; the following year, he became the president's top political adviser. He has battled at the center of the political arena ever since, and he and his candidates have won far more often than they have lost." "If Rollins loves anything more than a good fight, it's a good story. Here is Richard Nixon complaining to him about the lack of a "nut-cutter" in the Reagan administration; Nancy Reagan berating him for his atrocious attire; Barbara Bush telling him he's not welcome in the White House; Ross Perot wailing about how expensive campaign advertising is; Arianna Huffington hiring a private detective to investigate an unfriendly journalist. But Rollins has made some spectacular blunders of his own, and he tells stories on himself too - most particularly when he provides the first full account of his role in the scandal that followed Christine Todd Whitman's election as governor of New Jersey."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

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4
OUTRAGE
Vincent Bugliosi
Cover of OUTRAGE

OUTRAGE

by Vincent Bugliosi · Norton

14 wks on list

A best-selling account by the author of Helter Skelter outlines the main reasons O.J. Simpson was acquitted of murder, from the jury's makeup to the incompetence of the prosecutors. Reprint.

11
NEW
HOW COULD YOU DO THAT?!
Laura Schlessinger
Cover of HOW COULD YOU DO THAT?!

HOW COULD YOU DO THAT?!

by Laura Schlessinger · HarperCollins

In her hard-hitting new book, Dr. Laura Schlessinger delivers a witty, wise, and workable moral philosophy - based on the principle of personal responsibility. How Could You Do That?! argues passionately against the self-indulgent subjective morality used in our society to excuse all sorts of bad behavior. In her lively, pull-no-punches style, Dr. Laura takes on the moral dilemmas of our time: from the mindless pursuit of pleasure and immediate gratification to taking the easy way out when those actions produce ugly or uncomfortable life-altering consequences. She demonstrates in no uncertain terms that personal values are never someone else's responsibility, but our own, and why choosing not to honor them actually compounds unhappiness. Finally, she explains that by disciplining self-indulgence and rising above temptation we can discover the infinite pleasures, the true happiness, of the moral high ground.

12
THE CHOICE
Bob Woodward
Cover of THE CHOICE

THE CHOICE

by Bob Woodward · Simon & Schuster

11 wks on list

This author and these subjects (Clinton and Dole) need no comment. The book is based on Woodward's abundant sources. Covers personal and political matters. Note that BiP on CD-ROM carried the title The Race as late as August '96. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

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BETWEEN HOPE AND HISTORY
Bill Clinton
Cover of BETWEEN HOPE AND HISTORY

BETWEEN HOPE AND HISTORY

by Bill Clinton · Times Books/Random House

2 wks on list

"Between Hope and History is President Clinton's credo, a concise statement of the fundamental principles that have guided his administration and its policies since its inception nearly four years ago. It continues, he writes, "the conversation I have had with the American people about our destiny as a nation."" "In the three main sections of the book - Opportunity, Responsibility, Community - the President explores the most important challenges we face today: making the American Dream available to every citizen willing to work for it; ensuring that individuals, families, businesses, and government shoulder their fair share of responsibility for themselves and one another; and seeking strength through diversity in a community of citizens united in a democracy whose achievements and glory are unrivaled." "America, the President observes, stands at a pivotal moment in its history. At the edge of a new century, we must decide between two visions of America. One vision foresees an "every man for himself" society that seems calculated to divide our people rather than unite us, to weaken rather than strengthen the bonds of community, to pay lip service to the importance of families without assuring the tools by which families can succeed. It is, the President declares, "a vision that is bereft of the simple understanding that in America we must go forward together, and we don't have a single person to waste.""--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

15
NEW
ANGELA'S ASHES
Frank McCourt
Cover of ANGELA'S ASHES

ANGELA'S ASHES

by Frank McCourt · Scribner

1 wks on list

<b><i>Angela's Ashes</i>, imbued on every page with Frank McCourt's astounding humor and compassion, is a glorious book that bears all the marks of a classic.</b><br><br><i>"When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood."</i><br> <br> So begins the luminous memoir of Frank McCourt, born in Depression-era Brooklyn to recent Irish immigrants and raised in the slums of Limerick, Ireland. Frank's mother, Angela, has no money to feed the children since Frank's father, Malachy, rarely works, and when he does he drinks his wages. Yet Malachy -- exasperating, irresponsible and beguiling-- does nurture in Frank an appetite for the one thing he can provide: a story. Frank lives for his father's tales of Cuchulain, who saved Ireland, and of the Angel on the Seventh Step, who brings his mother babies. Perhaps it is story that accounts for Frank's survival. Wearing rags for diapers, begging a pig's head for Christmas dinner and gathering coal from the roadside to light a fire, Frank endures poverty, near-starvation and the casual cruelty of relatives and neighbors--yet lives to tell his tale with eloquence, exuberance and remarkable forgiveness.

Historical bestseller data sourced from the New York Times Book Review, archived by Hawes Publications.