Product Description
In this behind-the-scenes account of a bill's inhospitable journey through the maze of government, a national correspondent for Newsweek provides in vivid detail an eye-opening portrait of how Washington really works. Essential reading for all those interested in the ways and means of government.
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The Bill : How Legislation Really Becomes Law: A Case Study of the National Service Bill
- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); 1996-01-01
- Label: Penguin (Non-Classics)
- Studio: Penguin (Non-Classics)
- ISBN: 0140233040
- Average Customer Review:
 based on 5 reviews
- Sales Rank in Books: #92338
Avg. Customer Review:
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Wake Me When It Is Over 2003-07-09
Comment: I do not think I have ever taken this much time to read such a short book. At least it seamed to me that it took a long time. It was like walking up a never-ending hill. The only reason I kept plodding along is that I was interested in the overall outcome. What I am trying to say is that the book is dull. It is also that the subject is a bit on the non-sexy side so coupled with the authors "mathematics textbook" style of writing, it made a little book into something close to the Battan death march. Ok, I may be overstating it a bit, after all I did work my way through the book. The one good thing I can say is that the first half of the book was far better then the second half. How the author turned his already dull prose into something that was almost life threatening I will never know. With all this said there were some parts of the book that gave me some insight on how legislation works its way along the process. The part I thought was most interesting is all the groups that stick their hands into the bill. People with what appeared to me to have almost no or little effects from the bill got involved and tried to get their two cents in. Plus all the back handed and obstructionist activities made me wonder how anything gets done in Washington. Overall the book was dull, but did offer a tour of what it takes to get a bill passed. There has to be better books out there on the topic, I just do not know what they are.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: Eh...bleh... 2002-10-28
Comment: The story itself isn't a very interesting or informative one. The author tries to end chapters with a catchy phrase that is cynical/humorous/meaningful, but they rarely come off well. Journalistic style, if you like reading a 250 page news article, then you'll love it, but if you have a hard enough time getting through the lead of a front page article in the "New York Time," then don't bother.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: pretty good 1999-08-23
Comment: Steven Waldman does an excellent job of explaining the substantive issues surrounding the national service bill and its corollary, student aid reform, and showing how conflicting ideals were reconciled or submerged. The detail gets a bit tedious in the last chapter, but the book does live up to its subtitle. Johnson & Broder's "The System," about the 1994 health care reform campaign, is a longer but more exciting book along the same lines.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Great insight into all that happens in Congress and why 1999-04-19
Comment: Great look at all the inside games that must take place for a bill to pass Congress. Who switches sides, who you can trust, who stabs whom in the back at the last moment. Any AmeriCorps member should read this to get a perspective of all that went into creating the program that you were a part of. Made me realize why things are the way they are in a program that has stived to do so much for our country and the young people in it.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: Book like politics: fun, leaves empty space in stomach 1998-06-15
Comment: A well written book, exhaustive, sometimes boring. Lots of detail. Gives a very good look at politics, at how power, money, sinecure and ego all come together to get a bill passed. Shows that politics is 90% money and 10% intention. Lobbyists, senators and businessmen get together to divvy up the loot. Clinton is shown as a smart operator who attempts to play to the largest possible audience and still stay true to his beliefs/ethics/ideals.
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The Bill : How Legislation Really Becomes Law: A Case Study of the National Service Bill
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