What It Takes: The Way to the White House
Richard Ben Cramer set out to answer a deceptively simple question about American politics, namely what kind of person actually runs for president and why. He spent years following six 1988 candidates, including George H. W. Bush, Bob Dole, Joe Biden, Michael Dukakis, Gary Hart, and Richard Gephardt, talking to their families, their staff, and the people who knew them before politics. The result is a thousand-page immersion in the lives of grown men who decide that they should be the most powerful person in the world. Cramer writes in a propulsive, almost spoken style that drops readers inside hotel rooms, campaign vans, and family kitchens. The book has become a touchstone for political reporters and a definitive portrait of the modern campaign.
What you might want to know about What It Takes: The Way to the White House
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Richard Ben Cramer spends years inside the 1988 presidential race, building deep portraits of six candidates who tried to win the White House.
On his One Grand Books list Hanks framed it as a warning for anyone considering politics, writing thinking about running for office, going into politics, really, REALLY?
Yes. Cramer is less interested in the result than in the personalities and pressures of running, and the book reads as a study of ambition that holds up regardless of cycle.
What It Takes: The Way to the White House was written by Richard Ben Cramer, published in 1992 by Vintage.
What It Takes: The Way to the White House is 1056 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, What It Takes: The Way to the White House takes most readers 16 to 23 hours to finish.
What It Takes: The Way to the White House is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
