{"product_id":"how-not-to-be-a-politician-a-memoir-rory-stewart-hardcover","title":"How Not to Be a Politician: A Memoir -- Rory Stewart, Hardcover","description":"\u003cb\u003eFrom a great writer--legendary for his expeditions into some of the world's most forbidding places--a wise, honest, and sometimes absurdist memoir of a most remarkable journey through British politics at the breaking point\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eRory Stewart was an unlikely politician. He was best known for his two-year walk across Asia--in which he crossed Afghanistan, essentially solo, in the months after 9\/11--and for his service, as a diplomat in Iraq, and Afghanistan. But in 2009, he abandoned his chair at Harvard University to stand for a seat in Parliament, representing the communities and farms of the Lake District and the Scottish border--one of the most isolated and beautiful districts in England. He ran as a Conservative, though he had no prior connection to the politics and there was much about the party that he disagreed with.\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eHow Not to Be a Politician\u003c\/i\u003e is a candid and penetrating examination of life on the ground as a politician in an age of shallow populism, when every hard problem has a solution that's simple, appealing, and wrong. While undauntedly optimistic about what a public servant can accomplish in the lives of his constituents, the book is also a pitiless insider's exposé of the game of politics at the highest level, often shocking in its displays of rampant cynicism, ignorance, glibness, and sheer incompetence. Stewart witnesses Britain's vote to leave the European Union and its descent into political civil war, compounded by the bad faith of his party's leaders--David Cameron, Boris Johnson, and Liz Truss.\u003cbr\u003e Finally, after nine years of service and six ministerial roles, and shocked by his party's lurch to the populist right, Stewart ran for prime minister. Stewart's campaign took him into the lead in the opinion polls, head-to-head against Boris Johnson. \u003ci\u003eHow Not to Be a Politician\u003c\/i\u003e is his effort to make sense of it all, including what has happened to politics in Britain and the world and how we can fix it. The view into democracy's dark heart is troubling, but at every turn Stewart also finds allies and ways to make a difference. A bracing, invigorating mix of irony and love infuses \u003ci\u003eHow Not to Be a Politician\u003c\/i\u003e. This is one of the most revealing memoirs written by a politician in living memory.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Rory Stewart\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Penguin Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/19\/2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 464\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.53lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.51h x 6.43w x 1.58d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780593300329\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal Prepub Alert\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/01\/2023 pg. 20\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRory Stewart \u003c\/b\u003ewas a British Member of Parliament for almost a decade, during which time he served as Secretary of State for International Development, Prisons Minister, Minister for Africa, and Minister for the Environment, and ran against Boris Johnson for the leadership of the Conservative party. Earlier in his career he served briefly as an infantry officer and then as a diplomat for the UK government in Indonesia, the Balkans and Iraq. He founded and ran the Turquoise Mountain foundation in Afghanistan and was the Director of the Carr Centre and the Ryan Family Professor of Human Rights at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Stewart has written four books: \u003ci\u003eThe Places in Between; The Prince of the Marshes: And Other Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eCan Intervention Work?\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Marches.\u003c\/i\u003e He presents \u003ci\u003eThe Rest is Politics\u003c\/i\u003e podcast with Alastair Campbell which is consistently top of Apple podcasts in the UK.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rory Stewart","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44969530523876,"sku":"9780593300329","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0611\/9587\/8628\/files\/9780593300329.jpg?v=1780508220","url":"https:\/\/bookandmortar.com\/products\/how-not-to-be-a-politician-a-memoir-rory-stewart-hardcover","provider":"BookandMortar","version":"1.0","type":"link"}