Describes the statesmen who participated in the last glory days of the Senate, describing their leadership through the crisis years of the 1970s before the 1980 election signaled the start of a period of diminished effectiveness.

The falcon of the Senate.

While the hyper-partisanship in Washington that has stunned the world has been building for decades, Ira Shapiro argues that the U.S. Senate has suffered most acutely from the loss of its political center. In Broken, Ira Shapiro, a former senior Senate staffer and author of the critically-acclaimed book The Last Great Senate, offers an expert’s account of some of the most prominent battles of the past decade and lays out what must be done to restore the Senate’s lost luster. Shapiro places the Senate at “ground zero for America’s political dysfunction”--the institution that has failed the longest and the worst. Because the Senate, at its best, represented the special place where the Democrats and Republicans worked together to transcend ideological and regional differences and find common ground, its decline has intensified the nation’s polarization, by institutionalizing it at the highest level. Shapiro documents this decline and evaluates the prospects of restoration that could provide a way out of the polarized morass that has engulfed Congress. With a narrative that runs right through the first year of the Trump presidency, Broken will be essential reading for all concerned about the state of American politics and the future of our country.

The Last Great Senate tells the story of the final four years of the progressive Senate of the 1960s and 1970s which compiled a record of accomplishment unmatched in our country’s history. It is a narrative history of the statesman who, working with an outsider president, Jimmy Carter, helped steer America through the crisis years of the late 1970s, transcending partisanship and overcoming procedural roadblocks that have all but crippled the Senate over the past quarter- century. The Last Great Senate recalls a critical juncture in American politics, offering a new view of the kind of leadership that will be required to restore the nation’s upper house to greatness. The book brings to life the renowned senators of the time---Ted Kennedy, Howard Baker, Henry “Scoop” Jackson, Ed Muskie, Jacob Javits, Robert Byrd and others---while capturing the Senate as an ensemble cast in a way that no previous book has. Mr. Shapiro recounts a series of legislative battles, including the historic fight over the Panama Canal treaty and the rescues of New York City and Chrysler, that are remarkable case studies of the legislative process in action. His preface to this second edition provides a compelling summary of the Senate’s struggles since 1980, including the first six months of the Trump presidency. The author’s love of the Senate and his deep belief in its special role in our political system make the book an antidote to cynicism, leaving readers with some hope that the Senate can reverse its long decline to become again what Walter F. Mondale called “the nation’s mediator.”

Something is rotten in the U.S. Senate, and the disease has been spreading for some time. But Ben Nelson, former U.S. senator from Nebraska, is not going to let the institution destroy itself without a fight. Death of the Senate is a clear-eyed look inside the Senate chamber and a brutally honest account of the current political reality. In his two terms as a Democratic senator from the red state of Nebraska, Nelson positioned himself as a moderate broker between his more liberal and conservative colleagues and became a frontline player in the most consequential fights of the Bush and Obama years. His trusted centrist position gave him a unique perch from which to participate in some of the last great rounds of bipartisan cooperation, such as the "Gang of 14" that considered nominees for the federal bench--and passed over a young lawyer named Brett Kavanaugh for being too partisan. Nelson learned early on that the key to any negotiation at any level is genuine trust. With humor, insight, and firsthand details, Nelson makes the case that the "heart of the deal" is critical and describes how he focused on this during his time in the Senate. As seen through the eyes of a centrist senator from the Great Plains, Nelson shows how and why the spirit of bipartisanship declined and offers solutions that can restore the Senate to one of the world's most important legislative bodies.

A spellbinding biography of one of the most powerful and dignified men ever to come to DC—Senator Mike Mansfield. Mike Mansfield's career as the longest serving majority leader is finally given its due in this extraordinary biography. In many respects, Mansfield's dignity and decorum represent the high-water mark of the US Senate: he was respected as a leader who helped build consensus on tough issues and was renowned for his ability to work across the aisle and build strong coalitions. Amazingly, he would have breakfast every morning with a member of the opposing party. Mansfield was instrumental in pushing through some of the most influential legislation of the twentieth century. He was at the helm when the Senate passed landmark legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the creation of Medicare, and the nuclear test ban treaty. Mansfield played a crucial role in shaping America's foreign policy, corresponding with JFK about his opposition to the growing presence of the US in Southeast Asia. As ambassador to Japan, his conversations with Cambodia and China paved the way for Nixon's historic trip to China in 1972.

From Senator Al Franken - #1 bestselling author and beloved SNL alum -- comes the story of an award-winning comedian who decided to run for office and then discovered why award-winning comedians tend not to do that. "Flips the classic born-in-a-shack rise to political office tale on its head. I skipped meals to read this book - also unusual - because every page was funny. It made me deliriously happy." -- Louise Erdrich, The New York Times This is a book about an unlikely campaign that had an even more improbable ending: the closest outcome in history and an unprecedented eight-month recount saga, which is pretty funny in retrospect. It's a book about what happens when the nation's foremost progressive satirist gets a chance to serve in the United States Senate and, defying the low expectations of the pundit class, actually turns out to be good at it. It's a book about our deeply polarized, frequently depressing, occasionally inspiring political culture, written from inside the belly of the beast. In this candid personal memoir, the honorable gentleman from Minnesota takes his army of loyal fans along with him from Saturday Night Live to the campaign trail, inside the halls of Congress, and behind the scenes of some of the most dramatic and/or hilarious moments of his new career in politics. Has Al Franken become a true Giant of the Senate? Franken asks readers to decide for themselves.