Chris Matthews Releases This Country

<p>“This book is about learning from history, from <em>life</em>, sometimes the hard way, as it takes place around you,” writes <em>New York Times</em> bestselling author and former MSNBC host Chris Matthews in <em><strong>THIS COUNTRY: My Life in Politics and History</strong></em> (June 1st, 2021/$28.99 hardcover). “These pages are a celebration of this country and of the rich role I’ve enjoyed in sharing its politics and history. I got a lot of it right, but not always.”</p> <p>In <em><strong>THIS COUNTRY</strong></em>, Chris Matthews offers a panoramic portrait of modern America through the story of his remarkable life and career. It is a story of risk and adventure, of self-reliance and service, of loyalty and friendship. It is a story driven by an abiding faith in our country.</p> <p>Raised in a large Irish-Catholic family in Philadelphia at a time when kids hid under their desks in atomic war drills, Chris’s life etched a pattern: take a leap, live an adventure, then learn what it means. As a young Peace Corps graduate, Chris moved to DC and began knocking on doors on Capitol Hill. With dreams of becoming what Ted Sorensen had been for Jack Kennedy, Chris landed as a staffer to Utah Senator Frank Moss, where his eyes were opened to the game of big-league politics.</p> <p>In the 1970s, Matthews mounted a campaign for Congress as a Democratic maverick running against Philadelphia’s old political machine. He didn’t win the most votes, but his grit put him on the path to a top job in the White House. As a speechwriter for President Carter, Matthews witnessed the triumphs and tragedies of that administration; from the diplomatic brilliance of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty to the disaster of the Iran hostage crisis. After Carter’s defeat, Chris became chief of staff to legendary Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill, a perch that gave him an on-the-job PhD in American politics during the Reagan years.</p> <p>Chris then leapt to the other side of the political matrix as a columnist and reporter. For the San Francis