MB Civic

the great Taibbi ..

The book is so one-sided that it is almost supernaturally dull, and I was forgetting about it just minutes after I put it down. Then it hit me – it was an interesting book, after all! Because if you read “All In” carefully, the book’s tone will remind you of pretty much any other authorized bio of any major figure in business or politics (particularly in business), and it will most particularly remind you of almost any Time or Newsweek famous-statesperson profile. Which means: it’s impossible to tell the difference between the tone of a reporter who we now know was literally sucking the dick of her subject and the tone of just about any other modern American reporter who is given access to a powerful person for a biography or feature-length profile. “All In,” for instance, will instantly remind you of Time’s notorious 1999 triple-profile of Bob Rubin, Alan Greenspan and Larry Summers, a worshipful front-pager with the classic headline, “The Committee to Save the World.” Remember that one?

.. read more