An Amazing Adventure: Joe and Hadassah's Personal Notes on the 2000 Campaign

By Joseph I. Lieberman and Hadassah Lieberman

Book Overview

An Amazing Adventure is a groundbreaking memoir, the personal recollections of Senator Joe Lieberman and his wife, Hadassah, of their 2000 vice presidential campaign. There has never been such a frank account of the American way of running for national office. The Liebermans' voices alternate throughout the book as they describe the excitement, their sense of the honor of being chosen, the extraordinary and sometimes exhausting demands, and the satisfactions and joys of the hard-fought campaign they waged as a team.

From the second they find out that Joe has been chosen by Al Gore as his running mate, the Liebermans' lives are drastically changed -- privacy vanishes as political handlers take over. Joe and Hadassah recount the excruciating vetting process, the exhilaration of the Democratic National Convention, the tension of the debates, and finally, the drama of Election Day and of the contentious weeks that followed.

Thrilled to be running in a national campaign that they regarded as immensely important to the national purpose, and profoundly moved by the audiences that came to see and hear them, the Liebermans nevertheless admit that it was a complicated and demanding experience. They describe its ups and downs in personal, frank, and witty ways.

Woven throughout this inspirational but cautionary tale are the Liebermans' opinions, including their take on Joe's being the first Jewish vice presidential candidate and on Hadassah's debut to a national public as a first-generation American and child of Holocaust survivors.

An honest, high-spirited, revealing, and ultimately optimistic book from the candidate and his wife.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1416575189
• ISBN13: 9781416575184
• Release Date: August 2007
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Another great installment!

The writing is straightforward and the story is fast-paced. The book furnished me with a far greater appreciation than I had of the difficulty and complexity of conducting a national campaign and of the demands made upon the candidates and the many workers, mostly volunteers, who surround and assist them. The personality and character of the narrators comes through quite clearly and with considerable honesty and self-knowledge (although I must add that Mrs. Lieberman's insights are often the more interesting ones). The narrative makes clear that these are real human beings with real children and parents and problems. When their lives are stirred into the soup of arguably our most chaotic Presidential campaign, a very interesting tale emerges.

I could not put this book down.

One cannot possibly read this book and not develop a greater appreciation for the sacrifices, courage, determination and faith that the Liebermans made throughout the campaign and throughout their lives. Not only is this a "biography" but it is also an excellent book on the political process, namely the campaign process. Throughout the book, the reader becomes acutely aware of the amount of work, energy and choregraphing a national campaign requires.

Gotta love it!!!

The Liebermans amazing adventure also becomes an amazing one for the person reading this book! Written in the similar format of "he says, she says" or James Carville & Mary Matalin's "All's Fair" book, Joe and Hadassah Lieberman share their thoughts, feelings and experiences on the campaign 2000 trail. Reading intimate details, insofar as Senator Lieberman's contemplations regarding how to remain true to his own ideals of his religion and political convictions and Hadassah's contemplations regarding her life experiences - especially having been raised by parents who are survivors of the holocaust, is incredibly inspiring! One cannot possibly read this book and not develop a greater appreciation for the sacrifices, courage, determination and faith that the Liebermans made throughout the campaign and throughout their lives. Not only is this a "biography" but it is also an excellent book on the political process, namely the campaign process. Throughout the book, the reader becomes acutely aware of the amount of work, energy and choregraphing a national campaign requires. A very inspiring and informative book, indeed! I highly recommend it!

An opportunity to ride with the candidates

To those of us who are fascinated by the political process, this book affords an opportunity to experience, through a series of real-time and intimate descriptions, what it would be like to be cast almost without warning onto a national stage on opening night. While the Liebermans are hardly newcomers to the world of politics, the level of international focus that followed Sen. Lieberman's selection as the Vice Presidential candidate and his subsequent immersion in the Gore campaign was unlike anything that he could possibly have experienced before. And, for Mrs. Lieberman, whose background and history proved inspirational to many, this was a wholly new experience.The writing is straightforward and the story is fast-paced. The book furnished me with a far greater appreciation than I had of the difficulty and complexity of conducting a national campaign and of the demands made upon the candidates and the many workers, mostly volunteers, who surround and assist them. The personality and character of the narrators comes through quite clearly and with considerable honesty and self-knowledge (although I must add that Mrs. Lieberman's insights are often the more interesting ones). The narrative makes clear that these are real human beings with real children and parents and problems. When their lives are stirred into the soup of arguably our most chaotic Presidential campaign, a very interesting tale emerges.This is a must-read for those readers who are fascinated by the modern American political process and for those who want to gain a more intimate understanding of what makes Joe and Hadassah Lieberman tick.