How to Hack a Party Line

by Sara Miles

Book Overview

A look at the political awakening that occurred in America's Silicon Valley in the late 1990s, this text offers analyses of, among other things, the digital divide and the nuances of party... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374177147
• ISBN13: 9780374177140
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Length: 246 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.3" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

fascinating slice of intersecting worlds

As someone who was marginally involved in this relationship from the DC side of things, I found Miles' revelation of the view from the other coast very interesting. For me the key to any book, regardless of the subject matter, is the author's writing ability. Sara Miles' style is extremely engaging, without ever seeming obtrusive or affected. She also seems to have good instincts, and to know the right questions to raise in response to what she's hearing. If I have any criticism, it is that she while she is basically well informed and bright, at times she seems naive about the overall political context in which she is writing, and misses some major elements of the political dance she is documenting. On the other hand, a more traditional political journalist would probably not have been able to present the Silicon valley end of things as perceptively. Overall, a good read about the clash of egos and norms when two very different cultures interact. I wish she would write a sequel.

Insightful!

Sara Miles unfolds a political saga as if it were a gripping novel. The story begins with political activist Wade Randlett, who forged a coalition of Silicon Valley’s leading tech CEOs and venture capitalists to support the New Democrats. Miles starts with Randlett’s arrival in the Valley. She shows how, in 1996, Randlett lined up Bill Clinton’s opposition to Proposition 211 (allowing uncapped suits against high-tech companies), helping to swing many apolitical or Republican tech leaders to the New Democrats. Miles traces the Valley’s growing relationship with Clinton, Gore and other New Dems, which held up until the rise of George W. Bush. Miles’ fascinating story may seem like ancient history (though it’s only 1996 to 2000) now that the dot-com storms have diluted the New Economy’s power. Otherwise, we at ... strongly recommend this intriguing look at a particular patch of political history, when the New Economy was strong, and everybody wanted to be a friend of the Valley.

When worlds collide

It's the late 90s, and Silicon Valley is overflowing with cash. A minor Democratic Party operative, Wade Randlett, realizes that the centrist Clinton-Gore New Democrat ideology is a perfect fit for the libertarian-leaning just-get-it-done millionaires of California's high tech industry -- and better yet, they're political virgins. If he can play the matchmaker between cash-rich techies and cash-hungry politicos, Randlett could leapfrog into Democratic Party power. In this funny and ironic account, Sara Miles recounts what happened when Silicon Valley techies, who knew nothing about how politics works, met Washington politicians who knew nothing about high tech. The clash of styles is entertaining enough, but their attempts at communicating, while badly disguising their selfish agendas, are hilarious. Don't miss the scene where Tipper Gore sits in on drums at a high-tech fundraiser, or the scene where two busloads of congressmen visiting the Napa Valley sing drunkenly to each other over their cell phones. An engaging, insightful, well-reported document of how things get done, or don't.

Good but hope there is a sequal to get full picture

In the early 1990s, Silicon Valley gave the world instant millionaires, who were also apolitical. That lack of interest changed by 1996 when Wade Randlett decided to form an action committee that supported new Democrats. HOW TO HACK A PARTY LINE is refreshing as it ignores the software side of the Valley. Instead, the tome chronicles the rising of political involvement by the Valley's previously aloof membership. The book is fascinating, similar to White's look at presidential elections, but is also disappointing because most readers will be interested in the .com community's relationship with the election of 2000 which is barely mentioned. Though well written and insightful, the Guttenberg speed of present day publishing costs Sara Miles a coup.Harriet Klausner