Director of Media Relations
413/542-8417
AMHERST, Mass.—Political journalist Joe Klein will speak about “War in Iraq and the U.S. Presidential Election” at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 1, in the Babbott Room in the Octagon at Amherst College. Sponsored by the Victor S. Johnson 1882-1943 Lectureship Fund, Klein’s talk is free and open to the public.
Klein’s latest book, Politics Lost: How American Politics Was Trivialized By People Who Think You’re Stupid (2006), is a dissection of American politics that the Washington Post called “a highly entertaining tour of how political consultants progressively hijacked the presidential campaigns of the last 40 years.” Klein is also the author of The Natural: Bill Clinton’s Misunderstood Presidency (2002).
As “Anonymous,” Klein wrote Primary Colors (1996), a best-selling novel inspired by Clinton’s 1992 presidential race. After his second political novel, The Running Mate (2000), New York Times critic Michiko Kakutani wrote, “Klein’ s novels look at the moral compromises made by politicians and the changes wrought by the growing influence of consultants and negative campaigning. [The] books underscore the author’s reportorial familiarity with the daily bump and grind of politics and his more tentative command of imaginative fiction.” Klein’s other nonfiction books are Payback: Five Marines After Vietnam (1984) and Woody Guthrie: A Life (1980).
Previously a columnist for Newsweek, Klein has written “In the Arena,” a column about national and international affairs, for Time since 2003. He also served as Washington correspondent for The New Yorker, commentator for CBS News, political columnist for New York magazine, reporter for WGBH-TV Boston and news editor at The Real Paper. He was a contributing editor for Rolling Stone and served as its Washington bureau chief. He has written articles and book reviews for The New Republic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Life and other publications. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations and former Guggenheim fellow, Klein graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in American civilization.
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