THE HAMMER COMES DOWN The Nasty, Brutish, and Shortened Political Life of Tom Delay LOU DUBOSE AND JAN REID

"Perhaps The Hammer will shine a bright spotlight on the nefarious activities of the Majority Leader. Lou Dubose and Jan Reid have calmly, clearly, and pointedly laid out the story of DeLay's rise from an undistringuished Texas legislature back-bencher to his current position of power. . . . The most fun to be had from this book will be which of DeLay's antics is most scurrilous. . . I doubt very much that DeLay will like this book, but as a man who knows something about pest control, I hope events turn out in such a way that he eventually comes to recognize it's insecticidal strength."
--Washington Monthly

"Ranging from amusing to thought-provoking to scary, this book opens a window not only on DeLay but the new Republican House and how it operates. The authors do an excellent job of delving into the social and historical threads that created DeLay as a person and as a legislator who is nicknamed 'The Hammer.' They place DeLay in his proper historical context before moving on through his career, providing readers with a well-rounded portrait of the man. Political junkies will eat up the intricate descriptions of funding deals and legislative battles."
--Baltimore Chronicle

"[The Hammer] offers an excellent primer on the evolution of political fund-raising, especially Political Action Committees and the manipulation of campaign finance reform rules. For readers intrigued by the ways politicians acquire and use power, this book will provide many hours of delightful reading."
--Library Journal

"Consider House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, whose remarkable career is the subject of Lou Dubose and Jan Reid's recent study The Hammer: Tom DeLay: God, Money and the United States Congress. There could be no better example of a "stupid white man" (to borrow Michael Moore's contemptuous label), provided one recognizes that a certain kind of stupidity is compatible with a certain kind of cunning. After all, politicians such as DeLay helped capture the Sun Belt for the Reagan Republicans, along with the Archie Bunker, working-class vote. DeLay is a crafty strategist, no doubt about that."
--Theodore Roszak in The San Francisco Chronicle

"[A] hard hitting biography… [Dubose and Reid] have written an important book. It's an eye-opening look at how extreme right-wing political views are seeping into our culture and affecting our lives."
--Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"These guys know the rough and tumble of Texas politics. DeLay represents a Houston-area district. The book details his humble origins and meteoric rise."
--Dayton Daily News

"This book is the nail that can break The Hammer's claw. And it helps illuminate conservatism's decline from ideas and individualism to the shallowness of money and power."
--New York Sun

"For more delicious and amazing stories about how DeLay conducts "bidness as usual" while the Republicans get people all worked up over the menace of gay marriage, get the new book The Hammer by Lou Dubose and Jan Reid. I'd recommend it even if they weren't friends of mine, which they are."
--Molly Ivins

"Dubose and Reid, experienced observers of Texas politics, offer plenty of insight - particularly a side-by-side comparison of the lives, luck and motivations of DeLay and George W. Bush. Both are born-again Christians, are about the same age and share a similar philosophical bent, yet they could hardly be called allies. DeLay's single-handed dismantling of Bush's "roadmap to peace" in the Middle East makes for some of the book's most fascinating reading."
--Austin-American Statesman

"[A] terrific book… The Hammer is more than a compelling read, it's a public service--a masterly account of an orfinary man's extraordinary climb to power."
Dallas Morning News

"In this critical biography, veteran Texas journalists Dubose and Reid tell the story of the boy from Sugarland, Tex., who rose from smalltown exterminator to majority leader of the House of Representatives, earning the nickname "the Hammer" along the way. All the major episodes of DeLay's career are vividly covered: his rise through the House ranks, the coup against Speaker Newt Gingrich, how DeLay built his formidable fund-raising operation and (allegedly) bullied the lobbyists of K Street into toeing the GOP party line, his alliance with right-wing Zionists (Christian and Jewish), and his disdain for Bill Clinton."
--Publishers Weekly