A genuinely entertaining political memoir

Book review: The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other AppreciationsIf you are interested in US politics, or simply want to learn about an important American politician who is not Donald Trump, this is the book for you.

Dr Matthew Partridge
By
published
in Features

904-Mccain-100

Simon & Schuster, £19.49

Buy at Amazon

Many political memoirs are hopelessly dull. But The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations by John McCain (with his long-time aide Mark Salter) is genuinely entertaining.

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John McCain is the maverick Republican senator who won the Republican nomination against the odds in 2008 and lost the race for the White House to Barack Obama. Now seriously ill, McCain writes candidly on a wide range of subjects.

Noted for his willingness to partner with Democrats on certain issues, and a firm believer in the need for America to intervene abroad to foster democracy, McCain is as far from Donald Trump's "America First" ideology as a Republican can be. The section on immigration is a powerful call for a humane and economically pragmatic approach. McCain also makes it very clear that he considers Trump dangerously nave about Russia's president Vladimir Putin and his regime.

McCain's final chapter on his home state of Arizona is less engaging, but on balance this is a compelling behind-the-scenes look at how American politicians get things done in the age of chronic gridlock.

If you are interested in US politics, or simply want to learn about an important American politician who is not Donald Trump, this is the book for you.

Dr Matthew Partridge
Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri

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