With his passing, Gwen Ifill talks to Time magazine's Joe. He is a recipient of the Puliter Prize for his work for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Richard Ben Cramer wrote about a range of topics, from politics to sports to international conflicts. About the Author: Richard Ben Cramer's magazine articles have appeared in Rolling Stone and Esquire, and have been anthologized in Best American Essays. Cleveland Plain Dealer An American Iliad in the guise of contemporary political reportage, What It Takes penetrates the mystery at the heart of all presidential campaigns: How do presumably ordinary people acquire that mixture of ambition, stamina, and pure shamelessness that makes a true candidate? As he recounts the frenzied course of the 1988 presidential race - and scours the psyches of contenders from George Bush and Robert Dole to Michael Dukakis and Gary Hart - Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Richard Ben Cramer comes up with the answers, in a book that is vast, exhaustively researched, exhilarating, and sometimes appalling in its revelations. Quite possibly the finest book on presidential politics ever written, combining meticulous reporting and compelling, at times soaringly lyrical, prose. He would keep his promise, or die trying, and the book he wrote was not just the best-ever about a political campaign, it was one of best ever about men trying to be the best ever: about ambition.
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