AN INDEPENDENT MAN: Adventures of a Public Servant

This political autobiography by Vermont senator Jeffords will disappoint readers expecting a no-holds-barred, sensational exposé of why he left the Republican Party, an act that gave control of the Senate to the Democrats in one of the biggest political stories of 2001. Instead, consistent with his endangered-species status as a moderate Republican, Jeffords writes with the sensibilities of another vanishing breed, the gentleman politician who eschews political diatribes and partisan name-calling to offer considered and principled explanations. According to Jeffords, and contrary to the pundits who attributed his actions to "mishandling" by the Bush administration, he left the party he had served for 35 years because the gap between his beliefs and party dogma had grown too wide to breach. As he describes his political service, which included time as a Vermont state senator and attorney general, the only real question is why he stayed with the party so long. His differences with Republican orthodoxy began early in his career and included his support for environmental regulations, expanded federal funding for health care and federal involvement in education, and his opposition to Clinton's impeachment. Jeffords is generally reticent about his personal life, but he does provide insights into the stresses and strains in political marriages. As it turned out, Jeffords's flight had little lasting effect since the Republicans retook the Senate in 2002, but his articulation of the difficulties moderate Republicans face working with their party's mainstream may foretell a growing polarization within the political establishment. (Feb. 21)