Political Suicide: Missteps, Peccadilloes, Bad Calls, Backroom Hijinx, Sordid Pasts, Rotten Breaks, and Just Plain Dumb Mistakes in the Annals of American Politics

Those who think the current electoral season resembles a circus will enjoy this entertaining collection of incredible misdeeds by contemporary and long-gone politicos. McHugh (Like My Father Always Said) demonstrates that politicians didn’t always just argue endlessly, but occasionally settled political disputes permanently—with duels. She also proves that sex scandals in political circles are nothing new; in the 19th century, Daniel Sickles, a New York State assemblyman and later a U.S. Representative, was censured for taking a prostitute to the Assembly Chambers, acquitted after shooting his wife’s lover, and rumored to have had an affair with Spain’s Queen Isabella II. Embezzling is an enduring theme, including a 30-year $53 million scam in Reagan’s hometown, and there’s at least one jaw-dropping quote, a 1976 whopper from Earl Butz, Nixon’s secretary of agriculture. Elsewhere, McHugh briefly revisits the not-too-distant scandal when Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich tried to sell President Obama’s Senate seat. Readers will have to decide whether they agree with the author’s designation of “worst president ever.” Whether readers find this litany of political misdeeds mordantly amusing or simply depressing, the book does remind them that misbehaving politicians are not new. Agent: Chris Tomasino, Tomasino Agency. (Apr.)