Kilian, Michael and Sawislak, Arnold. Who Runs Washington? New York:
St.Martin's Press, 1982. 340 pages.
Jack Anderson commented that this book is "perceptive of what
Washington is really like and also irreverent enough to puncture a lot of
stuffed shirts." Michael Kilian, a Chicago Tribune columnist based in DC,
and Arnold Sawislak, a 25-year UPI Washington correspondent, put together
this amusing look at the bigwigs in Power City. They approach their subject
more as gossip columnists than investigative journalists, and the last 100
pages are of local interest only (sports, museums, the arts, real estate,
restaurants), so that leaves about 240 pages of NameBase material. The
authors paint with too broad a brush to penetrate very deeply, but it's a
worthwhile effort.
The fifteen chapters that interest us are divided into the White House
gang, the Hill, courts, spooks, the bureaucracy, regulatory agencies,
moneymen, diplomats, influence traders, media, think tanks, press agents,
lawyers, high society, and political pros. The first half of each chapter is
an overview of the authors' impressions, in which they go out of their way
to be witty. We liked the second half of each chapter best. Here they list
the top five, ten, or fifteen individuals in that chapter category and
dedicate a half page to each individual career.
ISBN 0-312-87024-8
Extract the names from this source
Back to search page