Dana Milbank Homo Politicus

Take the Homo Politicus Quiz

Read the Introduction, Chapter 1 or ...
see excerpts of what Homo Politicus has to say about:

Katherine Harris || Bill Jefferson || Don Sherwood
Sandy Berger || James Inhofe

The American Prospect has called him the Bush administration's "least favorite journalist."

The National Review labeled him "the most anti-Bush reporter currently assigned to the White House by a major news organization."

Potomacflacks.com said, "Washington PR folks, who would normally auction off their right arm to get the Washington Post to cover their boss’ press conference, know by now that having Dana Milbank show up is probably more of a curse than a blessing.”

Now Dana Milbank is taking on the pompous, the stupid, and the corrupt among Democrats, Republicans, reporters, and bureaucrats by naming names in "Homo Politicus."

Dana Milbank's Homo Politicus

"A comic treatise on the unique customs of Potomac Man, that strange indigenous tribe inhabiting the area in and around Washington, D.C.

Composed in part of items previously posted in Milbank's must-read Post column, "Washington Sketch," the text offers an anthropological examination of the behaviour of the district's political tribe, looking at its rites and rituals, how its members eat, where (and with whom) they sleep.

Milbank hilariously compares the beliefs and rituals of primitive cultures with things that happen every day inside the Beltway."

--Kirkus Reviews

Publisher's Weekly:

"Mix one part freshman anthropology with nine parts Washington insider politics and you'll get this caustic sendup of “Potomac Man.” Veteran Washington Post political reporter Milbank rummages through a bagful of (sometimes forced) ethnographic clichés—consultants and pollsters are shamans, lobbyists are the Beltway version of Melanesian Big Men—but takes none of them seriously.

These pseudoscholarly conceits are just pegs on which to hang his colorful accounts of recent Washington scandals, humiliations and felonies.

Many of these, like the three-ring circus surrounding superlobbyist Jack Abramoff, are well known, but the author also spotlights the everyday antics of congressmen and the behind-the-scenes skullduggery that propels the ship of state. His contempt is resolutely bipartisan, targeting both Democratic Congressman Patrick Kennedy for his drug-induced vehicular mishaps and Dick Cheney for concocting “folk tales”—duly debunked by Milbank—to sell the Iraq War. Sometimes the author's derision seems knee-jerk rather than considered; when he diagnoses Democrat Harry Reid with “Potomac-variant Tourette's syndrome” because the senator uses phrases like “intractable war in Iraq,” one wonders about the media's role in enforcing Washington's euphemistic double-talk.

Still, Milbank knows where the fossils are buried and offers a canny, entertaining field guide to the manners and misdeeds of the political species."


		Dana Milbank: Buy the Book
			::::::::::: News Video of Dana reading at Politics & Prose: Dana chats with readers online Dana discusses book on C-Span's Afterwords MSNBC's "Morning Joe": Dana discusses "Politicus" Boston Globe: "Milbank ... knows a buffoon when he sees one. ...[H]e has produced the ultimate field guide to the fools of Federal City." Baltimore Sun: "Highly illuminating" St. Petersburg Times: "Milbank is a fun read, and a clever satirist" Dana interviewed on"To The Point" Dana discusses political satire with Kojo Nnamdi Milbank on theTavis Smiley Show Washington Monthly: "A sly, smart, enjoyable book" Dana appears on the News Hour with Jim Lehrer USA Today has a Q&A with Dana Milbank Washington Post: "Those who relish Schadenfreude on the Potomac will find no better book than this." (Podcast) NPR's Patt Morrison NPR's Morning Edition The Washington Post has an illustrated excerpt on the '08 race The Atlantic publishes an illustrated excerpt CNN Reliable Sources Dana Milbank Q&A in Playboy The New York Times: "A a rich compendium of astoundingly ill-advised acts and statements on the parts of public officials" The Washingtonian: "It might be wise for author Dana Milbank to check his food for poison should he dine with fellow journalists—or politicians or lobbyists." For more news ...
	*Homo Politicus* By Dana Milbank " The Post's Washington Sketch columnist reaches into the ethnographer's tool kit to take an amusing pseudo-scientific look at a curious tribe he calls Potomac Man. ... If you're amused by the antics of lawmakers and lobbyists and delight in tales of political corruption, you'll enjoy Milbank's cheerfully wicked account." --The Washington Post " He opens his book with a great truth: "Among the many paradoxes of Potomac Land is that it is, ostensibly, the capital of the most egalitarian people on the planet, and yet it has embraced a status system that is both hierarchical and byzantine." A few hundred pages of wisecracks, horrifying (and true) anecdotes, and case studies follow. ... All of this is engaging; a lot of it is funny....Milbank is having a good laugh, but he is also making a good argument. I'd call this satire and tell you that many an important argument has been lodged in a laugh, but remember this: This is no satire, and ultimately it is no joke." --Boston Globe
....Home

..About

..Excerpts

..The author

..The Sketch

..Reviews

..Buy book

..Media

..Contact

	Now a National Bestseller Take the Homo Politicus Quiz Read the Introduction, Chapter 1 or ... see excerpts of what Homo Politicus has to say about: Katherine Harris \|\| Bill Jefferson \|\| Don Sherwood Sandy Berger \|\| James Inhofe The American Prospect has called him the Bush administration's "least favorite journalist." The National Review labeled him "the most anti-Bush reporter currently assigned to the White House by a major news organization." Potomacflacks.com said, "Washington PR folks, who would normally auction off their right arm to get the Washington Post to cover their boss’ press conference, know by now that having Dana Milbank show up is probably more of a curse than a blessing.” Now Dana Milbank is taking on the pompous, the stupid, and the corrupt among Democrats, Republicans, reporters, and bureaucrats by naming names in "Homo Politicus." "A comic treatise on the unique customs of Potomac Man, that strange indigenous tribe inhabiting the area in and around Washington, D.C. Composed in part of items previously posted in Milbank's must-read Post column, "Washington Sketch," the text offers an anthropological examination of the behaviour of the district's political tribe, looking at its rites and rituals, how its members eat, where (and with whom) they sleep. Milbank hilariously compares the beliefs and rituals of primitive cultures with things that happen every day inside the Beltway." --Kirkus Reviews Publisher's Weekly: "Mix one part freshman anthropology with nine parts Washington insider politics and you'll get this caustic sendup of “Potomac Man.” Veteran Washington Post political reporter Milbank rummages through a bagful of (sometimes forced) ethnographic clichés—consultants and pollsters are shamans, lobbyists are the Beltway version of Melanesian Big Men—but takes none of them seriously. These pseudoscholarly conceits are just pegs on which to hang his colorful accounts of recent Washington scandals, humiliations and felonies. Many of these, like the three-ring circus surrounding superlobbyist Jack Abramoff, are well known, but the author also spotlights the everyday antics of congressmen and the behind-the-scenes skullduggery that propels the ship of state. His contempt is resolutely bipartisan, targeting both Democratic Congressman Patrick Kennedy for his drug-induced vehicular mishaps and Dick Cheney for concocting “folk tales”—duly debunked by Milbank—to sell the Iraq War. Sometimes the author's derision seems knee-jerk rather than considered; when he diagnoses Democrat Harry Reid with “Potomac-variant Tourette's syndrome” because the senator uses phrases like “intractable war in Iraq,” one wonders about the media's role in enforcing Washington's euphemistic double-talk. Still, Milbank knows where the fossils are buried and offers a canny, entertaining field guide to the manners and misdeeds of the political species."