Confessions of a Political Hitman: My Secret Life of Scandal, Corruption, Hypocrisy and Dirty Attacks That Decide Who Gets Elected (and Who Doesn't) by Stephen Marks

From 1994-2006, Stephen Marks worked as an opposition researcher for the Republican Party. Travelling across the United States, he dug up dirt on Democratic candidates and Republican clients who wanted to know how to defend themselves from political attacks. After working in numerous electoral campaigns (from local to state to national), Marks became disillusioned with both major U.S. political parties after uncovering countless cases of corruption and political hypocrisy.

When I first spotted this memoir in the public library I was intrigued. After reading it, however, I was disappointed to learn that it doesn't provide many political insights. It also very uneven. For while some parts of the book contain interesting stories, other chapters are simply “notebook dumps” of badly-written prose, with a few typos thrown in for good measure.

If you are interesting in learning how negative political campaigns are formed then you can skim through this book. But if you are looking for Machiavellian pearls of wisdom I would recommend looking somewhere else.

2 out of 5 stars