Reviews of The Wicked Wine of Democracy

Foreword from The University of Washington Press
The Wicked Wine of Democracy is a frank account by a political operative and practicing lobbyist who in the early 1950s went from being a journalist in Seattle to working on the campaigns of such important political figures as Warren G. Magnuson, Henry "Scoop" Jackson, Frank Church, William Proxmire, and, finally, John F. Kennedy. He was so successful in managing the media for campaigns across the country that in 1957 the Washington Post labeled him "the Democrat's answer to Madison Avenue." Read more.

Bob Simmons, Seattle Times
"'The Wicked Wine of Democracy hums along like a Shiraz-warmed conversation at the dinner table." Read more.

Al Swift, Member of Congress 1979-1995
"Joe has always been a name dropper. I admit to many years of taking all that with a grain of salt. Now I know it was all true." Read more.

Ted Van Dyk, author of Heroes, Hacks, and Fools: Memoirs from the Political Inside
"Most authors, in writing political memoirs, spare those they knew, and with whom they worked, from accounts of their worst moments. I did that in my own memoir, published several months ago. Joe Miller has spared no one, including himself." Read more.

Grant Schott, Blue Oregon
For a relatively short book, Joe Miller's memoir is packed full of fascinating political anecdotes as well as public policy discussions. Students of NW political history, in particular, won't want to pass up what longtime Seattle journalist Shelby Scates says in the book's forward, "may be the most relevant look at American politics in the last half of the twentieth century that you will ever read." Read more.