--- product_id: 163149449 title: "The Speechwriter: A Brief Education in Politics" price: "B/.28" currency: PAB in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.com.pa/products/163149449-the-speechwriter-a-brief-education-in-politics store_origin: PA region: Panama --- # The Speechwriter: A Brief Education in Politics **Price:** B/.28 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Speechwriter: A Brief Education in Politics - **How much does it cost?** B/.28 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.com.pa](https://www.desertcart.com.pa/products/163149449-the-speechwriter-a-brief-education-in-politics) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description The Speechwriter brings you inside the spin room of the modern politician in “a wry and eloquent memoir” ( The Wall Street Journal ) that is “the best book about politics I’ve read in years” ( GQ ) and “will become a classic” ( The Washington Post ). Everyone knows this kind of politician: a charismatic maverick who goes up against the system and its ways, but thinks he doesn’t have to live by the rules. Through his own experience as a speechwriter for a controversial governor, Barton Swaim tells the story of a band of believers who attach themselves to this sort of ambitious narcissist—and what happens when it all comes crashing down. As The Washington Post put it, “ The Speechwriter feels like Veep meets All the King’s Men —an entertaining and engrossing book not just about the absurdities of working in the press shop of a Southern governor but also about the meaning of words in public life.” Swaim paints a portrait of a boss so principled he’d rather sweat than use state money to pay for air conditioning, so oblivious he’d wear the same stained shirt for two weeks, so egotistical he’d belittle his staffers to make himself feel better, and so self-absorbed he never once apologized to his staff for making his administration the laughingstock of the country. On the surface, this is the story of one politician’s rise and fall. But in the end, it’s a story about us—the very real people who want to believe in our leaders and must learn to survive with broken hearts. The Speechwriter is “a wryly funny, beautifully written…dissection of what it is like to perform a thankless job for an unreasonable person in a dysfunctional office…A marvelously entertaining book. It’s clear [Swaim] spent a long time on it, because he’s made it look so effortless” ( The New York Times ). Review: not good literature but certainly an interesting book - This book was our book group selection for April 10, 2016. We all found the book interesting though not great literature. In general what we found interesting included the author revising his understanding of what it meant to be a good writer when faced with the need to adopt the voice of his boss and that that voice needed to speak to a particular conception of the audience the boss had that essentially required poor writing instead. This of course brings up the question regarding what good writing is when it obviously is context dependent. This book also shows what it is like working for a boss in one particular circumstance where the office is like a “fiefdom” as one of our group mentioned who had worked in similar circumstances. As Swaim points out it is a shame the character of the politician is not the same in both the face he presents to the public and to the staff. But here again there is the issue of context dependence. We are also given the clear indication this is a potentially successful politician that in the end was only hindered by a personal blunder that concerned his private life. We note as well that he remained governor of South Carolina and further serves in elected office as of our reading which means he is still successful and so probably treating staff as he had while presenting a different face to the voting public. So in this sense we also gain insights into this bipolar nature of at least one successful politician and wonder if it is a pattern repeated by others. Still another interesting aspect of the book concerns the voice of the governor as analyzed by Swaim and his fellow writers. Of note is the collection of words and phrases that were frequently used – so that a letter containing sentences of these in combinations “sounded” like the governor wrote it. It could even be difficult to know if one of the writers was responsible for a piece or if the governor had written it himself. In this regard I brought up the Postmodern Generator and the interesting question regarding Alan Sokal’s automatically generated works using the so called Dada Engine. Are we just using a data base which we run through an algorithm to produce a text? All in all, not good literature but certainly an interesting book which sparked an interesting discussion. Review: How not to be a boss 101 - I was intrigued by The Speechwriter when it was first published but it sat on my to read list until the Republican National Convention. As I listened to the various speeches and then the controversy surrounding Melania Trump's speech, I was inspired to push Swaim's book to the top of the list. That decision proved to be worthwhile although not for the reasons I had expected. I am not completely sure what I had expected from the story other than a closer look at the life of a speechwriter and how decisions are made as to what goes into a speech. Swaim delivered that in a candid and entertaining manner. He is a skilled writer and as becomes clear early in the narrative, way too good of a writer for the person that employed him. As the story unfolds, it is also clear that the book is less about speech writing and more about life working for a tyrant of a boss. As I read I could not help but think his governor boss was the epitome of how not to be a boss and I wondered why Swaim continued to work for him. Speech writing is far from glamorous. Yet it also has a huge influence on how we - John and Jane Q. Public - view and interact with our politicians. Swaim's book is a great starting place to better understand that dynamic. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #1,227,132 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #116 in United States Local Government #1,850 in Political Leader Biographies #6,814 in Traveler & Explorer Biographies | | Customer Reviews | 3.9 out of 5 stars 678 Reviews | ## Images ![The Speechwriter: A Brief Education in Politics - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71X0GQCkcUL.jpg) ## Available Options This product comes in different **Media Format** options. ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ not good literature but certainly an interesting book *by W***N on April 12, 2016* This book was our book group selection for April 10, 2016. We all found the book interesting though not great literature. In general what we found interesting included the author revising his understanding of what it meant to be a good writer when faced with the need to adopt the voice of his boss and that that voice needed to speak to a particular conception of the audience the boss had that essentially required poor writing instead. This of course brings up the question regarding what good writing is when it obviously is context dependent. This book also shows what it is like working for a boss in one particular circumstance where the office is like a “fiefdom” as one of our group mentioned who had worked in similar circumstances. As Swaim points out it is a shame the character of the politician is not the same in both the face he presents to the public and to the staff. But here again there is the issue of context dependence. We are also given the clear indication this is a potentially successful politician that in the end was only hindered by a personal blunder that concerned his private life. We note as well that he remained governor of South Carolina and further serves in elected office as of our reading which means he is still successful and so probably treating staff as he had while presenting a different face to the voting public. So in this sense we also gain insights into this bipolar nature of at least one successful politician and wonder if it is a pattern repeated by others. Still another interesting aspect of the book concerns the voice of the governor as analyzed by Swaim and his fellow writers. Of note is the collection of words and phrases that were frequently used – so that a letter containing sentences of these in combinations “sounded” like the governor wrote it. It could even be difficult to know if one of the writers was responsible for a piece or if the governor had written it himself. In this regard I brought up the Postmodern Generator and the interesting question regarding Alan Sokal’s automatically generated works using the so called Dada Engine. Are we just using a data base which we run through an algorithm to produce a text? All in all, not good literature but certainly an interesting book which sparked an interesting discussion. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ How not to be a boss 101 *by H***R on August 4, 2016* I was intrigued by The Speechwriter when it was first published but it sat on my to read list until the Republican National Convention. As I listened to the various speeches and then the controversy surrounding Melania Trump's speech, I was inspired to push Swaim's book to the top of the list. That decision proved to be worthwhile although not for the reasons I had expected. I am not completely sure what I had expected from the story other than a closer look at the life of a speechwriter and how decisions are made as to what goes into a speech. Swaim delivered that in a candid and entertaining manner. He is a skilled writer and as becomes clear early in the narrative, way too good of a writer for the person that employed him. As the story unfolds, it is also clear that the book is less about speech writing and more about life working for a tyrant of a boss. As I read I could not help but think his governor boss was the epitome of how not to be a boss and I wondered why Swaim continued to work for him. Speech writing is far from glamorous. Yet it also has a huge influence on how we - John and Jane Q. Public - view and interact with our politicians. Swaim's book is a great starting place to better understand that dynamic. ### ⭐⭐⭐ A well-written cheap shot is still a cheap shot *by M***R on July 21, 2015* Mr. Swaim worked for three very, very unhappy years for Mark Sanford, and here is his account of why those years were so unhappy. Mr. Swaim tells the reader--repeatedly--about his doctorate in English and his writing skills, and spends even more time telling the reader about what an awful writer Mr. Sanford is. If you're a good writing nerd, and I kind of am, there's some good fun to be had in the mixed metaphors and dangling participles in Mr. Sanford's work. And Mr. Sanford seems to have been more than a bit of a jerk as a boss. He constantly interrupts Mr. Swaim as he is pitching ideas for speeches, and is regularly curt and dismissive. And the incident with the birthday cake is just astounding. It seems the crux of the problem is that Mr. Sanford wants his speeches written in a certain manner, and Mr. Swaim considers that manner bad writing and simply doesn't want write that way. Mr. Sanford and Mr. Swain go round and round until word gets back to Mr. Swain that he may be replaced, and then he gets with the program. The author assures the reader in the very beginning that this book is not written as payback or to settle scores. And then the author spends a great deal of time getting payback and settling scores. Certainly Mr. Sanford, if all in the book is true, is not a nice man to his staff. Everybody is under pressure of some sort, and it seems that most of us behave in a much better way towards others than Mr. Sanford does. At the same time, once I finished this and put it down I couldn't help but feel a bit of sympathy for Mr. Sanford. The author's outrage and disgust at Mr. Sanford's affair seems a bit much. Mr. Swaim is constantly telling the reader about his education and knowledge of history, and then he is shocked, shocked that his boss is having an affair. Really? Mr. Sanford does not handle the press conference about the affair in the right manner, but when is such a thing ever done in a good way? Mr. Swaim goes on and on about the mistakes Mr. Sanford made, about how he is a buffon, how he has a minor speech impediment--really, in 2015 we are still making fun of people with speech impediments?--and all sorts of other things. And yet--and the author kind of admits this--Mr. Sanford is out there in the ring and is trying and he is taking on some matters very principled stands and is taking lots of heat for doing so. Mr. Sanford is trying to lead, and Mr. Swaim is sitting there like a Monday morning quarterback, pointing out that Mr. Sanford should have said this or done that. It's a well-written book and it's a quick read. The best parts are in the reviews in the newspapers, but even so there's some good stuff in there. Mr. Swaim set out to paint Mr. Sanford as a monster--and he's not terribly kind to his co-workers either--but I actually came away with a bit of sympathy for the man. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.com.pa/products/163149449-the-speechwriter-a-brief-education-in-politics](https://www.desertcart.com.pa/products/163149449-the-speechwriter-a-brief-education-in-politics) --- *Product available on Desertcart Panama* *Store origin: PA* *Last updated: 2026-10-07*