Primary Colors
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This article is about the book. For the film, see Primary Colors (film). For the actual colors, see Primary color.
Primary Colors: A Novel of Politics  
Author Joe Klein
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Political novel
Publisher Random House
Publication date January 16, 1996
Media type Hardcover and Paperback
Pages 366 (hc)
ISBN ISBN 0-679-44859-4 (hc)

Primary Colors: A Novel of Politics is a 1996 novel by "Anonymous" (later revealed to be journalist Joe Klein[1]).

Contents

Roman à clef

Primary Colors is a roman à clef (French for "novel with a key," real-life events in the guise of fiction) inspired by U.S. President Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign in 1992. While many characters and events in the novel are based on reality, much of the book is fictional. The book centers on Henry Burton, a black campaign aide for southern governor Jack Stanton (thought to represent Bill Clinton). It is thought to be influenced by an earlier roman à clef of American politics, Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men (1946).

There is a sequel of sorts to the novel (also by Joe Klein but not anonymously), The Running Mate, published in 2000.

Plot summary

Campaigner and former Congressional worker Henry Burton is asked to join the presidential campaign of Southern governor Jack Stanton. At the start of the campaign, things appear to be going smoothly; there are individuals on board, and moments of disagreement on campaign issues are few and far between, the governor really does appear to care—for people and legislation—and goes out of his way to appear different from the rest of the Democratic field.

But the situation begins to cloud as details of Stanton's involvement in an anti-war protest in Chicago and an alleged affair with his wife's hairdresser are revealed by the press. Seeing his political future slip away, and his fellow candidates preparing to replace him, Stanton makes a final, desperate pitch. He survives, and manages to tread water the rest of the way, helped by the mistakes of his opponents. But as Stanton slides towards success, campaign manager Burton increasingly feels disillusioned—and is also continuing to see a campaign worker on the side. Matters come to a head, and Burton is at last forced to choose between idealism and realism.

Fictional characters and real-life inspirations

 This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (March 2008)

Picker is believed to be based on four politicians, Brown, Hughes, Askew and Perot, for the following reasons:

  • Like Brown and Perot, Picker entered the race late.
  • Like Brown, Picker entered the race too late to stop the existing favorite from winning the Democratic nomination.
  • Picker's biography is similar to Askew's.
  • Picker was a former drug user, whereas Harold Hughes was an alcoholic.

Anonymous

Prior to Klein's confession, writers for Newsweek, The Washington Post, and The New York Times speculated that the author might be one of the following:

Unmasking of anonymous

Several people, including former Clinton speechwriter David Kusnet and, later, Vassar professor Donald Foster correctly identified Klein as the novel's author, based on a literary analysis of the book and Klein's previous writing. Klein denied authoring the book and publicly condemned Foster.[2][3] Klein denied authorship again in Newsweek, speculating that another writer wrote it. Washington Post Style editor David von Drehle, in an interview, asked Klein if he was willing to stake his journalistic credibility on his denial, to which Klein agreed.[4]

Related film

See also

References

  1. ^ Milton, Joyce (2000). The First Partner: Hillary Rodham Clinton. HarperCollins, 228. ISBN 0688177727. 
  2. ^ CNN.com - Books - Don Foster enlightens readers with 'Author Unknown' - December 6, 2000
  3. ^ John Mullan on author anonymity | By genre | Guardian Unlimited Books
  4. ^ The Media’s True Colors, Tod Lindberg, The Weekly Standard, July 29, 1996

External links
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