Goldwater

As with most political memoirs, the charm comes not from great writing but from Goldwater's first-hand perspective on his career. Not all his recollections remain significant, but I found Goldwater's comments about the religious right nearly as relevant today as they were twenty years ago.

Though I read this book some time ago, I remember it as one of the most interesting political memoirs that I have ever read. Goldwater offers a refreshingly candid look at his long career in public life, as well as his prescriptions for the future of conservatism (it was written back in the late 1980s, but I think that his thoughts on this subject have been on-target). His advocacy of a broad-based conservative movement is the best example of this.