Ahead of the Curve: Andy Maguire in Congress and Beyond

(Paperback, Paperback original)

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From the United Nations Security Council, through community organizing that changed the paradigm of municipal redevelopment, to the revolutionary postWatergate Congress and his role spearheading new environmental, anti-cancer, and vaccine health initiatives, Maguire was on the front lines in seminal moments of recent American history.

Ahead of the Curve is the riveting story of how Andy Maguire learned to accumulate power and leverage it for the public good. Andys terms in Congress coincided with the tumultuous times of the Israeli Six-Day War and the reform era of New York Mayor John Lindsay. After a successful unorthodox campaign in a staunch Republican district, he helped revive a hidebound House of Representatives and led an important new environmental movement there.

Andy learned early on that no single person can create real change, discovering how to build teams, spot compromises, and mobilize diverse interests to get constructive change done. His story is more than an inspiring memoir, and more than a portrait of a committed changemaker pursuing the common good. It also is a coming-of-age tale and an implementation handbook that shows others how to continue Andys work.

This vivid insiders view of fifty years of world history by Michael Takiff, bestselling author of A Complicated Man: The Life of Bill Clinton as Told by Those Who Knew Him, is both a compelling read and a beacon of hope for the current era.

Ahead of the Curve is an important book for those who seek to confront todays challenges to American democracy and a stable world order.

Reviews

"As a child, Andy Maguire wanted to grow up and "make a difference." Despite only six years in Congress, he did just that, laboring passionately for six decades in the vineyards of the public interesta frayed liberal concept that Maguire's eventful life story can help revive."

Jonathan Alter, author of His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, A Life and The Center Holds: Obama and His Enemies

"In an early phase of his career, Andy Maguire served at the United States Mission to the United Nations. There he impressed all who knew him with his idealism, passion, energy, and dogged determination, all fired by a sharp intellect and all in the name of the public good." Ambassador Donald F. McHenry, former Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations; Distinguished Professor of Diplomacy, Georgetown University

Author Bio

Michael Takiff is the author of A Complicated Man: The Life of Bill Clinton as Told by Those Who Know Him (Yale University Press), awarded First Prize, Biography/Autobiography, at the Los Angeles Book Festival. His previous book, Brave Men, Gentle Heroes: American Fathers and Sons in World War II and Vietnam (William Morrow), was named a Washington Post Critics Pick. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, New York Post, Salon, The Nation, CNN.com, and HuffingtonPost. Michael H. (Mike) Levin holdsdegrees from the University of Pennsylvania, Oxford, and HarvardLaw. He served with the National Labor Relations Board,as top appellate counsel for the Department of Labors Solicitors Office forOccupational Safety and Health, and as deputy director of a cabinet-levelCarter administration task force convened to reform OSHA. Workingwith Andy Maguire, Mike designed multiple policy initiatives that meshed withAndys interests, including a bill to reform the Guaranteed Student LoanProgram, legislation that for the first time advocated income-based loanrepayment. He continued as fellow with, then consultant to, the SenateJudiciary Committee, then chaired by Senator Ted Kennedy, wherehis colleagues included Stephen Breyer (later justice of the SupremeCourt) and Kenneth Feinberg (later head of the September 11th VictimCompensation Fund).