The Hammer: Tom DeLay God, Money, and the Rise of the Republican Congress - Hardcover

The New Republican House of Representatives began with the bang of an oversized gavel made for Newt Gingrich to convene the 1995 session. Gingrich, note the authors--longtime journalists in Texas--flamed out within three years. But the changes he ushered in have endured, and they have been drastic. Today, Tom DeLay presides over a House that has all but banished bipartisan committee work, meaningful floor debate, and collaboration and social relations across party lines. In the current system, Democrats' views are all but irrelevant. Dubose and Reid trace the evangelical Speaker's career from his early days in the Texas Legislature, and explain why the changes he helped spearhead are likely to last for the next quarter-century or more. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Jan Reid is a senior writer for Texas Monthly.