Among all the fifty-six men who have served as New York's governor,
none was more complicated, self-righteous, pugilistic, and
exasperating than Mario Cuomo. As governor, Mario Cuomo is
remembered most for his advocacy of the "personally-opposed-but"
position on abortion that led to confrontations with Catholic
Church hierarchy, and for dithering about his presidential
ambitions, that led the media to dub him the "Hamlet on the
Hudson." His political style reminded many of Machiavelli; Cuomo
styled himself a successor to St. Thomas More. In this political
profile, George J. Marlin sets the record straight on Mario Cuomo.
Marlin traces Cuomo's political rise and documents how and why he
abandoned his public opposition to abortion to be elected New
York's chief executive. In great detail, Marlin describes the
protracted conflict between Cuomo and his church on abortion and
refutes the governor's claim that his "position on abortion is
absolutely theologically sound." Marlin critiques Cuomo's famous
1984 Democratic convention speech as nothing more than the usual
high-toned partisan liberal bromides that offered little, if
anything, that hadn't been touted by his party for half a century.
The book also uncovers New York State's fiscal, economic, and
social decline during Cuomo's 12 years as governor. It explains why
voters repudiated Cuomo's version of a welfare state when he sought
a fourth term in 1994 and why, in the words of his son, Governor
Andrew Cuomo, his father was "more accomplished as a speech-giver
than as a governor." Marlin skillfully separates the Cuomo "Public
Intellectual" myth from the political man. Mario Cuomo, three times
Governor of New York, an eloquent hard edged Catholic from Queens,
dominated not only his home state but national liberal politics in
the age of Reagan. Whether the subject was police or theology,
Cuomo rhetorically overpowered the reporters who covered him. But
he's finally met his match in George Marlin's Mario Cuomo The Myth
and the Man. Marlin's extraordinary equipment; a former candidate
for Mayor of N.Y.C., former executive director of the New York and
New Jersey Port Authority, author of books on Catholic voters and
the Archbishops of New York, has made him the ideal author of
what's sure to be seen as the definitive political biography of
Mario Cuomo. - Fred Siegel, Author, The Prince of the City:
Giuliani, New York, and the Genius of American Life and The Future
Once Happened Here: New York, D.C., L.A., and the Fate of America's
Big Cities. "It's easy to forget what an important and fascinating
figure Mario Cuomo was during New York's raucous political heyday
of the 1970s, 80s and 90s, when the likes of Hugh Carey, Ed Koch,
Al D'Amato, and Rudy Giuliani strode the political stage.
Thankfully, George Marlin's wonderful new Cuomo biography will help
everyone remember both the good and bad of the remarkable man who
served three terms as governor, turned down a seat on the Supreme
Court and rejected the chance to run for President. Here are both
Cuomo's successes and failures - and of the latter there were many.
An important work that helps restore our collective memory. -
Fredric U. Dicker, the New York Post's longtime state editor and a
TV and radio commentator, covered six governors during 40 years at
the state Capitol in Albany. George Marlin is virtually peerless in
blending high principle with knowledge of street-level politics and
the nuts-and-bolts of otherwise mundane governance to produce
readable, yet deeply insightful, social and political portraits.
Mario Cuomo: The Myth and the Man, examines in fine detail one of
one of New York state's most consequential, if also deeply flawed,
20th-century gubernatorial incumbencies. Plus, readers get a bonus:
Insight into what shaped the career of Mario Cuomo's Democratic
superstar son, Andrew. Marlin has been in the trenches himself and
thus can separate blarney from beefsteak - which this fine volume
once again demonstrates. -Bob McManus, Contributing Editor, The
City Journal, was the New York Post's Editorial Page Editor
(2000-2013), and The Albany Times Union's Executive City Editor
(1975-1981). "George Marlin not only captures the political life
and journey of Mario Cuomo, but details his policy approach that
led to the near demise of the Empire State. Fortunately, the
Conservative Party of New York was there to carry the torch and
provide the margin of victory for George Pataki ending the senior
Cuomo's reign." -Michael Long, State Chairman, Conservative Party
of New York (1988-2019) "For both better and worse, Mario Cuomo was
the quintessential American Catholic politician of an entire
postwar generation: ambitious, brilliant, articulate, serious about
his faith, and flexible in how and where he applied it. George
Marlin is a writer of considerable skill, and he uses here it to
produce a provocative, absorbing portrait of the man and his
career. -Francis X. Maier, Senior Fellow in Catholic Studies at the
Ethics and Public Policy Center
General
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