The Preacher and the Presidents or Applebees America

The Preacher and the Presidents: Billy Graham in the White House

Author: Nancy Gibbs

No one man or woman has ever been in a position to see the presidents, and the presidency, so intimately, over so many years. They called him in for photo opportunities. They called for comfort. They asked about death and salvation; about sin and forgiveness.

At a time when the nation is increasingly split over the place of religion in public life, THE PREACHER AND THE PRESIDENTS reveals how the world's most powerful men and world's most famous evangelist, Billy Graham, knit faith and politics together.

Interesting book: Legendary Cocktails or Sexy City Cocktails

Applebee's America: How Successful Political, Business, and Religious Leaders Connect with the New American Community

Author: Douglas B Sosnik

A unique team of authors -- Douglas B. Sosnik, a strategist in the Clinton White House; Matthew J. Dowd, a strategist for President Bush's two campaigns who has recently broken publicly with the president over the direction of the administration; and award-winning political journalist Ron Fournier -- took their exclusive insiders' knowledge far outside Washington's Beltway in search of keys to winning leadership.

Publishers Weekly

Anyone wondering what that "values" buzz after the 2004 election was about, and what it means for business, religion and politics, will find solid answers in this analysis by a former Clinton aide, one of the masterminds behind the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign and a senior Associated Press political correspondent. In a unified, third-person voice, the three declare their intention to "help twenty-first-century American leaders think anew about the people they serve a people that, despite an increasingly multiracial society, "seem to be seeking more homogeneity in their lifestyle choices." Since the 1990s, they argue, the key to winning the hearts, dollars and votes of the American public and its leaders is appealing to "the three C's, connections, community, and civic engagement." Drawing on interviews with the middle class "exurb" residents who eat at Applebee's restaurants, as well as their own inside knowledge, the authors declare that the pattern holds across the greater part of the American spectrum. Though their narrow interview sample is a weakness, they draw conclusions about the political arena, where lifelong Democrats voted for Bush in 2004 on "gut instinct"; the business world, where customers at the more than 1,700 Applebee's restaurants deem it "a second home"; and in megachurches, which fulfill Americans "need for belonging and purpose in a new century." Illus. (Sept.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Americans crave community, and they look for leaders who can deliver it. That's the premise of this work by an unlikely trio of political heavyweights. Sosnik (former senior advisor to President Clinton), Fox News analyst Matthew J. Dowd (former chief campaign strategist for Bush-Cheney in 2004), and Ron Fournier (chief political writer, Associated Press) team up in an effort to explain how successful businesses, political candidates, and clergy win their audiences. For starters, Americans are less issues-oriented than they are values-oriented. So both the Clinton and the Bush campaigns aimed at voters' hearts rather than their heads-with notable success. The 1700 Applebee's bar and grills thrive by creating a sense of community in America's alienating exurbs, with each Applebee's striving to be a vital neighborhood institution in spite of its strip-mall location and run-of-the-mill fare. The authors drew upon that cozy image as their metaphor for community. They go on to show how the new mega-churches, as well as businesses and politicians, find and target customers by using marketing techniques to predict habits based on lifestyles. To be successful, these "marketers" constantly adapt to the changing behavior patterns and preferences of their target groups, as they must. Recommended for academic and larger public library business and leadership collections.-Carol J. Elsen, Univ. of Wisconsin, Whitewater Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

What People Are Saying

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
"For anyone interested in how Americans make connections and build community in the 21st century, this book is a must read. Whether your interest is in the political world or the business world, Applebee's America explains how community and shared values can determine how we vote, where we worship, and even where we dine. Whether you manage a restaurant or a political organization, there are certain consistencies that matter to people: community, communication, and authenticity. This book examines current trends and provides fresh thinking and new ideas and strategies for anyone interested in influencing large groups of people."

Senator John McCain
"In a lucid and engaging narrative, the authors offer an insightful account of modern America that should interest Americans of all political, religious, and social affiliations, and prove invaluable to those who presume to lead them."

Table of Contents:

	Introduction : stormy present	1
1	Politics : values trump the economy	11
2	Business : selling community	62
3	Religion : a cause greater than yourself	93
4	Anxious Americans	129
5	The 3 Cs : connections, community, and civic engagement	147
6	Navigators	180
7	Americans on the move	198
8	Generation 9/11	218
App. 1	What's your tribe?
App. 2	Changes in technology and American lifestyle