Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
The Seven Deadly Political Whodunits - books for Mary O'Rourke to draw inspiration from
The outgoing TD says she will write a political tell all. But what should she be reading for inspiration?
1.21pm, 28 Feb 2011
1.6k
3
MARK O’ROURKE TODAY promised to write a “real life novel” based on her experiences as a government minister but she wouldn’t be the first politician or political observer to write such a book.
The outgoing Fianna Fáil TD told RTE Radio today that she planned to write a book that would feature the likes of ‘Minister A’ and ‘Madam B’ and would be based on her time as a TD and government minister.
Such books are not uncommon from politicians, journalists or commentators in the aftermath of the end of a political career or a big political scandal.
So here’s our Seven Deadly Political Whodunits that O’Rourke should be reading before she sets out to write her own:
From what she has already said O’Rourke’s book would most closely resemble this “novel of politics”.
The book was originally released to widespread intrigue as to who might be behind what was clearly a depiction of the 1992 US Presidential election campaign that saw Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton elected to the White House.
The book spent nine weeks at the top of the New York Times bestseller list with several Clinton aides forced to deny they were behind it.
One journalist identified as the author, Joe Klein from Newsweek magazine, consistently denied he was the author until he eventually admitted it in 1996, saying at a press conference: “My name is Joe Klein and I wrote ‘Primary Colors.’ ”
The former UK Conservative party MP and junior minister caused a sensation and rocked British politics when she revealed that she had a four year affair with future Prime Minister John Major in the 1980s.
Major said he was “ashamed” of the affair which didn’t go down well with Currie who later branded the man she claimed to have been love with as “one of the less competent prime ministers”. Ouch.
The most recent in our list, this was the book that essentially signaled the end of Brian Cowen’s leadership of the country. The book details conversations between the disgraced former chairman and CEO of Anglo Irish Bank and the two Sunday Times journalists.
The most damaging revelations were that Fitzpatrick met and played golf with Cowen just months before the bank guarantees were introduced.
Following the publication of the book a series of events followed in which Cowen managed to cement his leadership but then subsequently resigned after a botched cabinet reshuffle.
Perhaps the most revelatory of all political books which details how two journalists at The Washington Post uncovered the greatest political scandal of all time, known simply as Watergate, that would lead to US President Richard Nixon resigning in 1974.
Described widely as “one of the greatest detective stories ever told” the book details the initial break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate building in Washington and the events that followed which showed how the Nixon and his administration tried to cover it up.
It also chronicles Woodward’s relationship with a top government source known only as ‘Deep Throat’. Mystery surrounded Deep Throat’s identity for years until in similar revelatory fashion he was revealed to be Mark Felt, the FBI’s number two at the time of the events.
This book details the expenses scandal which engulfed British politics over six weeks in the summer of 2008 but the consequences of which were long lasting and far reaching with the speaker of the house of commons and several government ministers forced to resign.
Initially, the Daily Telegraph newspaper published details of the widespread practice of MPs fiddling their expenses to draw more money out of the taxpayer which dominated the news agenda for weeks in the UK.
Everything from the peculiar and expensive cleaning arrangements of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown to the duck houses and moats owned by others MPs were uncovered. The scandal rocked British politics to its core with two former MPs already jailed over their actions.
The book details how newspaper got hold of a disk containing expenses for all members of parliament and then proceeded to uncovered some astonishing details.
As revelations go, one that the President of the United States “lost” the nuclear launch codes is pretty devastating. In his autobiography the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, alleges that they went missing in Clinton’s last year as president.
“This is the one point in the system where there is no backup and it failed,” he says in his book which includes other revelations about how Osama Bin Laden was allowed to get away and that cabinet members discussed intentionally allowing an American pilot to be killed by Iraq as an excuse to go to war.
7. Tombstone by Yang Jisheng
Two decades of painstaking research resulted in this devastating two volume account of the almost systematic starvation of up to 40 million Chinese people under the rule of Mao Zedong.
For years author Yang had worked for state Xinhua news agency and adhered to the strict propaganda system in place.
But as the Financial Times details he worked covertly to uncover the harrowing details of how so many Chinese citizens died in Mao’s relentless pursuit of a utopian communist state.
The book has not yet been translated into English and was published in Hong Kong. Not surprisingly, it was banned in mainland China.
When it emerged she was writing a book, rumours were flying that it would be a tell all but instead it was about four women sharing a house in Dublin in the late 1960s including, intriguingly, the daughter of a politician from Galway. What a let down.
Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article.
Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
Taoiseach wants 'defining year' for Irish-British relations after first call with UK Prime Minister
14 mins ago
240
4
Storm Éowyn
'The damage is extensive': 278,000 remain without electricity while 94,000 are without broadband
Updated
21 hrs ago
80.1k
85
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 140 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 96 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 125 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 95 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 71 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 70 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 35 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 31 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 117 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 58 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 69 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 76 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 36 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 40 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 23 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 78 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 88 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 65 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 46 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 75 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 55 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say