Now, Let Me Tell You What I Really Think

A PATRIOT PLAYS HARDBALLChris Matthews has been playing "hardball" since the day he was born. From his first political run-in in the first grade to his years working as presidential speechwriter for Jimmy Carter, Matthews grew up loving his country and dreaming of his chance to protect it. InNow, Let Me Tell You What I Really Think,Chris Matthews is at his brilliant, blunt, bulldogged best.From the Cold War to the Clinton years, Matthews gives the straight-up account of what it means to be an American. Matthews tells us about his "God and Country" Catholic school education in Philadelphia, complete with Cold War air-raid drills, and his early enthusiasm for politics. He shares with us his life's adventures -- two years in Africa with the Peace Corps, the challenge of running for Congress in his twenties, and his three decades deep in the "belly of the beast" of American politics -- using his own experiences to give us an irreverent look at who we are and whom we trust to lead us.

Chris Matthews is the host of MSNBC's Hardball and a frequent contributor to NBC's Today. His nationally syndicated column for the San Francisco Chronicle appears in two hundred newspapers nationwide. Matthews was a presidential speechwriter for Jimmy Carter and top aide to Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, Speaker of the House. He is the author of Hardball, Kennedy & Nixon, and American. Matthews lives with his wife, Kathleen Matthews, news anchor for the ABC affiliate in Washington, D.C., and their three children in Chevy Chase, Maryland.