The Contender: A Biography of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo - Tapa dura

"Shnayerson is able to add color to the existing body of Cuomo portraiture...about how the governor (and governor's son) got to be the political figure he is today. Cuomo, in Shnayerson's telling, was the young campaign operative who shimmied up telephone poles in Queens in the dead of night to take down his father Mario's opponent's campaign posters, and would do just about anything if it meant winning." Capitol New York" "In the first few pages of "The Contender," Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is portrayed as a "brilliant tactician" and a presidential hopeful, even if not in 2016. But the tone of the unauthorized biography quickly changes...the book explores Mr. Cuomo's complicated relationship with his father, Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, as well as his early days managing his father's campaigns, and then running his office in Albany after his father became governor..." The New York Times" "A graceful writer with a gift for memorable descriptions...a dogged, resourceful reporter...with THE CONTENDER, Shnayerson provides a helpful [...] reminder that some of the best and most consequential political stories occur far away from the glare of Washington." The New York Times Book Review" "Gov. Andrew Cuomo is known for going to great lengths to control his image and the information released about him. Interviews with people familiar with the governor's deliberations and others who worked on the three projects shed light on a literary chess game that played out over three years." The Wall Street Journal" A Publisher's Weekly Top 10 Political Book of the Season "[A] deeply researched account...While Shnayerson doesn't deny the governor his considerable talents and accomplishments - from his efforts as a young man tackling homelessness to his key role in the 2011 passage of same-sex marriage - the story is shadowed by what the author portrays as an often ruthless drive for advancement, and a mania for control." Albany Times-Union" A "Publisher's Weekly" Top 10 Political Book of the Season "[A] deeply researched account...While Shnayerson doesn't deny the governor his considerable talents and accomplishments - from his efforts as a young man tackling homelessness to his key role in the 2011 passage of same-sex marriage - the story is shadowed by what the author portrays as an often ruthless drive for advancement, and a mania for control." ""Albany Times-Union"""

The story of Andrew Cuomo's political life reads like a novel and for the first time that story will be told in THE CONTENDER. In many ways, Cuomo's rise, fall and rise again is an iconic narrative: the story of the young American politician of vaunting ambition, aiming for nothing less than the presidency. Like many other politicians, Cuomo had to come back from seeming political death and reinvent himself. He did so, brilliantly, by running to become New York's attorney general and compiling a record of significant cases that focused on public corruption. He then ran for, and won, the governorship in 2010, promising to clean up America's most dysfunctional legislature. In THE CONTENDER Shnayerson also digs deep into Cuomo remains one of the country's most potent and impressive political leaders, about whom pundits tend to agree that the White House is not a question of whether, but when. With Cuomo's reelection this November, everyone is going to be buzzing that he is a rising star for 2016. We are publishing to capitalise on this national interest at what will be kickoff of the next Presidential election.