The Upper House: A Journey behind the Closed Doors of the U.S. Senate Review

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(More customer reviews)First of all, it's nice to see somebody writing about something other than the presidency or the Supreme Court. The Senate in particular has proved a breeding ground for some of America's most interesting politicians, as Terrence Samuel's The Upper House: A Journey behind the Closed Doors of the U.S. Senate makes clear.
Samuel's book focuses less on the Senate as an institution and more on the persons and personality in the chamber. In other words, this isn't a dry political science account. He seems particularly interested in those men who joined the "most exclusive club" full of ambition, but who failed to win the presidency. Some of these men are more interesting than most presidents and Samuel gives them their due.
Unfortunately, like Lewis Gould's more scholarly The Most Exclusive Club: A History of the Modern United States Senate, it seems intent on portraying the Senate as ineffective. Here is a typical line from the book: "In a very basic way, the real value of the U.S. Senate is its ability to produce failure and frustration in the guise of good and prudent government." This isn't necessarily wrong, but I suspect this view stems largely from the author's reflection on current events (which take up a good portion of this book).
If you're curious about this book, Samuel published a brief excerpt in the magazine "The Root" (I've attached the URL to the excerpt in the comments section below).

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They come to Washington for varied and complex reasons—driven perhaps by some deep emotional commitment to an issue, or believing that their time in Congress can make their dream of the presidency a reality. No matter what their motivation or particular route, freshmen have three traits in common: they will be members of one of the most powerful deliberative bodies on the planet; they will have far less leverage and influence than they might have imagined; and finally, none of them—not even the most experienced political hand—will have any idea exactly what will take to succeed as a United States Senator. In The Upper House, political analyst Terrence Samuel journeys inside the legislative arm of the government to discover what makes a modern senator. He gets to the heart of the Senate and follows the people—Harry Reid, Jim Webb, Amy Klobuchar, Jon Tester, Chuck Schumer, Bob Corker—and the institution through displays of dazzling power, bewildering helplessness, and sacred traditions both ancient and modern.

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