Man of the house: the life and political memoirs of speaker Tip O'Neill.

• Author: Ornstein, Norman J.

Man of the House: The Life and Political Memoirs of Speaker Tip O'Neill.

Tip O'Neill, with William Novak. Random House, $19.95. Tip O'Neill's memoir is the kind of book you can imagine Ronald Reagan writing--informal, gossipy, full of funny anecdotes and reminiscences, short on detail and analysis. It covers 50 years of American politics, with some fascinating insights. But it should be read more for entertainment than enlightenment.

It is not a deeply philosophical book, but here and there O'Neill does set out his fundamental political philosophy. He comments, "I began my political career in 1936, on a slogan of "work and wages.' Today, more than half a century later, I'm still a bread-and-butter liberal who believes that every family deserves the opportunity to earn an income, own a home, educate their children, and afford medical care.' He describes a letter written to him early in his congressional career by his mentor, Sister Agatha, a former teacher from his parochial high school. She had learned that he wanted to leave Congress to run for governor of Massachusetts. She wrote him, "I don't think that's a good idea. You have a certain softness about you which would make it difficult for you to say no to anyone. That's a fine quality, but it would get you into a lot of trouble if you were governor. Washington is the place for you, where you can do so much good for people in need all over the country.'

Moreover, O'Neill does not describe in analytical detail how he ran the House during his ten years as speaker, what the O'Neill system was, or why he was a strong speaker. He does indicate his own operating style, in some ways similar to the president's: "The details of legislation have never been my strong suit, which is why I've always left them to other people. My own skills had more to do with powers of persuasion and with getting things done. While other members drew up the laws, I was like a shepherd who knew how to move legislation forward and get it passed. While I couldn't always cite chapter and verse, I always knew what a bill meant, what it stood for, and which members were most likely to support it.'

But if O'Neill does not provide the deep insight of the ultimate insider, he does provide more than enough interesting historical tidbits, observations about important political players, and good, pithy stories to make it a good read...