Documents the pell-mell pace of a major political campaign -- Cuomo's remarkable, come-from-behind victory over Mayor Edward Koch in the primary and his victory over millionaire Lew Lehrman in the race for the governorship of New York.

A collection of thirty-one speeches by New York governor Mario Cuomo, including his Democratic Convention speeches of 1984 and 1992, shows the power, vision, and political insight of this celebrated orator. 25,000 first printing.

A biography of the governor of New York examining his life and career, his achievements, and why he may be interested in running for the Presidency.

A personal, behind-the-scenes look at a Democratic icon Governor Mario Cuomo's life and accomplishments are part of the public record, but in Mario Cuomo: Remembrances of a Remarkable Man, William O'Shaughnessy gives readers an exclusive and a deeply personal, behind-the-scenes look at the liberal Democratic icon. This poignant memoir, based on the author's thirty-eight-year friendship with Governor Cuomo, portrays the spiritual journey of a man who played many roles: inspirational political leader, moral compass, spellbinding orator, gifted author, legal scholar, and loving father and grandfather. He was, in O'Shaughnessy's words, one of the most articulate and graceful public men of the twentieth century.

A chapter on family speaks of his mother, his father and of the marriage of his son Andrew to Robert Kennedy's daughter. That exchange was so moving that The New York Times boxed it and published it in full. It's difficult for one to read it and not get wet around the eyes.

Prologue: Tarmac -- Part I. Politics: Queens -- Part II. Poetry: San Francisco and South Bend -- Part III. Prose: Albany -- Part IV. Party: Washington -- Epilogue: Tramonti

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Governor Andrew Cuomo tells the riveting story of how he took charge in the fight against COVID-19 as New York became the epicenter of the pandemic, offering hard-won lessons in leadership and his vision for the path forward. “An impressive road map to dealing with a crisis as serious as any we have faced.”—The Washington Post When COVID-19 besieged the United States, New York State emerged as the global “ground zero” for a deadly contagion that threatened the lives and livelihoods of millions. Quickly, Governor Andrew Cuomo provided the leadership to address the threat, becoming the standard-bearer of the organized response the country desperately needed. With infection rates spiking and more people dying every day, the systems and functions necessary to combat the pandemic in New York—and America—did not exist. So Cuomo undertook the impossible. He unified people to rise to the challenge and was relentless in his pursuit of scientific facts and data. He quelled fear while implementing an extraordinary plan for flattening the curve of infection. He and his team worked day and night to protect the people of New York, despite roadblocks presented by a president incapable of leadership and addicted to transactional politics. Taking readers beyond the candid daily briefings that became must-see TV across the globe, and providing a dramatic, day-by-day account of the catastrophe as it unfolded, American Crisis presents the intimate and inspiring thoughts of a leader at an unprecedented historical moment. In his own voice, Andrew Cuomo chronicles the ingenuity and sacrifice required of so many to fight the pandemic, sharing the decision-making that shaped his policy as well as his frank accounting and assessment of his interactions with the federal government, the White House, and other state and local political and health officials. Real leadership, he shows, requires clear communication, compassion for others, and a commitment to truth-telling—no matter how frightening the facts may be. Including a game plan for what we as individuals—and as a nation—need to do to protect ourselves against this disaster and those to come, American Crisis is a remarkable portrait of selfless leadership and a gritty story of difficult choices that points the way to a safer future for all of us.

As an alternative to the Republican agenda, Cuomo presents a mandate for fulfilling America's potential to be the greatest and most compassionate nation on earth. If we are to overcome our cynicism, reinvent government, and find a new language for discussing our future, we must look to each other. We must "reconcile our profound instinct for individualism with our inescapable need for a sense of community". For those who long for a voice that rises above the petty political squabbles over gasoline taxes, the minimum wage, and same-sex marriages, Cuomo's Reason to Believe revives our faith, restores our vision, and inspires our hope for America's future.

Among all the fifty-six men who have served as New York's governor, none was more complicated, self-righteous, pugilistic, and exasperating than Mario Cuomo. As governor, Mario Cuomo is remembered most for his advocacy of the "personally-opposed-but" position on abortion that led to confrontations with Catholic Church hierarchy, and for dithering about his presidential ambitions, that led the media to dub him the "Hamlet on the Hudson." His political style reminded many of Machiavelli; Cuomo styled himself a successor to St. Thomas More. In this political profile, George J. Marlin sets the record straight on Mario Cuomo. Marlin traces Cuomo's political rise and documents how and why he abandoned his public opposition to abortion to be elected New York's chief executive. In great detail, Marlin describes the protracted conflict between Cuomo and his church on abortion and refutes the governor's claim that his "position on abortion is absolutely theologically sound." Marlin critiques Cuomo's famous 1984 Democratic convention speech as nothing more than the usual high-toned partisan liberal bromides that offered little, if anything, that hadn't been touted by his party for half a century. The book also uncovers New York State's fiscal, economic, and social decline during Cuomo's 12 years as governor. It explains why voters repudiated Cuomo's version of a welfare state when he sought a fourth term in 1994 and why, in the words of his son, Governor Andrew Cuomo, his father was "more accomplished as a speech-giver than as a governor." Marlin skillfully separates the Cuomo "Public Intellectual" myth from the political man. Mario Cuomo, three times Governor of New York, an eloquent hard edged Catholic from Queens, dominated not only his home state but national liberal politics in the age of Reagan. Whether the subject was police or theology, Cuomo rhetorically overpowered the reporters who covered him. But he's finally met his match in George Marlin's Mario Cuomo The Myth and the Man. Marlin's extraordinary equipment; a former candidate for Mayor of N.Y.C., former executive director of the New York and New Jersey Port Authority, author of books on Catholic voters and the Archbishops of New York, has made him the ideal author of what's sure to be seen as the definitive political biography of Mario Cuomo. -- Fred Siegel, Author, The Prince of the City: Giuliani, New York, and the Genius of American Life and The Future Once Happened Here: New York, D.C., L.A., and the Fate of America's Big Cities. "It's easy to forget what an important and fascinating figure Mario Cuomo was during New York's raucous political heyday of the 1970s, 80s and 90s, when the likes of Hugh Carey, Ed Koch, Al D'Amato, and Rudy Giuliani strode the political stage. Thankfully, George Marlin's wonderful new Cuomo biography will help everyone remember both the good and bad of the remarkable man who served three terms as governor, turned down a seat on the Supreme Court and rejected the chance to run for President. Here are both Cuomo's successes and failures -- and of the latter there were many. An important work that helps restore our collective memory. -- Fredric U. Dicker, the New York Post's longtime state editor and a TV and radio commentator, covered six governors during 40 years at the state Capitol in Albany. George Marlin is virtually peerless in blending high principle with knowledge of street-level politics and the nuts-and-bolts of otherwise mundane governance to produce readable, yet deeply insightful, social and political portraits. Mario Cuomo: The Myth and the Man, examines in fine detail one of one of New York state's most consequential, if also deeply flawed, 20th-century gubernatorial incumbencies. Plus, readers get a bonus: Insight into what shaped the career of Mario Cuomo's Democratic superstar son, Andrew. Marlin has been in the trenches himself and thus can separate blarney from beefsteak - which this fine volume once again demonstrates. --Bob McManus, Contributing Editor, The City Journal, was the New York Post's Editorial Page Editor (2000-2013), and The Albany Times Union's Executive City Editor (1975-1981). "George Marlin not only captures the political life and journey of Mario Cuomo, but details his policy approach that led to the near demise of the Empire State. Fortunately, the Conservative Party of New York was there to carry the torch and provide the margin of victory for George Pataki ending the senior Cuomo's reign." --Michael Long, State Chairman, Conservative Party of New York (1988-2019) "For both better and worse, Mario Cuomo was the quintessential American Catholic politician of an entire postwar generation: ambitious, brilliant, articulate, serious about his faith, and flexible in how and where he applied it. George Marlin is a writer of considerable skill, and he uses here it to produce a provocative, absorbing portrait of the man and his career. --Francis X. Maier, Senior Fellow in Catholic Studies at the Ethics and Public Policy Center