Advance Praise

"It is the very good fortune of Thomas Kean that his biography is written by fellow Princetonian Al Felzenberg. No one is more widely experienced than Felzenberg at every level. And Kean is an insufficiently regarded political figure, a star of twenty years of Republican politics. How did he do it? How did the extraordinarily successful governor of the State of New Jersey manage to win 62% of the African American vote? Governor Kean was in many respects an exemplar of Republican independence. Courted and admired by Presidents Nixon and Reagan, but always, as author Felzenberg describes, maintaining just the remove from partisan politics required to make him a national figure, keynoter at a Republican Convention and, finally, president of Drew University. It is all told here, with intelligence and insight, supremely informed, supremely readable."

— William F. Buckley, Jr.,
Editor-at-Large, National Review

"Many of the great changes in public policy over the last quarter-century have been produced not in Washington but in the states. Thomas Kean, as governor of New Jersey in the 1980s, was one of those who produced great changes. Later, as chairman of the 9-11 Commission, Kean was a major shaper of national intelligence policy as well. Al Felzenberg, who knows Kean well, vividly tells the fascinating story of this patrician politician, whose career has ramifications far beyond New Jersey."

— Michael Barone,
U.S. News & World Report and coauthor of "The Almanac of American Politics"

"Tom Kean has lived a life in politics in the best sense of the word. A politics rooted in service and civility. No one knows that story better than Al Felzenberg, and he tells it with grace and a deep sense of how rare a politician Tom Kean turned out to be."

— George Stephanopoulos,
host of ABC's This Week and author of "All Too Human"

"Fascinating. This is a thorough yet fun biography. An ambitious, yet caring flesh-and-blood American political leader comes alive in Felzenberg's biography of Tom Kean. Reagan, Clinton, race relations, and terrorism all intersect for a compelling political tale."

— Juan Williams,
author of "Eyes on the Prize"

"The story of Tom Kean in many ways is that of a man without a party. He was often too liberal for the Republicans and too incorruptible to succeed as a Democrat in New Jersey. But party politics, as his role leading the 9-11 Commission showed once again, is not what Kean has been about. If the phrase 'fair-minded statesman' has meaning any more, it applies to him. Al Felzenberg understands Kean inside and out, and captures him well in this insightful book."

— David Maraniss,
author of "First in His Class: A Biography of Bill Clinton"

"Tom Kean is one of the valuable and rare politicians who can rise above partisanship to lead based on values. Al Felzenberg, in this carefully researched and vividly written biography, shows how as New Jersey's governor, Kean was able to forge an enlightened consensus on issues such as education and the environment. It was a mix of vision and wisdom that served him, and the world, so well when he was tapped to chair the 9-11 Commission."

— Walter Isaacson,
author of "Benjamin Franklin: An American Life" and coauthor of "The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made."

"As a society, we pay too much attention to presidents, too little attention to some other public servants, who do enormous good in their careers. Tom Kean is one such statesman and Al Felzenberg has done a bang-up job of illuminating the career of a superb governor of New Jersey, university president, and chairman of the 9-11 Commission. During the 9-11 hearings and afterward, the nation came to know what the Garden State has long recognized - Tom Kean is a man of great integrity, courageous leadership, and sensible forthrightness. Before we can produce more leaders like Kean, we must first understand how they came to be, and Felzenberg beautifully traces the character and career of this extraordinary man. This is a book that students, biography-lovers, and good citizens everywhere will enjoy reading from cover to cover."

— Larry J. Sabato,
director of the Center for Politics, University of Virginia

"This is a landmark work, an insider's account of the take-no-prisoners world of New Jersey politics. It's the story of a gentleman - highborn but unassuming - who tamed the political beast. This is must-reading for anyone who wants to know how politics really works."

— Martin Tolchin,
coauthor of "To the Victors"

"I really enjoyed reading Governor Tom Kean: From the New Jersey Statehouse to the 9/11 Commission. I learned lots I did not know and solidly confirmed my opinion formed years ago when I met Tom: that he is an extraordinarily gifted and likeable human being."

— Edward I. Koch,
former Mayor of New York City