Wheeling and Dealing: Confessions of a Capitol Hill Operator [First Edition]

Stated at copyright page: "First Edition". Full number-line beginning with 1. Purplish blue boards, blue half-cloth spine wrap, horizontal gilt spine titles with red bands, moderate shelf wear, rub. Pages generally very good; toning at endpapers, light fox to exterior text block. Stamp and signature behind front flap: "This Book Belongs to Zita Rybicki." Illustrated throughout with b&w photography; approximately fifty images with Baker and/or others of DC. Bind fine, square; hinges intact. Classic '70s pictorial wrapper, moderate shelf, edge wear, some toning; unclipped 10.95, protected in new clear sleeve. Date code at front flap: "6-78". Scarce near very good first printing in near good wrapper. Each of the titled chapters either has a quote from the main subject or a pithy summary of its contents. Set into volume is ephemeral news-clipping with book reviews from 1979 by Ralph de Toledano: "Espionage Vitamins and Art." Contents: "1. In Jail with Jimmy Hoffa. 'Bobby, watch your ass. Don't trust anybody but me and my boys.'; 2. From Pickens to Washington. 'Son, it's a chance for a start.'; 3. New Boy on Capitol Hill. 'From Japanese spies to FDR's missing silver'; 4. Meeting Lyndon B. Johnson. 'Mr. Baker, I understand you know where the bodies are buried.'; 5. Learning the Political Ropes. 'Money talks and bullshit walks.'; 6. Climbing the Ladder with LBJ. 'Hubert can't win, but I don't want him gumming up the works for me.'; 7. The Washington Dollar Game. 'Bobby, we're broke and we owe 39,000. See what you can do.'; 8. Trades, Alliances, and Accommodations. 'Bobby, I'll do anything to kill that bill. Yeah, How much money can you spend?'; 9. Fear and Loathing in Los Angeles. 'Senator Kerr slammed me in the face with his open palm. It sound like a dynamite cap expanding.'; 10. Riding High. 'You've got more powerful contacts than any young man in America. You want to throw that away?'; 11. Becoming a Paper Millionaire. 'The way you're buying that stock you sure must know something. Can you get some for me?' 12. The Beginning of the End. 'You would be a Mongolian idiot not to take the Fifth Amendment. The Senate isn't the place to try your case.'; 13. Wired Informants and the Death of a Lady. 'When I saw her broken body I cried like a baby.'; 14. Charged, Tried, and Convicted. 'This case hangs on the Kerr cash. You've got no choice but to tell it all.'; 15. Surviving in the Slammer. 'Stay away from that man. He's a killer. If he tells you to kiss his ass, you'd better pucker.'; 16. New Troubles with the Watergate Gang. 'What do you know on Larry O'Brien?'; 17. The Prodigal Son Returns. LBJ said, 'Everything within me wanted to come to your aid. But they would have crucified me.'; 18. Reflections of a Political Has-Been. 'Most of the people on top in government haven't experienced serious adversity or they never would have arrived there.'; and, an Index." Bobby Baker's depiction of LBJ is pungent with plausible detailing of the Texan’s earthy table talk. Baker collaborates with Larry L. King for a unique insider’s story of the always fascinating methods and motives of power in the U.S. Congress and Washington scene. From front flap summarized: "Possibly no one alive is better able than Bobby Baker to provide a candid view of the often sordid, sometimes noble, always fascinating ways of power in the United States Congress. Now he is able and willing to tell. Baker was a small-town southern boy, but had a strong sense of political clout. And he was a 'doer,' who knew which senator wanted what done - whether a pitcher of water or a cover story, while the senator worked his pleasure or nursed a hangover in one of the many secret rooms on Capitol Hill. Baker was, at times, Senator Kerr's bagman (one who transports goods or cash; and/or collects extortion and then delivers to a more senior member; or e.g., a lawyer that collects funds to bribe a judge.) If the Senator Kerr, one of the richest, most powerful, and venal figures wanted to p. …