Misadventures on K Street
My Decade with the Architects of Modern Political Scandal
Impossible d'ajouter des articles
Échec de l’élimination de la liste d'envies.
Impossible de suivre le podcast
Impossible de ne plus suivre le podcast
Gratuit avec l'offre d'essai
Misadventures on K Street
Précommander pour 15,69 €
-
Lu par :
-
De :
-
K. Riva Levinson
A former Washington lobbyist tells all.
Misadventures on K Street recounts Riva Levinson’s decade embedded with high-powered Washington lobbyists—Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly—from its rise in 1985 to its shuttering a decade later. At twenty-four years old, Riva was the lone woman in the room at a firm that operated as a privatized, rogue Department of State. While her partners pulled the strings from their offices on the Potomac, Riva was on the front lines, facing real-world danger. Courageous and fiercely loyal, she fought relentlessly for her firm and her clients—only to be ultimately betrayed.
Riva’s narration moves from the boardrooms and back channels of D.C. to the proxy wars of the Reagan era, offering readers an insider’s look at a world few Americans have ever seen. She discloses, with original archival detail, the campaigns for controversial clients (UNITA/Savimbi; Kashmiri activists; Somalia’s president), and recounts her dangerous foreign missions (Angola, South Africa, Somalia, Pakistan, Indian-occupied Kashmir, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka), ethical compromises, and a political theater that reshaped US foreign policy. Personal arcs intertwine—the pride and shame of her family history, a near-reckless restlessness, sexual harassment, abandonment, love, and motherhood—illustrating how ambition and idealism clashed with scandals, personal danger, and betrayal.
Levinson exposes the world of privatized influence, covert operations, and the human fallout of high-stakes geopolitics, probing accountability and survival amid power, deep-seated corruption, and historical consequence, with lasting international ramifications today. As one of the few survivors of the era she witnessed, Riva uses her book to bring back to life the friends and colleagues whose stories—and lives—were cut short.
©2027 K. Riva Levinson (P)2027 Blackstone PublishingCommentaires
“Misadventures on K Street is a compelling read and an invaluable look at the raw mechanics of political power in D.C. during the late Cold War era, told with the rare candor and integrity that have defined Riva’s career.”
(US Senator Chris Coons)“I have watched Riva Levinson in action for nearly two decades—at the State Department, the United Nations, and in the heart of a rebuilding Liberia. She is a rare breed in Washington: a strategist with a soul. While many talk about ‘impact,’ Riva has lived it, standing as a fierce and constant advocate for a continent she clearly loves. Misadventures on K Street is a raw, deeply personal account of a woman who refused to stay on the sidelines. It is a story of grit, the complexity of power, and a life spent proving that loyalty is the most powerful currency in diplomacy.”
(Linda Thomas-Greenfield, former US Ambassador)“Misadventures on K Street is a vivid and engaging account of the strange intersection of Washington lobbying, Cold War geopolitics, and the outsized personalities who shaped both. Riva Levinson pulls back the curtain on a remarkable period when influence on K Street could reach far beyond Capitol Hill and into some of the most volatile conflicts of the late Cold War. Her story moves seamlessly from the boardrooms and back channels of Washington to the rebel capital of Jamba in southern Angola, offering readers an insider’s look at a world few Americans have ever seen. Having lived in Namibia in 1989–90 and even visiting Jamba myself during that period, I was struck by how vividly Levinson captures the atmosphere and stakes of that moment in history. What makes this book especially compelling is the author’s candor about the moral ambiguities, ambitions, and personalities that defined the era. The result is an illuminating and often surprising memoir about power, influence, and the messy realities of politics behind the scenes.”
(Jeff Flake, former US Senator and US Ambassador to Turkey )“Years ago, Riva Levinson told me that when she would one day tell her own inside story of Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly, the most infamous lobbying firm of the 1980s. That day finally arrived - and it was worth the wait. In Misadventures on K Street, Levinson does for the dark art of lobbying what I sought to do for the Wolves of K Street – (Riva) exposes the high-stakes machinery of power with unflinching detail. It is a rare, visceral look at the impact of political consultancy in the world’s most dangerous hot spots. History is the judge, but Riva is the ultimate witness.”
(Brody Mullins, Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative reporter)