For your shopping list, Mass. politics books

AARP thanks the Massachusetts House for passing H.4706, An Act to Improve Massachusetts Home Care, creating the state’s first Family Caregiver Commission. During National Family Caregivers Month, we urge the Senate to pass this vital bill and give the state’s 1.4 million caregivers the support they deserve. Learn more: aarp.org/ma

Programming note: I’m off for the Thanksgiving break and back in your inboxes, with Jon Keller, on Monday. For today’s edition, something a little different: As the holiday shopping season starts up, here’s a list of several books on Massachusetts politics or Mass.-adjacent ones, for yourself or the political junkie in your life.

The tale of George Kara, a West Roxbury operative who crashed John F. Kennedy’s presidential inauguration, is a piece of Massachusetts political lore best relayed with a wink and a nod.

That is just what John Farrell did in his biography of Tip O’Neill, who before he ascended to the speakership of the U.S. House, was once a gatecrasher himself when he stood next to Kara in the VIP section. Kennedy saw them both there as he made his way to the podium, though O'Neill was less glaring presence because he played a role in the 1960 campaign.

When O’Neill ran into Kennedy weeks later at a social event, he told Kennedy that Kara had a prediction of “how historians would wonder what grand thoughts were on the young President’s mind, when in fact Kennedy was thinking, ‘How the hell did Kara get that seat?’”

Kennedy admitted that was indeed on his mind. With that and other anecdotes, Farrell’s biography roams far and wide, from the White House down to the ward level. If you’re looking for books on Massachusetts politics as this holiday season approaches, Farrell’s book should be near the top of the list. Below are four other books. This is not a comprehensive or definitive list, but one relayed with a wink and a nod, for those who appreciate such things.

“Romney: A Reckoning,” by McKay Coppins

The best Mitt Romney biography, based on interviews with him and his family, and access to personal journals and emails. The book does touch on Romney’s time in Massachusetts, and the 2002 race for governor. Mike Murphy, his consultant, offered some advice: “We’ll lose every day in the papers, and you’ll be inclined to respond to some twenty-two-year-old [reporter] who wrote some nasty article that no one actually read…You’ll win the race on TV.”

“What It Takes,” by Richard Ben Cramer

In 1986, Cramer lit out for the presidential campaign trail and this book was the result. Gov. Michael Dukakis was among the candidates profiled, and Cramer noted that by that point, the Massachusetts media treated the campaign trail as a regional industry. “There was no Kennedy going this time, so…The Duke was the ticket. The Boston TVs had already commissioned exclusive polls to see where he stood in Iowa. The Globe had a guy on the streets of Des Moines two days early, showing a picture of Michael, like a runaway child, to see if anybody knew him. They didn’t.”

“People Before Highways,” by Karilyn Crockett

An MIT professor who worked in Marty Walsh’s City Hall, Crockett used oral histories and research to dive deep into how a local antihighway protest brought to the State House’s doorstep morphed into something bigger. “When [Gov. Frank Sargent] announced, ‘We were wrong’ on statewide television, the path was laid for deep reform of regional transportation planning as well as a reconsideration of how best to revitalize Boston’s aging core,” she writes in the book, which came out in 2018.

“The Bluest State,” by Jon Keller

The MASSterList columnist published his own look at state and local politics in 2008. “Prepare to visit the un-Camelot, where a set of customs and conceits are running loose and need to be corralled before they kill off any more boomer dreams or Democratic presidential tickets. Kennedy country and its political culture aren’t good role models for Democrats anymore,” he writes.

Do you have book recommendations for a Massachusetts politics (or with a local tie-in, like “What it Takes”) reading list? Send them along: [email protected].

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HAPPENING TODAY

...Under the golden dome, the House of Representatives plans to close at 1 p.m. Senators have discretion over their own offices on Wednesday, according to a spokesperson for Senate President Karen Spilka. Spilka's office, the Senate Chamber, and the Senate Clerk’s office will close at noon or after Wednesday’s session adjourns, whichever comes later...

FROM BEACON HILL

COVER GOVERNOR: Gov. Maura Healey makes the cover of the December edition of Boston Magazine. In the 5,500+ word story inside, Healey insists she’s enjoying the job as author Tom McGrath notes she follows the “template Bill Weld established 30 years ago for successful Massachusetts governors: conservative on business issues, more liberal on social ones.” – Boston Magazine

IMMIGRANT PROTECTION: Amid the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign, immigrant advocates testified in support of bills in front of State House lawmakers, including one blocking state and local agencies from agreements allowing them to act as immigration officers. – New Bedford Light

HEALEY SIGNS SUPP: Gov. Maura Healey signed a supplemental spending bill that closes the books on fiscal 2025. The law includes $1.67 billion for MassHealth and $10 million for 2026 World Cup games, as well as $18.3 million for student financial aid. The law also included Sen. Lydia Edwards’ moratorium on evictions and foreclosures for federal workers affected by the recent federal government shutdown. Healey extended the measure through Jan. 26, 2026. – State House News Service

FIRED HEALEY AIDE: Mike Kennealy, one of the three GOP candidates for governor, said if elected he would release all documents related to the former Healey administration aide who was arrested on drug trafficking charges. – Boston Herald

NEWS NEXT DOOR

WHITE HOUSE CONNECTION: The mother of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s nephew was arrested by immigration officers in Revere earlier this month, and is now in custody in Louisiana. – WBUR

HOLOCAUST MUSEUM: A railcar hovered over Boston’s Tremont Street yesterday as a crane operator lifted the historic vehicle into the construction site of the new Holocaust Museum. The museum is set to open in late 2026. – MassLive

DAY OF MOURNING: An annual gathering in Plymouth to recognize the suffering of Native Americans is proceeding as planned after town officials backed away from a proposal to add restrictions on the event. – Plymouth Independent

SPRINGFIELD PURCHASE: The CEO of Peter Pan Bus Lines, Peter A. Picknelly, has bought nine acres from the Springfield Republican with plans for a riverfront courthouse. – MassLive

MORE HEADLINES

Progressive mayors vs. developers

Mass. health care union leader talks Steward’s collapse and Medicaid cuts

Needham planning officials OK housing development under MBTA Communities law

THE SUNDAY SHOWS

KELLER AT LARGE: 8:30 a.m., WBZ-TV. The station is running an encore edition of the show hosted by political analyst Jon Keller. The guest is Chrissy Lynch, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO. They discuss organized labor's push for new state taxes and its relationship with the Trump administration.

@ ISSUE SIT DOWN: 9:30 a.m., NBC 10. Reporter Matt Prichard interviews Rep. Lori Trahan, co-chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee.

ON THE RECORD: 11 a.m., WCVB. The guest is Everett Mayor-elect Robert Van Campen.

JOB BOARD

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