In this intense memoir of a political life, Wright etches an unforgettable portrait of eroding public confidence in government and the potentially apocalyptic shift in Congress from a politics of bipartisan comity to one of confrontation and personal attack. Having imbibed the American dream from his father, who survived the terrible blows of the Great Depression to create a successful national company, the former Speaker introduces his book with the hope that he will "be around when we have a president who is now the age of one of my five grandsons" while harboring a sad, secret which "that it will never be one of them." Speaker Wright has seen Washington from the inside, and Balance of Power is a close-up chronicle of a momentous era, at once personal and passionate, yet balanced by the sensibility of a writer in command of rare eloquence, a distinguished statesman, and dedicated public servant.