Why has it taken twenty-five years to balance the federal budget? Why did that goal seem politically impossible until the last moment? The question of the deficit is the reigning obsession of modern politics, for it is no simple quarrel over numbers but is instead a bitter battle to the political death between competing ideas about the role of government and the right to shape the nation's values. George Hager and Eric Pianin, writers for the Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report and The Washington Post, respectively, bring the key players in the battle of the budget - Ronald Reagan, Newt Gingrich, Bill Clinton, and George Mitchell - vividly to life. Balancing Act tells a gripping story at the same time that it provides an unparalleled look at what goes on behind the closed doors of Capitol Hill. | Balancing Act by George Hager, Paperback | Indigo Chapters