"Inventing Al Gore unveils the motivations, ideals, and idiosyncracies of one of Washington's most inscrutable men. Bill Turque, who covered both of Gore's vice presidential campaigns and the Clinton White House, draws on extensive access to Gore's key advisers, friends, and family. He unmasks a man who in private can sing and dance to George Strait's music but in public measures every comment and gesture with legendary caution.

As Turque details, Gore's great political albatross - a lack of empathy - was hatched during his lonely childhood as the product of ambitious political parents who groomed him for the presidency. Turque's keen analysis also uncovers the genesis of Gore's questionable fund-raising and of a political platform laden with worthy but emotionally safe planks such as bioethics, global warming, and the Internet.

In addition, Inventing Al Gore illuminates how personal tragedies have shaped his political life and the influence that women, from his mother to Naomi Wolf, have had on his career."--BOOK JACKET.