ACT OF CONGRESS How America's Essential Institution Works, and How It Doesn't

New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Near Fine in Near Fine dust jacket. 2013. First Edition. Hardcover. Autograph; Clean and secure in original binding in very nice dustjacket. Inscribed and signed on titlepage "For Kay Evans / a great inspiration / Keep on tracking! / Fondly / Bob" An eye-opening account of how Congress today really works—and how it doesn’t— Act of Congress focuses on two of the major players behind the sweeping financial reform bill enacted in response to the Great Crash of 2008: colorful, wisecracking congressman Barney Frank, and careful, insightful senator Christopher Dodd, both of whom met regularly with Robert G. Kaiser during the eighteen months they worked on the bill. In this compelling narrative, Kaiser shows how staffers play a critical role, drafting the legislation and often making the crucial deals. Kaiser’s rare insider access enabled him to illuminate the often-hidden intricacies of legislative enterprise and shows us the workings of Congress in all of its complexity, a clearer picture than any we have had of how Congress works best—or sometimes doesn’t work at all. PROVENANCE: Katherine "Kay" Winton Evans was a Washington writer and editor and with her husband political columnist Rowland Evans, Jr. a major figure in the social life of Georgetown, Washington, DC from the 1960s on. Mrs. Evans grew up in Minnesota outside Minneapolis on the shore of Lake Minnetonka; her father David J. Winton was president of the Winton Lumber Company. She graduated from the Putney School in Vermont and was a 1946 graduate of Vassar College, where she was editor of the Vassar Chronicle. After college she worked on the editorial page of The Minneapolis Times, and moved to Washington in 1948 where she met and married Rowland Evans, Jr., then a reporter for the Associated Press Washington Hill bureau. Mrs. Evans was on staff of Senator Hubert H. Humphrey and later for Senator Paul H. Douglas. In 1980 she became the managing editor of The Washington Journalism Review, a publication on the press and in 1983 became editor, a position she held until 1987. Mrs. Evans was a trustee for Vassar College for 15 years. Their home was the site of many memorable gatherings of influential and remarkable people from journalism, politics and general society over the decades from the 1960s to the 2000s. ; Signed by Author .