Locked in the Cabinet

On the face of it, here's an improbable book: a memoir of four years as Secretary of ... Labor. Well, in this case it works because the author is Robert B. Reich, a warm and lively writer who because of his 'Friend Of Bill' status and his strong positions on economic issues was inside virtually every political and ideological tussle of the Clinton administration's first term. What puts the book over the top though is that its author retains his humanity even after walking through the looking glass of official Washington. We experience, for instance, the angst of having to let his two sons and wife go back to the family home in Cambridge because he can't quite yet leave the struggle for such improvements as an increase in the minimum wage. Throughout it all, Reich keeps the sharp eye of the outsider. Witness for example this comment about Newt Gingrich: "His office is adorned with figurines of dinosaurs, as you might find in the bedrooms of little boys who dream of one day being huge and powerful."