Very informative and well researched! I’ll admit, I didn’t much care for politics until 2016, so I was not aware of a lot of this. Just goes to show our political system has been broken for some time.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Rowman & Littlefield for this history on political scandals featuring politicians on the take, taking what ever they can, and how little has changed in this county from the beginning to the last election.

Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac as one elder statesman who has quite a few scandals attached to him once said. Power is also where the money is, and many of those elected for the public good seem to have no problems enriching themselves. Insider trading, stock trades, political action groups and more are legal ways to make money, and looking at many of the freshman congresspersons, business that way seems good. However for many this is not enough. The lure is too strong, the money too easy, and their inner conscience gets fainter and fainter as the money gets larger and larger. Scoundrels: Political Scandals in American History by J. Michael Martinez is a look at some of the biggest scandals in American history, the effect it had on the times, and what was changed, and sadly, how it continues to happen.

The book begins with a very good introduction to graft, grifters, how Americans side with the scandalous, and how so many of these people continued on in life and government with few if any repercussions. The first scandal featured took place soon after the United States started to come together, in a land speculation scheme to enrich a certain group, and as usual cheat the electorate out of money. What amazed me most about this was the large amounts of money that were being thrown around. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in a time when wages were so low. There seemed to be a whole lot of people able to speculate. The book then goes chronologically through American history, touching on the Grant administration, Tea Pot Dome, Watergate, Agnew and more, 13 different episodes of politicians being politicians. Also there is a chapter on the 2016 election, which I am sure there will be more of, but this chapter serves as a good introduction that can be shared with the more cultish of one's family.

A very informative tome that is well-written and well-researched. I was familiar with a lot of these scandals. but Martinez was able to not only cover their effects on history, but point out the politics of the time and how the scandals were influenced and also changed much in the political scene. What did strike me most is both the lack of will to investigate political scandals, and the lack of punishment for many of these men. A certain maverick Senator later ran for president, but that was the only punishment he seemed to get for his actions in the Savings and Loan Scam. I'm not sure if it is a hard time proving crime, lack of political will, or just ehh politicans will be politicans. Power doesn't seem to mess with power. A very timely look at a system that seems to be getting worse.

One doesn't think how bad these people are after reading this, more how many more are getting away with things. Party doesn't seem to matter, as long as the check clears. Light treason, real treason, destroying incomes, lives, no one seems to be serving the public good anymore, just taking money from anyone who is willing to pay. A very good read, something that many people should be talking about. Recommended for parents to give to their children who will be turning 18 and voting. And for those who care about what is happening in the world.

Starting from the beginning of the Republic, there have always been politicians who felt that they had the right to do things that were slightly unauthorized. Early, when land was plentiful, all kinds of shenanigans went on with the sale of "government" lands. This was especially true in the lands west of the Appalachian Mountains and later those west of the Mississippi.

Later there were scandals related to the drilling for oil on public lands. Large oil companies tried to get first crack at drilling on land that had be set aside for us by the government.

Closer to home, there have been scandals related to the fairness of elections. Nixon and the Watergate burglars, and Russian hackers who tried to start rumors about candidates on the Internet. The last on being the biggest when Trump and his lot tried to claim the vote counts were rigged and then trying to rig the vote counts themselves.

Good book with info from previous scandals in the political arena. Very interesting and holds your interest. Some of the scandals in this book I knew about, some I did not. Thoroughly enjoyed this read. Thanks to Netgalley, the site and the publisher for the ARC of this book in return for my honest review. Receiving this book in this manner had no bearing on this review.

Scoundrels does a great job of giving overviews of various scandals in American history. Some are well-known, like Watergate, but then there are ones like Credit Mobilier that tend to get less attention. What works so well is that these complicated events are made easily understandable in a way that does not short change the reader nor the actual intricacies of the stories. Sometimes, it's easier with larger conspiracies just to gloss over and reduce them down to one liners "Nixon lied about a break in" so much so that they are inaccurate. This book would help anyone clear up the inaccuracies.

I strongly suggest the chapter on the Savings and Loans scandal. This event, in my opinion, is so crucial to understanding the late 1980s and the real side of the 80s economic boom. However, it gets lost in the narratives of Reagan and the end of the Cold War. Not paying attention to this shortchanges one's understanding of recent American history. Furthermore, I think some lessons can be learned comparing it to the 2008 crisis.

The Abscam chapter is also well-documented and explained. Readers may know the story from American Hustle, but I think Martinez provides great context and historical documentation to the event.

This book provides some important descriptions to several scandals that, perhaps exempting Watergate, may not have their own place in historiography. This book will helps readers to think holistically about the impact, causes, and long-term consequences of scandals and those who become involved in them