On the campaign trail

The contest between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton may be vitriolic and daft by turns, but, depend upon it, some reporters covering it now will soon write definitive accounts of the 2016 US presidential polls. They will be following a long line of similar chroniclers of US elections whose books brought alive the atmospherics, the hardnosed calculations and lofty ideals that drive a presidential candidacy and the talent, intellect and sacrifice that forge a leader's mettle. The impeccable reportage that drove these books also throws light on the formidable election machinery comprising thousands of individuals: pollsters, data analysts, fund raisers, publicists, phone operators, and grass roots volunteers, that each candidate must mobilise if he or she is to stand a chance.

Game Change: Obama And The Clintons, McCain And Palin, And The Race Of A LifetimeJohn Heilemann andMark Halperin2010

Chutzpah would be the word to best characterise Barack Obama's 2008 campaign. Three years after his breakthrough speech at the Democratic National Convention and two years after being elected US senator, Obama was unperturbed by his inexperience, lack of legislative achievements, race or the formidable Clinton machinery while announcing his candidacy. The authors also reveal how many ranking Democrats in the Senate instigated Obama to take on Hillary Clinton.

Here's Barack Obama trying hard to convince his wife Michelle of what he could accomplish by becoming president. "The first is, when I raise my hand and take that oath of office, there are millions of kids around this country who don't believe that it would ever be possible for them to be president of the United States. And for them, the world would change on that day. And the second thing is, I think the world would look at us differently the day I get elected...."

Primary ColorsJoe Klein1996

It took Klein some years to own up to this work based on the 1992 elections. Protagonists, Susan and Jack Stanton, resemble Hillary and Bill Clinton. There's a Congressional staffer who gets disillusioned after joining the Stanton campaign and like Bill, Jack is also an unapologetic womaniser.

These lines from the book wipe away all doubts: "Her strength in the face of this embarrassment was strange. She was drawing attention to her perfection, which served to remind people of her husband's imperfection—it was, I realized, a vengeful act."

What It Takes: The Way To The White HouseRichard Ben Cramer1992

Based on the 1988 elections, the cast of the characters profiled include George HW Bush, Bob Dole, Michael Dukakis, Jesse Jackson and Al Gore.

This passage applies even today: "That's why this system of picking the chief retained its defenders, who'd concede right away that it was long – horrible, in fact; it cheapened the issues, or ignored them; it dumbed down the dialogue to noise; it was spendthrift, exhausting, and it savaged its protagonists...and say it wasn't such a bad way to pick a President – a stress test that was a match for the job."

Fear And Loathing On The Campaign TrailHunter S Thompson1972

Covering the 1972 elections while writing on a perpetual drug-induced high, Thompson delivered a tour de force of political reportage with a withering account of candidates, including President Richard Nixon. Thompson writes: "But then you sort of expected that kind of cheap formica trip from Richard Nixon: all those beefy Midwest detective types in blue sharkskin suits...Nixon rarely appeared, and when he did nobody in the press corps ever got within ten feet of him...Getting assigned to cover Nixon in '68 was like being sentenced to six months in a Holiday Inn."

Making Of The PresidentTheodore White1960

This book on the 1960 elections elevated the election coverage to a genre that merges narrative journalism and history writing. White, clearly enamoured with the charismatic John F Kennedy, turns a blind eye to his romantic flings and devotes a disproportionate amount of space to his campaign.

Here's White's description of the first ever televised debate in US presidential history, Kennedy was "calm and nerveless in appearance. The Vice-President (Nixon), by contrast, was tense, almost frightened, at turns glowering and, occasionally, haggard-looking to the point of sickness".