Former U.S. Senator Joe Manchin will tell the story of his often controversial career in politics in a new memoir, the Associated Press reports.
St. Martin’s will publish the West Virginia politician’s Dead Center: In Defense of Common Sense in the fall. The press describes the book as “a memoir—and a manifesto—like no other, by a true maverick in American politics.”
Manchin was born in Farmington, West Virginia, and educated at West Virginia University. He founded the coal company Enersystems in 1988 and served as its president for 12 years.
He entered politics in 1982, serving in West Virginia’s house of delegates and senate, and he was elected the state’s governor in 2004. Voters sent him to to the U.S. Senate in 2010, and he served there for 15 years. His tenure in the body frequently drew the ire of liberals, who resented him for siding with Republicans on several key issues.
He declined to run for reelection last year and left the Democratic party, registering as an independent.
His book, St. Martin’s says, “is more than Senator Manchin’s declaration of independence from the extremes on both sides. In this revealing and entertaining memoir, Senator Manchin combines eyebrow-raising, never-before-told stories from inside the Senate and the White House with insights into how government does—or doesn’t—work.”
Dead Center is slated for publication on Sept. 16.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
