Command performance

the long version

"Command Performance is Alexander's witty, opinionated, and wise memoir of her years at the NEA, her "life as a pol," and her experience of Washington at work, play, and cocktail reception. Alexander brings a Washington outsider's perspective and an actor's eye for the telling human detail to the too-often-stultifying subject of bureaucratic politics. She also illuminates both the politics of art and the art of politics by reflecting on her career and how it shaped and informed her perspective, and on the ways - sometimes unfortunate - in which politics resembles theater. Command Performance is also an alternately inspiring and troubling look at the state of the arts in our United States, and at the reasons why the arts have become a flashpoint for many of the issues troubling us."--BOOK JACKET.