Shooting From the Lip

Shortly before Wyoming’s Alan K. Simpson was elected majority whip of the United States Senate, he decided to keep a journal. “I am going to make notes when I get home in the evening, as to what happened during each day. It will be entitled ‘The Odyssey of Big Al and His Travels through the Peaks and Valleys of Politics.’” Now the senator’s longtime chief of staff, Donald Loren Hardy, has drawn extensively on Simpson’s personal papers and nineteen-volume diary to write this unvarnished account of a storied life and political career. Simpson gave Hardy full authorial control, telling him, “Don, just tell the truth, the whole truth, as you always have. Dig through the darkest recesses of my life. Leave teeth, hair, and eyeballs on the floor, if that results from telling the truth. Taking Simpson at his word, Hardy shows listeners a thrill-seeking teenager in Cody and a tireless politician who has thoroughly enjoyed his work. Full of entertaining tales and moments of historical significan