SOURCE: Lawson, Mark. “Great Man Lowered by His Trousers.” Spectator (10 February 1996): 11–12.

In the following review, Lawson ponders the true identity of the author of Primary Colors.

Both Washington and London have started the new political season with the publication of an insider's novel of political life. Britain got A Woman's Place by Edwina Currie MP, a silly mess of incredible invented characters and arch name-checks for serving members. Washington, cutting rather the better deal, got Primary Colors, an account of a libidinous Southern governor and his pushy wife running for president in 1992. Everybody knows who it is about, but—a brilliant twist, this—nobody knows who it is by.

By a practice virtually defunct in publishing, the book is credited only to ‘Anonymous,’ and Random House, its backers, are refusing to drop clues, claiming indeed that the book came to them unattributed from an agent. Twenty years after...