A book released recently by retired Spokane businessman Chris Carlson provides a nostalgic respite from the increasingly partisan bickering and lack of effective leadership that seem to so dominate politics these days.

Titled, "Cecil Andrus: Idaho's Greatest Governor," the 286-page book is an unapologetically fond reminiscence by Carlson, who was Andrus' press secretary for 8 1/2 years. That stint included the period from 1977 to 1981 when Andrus served as Secretary of the Interior under President Jimmy Carter.

Andrus, Idaho's only four-term governor, later served for a time as an of-counsel "rainmaker" at Gallatin Public Affairs, a regional firm with offices here, Boise, Portland, Seattle, and Helena, and for which Carlson was a founding partner.

Carlson is a Kellogg, Idaho, native and a Central Valley High School grad who also formerly was a copy editor here for the Spokane Daily Chronicle and served as Spokane-based regional vice president for Northwest public affairs for Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp. for 4 1/2 years. He retired from Gallatin two years ago, and now lives with his wife, Marcia, at Medimont, Idaho, near Cave Lake at the south end Kootenai County.

He's received a lot of help marketing his book, particularly via social media, from his daughter, Serena Carlson, who owns and operates her own public-relations firm, Carlson Strategic Communications LLC, in Coeur d'Alene.

Despite its limited potential audience, the book climbed as high as eighth place on Amazon's "state and local government" book popularity rankings, and Carlson says it already has gone to a second printing following an initial 1,250-copy run.

Along with longtime Idaho residents in general, the book seems most likely to appeal to political junkies and Northwest history buffs. For me, it was a fun step backward in time, since Andrus first was elected governor in Idaho the same year I graduated from high school in a small southeast Idaho farm town, and I enjoyed watching the Democrat's impressive rise in popularity in a heavily Republican state.

Through a series of stories and anecdotes, Carlson's book offers a personalized perspective on how Andrus, although an Idaho transplant—he was born in Hood River, Ore., and attended high school in Eugene—came to be "the most beloved political figure the state has ever produced."

The book portrays Andrus as a man who used his love of hunting, fishing, and the outdoors, combined with his sharp intellect, exceptional memory, great sense of humor, and upbeat, problem-solving mindset to earn the admiration of those around him.

Summing it up well in the introduction to his book, Carlson says, "Andrus has the God-given ability to instill in a person he's talking with the sense that at that moment they are the most important person in the world, they have his undivided attention, he understands what they are trying to communicate, he empathizes with their plight and somehow he gives them a sense their issue or challenge is solvable."

And though Andrus was a Democrat, Carlson writes that he also was a fiscal conservative and a self-described "common-sense conservationist," but "never the tree-hugging enviro his critics portrayed him to be."

Carlson's own father committed suicide when he was a youth, and he says he considers Andrus, now 80 and living in Boise, a "surrogate father."

Carlson retired early from Gallatin due to health problems that include Parkinson's disease and deadly, but currently dormant neuroendocrine cancer. He started work on the Andrus book after his health stabilized a bit, and said in an interview, "I really felt strongly that a part of the man's legacy hadn't gotten its due yet." I'd say he's accomplished his mission of helping to correct that oversight.