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Barring some otherworldly turn of events, Eliot Spitzer, the attorney general of New York, will win the state’s election for governor next month. Although Spitzer is practically a shoo-in, Spoiling for a Fight, Brooke A. Masters’ retrospective on Spitzer’s attorney general career, provides a comprehensive and compelling narrative for why he deserves New York’s governorship.

If not for Arnold Schwarzenegger, Eliot Spitzer would be the nation’s most famous state politician, a man whose very name simultaneously sends shivers of excitement through the bodies of the liberal faithful and spasms in the backs of those who prefer smaller government and larger corporate profits. And he merits the attention he receives. In his eight years as New York’s chief prosecutor, Spitzer has unleashed his considerable legal power on the corporate world, not with the intent of punishing individual offenders, but rather with the purpose of forcing entire industries to change their structures and business practices. Spitzer’s use of the attorney general’s office is the most impressive exercise of state prosecutorial muscle since the tobacco suits of the 1990s. Respect is due.

Washington Post reporter Masters covered Spitzer for the paper and here provides a fluid account of his rise to prominence. Her prose is economical, her explication is clear--she even makes the minutia of corporate law almost comprehensible. Spoiling offers little new, however; readers of the daily’s business section will already be aware of Spitzer’s complaints against Wall Street, and will most likely be familiar with his blunt phrasing and blistering press conferences. Nonetheless, Spoiling for a Fight is a good Spitzer refresher and provides insight on the kind of governor he may be.

A tireless worker, Spitzer is the intellectual laborer who sweated through Harvard Law School and the Manhattan district attorney's office. All of the painstaking hours, however, have rendered him obstinate, if not a complete, bully. A headstrong demeanor is forgivable in the attorney general’s office--in fact, the position may call for it: as a guardian of New Yorkers’ civil and legal rights, Spitzer is at his best when attacking with vociferous abandon. It would be shocking, however, if he managed to govern New York without taming his competitive streak.

A successful executive must make compromises, both with the other political party and with the other branches of government. As attorney general, Spitzer was more of a ball breaker than a deal maker. Corporate firms in fear of sinking stock prices accepted his demands. It remains to be seen whether Republicans and the New York State Assembly will buckle so easily.