I received this book to read for review back in early April. Then "life happened." (Regular readers know what I mean.) So it has been on my bookshelf gathering dust.
Finally, feeling a bit guilt-ridden (especially since another election has come and gone and a new congress with a whole lot of new conservatives has been sworn into office as of this week), I picked it up and began to read. Very soon, I had a highlighter in hand and was marking things I found interesting or amusing. While I wouldn't call this my favorite political read of the past decade, I liked it, giving it a 4.0 out of 5 stars.
Here's the official blurb:
An insider’s investigation of the state of the post-Bush Conservative movement in the United States today.
R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.—intimately familiar with the ideology and personalities of the conservative movement in the United States from the inside—analyzes who was right and what went wrong. And, in the process, he outlines the conservative agenda for the “next ascendancy.”
Tyrrell's well-turned prose has received acclaim from such people as P.J. O'Rourke, Norman Mailer, Paul Johnson, Dick Morris, William Safire, William F. Buckley Jr., and Henry Kissinger. Tom Wolfe has said, "No columnist, no author, has had a greater influence upon the course of American political history over the past decade than the ribald contrarian R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. Even the slain giants die laughing."
And here is my official review:
I am not familiar with Mr. Tyrrell nor have I read his previous books. I'm not a political junkie although I try to stay up with issues and have strong opinions of my own. I found Mr. Tyrrell's writing style to be easy to read and understand. The book is sprinkled with humor and contains plenty of facts and interesting history. I would recommend it to others.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
