Power to the People by Laura Ingraham Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $0.86 You Save: $27.09 (97%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Power to the People
Book Review: Fantastic Book!
Summary: 5 Stars
Power to the People is a book that America needs to read. It says the things that need to be said. Laura's straight, no-nonsense talk validates those who are tired such things as the same old media tripe we are fed every day. (This week we are treated to OJ 24/7...where is the real news of the day.) There is so much truth in this book, it is impossible to give it the tribute it deserves!!! Five stars aren't enough...Laura's book should get at least 10!!Book Review: Giving power to the people her way
Summary: 4 Stars
First, I must confess I disagree with Ingraham on many subjects. I'm not a raving conservative. I'm a registered Libertarian. But, like Ingraham, I believe in less government. I also believe in empowering the people.
So to the extent that she's made an effort to do that in this book, I recommend the book and applaud the author. She is a well-informed person and very persuasive.
Her book covers just about every area of one's life and work. It goes to the grass roots and tells people what they can do to take power from government and give it to the people, to themselves --- where it should be.
While I do not agree with her politics in general or her putting religion in her politics, among other things, I think she's probably a good person. And I certainly believe her book is worthy of being read by people of any political leaning.
We do not have to agree in total with someone to get something worthwhile out of what they say.
Book Review: God This Woman is Obnoxious
Summary: 1 Stars
It's really hard to take Ingraham's critique of popular culture seriously when she's been promoting Las Vegas (the very epicenter of American greed, nihilism, and banality) hotels on her radio program every morning for the past, what, 10 years? Again, just like the rest of the bile served up by Hannity & Co. this book (really more like an extended rant) has nothing to do with any genuine concern for modern man and everything to do with making money. Shoot, just yesterday Ingraham was BERATING a guy - who actually happened to be a Minister in the Episcopal Church no less! - for daring to speak out against the expansion of WAL*MART into every town in America. Unsuprisingly she later justified her vicious rant against this Christian Minister by noting that WAL*MART is currently carrying her latest book 'Power to the People.' I kid you not, this is what she actually said.
What I find even more bizarre though is how a grown woman can behave (and write) like a complete child. Just listen to her radio program. The woman is absolutely UNBARABLE. She's sort of like the right wing take on 'The View.' She can't go an entire segment without commenting on someone's weight, dwelling on celebrity activists (which is just another form of celebrity worship), or just completely refusing to treat ANY opposition with even the slightest shred of respect. Instead she wastes the morning away cackling with her cronies (seriously, have you heard this woman's laugh?).
But beyond that this is just a really bad book. Ingraham has a tendency to utterly humiliate herself by speaking on subjects which she has absolutely no business speaking on. Science, Thelogy, Economics - this woman has no qualifications, no background in any of these fields. Do us all a favor Laura and stop talking. You're nowhere near as wonderful as you think you are.
The sad thing is I'm a conservative and find it extremely difficult to like or even agree with these people. I guess it's the insincerity of it all when the Bush Bots continually press for wars that none of them will ever have to fight in while constantly reminding us to "Support the Troops" with the added stipulation that we should only respect our service men and women so long as they continue to fulfill the Neoconservative bolshevikesque plans for a global utopia. Once they divert from the neoconservative quasi religion they're of no use to the country, or so Ingraham would have us believe.
Above anything else I'd say it's Ingraham's (and thus by extension the rest of the Bush Bots) trivial moralizing of Christianity. Basically Ingraham does what Hannity, Falwell, and to be perfectly honest a large number of Christians do in that they turn religion into just another social distinction (Christian = GOOD, Atheist = BAD) much the same way they would treat financial position, or how big your house is. It just doesn't work like that though. The whole point of any religion is to give meaning and purpose to human existence. It's not supposed to be about morality at all really. Ingraham just completely misses the point here.
And to be quite honest, as someone who does believe in God, I don't see atheists as bad people the way the Bush Bots with their vile and completely un-Christian worldview would. Faith is an extremely complicated and difficult aspect of ones life and I can certainly empathize on some level at least how some atheists - much like Ivan in The Brothers Karamazov - question what relevance God has in a world filled with so much suffering, disapointment, and misery.
I think that's an important issue and I think atheists should be allowed to advance their feelings on it. I mean, it's difficult for Ingraham and the rest of the megachurch going, Evangelical robots to realize this, but relief from suffering isn't as simple as they make it out to be. Just getting baptized isn't really much of a solution to mans deepest problems and this is exactly the problem with most of American Christianity: it's being used as a political tool and not much else by Ingraham and the Bush Bots. The faith really has been hijacked in that sense.
In the end Ingraham doesn't want any real cultural change but rather simply a reversion of sorts back to 1950's era popular culture; you know, I Love Lucy, Elvis, Leave it to Beaver and all that junk. I mean really, is television or pop music in ANY of its various forms anything but completely worthless, mass produced, hyper-capitalist, hyper-narcisistic garbage? Were the Rolling Stones promoting a morality that is fundamentally different in anyway whatsoever from the morality promoted by Snoop Dogg? Was watching The Brady Bunch anymore enriching or edifying than watching WWE? I mean come on now, we need a completely cultural overhaul so that we can at least distinguish genuine art from the schlock that's sold on the shelves of WAL*MART. It's not simply enough to go back to the 1950's because to be perfectly honest out culture wasn't producing anything important back then either.
Seriously, this book is just part of the biggest problem in America right now, namely as I just stated above, the inability to distinguish the genuine, authentic art and commentary from mass produced ranting found here, on talk radio, on MTV, at WAL*MART, in Hollywood...in a word, EVERYWHERE. There's just no way that anyone who is serious about politics can take this book seriously. The cover alone should tell you that what's inside is completely worthless drivel. But then again that darn near guarantees the book's success in this ridiculous culture of ours.
If you want conservatism and accurate, reasoned, and well-founded critiques of culture I would suggest reading Roger Scruton, Alsdair MacIntyre, or maybe even Christopher Lasch. Whatever you do, please don't mistake this book for a serious discussion about American politics.
Book Review: Good, but not great
Summary: 4 Stars
Covers the waterfront. Good overall, but not great. Little new, but lots to support her views. Probably only read by the choir. Too bad. Should be required reading for all.
D. Olson
Book Review: Great Book
Summary: 5 Stars
I enjoyed reading this book, and find myself in agreement with most of her arguments. It is a very empowering book that enables the average person to believe that they can make a difference in their lives. Each chapter brings out an aspect of our culture that affects our nation and us as individuals now and into the future.
And for a light philosophical read on life, I recommend Understanding: Train of Thought.