Whether his subjects are viewed as champions or apostates, Oppenheimer's insightful narrative should inspire some...
"A political identity is always a negotiation, between what it demands and who we are," asserts freelance journalist Oppenheimer as he explores "the negotiation of specific left-wing identities…and how those negotiations fell apart."
In this confident debut, the author examines the processes by which six prominent figures—Whittaker Chambers, James Burnham, Ronald Reagan, Norman Podhoretz, David Horowitz, and Christopher Hitchens—came to alter their political views to move from being devotees of the left (arguably excepting Reagan) to advocates for conservatism (arguably excepting Hitchens). Oppenheimer’s purpose is not to suggest some unifying principle behind his subjects' metamorphoses or to evaluate the views of either the right or the left but rather to explore the nature and origins of personal political belief. He tells these individuals' stories because "it's during the period of political transition…that the contingency and complexity of belief become most visible." The author contends that we can learn something of value "about the world and ourselves by observing that process with empathy and respect," in particular a degree of humility about our own apparently deeply held political principles. On one level, the book is a narrative of six ideological odysseys, driven by shifting leftist orthodoxies unique to their times and by personal, emotional issues unique to the individual. The events span the period from the Stalinist 1930s through the New Left to the post–9/11 left of today—"a history of the American Left in the Twentieth Century"—and Oppenheimer ably reveals each era's characteristics, contradictions, and challenges to intelligent adherents. The author excels in portraying the personal torments and costs to his subjects in their transitional struggles, including losses of self-confidence, friendships, and professional relations. The interplay between large historical movements and personal anguish is well-balanced and skillfully handled throughout.
Whether his subjects are viewed as champions or apostates, Oppenheimer's insightful narrative should inspire some soul-searching among political believers of every stripe.Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4165-8970-9
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2015
PROFILES
The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...
Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children.
He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions.
Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006
ISBN: 0374500010
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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