An Hour Before Daylight : Memoirs of a Rural Boyhood

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Born on October 1, 1924, Jimmy Carter grew up on a Georgia farm during the Great Depression. In An Hour Before Daylight, the former president tells the story of his rural boyhood, and paints a sensitive portrait of America before the civil rights movement.

Carter describes--in glorious, if sometimes gory, detail--growing up on a farm where everything was done by either hand or mule: plowing fields, "mopping" cotton to kill pests, cutting sugar cane, shaking peanuts, or processing pork. He also describes the joys of walking barefoot ("this habit alone helped to create a sense of intimacy with the earth"), taking naps with his father on the porch after lunch, and hunting with slingshots and boomerangs with his playmates--all of whom were black. Carter was in constant contact with his black neighbors; he worked alongside them, ate in their homes, and often spent the night in the home of Rachel and Jack Clark, "on a pallet on the floor stuffed with corn shucks," when his parents were away. However, this intimacy was possible only on the farm. When young Jimmy and his best friend, A.D. Davis, went to town to see a movie, they waited for the train together, paid their 15 cents, and then separated into "white" and "colored" compartments. Once in Americus, they walked to the theater together, but separated again, with Jimmy buying a seat on the main floor or first balcony at the front door, and A.D. going around to the back door to buy his seat up in the upper balcony. After the movie, they returned home on another segregated train. "I don't remember ever questioning the mandatory racial separation, which we accepted like breathing or waking up in Archery every morning."

In this warm, almost sepia-toned narrative, Carter describes his relationships with his parents and with the five people--only two of whom were white--who most affected his early life. Best of all, however, Carter presents his sweetly nostalgic recollections of a lost America. --Sunny Delaney

Book Description

In An Hour Before Daylight, Jimmy Carter, bestselling author of Living Faith and Sources of Strength, re-creates his Depression-era boyhood on a Georgia farm before the civil rights movement forever changed it and the country. Carter writes about the powerful rhythms of countryside and community in a sharecropping economy, offering an unforgettable portrait of his father, a brilliant farmer and a strict segregationist who treated black workers with respect and fairness; his strong-willed and well-read mother; and the five other people who shaped his early life, three of whom were black.

Carter's clean and eloquent prose evokes a time when the cycles of life were predictable and simple and the rules were heartbreaking and complex. In his singular voice and with a novelist's gift for detail, Jimmy Carter creates a sensitive portrait of an era that shaped the nation and recounts a classic, American story of enduring importance.

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Filled with the loving memories of his parents, childhood friends, and neighbors, An Hour Before Daylight is Jimmy Carter's beautiful and touching recollection of his Depression-era youth outside of the small town of Plains, Georgia -- a sweeping look at the South as it existed before the Civil Rights Movement changed the country forever. Blessed with a novelist's gift for detail, Carter describes the pressure of farming in very hard times, and most importantly, how a society of god-fearing men and women, who acted with individual kindness, could have been blind to the sin of discrimination until they were awakened by their fellow man. An Hour Before Daylight is ultimately a biography of the American South, written with stunning honesty by one of its most talented sons.

Customer Reviews:

wonderful memoir of a country boy who became President.......2007-06-29

After reading this book it is easy to understand why Jimmy Carter was denigrated as a weak Leader who let America's enemies walk all over him. As he looks back with affection & describes his childhood in a strict, hardworking, but loving family on a farm in back country Depression-Era Georgia, Mr Carter comes across as a genuinely kind and good man who respects his fellow-men & women - regardless of color or creed; who is tolerant of - though not entirely blind to -- the shortcomings & foibles of others, and truly incapable of seeing evil in anyone. In short, he is the Ideal Christian. This also goes a long way to explain why subsequently he became so widely respected on the International stage in his second career as Humanitarian & Fixer of the World's Problems.

Mr Carter paints a colourful word-picture of his boyhood home, the close-knit community, the Carter farm, the livestock, the hunting dogs, his family, and his neighbours, the black tenant farmers and their children with whom he worked and played. There is nostalgia for a time and way of life that largely disappeared from this continent half a century ago, when children worked harder & shouldered more responsibility than today's young people can even imagine, but which was the making of them as responsible adults. Yet his writing style is innocent & light-hearted, and occasionally down-right laughable as, for example, when he gives us some examples of his rural childhood diction. It is hard to imagine the urbane, educated Mr Carter uttering the words "We et a bait of plums" or, having travelled 30 miles to see the flooding Flint River, "Wheh de ribber, Daddy? Is it down in dat creek?"

This book touched me on a more personal level as well. I was not far into it before I realised it reminded me so much of the spell-binding stories my mother used to tell us children around the dinner table, stories of her life growing up on a 240 acre Clay Belt farm as one of 15 children of Ukrainian immigrants. The climate, the geography and the neighbours' ethnicity may have been worlds away from the Carters, but her life and her experiences could just as well have happened down the dusty road from Plains, Georgia.

Attention Jimmy Carter: If you read this - I asked my mother about the sound made by the metal clicker on the handle of the milk separator. She is an expert: one of her chores was to operate the milk separator; and afterward to disassemble, clean & reassemble all its the component parts, which she could perform as rapidly as a soldier does with his rifle.
Mother says you have to turn the handle faster & faster until it reaches the speed necessary for the cream to separate from the milk inside the machine. The change in the tone of the "clicker" is determined by the speed of the turning handle & occurs when the required speed has been reached for the separation to occur.

Mr Carter is one of only a handful of public figures with whom I would care to be acquainted. Such an interesting Life; such an interesting man!

I like Cater, but can't cotton his writing.......2007-06-08

Why is it that ex-presidents make poor writers? Is it that they have had to hide their feeing so long they are afraid to loosen up afterward because we might think less of them? I was looking forward to reading about a boy growing up in Georgia while I was growing up in Iowa, but his writing is so stiff and lifeless that I quit halfway through.

Ho Hum.......2007-01-09

Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy. You need an editor who is not afraid to tell you that your books are boring. I am giving your book, AN HOUR BEFORE DAYLIGHT, 2 stars because it is written in English and all the pages are numbered correctly. I checked.

Excellent!!!.......2006-10-01

This is one of the best books I've read the past year and one of the best biographies I've ever read. Jimmy Cater, whether you like/respect the man or not, is an excellent storyteller and he takes you back to the years of growing up on a rural Georgia farm during the Great Depression and segregation. The descriptions are so clear it seems like you're actually there. Quite a contrast to the middle class/suburban upbringing I experienced. I also read Carter's Presidential biography, which is also very good, but he's not as long-winded here so the book reads very fast.
Also some interesting photos. Overall excellent.

Worth the time.......2006-04-07

President Carter discusses his experiences growing up in rural Georgia during the depression and how it influenced his future public life. Despite the institutionalized segregation that formally kept the races apart, many of the people that shaped the future President's young life were not white. It is amazing to compare the changes in American society from 70 years ago, some for the better (institutionalized segregation and racism), but mostly for the worse. Even though segregation is now gone, it is ironic that the informal happy-go-lucky youthful mixing of the races that President Carter claims helped shape his young life is probably gone now as well; but cynically, I believe Carter over emphasizes this point for political profit. Also, Americans were very frugal, resourceful, and resilient in those days. I don't think today's wasteful, whiney, latte entitlement generation could go through such economic hardship.

I was disappointed that Carter didn't talk much about aspirations of political life. Mainly, his youthful ambition was concerned with getting into the Naval Academy, and the book ends there.

AN HOUR BEFORE DAYLIGHT : Memoirs of a Rural Boyhood (Signed First Edition)

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AN HOUR BEFORE DAYLIGHT : Memoirs of a Rural Boyhood (Signed First Edition)

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Limited edition, signed by the author.

An Hour Before Daylight : Memories of a Rural Boyhood

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An Hour Before Daylight : Memories of a Rural Boyhood
Jimmy Carter
Manufacturer: Recorded Books
ProductGroup: Book
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7 CDs.

An Hour Before Daylight: Memoirs of a Rural Boyhood

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An Hour Before Daylight: Memoirs of a Rural Boyhood
Jimmy Carter
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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From the 12th to 15th centuries the longbow was the weapon that changed European history more than any other. In the skilled hands of English and Welsh archers it revolutionized all the medieval concepts and traditions of war. No other weapon dominated the battlefield as it did, and it was the winning factor in every major battle from Morlaix in 1342 to Patay in 1429. Donald Featherstone's study of the English longbow from its early development until the Wars of the Roses is an inspiring and authentic reconstruction in human terms in an age of courage, vitality and endurance. He provides an enthralling footnote to the history of the longbow by recording the engagement in which it was last used - in France in 1940.

Customer Reviews:

One of the great books on the storied history of the longbow.......2007-04-30

I read this book for a graduate course in medieval history.
Donald Featherstone is a great historian of the longbow. "History of the English Longbow" is a great comprehensive work for the history of this medieval weapon of mass destruction. In his book, Featherstone has meticulously researched the history of the longbow, from ancient history through its greatest impact in warfare during the Hundred Years' War; specifically, the battles of Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt.

Featherstone turns his attention to the more detailed study of the longbow's genesis and development in Britain. It is definitively impossible to know when the longbow first came into existence in Britain. However, history does record several historical periods when we know that the longbow, or a weapon similar to it, was used and introduced by invaders of the British Isles. There is evidence that shows that the Germanic longbow made its way into Britain with the invasion of the Saxons in the fifth century. Viking law, from mid-tenth century, required that while aboard ship, fighting men must be equipped with bows and arrows as an addition to their other usual weapons that they employed in their raiding parties. One can still read Viking Sagas of the era extolling the use of bows and arrows as weapons. In 1055, Welsh bowmen while firing from hidden positions on mountain ridges, cut down the Earl of Hereford's Saxon cavalry with devastating effect. This action would be a great lesson lost on King Harold eleven years later, in his defeat at the battle of Hastings. King Harold did have some longbow men in the battle, if one takes the Bayeux Tapestry to be a true pictorial history of the Norman Conquest. Unfortunately, for the Anglo-Saxon army of King Harold, he had to travel very quickly over 250 miles south to engage the invading Normans, which prevented him from taking many archers on foot. In fact, the Bayeux Tapestry is famous for its depiction of King Harold being fatally shot in the eye by a Norman arrow, and thus, changing the course of British history forever.

It is during the fourteenth century in Britain that the longbow gains its reputation as a force multiplier in battle. In military terminology, a force multiplier denotes a factor, in this case, the longbow providing a technological factor, dramatically increasing the combat capability of a military force. In keeping with the theme of our course in comparing fourteenth century events to modern times, one can easily equate the importance of the longbow to fourteenth century warfare in the same way that one can compare the importance that the machine gun had on early twentieth century warfare-specifically during World War I. The longbow provided the English armies of Edward I, through the end of the Hundred Years' War, a distinct and singular advantage over the French armies and their cavalry forces.

Despite all of the early history of the longbow in Britain, it is Edward I who is the real progenitor of the longbow, as used in battle. Edward I keenly learned the tactics and logistics that were necessary to employ with great success the longbow on the battlefields of Wales and Scotland. He realized that the longbow was less expensive and awkward to use in battle then the crossbow, and with a moderate amount of practice, his Welsh bowmen could shoot more arrows in a given time then cross bowmen could. He worked hard at building a national army. In 1298, at the battle of Falkirk, most of his longbow men were Welsh. By 1346, most longbow men were English. They were well trained, well paid, and could be counted by the thousands. Longbow men where deemed so important to the army that they were given pardons for all types of offenses, including murder, in order to go off to France to fight. Their pay was comparable to that of master craftsmen. During the reign of Edward II, English military prowess was in decline. Although Edward II continued many of the recruiting and logistical policies of his father, his tactical decisions, and those of his commanders, were sorely lacking. He suffered an embarrassing defeat at the battle of Bannockburn at the hands of Robert the Bruce of Scotland. However, the lessons his son, Edward III, learned from that defeat put the British army in good stead for fighting in the Hundred Years' War. Those lessons, learned and used in such future battles as Crécy, Poitiers, and Agincourt, were insuring good organization before battle and good discipline of soldiers during the fight. In addition, cavalry without longbow support was useless against enemy spearmen. Conversely, longbow men who were isolated on the battlefield without support, would easily fall prey to enemy cavalry attack.

Crécy is emblematic of the successes that the British enjoyed at the battles of Poitiers and Agincourt. It was the sight of the first major battle of The Hundred Years' War and was a rousing success for the invading British army of Edward III and his sixteen-year-old son, Edward, also known as the Black Prince. Edward III had 12,000 men arrayed against a French force of between 30,000 to 40,000 combatants. Although heavily outnumbered, Edward's longbow men were the force multiplier that garnered a stunning victory for the British over the French. The record shows that the English longbow men were capable of firing ten arrows in a minute. Most estimates of the longbow tactics used in the battle, state that the over one-half million arrows fired by the British, easily cut down the French armored cavalry. The longbow, and the brilliant way in which it was employed, were responsible for the lopsided casualty figures of the battle. Although casualty figures are somewhat unreliable, most sources put the French losses at one-third of the French nobility-about 12,000 men in all, against the British losses of 150 to 1,000 total. In the battle, longbow men comprised anywhere from between five to one, upwards to three to one, of the English invading force. Featherstone states in his book, "They were some of the finest, most highly trained and militarily efficient troops that any nation ever put into the field of battle." So, why did the French when seeing the efficient destructive power of the longbow, not learn from the advantage it could afford them and emulate the English? Featherstone postulates a few reasons, such as, the French culture of class snobbery made it difficult for the nobles to accept peasants as equals on the battlefield. In addition, cavalry and chivalry were too hard for French nobles to give up. Another reason was that the French King did not have the power to field a national army in the same way that his English counterparts did. French kings had to rely on their nobles and Italian mercenaries to prosecute their wars during this time; thus, they could not enforce regular training regimens, nor standardized battlefield logistics and tactics. In fact, the longbow reigned supreme on the battlefield until the mid-sixteenth century. By this time, other technologies such as better-tempered armor, cannon, and musketry, overtook the effectiveness of the longbow.

In conclusion, I highly recommend Featherstone's book to any serious student of medieval history. "History of the English Longbow," is an excellent introductory work for understanding the significance that the weapon had during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. It is well written and appointed with plenty of illustrations. The book is a very enjoyable read for anyone with even a casual interest in the longbow or the Hundred Years' War.

Recommended reading for those interested in medieval history, and military history.

Medieval Bowmen.......2005-11-12

The Bowmen of England By Donald Featherstone

The classic account of the English Longbowmen written by Donald Featherstone over thirty five years ago still has relevance today. The Bowmen of England is one of the most approachable accounts of the longbow from its development to its last use. From this a more then basic knowledge of the weapon, made famous by its use in the Hundred Years War, can be gained.

Featherstone makes several points with his book. The longbow's origins can be traced to Wales. Its ancestor may have been the Welsh bows that were used for hunting in the valleys and mountains. These bows were slightly larger then the normal hunting bows of the time. The bows were made from wych elm. This was the only type of wood that grew in the mountains that was suitable to bow making. The Welsh bows were four feet long. These bows were known to have a better range and penetration power than any other type of bow at the time. Featherstone believes that these bows were the origins of the English longbow. The nature of the borders in this region would have permitted the traveling of these bows into England. This idea, that the bow originated in Wales is very likely. The English, who were always fighting with or against the Welsh, could have noticed the difference in the bows.

The accounts in the book of the Welsh Wars of Edward I are how Featherstone introduces the tactics of the longbow. He puts forth the idea that the familiar tactics of the longbow in France came from these battles with the Welsh who also had large numbers of bowmen in their armies. Edward I developed these tactics when dealing with the Welsh defensive formations of spearmen in a "hedgehog". This was a semi circular phalanx type formation with the spears facing outwards in all threatened directions. Edward discovered that the archers could cover the advance of the cavalry by disrupting these formations with arrows. From this the principle that the effectiveness of the longbow was much greater when combined in the offense with cavalry came about. The use of the longbow in this fashion against the Scots and their large numbers of pike men seem to prove that the tactics were from before this war.

The most interesting point that Featherstone makes is that the longbow's use ended before its useful life was over. Several facts support this idea. The longbow was not used as a major military weapon after the early Sixteenth Century. At this time the armies of Europe were beginning to switch over to firearms on a large scale. The longbow could fire three or four times for every time of a musket. This was evident until Eighteenth Century. The effective and accurate range of a long bow was nearly 250 yards. This was far greater then the effective range of a musket which was around 100 hundred yards. An arrow was much heaver then a lead shot from a musket and had a greater ability to kill or main a soldier. With this said the need for lifelong training was one of the largest draw backs for the longbow. Firearms training could be effective after a few weeks. Weather also had a greater effect on bows then on firearms. While rain and water could affect both, if the powder was kept dry a firearm could function in the rain. However a bow has a more difficult time. Wind also had a much greater impact on archery than on shooting a firearm. The properties that the arrow uses to fly a stable projectory make it very susceptible to wind. For these reasons the switch to firearms was inevitable.

There are several major weaknesses with The Bowmen of England. Donald Featherstone spends a great deal of the book on the military use of the longbow. He does this by using major and a few minor battles as examples of their use. He spends a great deal of time narrating the story of the battle. However he lacks a useful description of the direct use of the longbow. The tactics and logistics of the English armies in these battles would greatly benefit the reader. One of the more important problems of the text is his 'use' of citations. The lack of any citations in the book greatly hurts the reader's ability to track down the sources of some of his information. The bibliography in the book in useful, but it does not give an account of the source of specific information. At times the book seems to use the descriptions of C.W.C. Oman's The Art of War in the Middle Ages. Some of the passages of both books are remarkably similar. It may not be the case but it is difficult to prove one way or another because of the lack of any type of citation.

The book is well written, easy to read and is a useful resource as a one stop source for the history of the longbow. Other histories of the longbow are often incomplete. Hugh Soar's The Crooked Stick spends a great deal of time with the history of the recreational use of the longbow. Featherstone covers the information that is often overlooked regarding the years under Edward I, the connection with Wales and the later uses of the longbow in the Scottish inter clan struggles. The book is a useful one, but should be used with caution. There are many questions that need to be asked regarding the source of some information as well as the light treatment of the longbow in the battle histories. In all Featherstone is a good source for a different look at the Hundred Years War.

Jamison Clark and Dr. Carl Edwin Lindgren
American Military University

English Long Bowmen.......2005-04-03

This is volume 1 in the Pen & Sword Military Classic series. The series was initiated in 2003 with 26 titles. The series is a continuing one, and looks to cover a multitude of military subjects, all well worth reading should one have both time and money to do so.

This one particularly caught my eye due interest in medieval times, and the revolutionary English longbow. A device so simple, yet so deadly, as to its impact on warfare of that time, giving ripple effect into much later times as well. As the author states that time began in the Hundred Years War. With the skill and perfection of it all happening in the 14th & 15th centuries.

The English longbow is a long, hand-drawn bow, used in medieval England, sometimes exceeding 6 feet (1.8 meters) in length. It took both strength and skill to handle the bow, but in the hands of a skilled archer, it was as deadly as a modern day bullet. I find it of great interest that an arrow could very easily penetrate much of the armor of that time. Not only were armored knights at risk, but so too the horse they rode, be the steed armored or not.

And when the arrow did not provide a killing shot, an archer now fighting on foot, could approach the downed and disabled armored knight, much as a turtle on it back, to thrust a knife blade through the chink of said knight's armor to apply the killing blow.

I found everything is this slim volume of less than 200 pages of interest. Should I have to pick a most memorable chapter, it would be the prologue. Wherein the author pretty much describes not only the use of the bow in action, but also the bowmen themselves. It's as close to medieval combat as we are get without actually be present.

To be able to find a book such as this on today's bookstore shelf is truly joyous. Read this one for sure if you have any interest in English history, medieval history, or that most wonderful invention the longbow.

Semper Fi.

Good Popular History.......2004-02-24

I've recently bought all the Pen & Sword Military Classics thus far released and have started reading them in order. This title is #1 in the series. I found it an enjoyable read on a period of history with which I was not very familiar. Featherstone does an admirable job of describing the tactics employed by English archers in the period of their ascendance in European warfare. He also provides some details on who became archers and their place in English society. Short but clear descriptions of battles like Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt round out the picture. Featherstone has a pleasant writing style, although he uses a lot of technical terms regarding bows and armor that I think most people will need to look up in an unabridged dictionary.

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THE BOWMEN OF ENGLAND
DONALD FEATHERSTONE
Manufacturer: PEN
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000SCDZ4S

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Bowmen of England
Donald Featherstone
Manufacturer: New English Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000X1R1GM

Bowmen of England (Military History No.2)

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Bowmen of England (Military History No.2)
Donald Featherstone
Manufacturer: New English Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000PA5CL2

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Bowmen of England - Military History No. 2
Donald Featherstone
Manufacturer: New English Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000NASNLA

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Bowmen of England (Military History No.2)
Donald Featherstone
Manufacturer: New English Library
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ASIN: B000O3NFOG

The Red-Headed League ; The bowmen's song

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The Red-Headed League ; The bowmen's song
Arthur Conan Doyle
Manufacturer: R.S. Peale and J.A. Hill
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Sherlock Holmes | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

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G. Gordon Liddy reminds us what we loved about America, back when you could shoot off a firecracker, light up a cigar, or drive fast and there wasn't a government bureaucrat telling you how to live your life.

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When I was a Kid, This was a Free Country.......2007-03-01

Good book w/ great details of things eroded to where they are...

BIG BROTHER? More like BIG MOTHER! I wonder what freedoms my children may one day miss........2006-10-25

First, it is clear that most of the poor opinions of this book are from reviewers who never actually devoted time to reading it and have merely based their reviews on a preconceived notion of the author (particularly ones that contain the word "Bush" in any context other than possible references to shrubbery).
Liddy has always been that loyal right-wing kind of soul that doesn't mince words when it comes to FREEDOM. In a post 9/11 age, Liddy's ideals (so far as this book is concerned) warrant additional consideration.
I was initially intrigued by the author's role in Watergate, but agreed with many of his revelations about the erosion of basic freedoms in American society.
This book isn't an intellectual analysis of our guaranteed freedoms or "RIGHTS" cataloged in dusty historical documents; it is a reflection on the deterioration of American testicular fortitude in attitudes and principles since WWII.
While the U.S. has been worried about "Big Brother," "Big Mother" has sneaked in to wipe our collective behinds and keep us from hurting ourselves.
Liddy is a gung-ho, old school, ball buster with a definite axe to grind, he's served time for his crimes if not his principles and I enjoyed this book.
There's some typical conservative grandstanding, but I think it's healthy and a balanced mind and attitude will see those parts for what they are.
I'm less than half Liddy's age and I can say without a second thought that even when I was a kid this country seemed a lot more free than today.
REVIEW EVERY BOOK YOU READ, AUTHORS AND OTHER READERS DESERVE YOUR OPINIONS.

An Insightful Reminiscence.......2006-09-27

First of all, ignore the typically snide, leftist bitchings from the negative critics. Their responses are entirely predictable, being very thoroughly indoctrinated by their commisars. When you really summarize it all, the contemporary "liberalism" is about nothing more than endorsing legalized drug-abuse, gay marriage, and free welfare for all those societal parasites who just don't feel like working for a living.
The main point (especially for all the leftists who just don't get the message of Mr. Liddy's book) is that our complacency has led to ever increasing regulation, bureaucracy, and ultimately...complete strangulation of our previously free society. We are afflicted with government at all levels that blatantly seeks to oversee every aspect of our lives, where they simply have no business doing so. Mr. Liddy speaks of a time when the citizens of the United States still believed that the government must answer to the people, not the other way around. He speaks of a time when the vast majority of the people had a definite concept of right and wrong, and a sense of personal honor. He speaks of a time when nobody questioned your right to defend yourself against violent attack, and the right to possess the right "tools" to do so.
Mr. Liddy has given us a thought provoking essay on how far we have fallen in his lifetime, by his own observation. Leftists will always hate this book because it endorses concepts they despise: Patriotism, Self-Reliance, Manhood, and Honor.

Unless You Were Black, Female, Jewish or Gay.......2006-02-18

I grew up a straight, white, male Christian in the same area that Liddy grew up in and at the same time. I remember a country in which blacks could not vote in many states, in which women would lose the few jobs they were allowed to have if they were preganant, in which Jews were excluded from many businesses, schools and social activities and in which gays were confined to the closet.
In 1964 I remember that I couldn't get in to Yale despite having 300 points more on my SAT and a much better GPA than George Bush, who got in on an affirmative action program for rich New England WASPs.
Mr. Liddy paints a rosy picture because he is looking through rose-colored glasses.
America today, even under Bush, is much freer than the America Liddy and I grew up in.

Well written and cogent essays on our culture.......2005-06-05

With the revelation this week that Mark Felt of the FBI was Woodward's "Deep Throat" during his reporting on the Watergate scandals, G. Gordon Liddy is back in the limelight as one of those deeply involved in that break-in. This book has an appendix that recounts the lawsuits Liddy has faced and used to promote his view of what the break-in was really about. The traditional view is that it was the Nixon campaign's effort to spy on those running the Democrat campaign. The Liddy / "Silent Coup" (a book promoting this view from 1991) view is that it was John Dean trying to protect his then girlfriend by trying to get information linking her to a call-girl ring the DNC used to entertain.

There is interesting evidence presented in this appendix. You will need to judge for yourself. I did find it interesting that the bug recovered for the spying did not function and when made to function was on the wrong frequency. It is also interesting that a key carried by one of the burglars (unknown to Liddy) fit the woman's desk who purportedly had the photos and information of the call-girl ring.

However, this book is not principally about Watergate. It is a series of seven essays that express Liddy's views on important aspects of how life in America has changed during his lifetime. While he notes that the Civil War changed certain aspects of the various States to the Union, Liddy traces most the deleterious changes to rise of the Progressive movement during the time of Woodrow Wilson.

The first essay recounts the loss of various freedoms that were still a part of our culture during his childhood. The second chapter focuses on the importance of guns to our founding and our freedoms and argues forcefully against the reinterpretations of the second amendment. He recounts how gun control has been used against the populations of various countries and how crime has risen in the UK since gun ownership was seriously curtailed there.

The third essay on education is my favorite. I agree with everything he says in this essay and commend it to everyone. He notes correctly what education is, what is for, and why it is essential in retaining our freedoms. The erosion of our educational system has been a key factor in the loss of our freedoms because the population is not correctly educated about what our freedoms are and why they are inalienable.

In the fourth essay he takes apart the foolish and manipulative tenets of the current enviro crowd. It is an enjoyable and sharp retort to what is uncritically peddled in our media. The fifth essay is on the erosion for support of our military. Liddy explains how we have weakened our military with notions of limited war and made ourselves more vulnerable. The sixth essay is on the differences between men and women.

The seventh essay asks if we as individuals and as a people will merely survive or prevail. His notion of prevailing is actually quite inspiring. Since even cheaters can "win" he focuses on prevailing - of being victorious with one's principles in tact. It is a good essay.

Liddy's writing style is efficient, crisp, clear, and passionate. He doesn't pull punches (would you expect him to?) and is easy to read while being quite informative.

I enjoyed the book very much. If all you know about Liddy is some vague connection to Watergate, I think you will be pleasantly surprised by this book. I also recommend his first book, "Will" that recounts his role in Watergate quite clearly.

Customer Reviews:

Tiger With Wings.......2005-08-26

Wonderfully illustrated and well written, Tiger With Wings is an excellent introduction for children to the great horned owl and owls in general. The book runs about twenty pages and discusses all aspects of the great horned owl's lifecycle in an appropriate manner.

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