South Park Conservatives: The Revolt Against Liberal Media Bias

Book Description

For the better part of 30 years, liberal bias has dominated mainstream media. But author and political journalist Brian Anderson reveals in his new book that the era of liberal dominance is going the way of the dodo bird.

Customer Reviews:

Mostly filler........2007-09-26

Although I bought this book looking to see insight on what the next generation of American conservatives may be, the book overall looses focus and tends to point out the obvious (eg., conservatives look to Fox News and talk radio). I beleive there are maybe two chapters worthy of print in this entire book. However, in midst of the filler here there is a strong point to be made about the changes of how the younger generations today view politics.

Not Perfect - But Insightful and Amusing.......2007-06-09

South Park Conservatives is a gem of a book; short, to the point, and leaving its reader (so long as you're right of center) with a renewed sense of hope. Starting with the same premise as so many other authors (Bernard Goldberg comes to mind), Anderson lambasts the hopelessly biased media. Rathergate is only one count of many in his indictment.

He is also, fitting for a fellow who is the editor of City Journal, willing to look at the disturbing degree to which modern liberalism is inherently illiberal. These are the people who whole-heartedly buy into Marcuse's doctrine of "liberating tolerance" and Rawls's argument that political debate must only take into account "reasonable" doctrines; both thinkers' constructs obviously have no place for conservatism or conservative principles. Thus liberal attempts to depict Republicans and conservatives as racist, misogynistic and homophobic bigots is part of their own internal effort to throw conservatism out of the bounds of "reasonableness." This is also, of course, a liberalism with a penchant for ironic Orwellianism and double speak, and the unspoken rule that free speech ends if you don't agree with them. See the treatment at Columbia of the Minutemen (or closer to home, the treatment at Duke of David Horowitz). Further this is the group that refuses to see bias in anyone that agrees with them; thus they can justify calling Dan Rather objective while working themselves into a lather over anyone who airs a conservative perspective. By extension, this is why Democrats are making noises about reinstating the "Fairness Doctrine" (itself an Orwellian misnomer) - because only those that disagree with them are biased and in need of balancing.

But whereas this is as far as many go, Anderson rightly points out that things are changing. Quickly. Sure liberals still hold on to the Big 3 (whose viewership is plummeting) and many major newspapers, to say nothing of large swathes of the academe. But technological revolutions have given rise to a new media - talk radio, cable news, the internet - where Republicans are either a major force or effectively dominate. Rush and O'Reilly are the face of this new media. And they're not just disseminating the conservative message like never before, they (and especially the blogs) are holding the mainstream media accountable, calling BS when (often) appropriate, and forcing them to cover stories that would otherwise be ignored as incompatible with the liberal meta-narrative.

He also suggests that times are changing on campuses around the country as conservative principles, journals, College Republicans chapters, etc. are flourishing. He's quick to point out that the faculty, overwhelmingly liberal, still hold the high ground, but that conservatism is no longer invisible on campuses. Some of his interviewees suggest that this is the result of liberal indoctrination, a sort of classroom blowback; universities also act as a sort of ideological forge where faced with liberal nonsense in all its absurd glory, students embrace and refine their conservative principles.

But what Anderson doesn't point out is that these very instruments of conservative campus revival also suggest that liberals are doomed to another generation of failure. The modern Republican revolution - 1994 to the present (?) - has been grounded in ideas, in alternatives to tired Democratic policies (no matter how you frame it, tax and spend is still tax and spend, and cut and run is still cut and run!); the next generation of conservative activists are already getting introduced to that culture of innovation. Their liberal counterparts , in contrast, are too often picketing against some new "injustice" or soaking up the latest drivel of race/gender/class studies - nice if you're seeking a career in navel-gazing, but absolutely insufficient if you're going to shape the future of the nation.

Finally, the title itself points to an entertainment industry that is in places reacting viciously to the PC nonsense and condescension that characterize the Left as a whole and especially its Hollywood incarnation. Leading the charge here is Comedy Central's South Park - not so much conservative as anti-liberal, gleefully destroying liberal idols and mocking liberals such as Al Gore, Rob Reiner, and Michael Moore. Priceless stuff really.

South Park Conservatives isn't an equally intellectual counterpoint to Bloom's Closing of the American Mind; it isn't meant to be. Rather, it chronicles some critical evolutions in the media and suggests that incessant griping about liberalism's chokehold on the MSM is overwrought, that it is in many ways a colossus with clay feet. It's got a message, but it's light enough to be a beach read. Go forth and enjoy.

Surprisingly good--3 1/2 stars...........2007-03-13

This book was given to me and almost got sent to the thrift store. I've never watched much South Park and I'm kinda tired of political books. However, just before getting rid of the book, I took a look at the chapter on South Park and got hooked. I had no idea the South Park episodes were full of so much political satire. It always seemed to be a show that made fun of everything, but as this book pointed out--their biggest target is the left-wing. This book is about more than just South Park--other highlights are the chapter on the right-wing blogosphere and conservative comedy.

Oh my G*d....They killed PC.!.......2007-01-18

Before I begin, let me assure you, as the author does, that this book is not (entirely) about South Park, nor does it take its fuel from the characters and situations therein. Brian C. Anderson has explained here how the new generation of other-than-left-wing college student and young professional express themselves and find solace in today's culture.

That said, I must sing the praises of the South Park chapter. For years I have tried to give my conservative peers, including church members, a sibling,Bush-43 campaigners, etc., an accurate, funny explanation of South Park. "Well, there's these four guys...well, they're fourth graders, and their teacher, Mrs. Garrison...well, he used to be Mr. Garrison, but he had a sex change, you see...anyway, the kids are always railing at anything that's PC. And there's two handicapped kids in the classroom, Jimmy and Timmy, and Timmy can only say his name. And he wins the rock contest with his band, just saying, 'Timmy! Timmy!' And Jesus has his own show, and he sent his producer to hell for turning it into a Jerry Springer type show." By now my audience is either looking at me very sympathetically, or they're at probate court filing a petition to have me hospitalized at the nearest psychiatric ward.

Anderson, to the contrary, writes a brilliant essay on Trey Parker and Matt Stone's anti-PC creation, which has been adopted by Republicans and conservative libertarians alike and tells us what appeals to us about the show (a bingeing Rob Reiner coming around trying to shut down the cigarette factory down, for example).

Surrounding this essay, though, are other writings about what impacts conservatives, and what we impacts. Rush Limbaugh's rise is chronicled, as are Newt Gingrich's and C-Span. And what would a book on conservative culture be without the story of FOX News? As Anderson was completing his book, Matt Drudge and the blogging phenomenon was just coming into vogue, and he covers it well.

He also brings up the expected liberal arguments that these media outlets--Rush's show, FOX news, for example, are propoganda. Well, Rush has always maintained that his IS a thoroughly right-wing shop....and anybody can open up a thoroughly left-wing shop across the street anytime they want (like "AirAmerica"). But what about FOX's "fair and balanced" tag line? Anderson brings up examples from that seem to prove they have a right to say that.

Mr. Anderson is a joy to read. Entertaining, intellectually challenging...I will definitely be looking for further titles from him.

The Revolt: A Long Time in Coming.......2006-11-26

Until Bernard Goldberg published BIAS, it was pretty well taken for granted that the hegemony that the liberal left had over the major media was so all-powerful and pervasive that one simply accepted it as an immutable law of nature. What Goldberg did to eviscerate CBS, Brian Anderson in SOUTH PARK CONSERVATIVES swells Goldberg's thesis to include the entire major media, from television to newspapers to book print. Now, readers of Anderson's admitted polemic against the left can trace the growth of the stranglehold that the left used to wield, but now thanks to alternative media can hope for a far more balanced view.

It becomes clear that from the opening chapter "The Old Media regime" that Anderson correctly portrays the liberal left as the elitist if not clueless entity that it is. He notes that those who are the liberal power brokers of mass media truly do not see themselves as the idealogues that the rest of the nation does. Rather, their self-image is one of a careful concern for the ethics and moral growth of our nation, and this self-image they see as middle of the road and representative of Middle America. In fact, Anderson describes the left's anguish when others dare to question their moral rectitude and probity. "Wait a second," say some pressmen, when confronted with such facts. "Maybe we journalists are usually liberal, but that doesn't mean we allow our political views ever to influence our reporting. We're pros." One can almost hear the pain as they grasp what others say as ingratitude. And as Anderson writes, it is this different moral universe in which the liberal left inhabits that renders them as historically ineffective and increasingly irrelevant.

Anderson, as many others have noted, describes the battle between a morally queasy left and a morally centered right as one in which the former used to hold most of the high cards, but now thanks mostly to Fox news, talk radio, and the blogosphere, the right is beginning to rake in the aces. The left still holds sway but as of today, that hegemony is slowly crumbling. The right may never totally swap places with the left in terms of total control of the media, nor would that be a good thing either, but now for the first time, left-leaning mouthpieces like the New York Times can no longer twist and spin the news in a manner of its choosing. Brian Anderson in SOUTH PARK CONSERVATIVES has become one of a flood tide of left-watchers who insure that when all the news that is fit to print is printed it will be printed in a manner that is fair and balanced. And when that is not so there will be a public squak to indicate that the revolt is not yet over.

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Echoes of Revolt: The Masses, 1911-1917
William L. O'Neill
Manufacturer: Ivan R. Dee, Publisher
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

A glorious collection of fiction, art, poetry, and protest from The Masses, the best radical magazine ever. A sumptuous feast...a splendid achievement. --New York Times

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A satisfying addition to Heinliein's works
Strong Heinlein novel still packs a punch
Some of Heinlein's best
2100 or 2001?
4 stories for the price of one...

Revolt in 2100 & Methuselah's Children
Robert A. Heinlein
Manufacturer: Baen
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0671577808

Customer Reviews:

A satisfying addition to Heinliein's works .......2007-05-10

I've always enjoyed Heinlein's works - his libertarian ideals and positive, if not conflict free, future visions have always made for appealing literature. Also, I really like the fact that much of his work is based in a consistent universe where one work leads into or foreshadows others.

Sometimes the writing can be a little pedantic, especially where he's trying to draw distinctions between the sexes, but this is just a `nit to pick in an overall enjoyable science-fiction tale.

Strong Heinlein novel still packs a punch.......2006-07-15

Please note that this review is just about Methuselah's Children in this volume.

Someone gave me this book recently and so I reread it again for the first time in probably 25 years. I was pleased to see how well the book held up. Published in 1948, Methuselah's Children shows Heinlein's ideas about politics in the future were becoming darker and more cynical and in some ways the book presages the concepts in Starship Troopers. In Methuselah's Children, governments are not trustworthy, and even your neighbor probably isn't, which our Founding Fathers would have agreed with, which is why our system has so many checks and balances (especially the cantankerous but brilliant, cynical John Adams).

The novel also contains some of Heinlein's most interesting ideas for alien races, and the "God" race was a fascinating concept, with their technology so advanced that even Libby couldn't figure it out. Some of his earliest speculation on telepathy is also present, which he puts to good use both for the Howard families and in their contacts with at least two of the alien races. The story features Lazurus Long in one of his most dynamic and prominent roles, so fans of Long won't be disappointed there, and also Andrew Jackson Libby has an important role.

The background story of a race of Methuselahs and how that might be accomplished through genetic breeding was not too far-fetched given the science of the time, since genetic engineering was far in the future. Finally, many of the ideas about electronic banking, email, and networking that Heinlein uses in the novel have come to pass. At only about 270 pages, I think it's one of Heinlein's best stories and still holds up very well considering it's now almost 60 years old.

Some of Heinlein's best.......2006-05-02

This is a collection of four of Heinlein's epic 'future history' work.

The first selection "If This Goes On -" concerns Hugh, a young American soldier serving as a palace guard to the Prophet. America has become a totalitarian theocracy that Hugh discovers to be corrupt. This story is very good on it's own merit but is particularly chilling in our 21st century America confronted with totalitarian theocratic enemies and our own politically active religious right.

"Coventry" focuses on the ideas of freedom and societal responsibilities. Years after the events of "If This Goes On -" have passed society has established total freedom for all. The only restrictions are that one citizen is not allowed to harm another and even then there is no punishment only treatment and re-education. Still there are those who find even these restrictions too confining and for them there is Coventry. One such individual comes to realize that some rules exist for a reason.

"Misfit" - introduces Andrew Jackson Libby, a young member of the CCC (Cosmic Construction Corps) assigned to work in the asteroid belt while learning skills that will help him become a productive citizen. It seems that Andy, like the rest of the CCC are considered to be bad boys, troubled youth, or juvenile delinquents. It quickly becomes apparent that Andy does not conform to society for some other very interesting reasons. This character will return in many of RAH's later future history works.

"Methuselah's Children" marks the debut of Lazarus Long, perhaps RAH's best know character. Lazarus is the result of a genetic experiment on human longevity. The resulting test subjects of this experiment now number 100,000, have life expectencies two to three times that of the rest of the population. For years they have hidden their existence from the rest of humanity but now many of their group have decided that it is safe to let their presence be known. They felt that the rest of humanity is ready to accept them....they were wrong.

Lazarus Long and the Howard family figure largely in the rest of Heinlein work, and is the cental figure of the last few of RAH's novels. "Methuselah's Children" lays the ground work for these stories and is an exciting story in its own right.

This collection is a treasure trove for those unfamiliar with RAH's work and would be an excellent starting point. If it contains any that a fan has somehow missed to this point it is a must read.

2100 or 2001?.......2005-03-21

I just had to buy a copy of "Revolt in 2100" when I read the back cover blurb:

"In the year A.D. 2100 an evil Dictator rules the United States. He maintains power through the clever use of advanced science and psychology. And he is backed by a dedicated military clique..."

Except for a little numerical dyslexia that's a perfect description.

4 stories for the price of one..........2003-04-25

These were some of Heinlein's earlier works, and as such, don't have the length and depth of some of his later, Hugo-Award winning works. Here's a short synopsis and review of each of the four stories. The first and the last are longer, multi-chaptered "short books", while the two in the middle can more appropriately be termed short-stories.

Revolt in 2100 - America is now a theocratic dictatorship ruled by the "Prophet" who is really a corrupt leader dependent upon brutal suppression of dissidents to maintain power. John Lyle, the main character, is a graduate of West Point and a young officer who, through the love of a priestess, joins the Revolution and overthrows this dictatorship. The story is somewhat shallow for those who are familiar with Heinlein's later works, but it is still entertaining. One thing Heinlein never did well was write romance. The interactions between his male and female characters are awkward - had he developed the talent for it, he could really flesh out the motives of many of his characters.

Coventry - Dave McKinnon, banished to "Coventry" for striking a man and refusing psycological adjustment, finds out just how brutal and uncivilized man can be when he enters the wall-less prison. A nice short story, but with an unresolved (and somewhat predictable) ending

Misfit - Here we are introduced to A.J. Libby, who will play a part in the next story. He is a young man working in a space construction crew, but discovers that he has a remarkable talent for mathematics. Extremely short, its more like a preview for the last story included in the collection.

Methuselah's Children - The Howard Families - 100,000 members strong, are having their civil liberties trod upon because their unnatural lifespans lead other humans to believe they possess the "fountain of youth" Lazarus Long, a rogueish character, leads the Families to steal an interstellar spaceship and pilots it to two alien planets before finally returning to earth. This was by far the best of the four, very entertaining, but in some parts, Heinlein delves a little too far into esoteric subjects that are of interest only to physicists and theoretical mathematicians - there are passages I skipped because they proved too difficult to understand for someone just looking for a fun fiction experience.

Customer Reviews:

An overrated book that still bring up some interesting points.......2007-01-23

After all the fuzz I'd heard about this book, I must say I was somewhat disappointed. It's fairly outdated, and very contradictory. I couldn't quite decide if he was being ironic or not, when he claims that liberal democracies are the perfect form of government, but it appears he meant it. After doing a quick search on him online, I found out that he was fairly apolitical, denying picking "sides" during the Spanish Civil War and WW2.

His book started out a bit slow, but then picked up as he began describing his view of Europe's current predicament. The thing I found very strange about his views is that he doesn't seem to be able to decide if Europe is going down or up. I don't think anyone today (apart from the obvious people) would claim that Europe (The West) is heading up in the world. He makes some somewhat confusing claims, on one page he says Europe is going to hell because the plebeians have multiplied fourfold, but on another page he says we're progressing along fine because he thinks the plebeians have risen in level of thinking. Of course, it is impossible to know today whether he would have felt the same way today that he did back in the early 30's, but I somewhat doubt it.

He is really a person that seems to be "beyond both Left and Right", because he can't really find anything good about either side. He was almost in the "Conservative Revolution"-crowd with these ideas, but his strange belief in "progress" makes me unable to really understand where he really stood. Although I enjoyed parts of the book, I can't really recommend it to anyone else, because of his strange contradictory ideas. Is the West dying, he asks, and then he answers with both denying and confirming ideas.

To summarize my thoughts after reading the book; an outdated book that has a good chapter here or there, but that has little relevancy today.

(I read a different edition)

The Coming of the Masses.......2006-12-30

In this brief but sophisticated work, Jose Ortega y Gasset argues against the onslaught of the "mass-man" in social and political life. Who is this mass-man? The mass-man, Ortega argues, is a primitive man who makes use of all the products of modern civilization, but does not appreciate nor respect the superior intelligence and effort by the individuals who are responsible for their development. He takes it for granted that civilization is "just there" and has no appreciation for the intricate processes that are required in order to maintain it. The mass-man is content in his own mediocrity, and feels it unnecessary to strive toward excellence. This mass-man who once submitted to his superiors, now feels compelled to involve himself in everything and impose his will on everyone. This is often done through violence and is done without regard for rationality or reason. The mass-man is like a spoiled child who has taken over the household.

It seems that there have been a couple of different interpretations of this book by reviewers. Some have pointed to Ortega's elitism and contempt for mass-man as a sign of him being anti-democratic. And this certainly seems like a logical conclusion except for the fact that Ortega himself asserts that a liberal democracy is the ideal form of government! I was somewhat puzzled by this seemingly contradictory pronouncement myself. It seems to me that democracy inevitably leads to rule by the mass-man. After all, democracy literally means "rule by the people." Nevertheless, on page 76, Ortega writes:

"The political doctrine which has represented the loftiest endeavour towards common life is liberal democracy. It carries to the extreme the determination to have consideration for one's neighbor and is the prototype of 'indirect action.' Liberalism is that principle of political rights, according to which the public authority, in spite of being all-powerful, limits itself and attempts, even at its own expense, to leave room in the State over which it rules for those to live who neither think nor feel as it does, that is to say as do the stronger, the majority. Liberalism-it is well to recall today-is the supreme form of generosity; it is the right which the majority concedes to minorities and hence it is the noblest cry that has ever resounded on the planet."

Contrary to some other reviewers, I also found Ortega's philosophy to be very progressive. One of his main criticisms of mass-man is of his primitive and archaic way of thinking. He points out that movements like fascism and communism tend to look to some bygone glorious past as a model for government. He calls them a "monotonous repetition of the eternal revolution." Ortega instead urges us to look to the future, to persist in bettering ourselves, and maintain liberalism until it can be superseded by something better.

I found this book to be somewhat paradoxical. Although it seemed that some of the author's ideas contradicted each other, I still found it to be a very worthwhile and intriguing read. Although written in the 1930's, there is much in it that remains relevant today and I would not hesitate in recommending it. It is definitely intellectual candy for the political/philosophical mind.

the mass-man.......2006-10-23

For Ortega y Gasset, `the reality of history lies in biological power'. A demographic explosion is a sign of vitality, but it has an evil side-effect: it generates a hyperdemocracy, where the masses act directly, outside the law, by means of material pressure.

Ortega y Gasset is fundamentally an anti-democrat in the Plato or Lenin style: the masses are too stupid to see or to fight for their real interests. They create a `brutal empire'.
His vision of mankind is too pessimistic. For him, the mass-man claims the right to be unreasonable. He acts as a spoilt child for whom everything is permitted and who has no obligations. His mass-man is not interested in the principles of civilization (law, politics, art, morals or religion) and turns his back on technique. He wrecks the European civilization and paves the way for a return to barbarism.
The mass-man realizes his aspirations through the State. But he doesn't understand that the State crushes the independence of the individual and that ultimately he will only live for the governmental machine (the bureaucracy and the military).
Science, art and technique need the tonic atmosphere created by the consciousness of authority. But, the mass-man doesn't accept a ruler who can propose a vision, a project, a goal. For him, `L'Etat, c'est moi.'

Following Ortega y Gasset's analysis, the future of Europe at that moment was far from rosy.
However, not the mass-men dug Europe's grave, but its nationalist wars.

The author is very conscious of this disastrous problem, for he defends one cardinal point: the need for the United States of Europe and a common market: `the building-up of Europe into a great national State is the one enterprise'.

This book is the reflection of a demoralized liberal democrat. It will mostly appeal to historians.

Shipwrecked.......2006-07-24

What a muddle (most) reviewers have made of this book. I am reminded of De Tocqueville, whom all factions regard as "prescient" and appropriate him to their own positions. Let's get some facts straight, Gasset is a reactionary and an elitist, just as De Tocqueville was an aristocrat attempting to make sense of an alien American democracy. The difference is that De Tocqueville was only a reactionary in sentiment. He felt that democracy was inevitable. Not so Gasset, who believes that we MUST in some way turn back the clock. The ways he proposes that this might be done are, as another reviewer has noted, somewhat at odds with each other. So, perhaps, it's no great wonder that the reviews are muddled.

Gasset is an intellectual descendant of Nietzsche, believing in the noble man above the masses. And, truly, this book at its heart, is more about the aristocratic man, than the aristocratic society, which is merely a means to this end. And, Gasset asserts, a true "society" is aristocratic by definition. Otherwise, it's not a society. But, to return to Gasset's aristocratic or noble man, who is a spin-off of Nietzsche's notion of the artist hero. If we keep our eyes on this notion, the book is a harrowing and effective plea for his existence.

Unfortunately, Nietzsche came to America in the form of the distinctly middlebrow Ayn Rand, whose terrible writing and weighted, tendentious novels found a home in middlebrow America and started a harebrained literary tradition that continues this day. One of the longer-winded reviewers mentioned some of the most recently published books of this sort. Neither her character Howard Roark nor her vision of society: "A coal mine is more beautiful than Niagara Falls." - What twaddle - are at all what Nietzsche or Gasset has in mind. Oh well, one can't expect much from an author who can't spell her own name.

Look, here is the type of soul Gasset adores and admires and is terribly worried is becoming extinct:

"The man with the clear head is the man who frees himself from those fantastic "ideas" and looks life in the face, realizes that everything in it is problematic, and feels himself lost. As this is the simple truth - that to live is to feel oneself lost - he who accepts it has already begun to find himself, to be on firm ground. Instinctively, as do the shipwrecked, he will look round for something to which to cling, and that tragic, ruthless glance, absolutely sincere, because it is a question of his salvation, will cause him to bring order into the chaos of his life. These are the only genuine ideas; the ideas of the shipwrecked." P.157

I have quoted at length because I believe this passage is at the root of what Gasset is all about here: The soul with a sense of the tragic inherent in life seeking from this existential shipwreck to wring his own foundered chaos of notions he calls himself is the essence of the noble, aristocratic artist-hero, to whom this book should have been dedicated. And, finally, perhaps Gasset was (sadly) right. The revolt of the masses and the engendering of their proclivities in what we would call a society leave no room for the preeminence of such a spirit.

Finally, if one wishes to read these ideas in the original, close thy Gasset and open Nietzsche's Thus Spake Zarathustra.

Sleep-inducing drivel.......2006-06-26

First, the writing is abhorrent: parenthetic in the extreme, plodding, unparsable at times. That this book is a translation doesn't help either, I suspect. To suggest what the overall literary style is: imagine something by Mill (who, too, was given to parenthesis) translated consecutively, via Babelfish, into a number of unrelated languages and then back into English. Coming from a literary man, how can this abominable manner of expression be accounted for? The book is exceptionally hard to read; and not because of any sort of conceptual difficulty.

Second, the author's argument and the very thesis are elusive, hard to grope onto; never clear and coherent, he posits a lot but evades justification. Who are these masses to begin with? Who knows... they are not marxian classes, he says. Well then? Not this, not that. OK, still? Well, something like philistines. Is that a helpful category? Are those really in revolt? Who knows... Two-three times per page your mind rebels: Wait a minute! -- How do we know this? Is that obvious? No, no... Well, then? -- but he's already somewhere else... the author's thought drifts all over the place; his random musings are wholly devoid of focus, structure, and logical progression and at length do not amount to a philosophical investigation. The first part is vaguely about "masses"; the second drifts away from the declared topic and switches to european nationalism; the ending has nothing to do with either: this book feels like a collection of unrelated articles, poorly written and poorly thought through, bound together for some reason.

The bottom line: complete and utter waste of time.

The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt (A Vintage Book, V-30)

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The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt (A Vintage Book, V-30)

Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000EE1FLA

La Rebelion De Las Masas / The Revolt of the Masses (Esenciales de la Filosofia)

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An overrated book that still bring up some interesting points

La Rebelion De Las Masas / The Revolt of the Masses (Esenciales de la Filosofia)
Jose Ortega y Gasset
Manufacturer: Tecnos
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 8430939695

Customer Reviews:

An overrated book that still bring up some interesting points.......2007-01-23

REVOLT OF THE EAGLETS (The Plantagenet Saga)

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THE WORLD'S FOREMOST DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY...

REVOLT OF THE EAGLETS (The Plantagenet Saga)
Jean Plaidy
Manufacturer: Fawcett
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0449244601
Release Date: 1981-11-12

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THE WORLD'S FOREMOST DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY..........2003-01-22

Jean Plaidy, world-renowned historical novelist, in this, the second book of her Plantagenet saga, chronicles the dysfunctional family of King Henry II of England and his Queen, Eleanor of Acquitaine, and their four sons, Henry, Richard, Geoffrey, and John. In many ways, it is reminiscent of the film, "A Lion in Winter".

This twelfth century family was a family at war with itself. The father, King Henry II, had mistresses, a situation that put him at odds with his headstrong, opinionated, and proud wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, who had nothing good to say about him once she discovered his perfidy and unfaithfulness and realized that it had taken place right under her very nose. As part of her revenge, she created a rift between the King and their sons. She had trained her eaglets to pluck out the eyes of the eagle. She aggravated Henry so much that finally held her in captivity.

His oldest son and namesake, Henry, whom he had crowned King, so that there would be an orderly transition upon his death, would not wait for his father to die so that he could take the reigns of power. He wanted the reigns and trappings of a king immediately and literally waged war upon his father. This would one day cost them both dearly, as Henry would not live to reap the fruit of his coronation.

Richard, Eleanor's favorite and beloved son, loathed his father and there was no love lost between them. Yet, he is the son who was probably most king-like in his bearing. To add insult to injury, his father took Richard's betrothed, Alice, the young daughter of the King of France, as his mistress when she was no more than a child. This was really no skin off Richard's back, even though it was insulting, as Richard really hankered after Alice's brother, Philip, the future king of France with whom Richard had a "special" relationship.

Geoffrey would join his brother Henry and take up arms against his father. John, the youngest, would play upon his father's sensibilities and make Henry think that John was someone other than what he truly was, a cruel, craven, and dissolute youth. So much so did John fool him, that Henry eventually declared that John was to be his successor to the throne, incurring Richard's lifelong enmity.

It would be Eleanor who would have the last laugh, however, as she would survive her captivity and, even though she was about twelve years Henry's senior, she would also survive Henry. Eleanor would go on to see her favorite son, Richard the Lionhearted, crowned King of England.

This is an engrossing and enjoyable work of historical fiction.

Average customer rating:
TRAIL FROM TAOS (The Spanish Bit Saga Book 14)
Don Coldsmith
Manufacturer: Domain
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0553287605
Release Date: 1990-09-01

Average customer rating:

An overrated book that still bring up some interesting points

The revolt of the masses;: Authorized translation from the Spanish
Jose Ortega y Gasset
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & company, inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: B0006ALWHO

Customer Reviews:

An overrated book that still bring up some interesting points.......2007-01-23

Average customer rating:

An overrated book that still bring up some interesting points

The Revolt of the Masses
Jose Ortega y Gasset
Manufacturer: W.W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000I0TDYG

Customer Reviews:

An overrated book that still bring up some interesting points.......2007-01-23

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