How I Accidentally Joined the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy (and Found Inner Peace) [Hardcover]

Harry Stein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 13, 2000

Bestselling author and renowned ethics columnist Harry Stein didn't start out conservative. But somewhere along the way, real life--and fatherhood--gave him pause. In this passionate and provocative memoir, Stein recounts his personal journey from `70's liberal to `90's conservative--a journey that began with a few troubling questions he couldn't even share with his friends. Now the truth is out--in this daring, brilliantly argued, often savagely funny work that is bound to resonate with many who have witnessed the social revolution of the past thirty years and questioned even some of its outcome. Even secretly.

Harry Stein's left-liberal credentials were spotless. As a journalist in an industry populated by liberals, he carried the left-wing banner in his life and work. The transformation of Harry Stein began when he became a father. And nothing in his wildest dreams could have prepared him for what was to come....

First of all, the Right was beginning to sound right. Even worse, the Left was beginning to sound--and look--wrong. In a memoir both personal and political, Stein cuts through the distortions on both sides and shows how liberating it is to no longer have to pass as a correct thinker. Speaking to his peers and to his times, Stein fearlessly tackles such provocative topics as feminism, affirmative action, PC education, media, gay rights, and sexual McCarthyism. He tells what he really thinks of...sex, lies, and Bill Clinton...how his columns on Murphy Brown and day care were his personal "coming out"...the daily corruption of network news and big-time front pages...what has happened to a once-great newspaper, The New York Times.

For those who dare to entertain questions--even privately--Stein offers a few tests: Choose the most biased network anchor (Pop Quiz, page 110). Learn who would have been most likely to give up his seat on a Titanic lifeboat...(see page 47). How far have academic standards fallen since the nineteenth century? Take the test on page 233. Could you pass today?

Here are portraits in political courage--and cowardice. Unforgettable anecdotes about newsmakers Stein has known. It's all here and more in the witty, trenchant observations--and candid confessions--of a former liberal bound to incite, entertain, and maybe even change a few minds along the way.

How to tell if you've joined the vast right-wing conspiracy:

You hear someone talking about "morality" and you no longer instantly assume he must be a sexually repressed religious nut.
You're actually relieved that your daughter plays with dolls and your son plays with guns.
You sit all the way through Dead Man Walking and at the end still want the guy to be executed.
Christmas season rolls around and it hits you there may be a religious connection.
At your kids' back-to-school night, you are shocked to discover the only dead white male on your tenth-grader's reading list is Oscar Wilde.
And by the end of the night you realize the only teacher who shares your values teaches phys ed.
Much as you'd like to, you can't get yourself to believe that screwing around on one's wife is an addiction.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Conservatives aren't born--they evolve. And for Wall Street Journal ethics columnist Harry Stein--once vilified in The Village Voice as "a well-known asshole"--that evolution began with the birth of his daughter. But Stein's memoir on transforming from bleeding-heart liberal to someone who gets junk mail from Patrick Buchanan isn't a sappy tale of fatherhood; it's a witty, intelligent account of how one man began to think for himself. "I remember when I was called a fascist for the first time," Stein writes about a dinner conversation in which he sided with Dan Quayle over the Murphy Brown/single-motherhood controversy. While alienating his left-leaning friends, Stein takes to task The New York Times, AIDS hysteria, men-hating feminists, and Bill Clinton, just to mention a few bastions of liberalism that contributed to his social makeover. As if to prove he didn't start out this way, Stein spends a great deal of time trying to convince the reader of his liberal roots. His wife, a former story editor for a major motion picture company, once belonged to a group called Women Against Right-Wing Scum. His sexual escapades as a single man (including a trip to a New York "swap" club) make up a whole chapter. He also writes of his admiration for Tennessee Williams (whom he once interviewed) as if to say, "See, I am not a homophobe."

Contrary to another conservative stereotype, Stein manages to keep a sense of humor throughout the book, writing in a conversational, amused style. His quips and lists read more like naughty office e-mail than diatribes from an angry right-winger: No. 3 in the 12 Ways to Tell If You've Joined the Right-Wing Conspiracy: "You sit all the way through Dead Man Walking and at the end you STILL want the guy to be executed." Longtime conservatives and converts like Stein will find themselves nodding their heads in agreement. Others will simply get a good laugh. --Jodi Mailander Farrell

From Publishers Weekly

The journey from liberal to conservative chronicled here by Stein is a journey already described by others such as Norman Podhoretz and David Horiwitz. Though thus predictable, Stein's account is nevertheless amusing. He relates personal anecdotes about growing up, raising children and relating to friends and colleagues, but also touches on current events, culminating in the sexual transgressions of Bill Clinton. The light tone and humorous prose eventually wear thin, however, and Stein sets up a straw man in his attacks on the Left. Essentially, Stein paints himself in his liberal days as a man with ideological blinders firmly in place, and he skewers liberals in general as if they all wore the same blinders. For example, in claiming that liberal psychology undermines personal responsibility by abjuring everyone from fault for everything, he presents an extremist position. Stein himself states at one point that extremists on both ends of the ideological spectrum deny "a fair hearing to alternative views on complex social issues"-yet he is guilty of the same error. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Press; 3 edition (June 13, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 038533396X
• ISBN-13: 978-0385333962
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (99 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,869,053 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

88 of 97 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Objective Political Assessment........Really, March 10, 2001

By 

Christine Lynn Jones - See all my reviews

This review is from: How I Accidentally Joined the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy (and Found Inner Peace) (Hardcover)

Journalist and former radical liberal, Harry Stein, puts together a fine account of how life experiences changed his views and turned him into a conservative. Mr. Stein presents his beliefs with compelling evidence that would be difficult to argue against regardless of which side of the political spectrum you are on. Below is a brief list of topics he touches on:

1. Honor: Why has this become meaningless? Why do so many liberals view a man that cheats on his wife as someone who is just, "trying to find himself?"

2. The Media: How did it become so biased toward the left? Insider, Harry Stein, will tell you.

3. "Blame the Victim": A phrase directed at conservatives by liberals. But in certain instances, such as sexual promiscuity leading to STD's, are all "victims" 100% innocent? What about personal responsibility?

4. Sexgate: The Clinton scandal. Initially most liberals were outraged. But soon the liberal press made statements such as, "it's just between Hillary and Bill," or "let's just censure the guy and move on," and even "everybody does it." Do we no longer expect our President to set moral standards?

5. Feminism: Who doesn't support equal opportunity, a level playing field, and equal pay for equal work? But did the pendulum swing too far?

6. Higher Education: What ever happened to our colleges and universities mission to preserve and defend the essential truths of the past while providing a safe haven for open debate? How can we have open debate when we must be politically correct? Why do we now have "speech codes" designed to mute talk deemed insensitive?

7. Minority Conservatives: Why are these people so viciously attacked? Why is Clarence Thomas belittled for asserting his right to think for himself and refusing to have his ideas assigned to him because he is black? Is Colin Powel a trader to his race?

What Stein does surprisingly well is that he leaves out the bitterness and condescending attitude that most political authors draw on. He is actually quite complimentary toward many democrats, never insulting the person, only challenging the notion. This would be a terrific read for the conservative democrat, liberal republican, or anyone else who teeters with his or her own convictions.

137 of 154 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's sure to honk off the liberals, June 13, 2000

By 

Harry Thomas (San Antonio, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How I Accidentally Joined the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy (and Found Inner Peace) (Hardcover)

Considering the left bent of most of today's media (I work for a major metropolitan newspaper, so I know what I'm talking about here), along with his own leftist leanings in the 60s and 70s, Stein has stepped out on a limb here. But it's a risk he's willing to take. Taking a phrase from the AIDS movement; no one should be cowed into silence. He has as much right to the moral high ground as any left- or right-winger does, and his arguments are well reasoned.

If you reside on the Left side of any of the issues Stein skewers in "Right-Wing Conspiracy," you'll hate this book. You'll probably hate it if you're on the extreme Right as well. But, if like most people, you're in the middle of the road, trying to make sense of what has happened to America since the 1960s, then you'll probably get a kick out of it. It should make for some interesting discussion at your next party when a liberal confronts you on your political views.

I rate this at four stars because I think there are some parts that could have done with some judicious editing. Not on the content, but on some of the long-winded-ness of some of the chapters.

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stein chronicles apostasy in PC land, July 14, 2000

By 

Jon Reisman (Machias, ME USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How I Accidentally Joined the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy (and Found Inner Peace) (Hardcover)

Most of my reading this summer has been in preparation for a new course on Political Correctness in American Society. The amount of material out there is staggering. A recent search on the phrase "political correctness" had over 50,000 hits. The phrase is all over the culture in skirmishes left and right. I am enjoying this research, but it is professional, not pleasure, reading. Thus it was with great interest and anticipation that I ordered How I Accidentally Joined the Vast-Right Wing Conspiracy (And Found Inner Peace). I was not disappointed.

Harry Stein is my senior by almost a decade, but the ideological journey and cultural landmarks he chronicles look familiar to me. Stein is a writer and journalist with 6 books and credits at the New York Times, GQ, Esquire and TV Guide. He is currently an ethics columnist for the Wall Street Journal. His account of his journey is breezy, funny, well-researched, open and honest. It has the distinct advantage, in my view, of being simultaneously pleasurable, professional AND subversive in the cause of freedom. Hard to beat that combination.

Stein's journey from 60's radical student activist to 90's conservative begins with paternity and family life circa 1980 (there's that decade difference again) That's probably not a big surprise. But the Manhattan media and literary world and upper middle class Hastings-on-Hudson suburban neighborhood that Stein and his family inhabit might well be the most politically correct environment known in modern America, other than a university campus that is. Stein chronicles how his father's eye view takes in the culture wars on Clinton, abortion, gay rights, feminism, affirmative action and more, and how the disconnect between received liberal wisdom and his perspective on these issues places him and his wife, who is the quiet leader of this expedition, at ideological odds with their professional and local communities.

The Presidential election of 1992 is a revealing landmark in ideological journeys. Stein is well aware of Clinton's (now) obvious moral and ethical failings and casts a protest vote for Perot. (It must be noted that this author was not nearly so prescient, but there's that decade again, slightly compressed. I dropped my Democratic registration after Hillary's health care debacle, was an independent for Angus King in '94 and a registered Republican in '97. My journey started later, but progressed somewhat faster in the 90's. Of course it's not over yet.)

Stein has done his research, sifting through the cultural archives both recent and historical to chronicle the personal and societal consequences of our debates on gender equality, gay rights, diversity and freedom of speech and association. He writes quite personally about abortion, and his continued support for choice against a backdrop of deep regret for an American culture that takes it so cavalierly. He documents how ideological viewpoint effects what is and is not presented by various media outlets, including The New York Times at some length. He misses the degree to which the internet has energized and enabled the subversive vast right-wing conspiracy, but there's that ten years again.

It's a great read, and food for your brain too. I'll be ordering a copy for the UMM library.

How to Tell if You've Joined the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy

You hear someone talking about morality and you no longer instantly assume he must be a sexually repressed religious nut. You're actually relieved that your daughter plays with dolls and your son plays with guns. Watching network news, you notice that the person opposing affirmative action is identified as a conservative spokesman," while the one supporting is just a "Harvard professor". Jon Reisman is a faculty member at the University of Maine at Machias