America: Our Next Chapter: Tough Questions, Straight Answers [Hardcover]

Chuck Hagel (Author), Peter Kaminsky (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 25, 2008

Senator Chuck Hagel has long been admired by his colleagues on both sides of the Senate floor for his honesty, integrity, and common-sense approach to the challenges of our times. The Los Angeles Times has praised his "bold positions on foreign policy and national security" and wondered, "What's not to like?" In America: Our Next Chapter, Nebraska-born Hagel offers a hard-hitting examination of the current state of our nation and provides substantial, meaningful proposals that can guide America back onto the right path.

In America: Our Next Chapter, Hagel speaks the truth as he sees it in a direct and refreshingly unvarnished manner. Basing his suggestions on thorough research and careful thought, as well as on personal insight from his years as a political insider, successful businessman, and decorated war hero, he discusses domestic issues including the health care crisis, immigration, and Social Security and Medicare reform and global climate change. He confronts foreign policy problems that the current administration has bungled or ignored, including China's growing economy; control of U.S. debt; India's and Pakistan's nuclear capabilities; and Iran's aggressive political, ideological, and nuclear stances. He decries the pervasive disease of third world poverty, arguing convincingly that this is where the real fight against terrorism must begin. Always true to the beliefs instilled in his childhood on the prairie, he speaks passionately about service to one's country and to one's fellow citizens as the path toward a renewed America. And, of course, he gives a candid examination of the debacle that is the Iraq War.

A staunch Republican yet a "hero to liberals" (Time), Hagel asks the tough questions and delivers straight answers to America's most pressing problems. America: Our Next Chapter is a serious, honest, and, ultimately, optimistic look at our nation's future, from an American original.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Well-reasoned and timely . . . His approach should be required reading for anyone who cares about the diminishing ability of our elected officials to seek common ground and people everywhere interested in an inspirational American life. (Alan Greenspan )

This forthright and surprisingly blunt book... details his public life as a United States senator and gives him an opportunity to ask some tough questions, and to make some tough judgments. Hagel has made his mark in the U.S. Senate by being his own man, a man above partisanship. (Journal Star Review )

Chuck Hagel is a leader and passionate advocate of dialogue and multilateral engagement, and his book describes in clear terms why the world needs enlightened American leadership. His vivid examination of American politics provides a rationale for future policy. (Kofi A. Annan )

America The Next Chapter is a powerful combination of personal reminiscence and public policy prescription. Hagel is an authentic and courageous voice --a principled Republican

About the Author

Chuck Hagel, Nebraska's senior senator, is serving his second term in the U.S. Senate. His duties include membership on four senate committees: Foreign Relations; Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; Intelligence; and Rules. Hagel and his brother Tom served side by side in Vietnam in 1968 as infantry squad leaders with the U.S. Army's 9th Infantry Division. He earned many military decorations and honors, including two Purple Hearts. A fourth-generation Nebraskan, Senator Hagel is a graduate of the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Hagel and his wife, Lilibet, have two children.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Ecco; First Edition edition (March 25, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061436968
• ISBN-13: 978-0061436963
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,003,810 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hagel Got the Middle East Wrong, June 21, 2008

By 

Hussain Abdul-Hussain (Washington,DC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: America: Our Next Chapter: Tough Questions, Straight Answers (Hardcover)

Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) is a Vietnam War veteran and successful entrepreneur who made his first business trip to China in 1984 and hit the jackpot. Since then, his investments in China made of him a millionaire. In 1996, he was elected to the Senate and in 2007 he announced his retirement as Senator effective 2008. During his two term tenure, Hagel served on several committees, including the Foreign Relations Committee. Through his service and his congressional trips to different capitals and meetings with different leaders, Hagel has certainly gained immense experience in foreign policy.
In this book, Hagel expresses his opposition to the Iraq War, even though he voted in its favor in October 2002. After an extensive description of the War in Iraq and the errors this administration committed there, Hagel's book focuses on three foreign policy areas namely the Middle East, Iran and China.
On the Middle East, Hagel writes that reaching Arab-Israeli peace is overdue. He said the fact that late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat had turned down former Israeli PM Ehud Barrack's offer, which granted Palestinians 95 percent of their demands, in Camp David in 2000, puzzled him. To learn the truth, Hagel took a trip to Damascus and met late President Hafez Assad, who told him that Arafat had no authority to sign peace on behalf of all the Arabs. So to Hagel, Arafat could never deliver. But what this experienced Senator missed is that Assad was Arafat's nemesis, and while Arafat enjoyed the support of the rest of the Arab world, Assad was mostly isolated and enjoyed good relations with non-Arab Iran only.
Hagel goes on to reiterate a message that you can find in Jim Webb's book, A Time to Fight, when he considers the Middle East too complicated to understand and dominated by never ending rivalries, feuds, civil wars, and cross border wars. True the Middle East is complicated, and it is true too that Senator Hagel, by the time he had written this book, had not yet grasped it or how its politics work.
On Iran, Hagel makes the most unconvincing case. So Iranians love America, but the Iranian regime is not as nice. Therefore, America should talk to the regime to solve the nuclear standoff. While dialogue in international politics is always a good thing, Hagel fails to define the perimeters of America's engagement with Iran. Saying dialogue should be unconditional only is not enough. Hagel should have provided more details about the terms which would make of the dialogue a good deal for America to take, and the reasons that would make such talks a-not-so-desirable package.
On China, Hagel suggests a relationship that does not vary a lot from what the US has been employing with its Asian rival since Nixon.
Hagel's book is a good read with a superbly entertaining style. For beginners on world politics, I suggest you pass on this book. For the more informed ones, read this book, but take its conclusions and recommendations with a grain of salt.

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not who you think, March 30, 2008

By 

Clinton Waltman "dante6985" (Lincoln) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: America: Our Next Chapter: Tough Questions, Straight Answers (Hardcover)

As a Nebraska resident I feel uniquely connected to Hagel's new book, which I read in almost one sitting. Hagel brings real "straight talk" - sometimes incendiary, sometimes compassionate, but always brillaint and thought provoking, to his vision for America.

Although he is embraced by democrats and reviled by the Rush Limbaughs of the world, it is important to remember that the retiring Senator is who he is: a man of largely consistent, conservative values - not of a neoconservative, often self-contradicting ideology.

He has been vilified by the likes of Cheney for his outspoken attitude toward the Iraq disaster, but in actuality is closer to the Republican and Reagan ideal of keeping a strong America - both militarily and economically- and retaining its position of the leader of the free world. These thoughts echo throughout his book.

Those who know intimately know Chuck know that he is actually quite shy and soft-spoken, contrary to the media's portrayal of him, and that his harsh words come not from an outspokeness but from deep-rooted convictions and the pressure he feels to do the right thing.

Although he appears to many to be "basicallly a democrat" - in many cases, as in those of my peers, I find he persuades just as many democrats to become independents or Republicans in the Reagan tradition - which is quite contrary to the Bush era.

The Bush administration has been concerned with its place in history. I feel like this book will be a marker of a man who dared to speak the truth in a time plagued with remarkable deceit on the account of the government. While he is unpopular in much of the U.S. Republican constituency, historians will give him credit for years to come as one of the greatest senators of the era - in much the same vein as Harry Truman. Give 'em Hell, Hagel.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful and Thought-Provoking, March 30, 2008

By 

Margaret Gage (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: America: Our Next Chapter: Tough Questions, Straight Answers (Hardcover)

Senator Hagel is brilliant in his new book, America: Our Next Chapter. The Senator has an uncanny ability to discuss and explain the difficult challenges and issues of our time... both domestically and abroad. Senator Hagel is masterful in his ability to write, lay out and formulate the conclusions he comes to based on the unique story that is his life. His discussion on Iraq and American's standing in the world, drawing from his service as young man in the Vietnam War, is captivating and adds a much needed perspective to the current debate on America's international affairs. The Senator also has the most clear view of the partisan gridlock that Washington has become and artfully sums up the necessity to find common interests to solve the grave, imminent issues of entitlements, Social security, and an enormous national debt. A highly recommended read.