An Unlikely Conservative [Hardcover]

Linda Chavez (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2, 2002

When President George W. Bush nominated Linda Chavez to be Secretary of Labor in January 2001, most political observers saw it as a nod to the right. Chavez had made her reputation taking on the civil rights establishment, the feminist movement, and the multiculturalists. What few people knew was that this hard-nosed conservative began her career among socialists and labor-union officials, teaching in college affirmative-action programs and writing political propaganda for the Democratic National Committee.In An Unlikely Conservative, Chavez recounts her political journey from the Young People's Socialist League to the Reagan wing of the Republican Party-and the sometimes shocking personal experiences that shaped her views. From excrement-smeared car seats to threats of attacks with bombs and switchblades, she learned quickly that opposing racial quotas and ethnic studies carried a high personal cost. But at its core, hers is the story of a working-class Hispanic girl who overcomes a difficult and painful childhood to become one of America's most prominent political conservatives.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Nearly two years after losing her chance to be President Bush's secretary of labor, Chavez offers up a memoir cum apologia steeped in defensiveness. Although she recognizes that her failure to be candid with Bush's advisers about the illegal alien she housed for an extended period in the early 1990s cost her the cabinet position, she doesn't hesitate to pass the blame around. She lashes out at the media's coverage of her downfall and at the neighbor she asked for advice before talking to the FBI, who turned out to be the sister of ABC's White House correspondent. Her self-righteousness shapes the bulk of the narrative: all her professional setbacks, for example, were inevitably the fault of white administrators who didn't expect her kind of talent from an affirmative action minority. Then there's the constant rejection from Hispanic peers, who "viewed me not just as an opponent but as a heretic, a traitor." The story of her transition from college liberalism and union activism to various appointments in the Reagan administration has several interesting sections, like her combative experiences as a grad student teaching UCLA's first "Chicano literature" class. But many will find it hard to feel sympathy for someone who takes such glee in the opportunity, now that she apparently has nothing left to lose politically, to settle old scores.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Immensely readable." -- Commentary, November 2002

"It is her struggle to achieve equality as a person that makes the book worth reading." -- The New York Sun

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; First Edition edition (October 2, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465089038
• ISBN-13: 978-0465089031
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,124,204 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars OUTSTANDING October 7, 2002

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

This very personal memoir reveals a side of Linda Chavez that even her longtime admirers probably haven't seen before. She is of course a brilliant lady--a sharp observer of culture and politics. Here we learn how a working-class Hispanic girl made an unexpected journey from dingy apartments in New Mexico and Colorado to the corridors of power in Washington. The story is gripping and the prose is excellent. She provides an inside look at her failed nomination as labor secretary, but the bulk of the book is about her family life and unrelated professional episodes (teaching at UCLA, working as a Democratic and union activist in the 1970s, becoming a "Reagan Democrat," and so on). Fans of Chavez won't want to miss it.

36 of 47 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring life story, educational political story November 6, 2002

By Andrew S. Rogers TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

(Full disclosure: One of Linda Chavez's friends and former colleagues, mentioned several times in this book, is a friend of my wife's and mine as well. I've never met Miss Chavez, however -- though, after reading this book, I wouldn't mind doing so someday.)

In the whole vast array of American culture, few people are as morally represensible as those who insist that a person's race or ethnicity (or sex or sexual preference) MUST inevitably define their world view and, more to the point, their politics. Linda Chavez "became the most hated Hispanic in America" by maintaining -- and, worse, passionately and effectively defending -- ideas that are out of step with what we're told Hispanics are "supposed to" believe.

But this book is a biography, not a political tract. Miss Chavez tells us her life story, focusing on her evolution from Young People's Socialist League-member in the 1960s to highly-visible neocon today. Along the way, she gives us a moving portrayal of her family's climb out of poverty, her devotion to family and friends (and theirs to her), an inside look at political activism on both the left and right, and -- no small thing -- one of the most damning portrayals of 1970s campus radicalism since David Horowitz.

In keeping with her theme of "the transformation of an ex-liberal," the pace of Miss Chavez's narrative picks up somewhat once she becomes an ex-liberal. The actively political period of her life seems rather rushed compared to the earlier sections of her book, as though the author was in a hurry to get to, and through, the story of her withdrawn nomination as Labor Secretary after the 2000 election. If Miss Chavez had chosen to flesh out this portion of her life a bit more, I'm sure it would have been just as interesting as the rest of her story turned out to be.

This book reveals a lot about the real nature of American politics, and much of it isn't very pretty. But it also reveals something about the cliché-ridden, often derided, idea of the "American dream." And that part of the story is very attractive indeed.

24 of 31 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Book of the Year October 1, 2002

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

I read this book because I have always enjoyed Linda Chavez's thought-provoking syndicated columns, but she definitely saved her best writing for this memoir. You get to see a side of her, and other public figures such as President George W. Bush, that you don't normally see on television and in the newspapers. Linda's story is unbelievably inspiring. I give this book the highest rating I can possibly give...without a doubt, it is THE book of 2002.