Customer Reviews

I Can't Believe I'm Sitting Next to a Republican: A Survival Guide for Conservatives Marooned Among the Angry, Smug, and Terminally Self-Righteous

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Well, it isn't quite a "can't put it down" book, at least not for me. But perhaps the reason why I can only read it a few chapters at a time is because it is more scary to me than funny. (I tend to reserve the five star rating for the books I can't put down).

Through numerous first-hand examples (completely believable to me because I live in a very "blue" city), Harry Stein shows just what it's like to run up against the ideological biofilm of political correctness, or "progressive conformance" as I prefer to call it.

Stein writes with humour and seems to have a gift of calmly relating events that, if you pay attention as you read, you can tell caused him lot of emotional grief. As one who has tried to reason with people immersed in ideology myself (on a far smaller scale than Stein has) I know that it can be an experience as dumbfounding as it is disheartening.

The scary part of it all is that this book provides a first hand, up close and personal view of how so much of our society, particularly in the areas of information and history transmittal, have been taken over by people steeped in rage and self-righteousness brought on by their own voluntary enslavement to an ideology, and who have turned almost entire professions into education camps for the propagation of their worldview.

The totalitarian spirit is not only alive, but very well indeed, and growing like a virus in our republic. We may soon be mastered by those who cannot even seem to master themselves in the area of basic emotional control, much less in staying calm enough to entertain opposing points of view with an attitude toward civility and basic fairness.

Don't judge by the cover. This book is not funny. I spent 40 years of my life living in Communist Poland. Now Communism is long gone, and I am U.S. citizen. And I am figuring it out that in today USA presenting myself as Republican is actually more dangerous and is creating more problems that presenting myself as anti-communist when living under Communist regime. It is OK to be on a party and make jokes about Bush, Palin, McCain and such. Actually, this is mandatory. It is NOT OK to make jokes about Biden and Obama. Once, for such jokes, I was requested to leave. Requested by my good friends.

I believe that this book is not funny. It is tragic. As tragic as what is going on in this country

Posted June 1, 2009, 1:09 PM EST: Harry Stein has written another political hit book about the plight of a conservative living in a blue state. I found myself laughing out loud at his descriptions of his encounters with the liberals in his home town and how he dealt with, or avoided contact with, these foam at the mouth, raving, irrational, pinko liberal bed wetting degenerates who think they have the only political answers to everything. The book has a serious and troubling side; namely the academic world's suppression of conservative thought and the blacklisting of academics who are not liberal in their thoughts or ideas. There are other areas of discrimination that he describes in great and disturbing detail, particularly in the world of newspaper and magazine journalism and radio or television work. I was fascinated by the book and the rich and often humorous stories he tells. I received a copy in New York and read the entire book before I reached home. It is hard to put down, so don't start reading it at night, or you won't get much sleep. I will wait with great impatience for his next opus conservatorius and in the meantime will get my legislator wife to buy a bunch of these books for our holiday giving. You should also get his first book: How I Accidentally Joined the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.

Harry Stein's sub-title calls the work a 'Survival Guide For
Conservatives.' It's that in that it offers some tips for fighting
back here and there. But for me it was more a psychological self-help
book. Reading of the trials foisted on people who commit the crime of
thinking differently than their liberal 'friends,' I didn't feel quite
so alone. In fact, as I've been self-employed for thirty years, I've
had it a lot easier than those who've lost their livelihoods for
morally and politically sticking to their guns, many of whom you'll
meet in 'I Can't Believe...' Through the grapevine I occasionally heard
of ex-customers who boycotted my antique store because of my
pro-Israel/Iraq War anti-Islamic terrorism/racial preferences letters
to the editor. But I survived without them. It was harder losing a
number of long-time thought-to-be close friends; not to mention getting
along with girlfriends who seemed to deep-down believe they were
sleeping with someone on the wrong side of every issue in human
progress. (Another topic well-mined in this book--Love and the Single
Conservative.) Harry's stories of those who lost far more are at once
heart-wrenching and inspirational. And remind us of just how petty,
vicious and unliberal our 'tolerant' betters in academia, the media and
publishing are.

Stein's first novel, 'Hoopla,' is one the best historical novels
I've ever read and one of few I've read repeatedly. His political and
cultural non-fiction is unfailingly riveting and as insightful and
humanistic as anything you'll ever read. In 'I Can't Believe...' Harry
keeps all the same balls in the air. It's funny. And that's more
important than those two mundane words suggest. A central element, I
believe, of a conservative retaining his sanity in this increasingly
insane multi-culti culture is a sense of humor. You laugh or you cry.
Fortunately, on our side we have PJ O'Rourke, Iowahawk, Denis Boyles,
Mark Steyn and Harry Stein. The liberals, they got... um, well, off
the top of my head I can't really think of any funny liberals but there
might be one somewhere. Maybe Christopher Buckley, but maybe he'll yet
come back over to our side.

Harry Stein wrote this book for people like me and you if you're actually reading a Five-Star review for a book with a title like this, unlike the closed-minded louts who piss and moan about conservative books without ever reading any. My advice: Buy this book. And any of Harry's past outings still available on Amazon.

As a conservative living in Seattle, boy can I relate to this guy, with almost exactly the same experiences in a mind-numbed society duped by liberal propaganda. He's uncanny in precisely describing their mentality and why they're impervious to facts and reason. They're everywhere, family, friends and strangers. A minority hates this country and are mean and hostile to anyone who challenges their beliefs, but most are good, often sweet, people who have no grounding in history and economics, and little knowledge of current events and political issues.

I forgive my children's generation because I was almost that apathetic at the same age. I also forgive those of my own generation who are simply not interested in history and politics and acknowledge uncertainty. But I've grown to loathe the ignorant, holier-than-thou, sanctimonious liberal, many of whom are former, unlamented friends in my old age.

Several times I laughed out loud. He just nails it on occasion. I found the read cathartic in a way, in part because he affirms that we're not alone (actually there are tens of millions of us). This is one of the few "right-wing" current event books I was glad I bought.

A good book for suffering, closeted conservatives in Blue states who live in "quiet desperation" -- and alienation. It's comforting to hear about similar experiences and to know that there are others out there who have lost friends and have to constantly watch what they say in professional and social situations. Living in the NYC metro area I feel sometimes like I'm living in a land that George Orwell could have dreamed up, only it's a nightmare. 1984 has arrived 25 years late.

So far my car hasn't been keyed, though. But that's probably because I've refrained from lawn signs and bumper stickers. The left's intolerance of dissent is truly frightening.

When I saw the book's title and cover art, they struck me as hilariously funny... especially as a traditional conservative of the small "L" libertarian bent living in the liberal bastion of the Los Angeles area. I've had exactly the experience as depicted on the cover happen to me here, God knows how many times.

Discussing politics with my friends in the local eateries deep in enemy territory in places like Westwood or the Peoples' Republic of Santa Monica, I find it endlessly amusing to see the faces of fellow diners at nearby tables as they hear the opinions being voiced at my table. Either they don't agree and are horrified, or they've been served some very bad sushi.

I'd never before heard of Stein, so I thought I'd give his missive a try. Unfortunately, I think the cover's actually the funniest part of the book.

He does have some amusing anecdotes, and examples - some very good ones, at that - of liberal intolerance of anything that doesn't fit the rigorous confines of "progressive" dogma (I wonder why they don't like calling themselves "liberal" anymore, hmmmm......?).

Unfortunately, I don't think he has quite the accomplished grasp of being funny as some others who write in the genre, such as his friend Bernie Goldberg, Burt Prelutsky, or Ann Coulter. Further, most of his stories are really New York-centric, so if you're not from the Big Apple you may find it pretty hard to identify with much that's written. In my experience, Noo Yawkahs have a very different sense of what's funny from the rest of the country.

Overall, not bad as humor; dead-on as political commentary.

I'm sure I'll now get slammed with "No" votes from liberals. Oh, well....

This is a must read for liberals and conservatives alike, I highly recommend it to anyone from either side of the aisle. I enjoyed it so much that I immediately purchased his other book: "How I Accidentally Joined the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy."

I agree with the great Red Eye host, Greg Gutfeld. Though its subject is politics, it's subtext is human nature and relationships. Read it and weep for our country--but the tears will be tears of laughter, for Stein is a gifted wit. I compare him to another great wit, from another age--Dr. Johnson. Like Johnson, Stein might have been a philosopher but cheerfulness keeps breaking in.

A wonderful and entertaining read! It could use a bit more editing (the Laotian refugees in Wisconsin are the Hmong, not the "Mung") and is a bit of a pastiche without much structure, but Mr. Stein is a superb writer with many good insights. (He must be the only other graduate of Columbia Journalism (I am '66) who is not a trendy lefty). Read and enjoy!