Customer Reviews

The Death of Right and Wrong: Exposing the Left's Assault on Our Culture and Values

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Wow--I heard Tammy Bruce on Sean Hannity's radio show and clicked on Amazon to get the book and read what I now know to be one of the strangest Publisher's Weekly reviews I've ever seen. She seemed like such a reasonable person on radio, I couldn't imagine how her book could be as they described.
Well, it wasn't. The subject matter is difficult sometimes--especially Chapter 7 which deals with the sexualization of children in our society--but this is a book which *must* be read if you want to be educated about what is really going on in our culture. She breaks it down like she did in New Thought Police--and deals with the gay elite, feminist elite and black power elite. There are also chapters about schools and media. In short, everything you need to know to get a grip on what's happening. My favorite new phrase, btw, is her so perfect description of those in power in left wing special interest groups "malignant narcissists."
What was also unique was the personal perspectives and stories she shared. They really added to why she was able to be a feminist and gay activist for so long.
Her ending about Ronald Reagan (even though I didn't vote for him) actually made me cry. That's quite a feat for a political book!
Untimately, she does a great job explaining the question I always ask, which is *why* does the Left do what it does, even when it harms their own.
It is methodically written (not in the least "lurid" or "crude" as the PW review oddly accused), she is reasonable and provides footnotes for all of her information, many of which are from credible sources on the internet. I liked this because I was able to go and check myself some of the more shocking information.
I also like her take and what's happening with culture because I also consider myself a liberal person but quietly noted to myself that something was going wrong in our society. I don't think liberal means the world should be a free-for-all. This book helped me put my own concerns in perspective and helped me to realize that I wasn't alone in feeling that moral relativism was winning the day.
I'm not kidding when I say she's like Ayn Rand. She is my new favorite author. I recommend not only this book, but her first one, too.

It would be very easy to lump this book in with the ever-growing pile of "ain't the Left awful" or the "Let's dump on the Clintons" books. This book is neither, and if the phenomenon of Malignant Narcissism that Ms. Bruce describes didn't hit so close to home, I would think this book was overly alarmist and sensational. The fact is, I KNOW these people exist, and not just in Hollywood and Manhattan. These people are in our schools, churches and even in our families.

The book opens with a review of how Ms. Bruce defines right and wrong - a useful exercise in an era of situational ethics and moral relativism. Her definition is made clearer since she is an athiest, and does not have to address religious moral principles. Then she describes her past, including her fight for gay and lesbian rights, her pro-choice stance, and her former role in NOW.

She then describes how these causes have been hijacked by extremists that she refers to as the Malignant Narcissists. She details how they become the way they are and how their ultimate goal is to produce a world full of similar-minded people. This is not "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"...this threat is REAL. These people exist and I can assure you that I have encountered them in undergraduate and graduate school, in my professional life, in my religious life, and sadly, in my social life.

Ms. Bruce then closes with a very sad story about the twisted motives of some very pathetic people. The only thing I found uplifting is that there are still people whose politics are very different than mine that I can admire. Ms. Bruce showed true courage writing this book, and has demonstrated her willingness to face ethical issues head on, and not shrink from the consequences of her prior actions. Ms. Bruce is the kind of person I would love to sit beside on a flight from Los Angeles to Sidney, Australia. I believe we would find a great number of areas where we can agree, and would come away with new respect for each others' positions.

In this informative and disturbing book, Tammy Bruce starts out with a traumatic episode from her youth to describe her personal and political journey. It is an honest account of the people and events that shaped her beliefs and convictions. At the same time it reveals some horrific aspects of popular culture, politics and the media as they operate today.

Bruce exposes the rank hypocrisy, soul-destroying motives and malevolent mind-set of the Left in chapters dealing with the Academic, Black, Gay and Feminist Elites, plus some destructive tendencies in the arts, the media and the justice system in the United States today. Some of her examples make harrowing reading, whilst her insight is often tinged by a bit of humour, for example when she identifies the gangster rapper as the current equivalent of Rousseau's "noble savage" in the eyes of the Left.

Bruce's diagnosis rings true. She discusses the mental disease called malignant narcissism and explains how it is rooted in trauma that never attempts recovery. These individuals, instead of seeking psychological help, are focusing on social change. In other words, they want the rest of society to mirror their own hurt and pain.

She makes a very convincing case for the fact that an entire wing of politics is invested in the victim-hood of its constituency, the leaders of which are trying to work out their demons on society. This is scary stuff, but easy to recognize from the examples in the book or by taking a critical and discerning approach towards trends in the media.

To be fair, Bruce points out that there are similar people on the Right (puritanical compulsives), but that these do not control the culture. The concept and repulsive results of moral relativism and the phenomenon of groupthink are also analysed. The author quotes Dr M Scott Peck and recommends his book People of the Lie for a thorough investigation of malignant narcissism and its use of the lie to distort reality.

A chilling read at times, The Death Of Right And Wrong is a brilliant and eloquent exposure of some pathological strains infecting large sectors of culture and society. The book ends on an optimistic note with a call to the individual to recognize the difference between right and wrong, to take a stand and to live a life of decency and integrity.

The book concludes with 31 pages of notes and references arranged by chapter, plus a thorough index. It is a real eye-opener, a thought-provoking work that offers unique political and psychological insights. I also recommend Paul Johnson's groundbreaking work Intellectuals: From Marx and Tolstoy to Sartre and Chomsky for an interesting look at the private lives of certain famous writers and philosophers, and Thomas Sowell's book The Vision of the Anointed.

Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning

Sinisterism: Secular Religion of the Lie (Revised and Updated Edition)

Unholy Alliance: Radical Islam and the American Left

The Resurgence of Anti-Semitism: Jews, Israel, and Liberal Opinion (Philosophy and the Global Context)

What's Left?

When I saw this is was endorsed by "Dr. Laura, Sean Hannity, and G. Gordon Liddy" I was hesistant, but she makes a strong case. This book was a great read and hard to put down. The author provides a unique perspective being a former NOW president, lesbian, pro-choice, pro-gun, and "voted for Reagan feminist." Shes gives a particularly compelling critique of the current direction of NOW, as well as the subtle ways in which children are sexualized. Although that I don't agree with everything in the book, she provides plenty of outrageous actions that for most are obviously wrong (e.g., two deaf lesbians deliberately trying to make their child born deaf, the refusal of some to say the 9/11 attacks were wrong, a violent criminal being ahead of oridinary citizens on a transplant list). However, the screeching tone of the book grew tiresome. She seems to suggest the book for conservatives, but I think it would be better for liberals to read this so that they may reconsider some of their ideas.

This book moved me. So moved in fact that I often had to simply put the book down and walk away. The facts and reality of the agenda of those in the Left elite are demonstrated so clearly that it is hard to read, and harder still to imagine just how many lives have been and are being destroyed deliberately at the hands of the "malignant narcissists" (her term - page 26). Again, these disturbing facts in this book do not come from a religious or conservative viewpoint, but from a self professed liberal, gay, non-religious, former President of NOW - in other words, they come from inside the Left itself!

The most shocking example of just how far this worldview has penetrated our society is the fact that many of these Left elite groups actually think that sexualizing your children for their own perverted benefit is a good thing! For example, GLSEN and their cartoon STD characters (page 115), or the ongoing work of the ultimate in mainstream pedophile supporters, Judith Levine, who states that "Sex is not harmful to children...there are many ways even the smallest of children can partake in it" (page 193). As outrageous as this sounds, it is not some fringe group of marginalized pedophiles that want this evil perpetrated to rationalize their depravity, but rather the leaders of the "special interest" groups on the Left, sponsored by their friends in the media. Well-documented facts throughout the book reveal this agenda clearly.

The book is essentially a direct assault on the "Looking Glass" world of moral relativism. Within this worldview, there is no right or wrong, therefore all behaviors and all results of that behavior cannot be condemned. Of course the hypocrisy of the Left condemning others is clear to everyone, and she outlines it in example after example. Whether this is glorifying cold-blooded killers, pedophiles, and rapists, or whether it is hypocritically attacking and silencing those whose views would judge the actions of convicted murderers as "wrong" the source is the same. The cause is the "malignant narcissism" of the damaged people who comprise the Left elite, in particular those who lead the various "special interest" groups. Unfortunately, through this agenda to destroy value and virtue, everyone is painted through the lens of the worst offender, even those within those groups who are good and decent people.

Tammy Bruce has yet again written a debilitating expose on the reality of what many of these Left groups are espousing. Tammy understands and demonstrates, for perhaps the first time I have seen in print by someone from the Left, that Christianity in particular is viciously attacked. What she never explains in the book is why Christianity, and not Islam or Judaism, who are equally scathing in their judgement of the moral practices of the Left, is attacked while the others are not. Truth is likely the reason. In using CS Lewis's classic "Mere Christianity" she discovers intellectually that the morals we hold to as people, and the values our hearts embrace, are the basic virtues of "Prudence, Temperance, Justice and Fortitude". "The Left has to restrict thought to destroy the concept of judgement and undermine notions of right and wrong" (see full quote on page 19). Tammy describes the Left's worldview is a world of self-gratification that requires an end to personal responsibility. Values, decency, and knowing right from wrong - and having the courage to act on that knowledge - are all verboten. (See full discussion on page 25)

A very powerful and moving book for anyone across the political spectrum. It is a very painful reminder that much is at stake for our society and our future. This book is a MUST READ!

I do not agree with Tammy on some very important issues - especially her pro-choice position. I do think that this book is a must read however. It will make you angry and it will depress you, and maybe it will make you want to do something to stop this spiral into "anything goes." When she points out that we in this country can smile when a Christian icon like the Virgin Mary is portrayed with vaginas all around her and human feces plastered upon her even while we "faint in horror" that someone might flush a Koran down a toilet we can begin to see just how much hatred there is for our country among our citizenry. When a left-wing child psychologist writes that adult males having sex with children is in fact a good thing for both partners or we hear that priests are known to be sex compulsives and it is said to be their privacy right that should be guaranteed, we begin to see just how close we are to true moral depravation. Unlike so many propagandists today Tammy does not just make up facts to support her charges but documents each and every one. If you read just one book this year, this is the one you should read.

This is a striking and astonishing book. Bruce, coming from within the ranks of the very groups she excoriates, rings true. Unlike Phyllis Schlafly (Feminist Fantasies), Bruce doesn't blame one tiny segment of relatively powerless liberals (modern "feminists"). Rather, she embraces the original and true feminism: the feminism that caused the suffragists to put the needs of slaves and unborn children ahead of their own, recognized the character and personality of women, fought side by side with the medical association to protect women from the ravages of abortion, demanded full humanity for women, and elevated the relationship between mothers and children to its proper place. Bruce doesn't come to us as a mother; she comes to us as a lesbian pro-choice feminist with strong libertarian leanings, but she values and celebrates childhood and children. Her book is comipelling precisely because she comes from within the ranks, and she has the goods on techniques and goals of the leadership. The Death of Right and Wrong offers a compelling analysis of the lies and deceits of modern liberalism (as contrasted with classical liberalism). In a book filled with graphic and gripping illustrations of the outworkings of the current liberal philosophy, Bruce nails the problem right on the head. This is a book that will never bore you. Instead, be prepared to have your sensibilities offended. It is high time.

One point Bruce makes clearly is that there are decent homosexuals out there who are offended by the conduct of the gay rights movement. She felt the call to expose and oppose them, and she does so brilliantly. At one time, I called on honorable homosexuals to speak out. She has.

Tammy Bruce is clearly an analytical thinker. She was troubled by the niggling attitudes of the people on the liberal left and she decided to explore the problem. To my mind, this book is written by a person in transition. She as of yet offers us no solutions; she simply identifies the problem: repeatedly and consistently. Identifying the problem is the first step toward a solution. This books cries out for a sequel. I eagerly await it.

Pat Goltz
cofounder
Feminists for Life

I first heard of Tammy Bruce when she was a radio talk show host in Los Angeles in the early 1990's. Her credentials (lesbian feminist activist; president of Los Angeles chapter of NOW; etc.) made me wary, but I was surprised to find she had a lot to say that was worth listening to, even if you didn't always go along with her conclusion. She could be "liberal" without being unpleasantly extreme... She considered her liberalism to be a quest for freedom for the individual, as well as civilization for the culture. Her special concern was the plight of women whose horizons were limited by cultural conventions or raw brutality; at the same time, Tammy was acutely aware that freedom would be lost if the answer to every problem involved increased government bureaucracy and regulation. She understood that capitalism was the engine of economic prosperity, and she was unabashedly proud to be American. In short, Tammy was both idealistic and realistic, and she presented her ideas with class and wit.

Perhaps it was inevitable that an independent thinker like Tammy would come into conflict with the dogmatic NOW bureaucracy. The trigger was the O.J. Simpson murder trial. To Tammy, this was the textbook example of a major threat to women: the incorrigible batterer. Simpson had a well-documented history of beating Nicole, and the justice system had merely slapped him on the wrist; thus his violence escalated until he finally murdered her. We (society, that is) should have seen it coming; we shouldn't have winked at the earlier offences. Isn't this what an organization like NOW should be concerned with? That's how Tammy reacted (as president of the L.A. chapter, this happened on her turf) - but the agents of political correctness jumped on her with both feet, thanks to the strange racial politics that came to surround the Simpson case. The national NOW structure lambasted Tammy for her lack of commitment to "racial justice" in a heavy-handed attempt to shut her up. But Tammy was not one to be silenced, and she ultimately chose to severe her ties with NOW.

Tammy's experiences gave her a basis for much soul-searching, and she pours out her observations and conclusions into this book and also her previous book, "The New Thought Police". She explores two questions in detail: 1) What is happening to make our culture less civilized?, and 2) Why is it happening? To the first question, she gives countless disturbing examples of how various Left-leaning organizations worm their way into our institutions (schools, charities, philanthropic organizations, etc.) and then create programs that are stupid and harmful, all the while spouting high-minded ideals and principles. To list one example: She describes how a Massachusetts school workshop for kids as young as 14, supposedly for the purpose of promoting tolerance of alternate lifestyles, in fact teaches an extremely graphic course in all manner of sexual indulgences. This is not an isolated incident; this sort of thing gets funded by major corporations who donate to (supposedly) civic-minded organizations that work with local schools; yet, somehow, this is the result we get, in spite of the high-sounding rhetoric that surrounds the effort. But because of that high-sounding rhetoric, it's easy to brand anyone who opposes this sort of questionable enlightenment as a racist or whatever. (Obviously I'm glossing over many details here for the sake of brevity; you'll have to read the book, but they're all there, complete with citations and footnotes.)

I find the question of "Why is this happening?" particularly fascinating. For example, how could NOW attack Tammy for condemning a wife-beating murderer? What is going through the minds of the intelligent, articulate, charismatic people whose actions serve only to appease the supporters of that murderer? Tammy's personal odyssey gives her a vantage to do more than theorize; she's been there and she's got the perspective to speak with authority about how a class of emotionally-damaged people get caught up into cult-like Left-wing movements; movements in which the most disturbed individuals are most likely to rise to positions of leadership. Tammy knows because she was one of them.

In summary, this book is both a personal testimony to Tammy's strange adventures in the world of reality-challenged activists, and a powerful wake-up call to raise awareness of the dangers we face if we allow the inmates to take complete control of the asylum.

Ronald Reagan reinvented the American conservative movement by adopting traditional conservative tenets and infusing them with optimism for the future. Bruce takes traditional liberalism, but rejects the cult of the victim that the current Left establishment embraces. After Bruce prescribes a dose of introspection and responsibility, her platform is complete. Perhaps Bruce and her ideas can regenerate the rational Left in our country like Reagan energized the conservatives.

There are many graphic depictions about the subversion of many of the iconic movements in liberalism, many of which are not suitable for young readers. And yet it is the young that many of their repulsive ideas are aimed. These depictions are not gratuitous and help illustrate the need for reform.

Relativism in all its forms is the enemy of progress. Read "Fashionable Nonsense" by Sokal for a similar treatise in the social sciences. While it is a more "intellectual" and less far-reaching than Bruce's book, both of these authors are liberals that decry the high jacking of their movement by the self-interested/self-absorbed.

Bruce merely seeks equality of opportunity for each American and a reduction in the hateful soliloquy coming from the left. She pines for the days of yore, when the discussion was how to make America better for all of its people as opposed to the balkanization from groups seeking entitlement. She takes to task the leadership of several groups like Gays, Nat Org of Women, NAACP and the entities that do their bidding like the media, activist judges and the professorial class. She could have mentioned seniors or others that arrive on the national stage demanding a hand out because of their "entitlement" and "victimhood".

Truth is truth, regardless of the messenger. And Tammy Bruce is dead right about the state of American society. Although it is arguable whether everyone she targets as an evil narcissist is actually that, only a postmodernist would attempt to deny the cultural facts she presents and the implications of her related assertions. Most significantly, she blows the lid off the festering barrel of the radical gay agenda, exposing the bad apples that spread their rot throughout the system. And, in airing this decay, Bruce--as a lesbian--exhibits no sign of self-hatred or resentment of male homosexuals. She appears disingenuous only when she takes the right-winger's obligatory potshots at Bill and Hillary Clinton and aims the usual paeans at Ronald Reagan. Did she really cast her ballot for the latter? Who knows? But what the reader will certainly know, upon finishing this easily digested book, is that the poisonous situations she sights cannot be credibly denied.