The Good Fight: The Education of an American Reformer [Hardcover]

Gary Hart (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 11, 1993

Presenting case studies that illustrate attempts at political reform throughout history, the author explains how the legislative process ran amok after the election of Ronald Reagan to the presidency. 25,000 first printing. Tour.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The 1972 McGovern presidential campaign manager, Colorado senator, and 1984 and 1988 Democratic presidential contender presents a collection of rambling essays that exude a personal bitterness and frustration with the government since 1980. By referring to himself as "the reformer," Hart unintentionally casts himself as the successor instead of the student of his reformist role models, Soren Kierkegaard and Thomas Jefferson. Much of his anger is directed at the media, the public-be-damned legacy of the Reagan era, and, to a lesser extent, those New Deal Democrats mired in tax-and-spend policies and bureaucratic gridlock. Hart relates some interesting personal experiences about the Senate Committee on Intelligence of the 1970s and the rudderless Democratic Senate contingent of the early 1980s. Unfortunately, the introspective, compassionate leader revealed by Richard Ben Cramer in What It Takes ( LJ 6/15/92), is obscured by Hart's depersonalized, professorial style. For an excellent, current survey of the roots of Democratic reform see Bruce Miroff's Icons of Democracy ( LJ 2/1/93). Public libraries may want this.
- Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, Pa.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Idealism and rhetoric from the former senator and presidential candidate (Russia Shakes the World, 1991, etc.). These 20 essays present a kind of intellectual history of the somewhat legendary author. Replete with references to Jefferson, Kierkegaard, Parnell, Wesley, and other favorites, they range from a discussion of the difficulty of attaining what is decent, humane, and civilized (``The Search for the Just'') to considerations of Tolstoy's thought (``A Bear in the Den With God''), the cheapening effect of advertising on politics (``The Age of Cleverness, Courtiers and Careerists''), and a Menckenish discussion of Reagan's 80's (``The Era of Quayle''). Hart is at his best when pondering the ``Jeffersonian Revolution,'' exploring that Founding Father's idea that revolution is more or less necessary to avoid the decisions (and debts) of foolish fathers being visited upon their sons. But the most striking piece here is a warm tribute to former Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield. More often, though, Hart evinces an Olympian third-person detachment (``the boy''; ``this perplexed reformer,'' etc.), and his tracing of his sensibility and thought process can be overbearing in its persistent sense of virtue. The writing is clear but stiff and dated, full of rhetorical questions: ``How could a policy maker, not to say a reformer, know the proper course?'' And Hart's hortatory agent-of-change presumption is dated as well--much of what he deals with here was digested and acted upon by the American public in the election of 1992. The author, writing about history, seems himself to be a part of it. Hart is a clear, if unoriginal, thinker, but, here, he's as much a witness to his own dreams as to real world events. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Random House; 1ST edition (May 11, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679419888
• ISBN-13: 978-0679419884
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,403,579 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)