Customer Reviews

With No Apologies: The Personal and Political Memoirs of United States Senator Barry M. Goldwater

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Senator Barry M. Goldwater in this book of memoirs provides us with important background information to much of what was going on in Washington in the years in which he represented Arizona in the Senate. I found especially interesting and informative his discussions of the McCarthy era, his unsuccessful race against Lyndon Johnston for President in 1964, and the fall of the Nixon presidency. Goldwater was one of the most vocal representatives of conservatism before the rise of neo-conservatism, and much conservative wisdom and common sense can be found in this book.

As everyone sadly knows, Barry Goldwater -- never a quitter -- failed to quit while he was ahead. No one will ever know, I guess, whether he became senile in his old age; but as time progressed, the fierce champion of the Right became more and more the gadfly, happily reveling in taking abhorrent Leftist stands and letting the media use him, laughing at him all the while.

These memoirs are Goldwater before the fall, the man who gave us the modern conservative movement, still in rare form and fighting the good fight. Published in 1979, they include not only his political thoughts but his autobiography too (the book is worth buying simply for Goldwater's recounting of the Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis, which have not generally been reported as this Armed Services Committee member actually witnessed them).

Ronald Reagan said of this book that "everyone in America should read this frank accounting of backstage Washington by an honest man. With No Apologies is required reading for those who want to know the inner workings of the political world." I couldn't agree more; and we may all be deeply grateful that the good Senator gave us this tome before his decline began.

Barry Goldwater (1909-1998) mixes politics and autobiographical detail in this book from the late 1970's. Goldwater describes his Jewish grandfather wandering the barren west (Barry was raised Episcopalian), the family department store in Phoenix, and his military service as a pilot during World War II. Readers see how Goldwater became a national figure with his upset 1952 win over Senate Majority leader Ernest McFarland. Readers also learn his views on various national figures(including his buddy John F. Kennedy), and his distaste for big government inefficiency and bureaucratic waste. Of course, there was his disastrous 1964 Presidential bid, when this charming man frightened many (including some Republicans) with foolish words on extremism and nuclear weapons. Ironically, this book arrived just before Ronald Reagan was elected President, and as the GOP was turning away from moderates and even libertarian-style conservatives like Goldwater. Perhaps that explains Goldwater's 1980's criticism of religious conservatism and Jerry Falwell, plus his support for abortion and (later) gays in the military.

The book is informative but doesn't quite connect; perhaps that's why at this writing it has received so few reviews from conservatives (which I am not), liberals, and other readers.

Raised as a Democrat by a Democratic family, I happily lived under the firm belief that all Republicans and conservatives were selfish, greedy individuals who had no concern for the common good. As a child of the 60's and the Vietnam era, I held strong to my beliefs well into my early 30s.

Then, in a leadership forum, I was given a copy of this book to read. In fact, a friend of mine, a man I had great respect for, made me promise that I would read it (he was battling cancer and I reluctantly agreed). I tried to race through it, but found myself going back time and time again to gain greater understanding of the mind of Goldwater. From then on, I was never the same.

If you want to understand the mind of the conservative and understand what real compassion is, read this book. It's dated now, but the concepts remain the same, and you can revisit the brilliant mind of Goldwater.

Change the dates and one would believe that the events described were occurring in 2010. Thirty years after this book was written, political and social corruption are still prevalent in our society, only the names and dated have changed. Barry Goldwater was a true poster boy of the biased media. He was a statesman that was "understated". During his career, Goldwater was portrayed as a war monger and even a lunatic, while his true greatness was overlooked and diminished.
This was one of the best books that I have read in many years. one of those books that is difficult to put down.
What if Goldwater defeated LBJ in the 1964 election, imagine would our great country look like now?

"With No Apologies" is Barry Goldwater's 1979 autobiography, political memoir and call to action. The early parts of the book relate Goldwater's family background, youth and initial involvement in politics. Beyond his own circumstances, we get a feel for the Arizona of the first half of the Twentieth Century. With that out of the way, Goldwater moves into his analysis of issues and events which occurred during his public life. His assessments of John F. Kennedy, Nelson Rockefeller, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew, among others, make for very interesting reading. They give the reader an insight into the subjects described as well as Goldwater's own world view.

Goldwater's account of his own rise as a conservative spokesman and his memories of the 1964 campaign give a unique perspective into a segment of our national story. As I read about Goldwater's take on the process by which Spiro Agnew was chosen as Richard Nixon's running mate, it dawned on me that I remembered no reference to his own choice of William Miller in 1964. Sure enough, Miller's name does not appear in the index.

At the end of the book, Goldwater shifts into a condemnation of the policies of the Carter administration with a call for a groundswell to unseat it. We now know the rest of that story.

I appreciate this book for its tales of the somewhat old West and the critical analysis of events from about 1950 to 1979. I like a book that gives a different perspective than one would get in other works and this one surely does that. I have not read his later autobiography, "Goldwater", so maybe that would be a better place for a reader to start, but I have to think that "With No Apologies" maintains a role for its snapshot of the state of a mind and memory.

Goldwater was the man. It's too bad more politicians don't remember him more. This book is a bit jumpy at times but it is a great look into this Goldwater's amazing and forthright mind.

It's too bad we didn't elect Barry, it would have made a vast difference in our country. Read what he says, it's enlightening even tho it's from a different age. The man knew what was afoot in the nation and knew how to stop it.

And that should set you straight...

Ronald Reagan said of this book that "everyone in America should read this frank accounting of backstage Washington by an honest man. With No Apologies is required reading for those who want to know the inner workings of the political world." Of course, Reagan was on his way to senility, and that should tell you something.

Consign this one to the ash-heap of history.