Ron Paul: A Life of Ideas [Paperback]

Christopher Horner (Author), Karen Kwiatkowski (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2008

The first biography of 11-term congressman and Internet phenomenon Dr. Ron Paul, this comprehensive volume includes never before published private interviews with Ron Paul, his wife, Carol, plus close friends and associates. Tracing the life of this self-made man through painstaking research, this book covers his formative years spent in Pennsylvania; his careers as an Air Force flight surgeon and, later, an obstetrician; and, finally, his political journey from U. S. Congressman to presidential contender. Known as "Dr. No" for his refusal to spend taxpayer money unnecessarily, Paul repeatedly overcame substantial opposition to become a nationally recognized political figure, grabbing the spotlight in American politics despite a media that was determined to ignore him. This compelling portrait also chronicles how Paul's 2008 campaign broke several fund-raising records through its innovative use of the Internet, culminating in a new movement for freedom.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Christopher Horner is the author of The New York Times bestseller The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming. He is an attorney and senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and makes frequent appearances on radio and television, including BBC, CNN, Fox News Channel., MSNBC, and The News Hour with Jim Lehrer. He lives in Washington, DC. Dr. Karen Kwiatkowski is a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel and has written on defense issues with a libertarian perspective for LewRockwell.com, and MilitaryWeek.com. She lives in Mount Jackson, Virginia.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Variant Press (September 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 097386494X
• ISBN-13: 978-0973864946
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #442,173 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good read, September 25, 2008

By 

J. Saults - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ron Paul: A Life of Ideas (Paperback)

This is a great biography of a great man. Unlike the kleptocrats regularly paraded before us on the nightly news, Dr. Paul is a real human being who has displayed a consistent, conscientious devotion to a set of core principles, and this book does a great job of capturing that.

The authors trace Dr. Paul's life, his commitment to family, and the development of his political philosophy. Each section highlights a different time in Dr. Paul's life, and I was pleased to find that his younger years weren't just skipped through to spend more time on 2007-2008; as exciting as that time was, it's been covered pretty heavily by others. I've been following Dr. Paul for quite some time, and a lot of the information in this book was new to me--the authors obviously did their research.

Overall, this is an engaging examination of Dr. Paul's life and philosophy and well worth the read.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I love Ron Paul and this book sucks, November 26, 2008

By 

M. H. Brandenburgh (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Ron Paul: A Life of Ideas (Paperback)

I first heard of RP back in May '07, and was on board with the revolution big time the whole rest of the election. I was excited when I heard about this book (preordered it in July) because I wanted to find out more about his life story: his circumstances growing up, what he studied in school, how he came to his political philosophy, etc.

This book gives kind of a skeletal account of all that, but it is so rife with stupid errors--misspellings, grammar mistakes, sentences that just don't make any sense, times when the author lapses into a first-person voice--as to really be a disservice to the good doctor. Besides all these elementary school writing problems, it is written in a very childish style. When discussing the political climate of Ron's childhood, for example, it is extremely and unnecessarily combative about New Deal policies, making wide and generally unfounded castigations about Roosevelt, liberalism, whatever else you want. While I disagree with FDR's policies, this stuff has no place in a quality biography of RP. When it comes to discussing RP's childhood, you get the feeling all the research they did was to interview Ron and Carol.

Another thing, for some reason the type is extremely small. I don't know why they did this.

I still would like to know more about this subject, and I believe another, better biography will come out some day, which I will certainly get. My recommendation on this book: if you want to know more about his life and the full span of his career, this book covers that moderately well. I got it and was disappointed.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Hidden Gem for Ron Paul fans, October 23, 2008

By 

J. Delisle - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ron Paul: A Life of Ideas (Paperback)

This book is a real treat for anyone who has been following Ron Paul's career. It's basically a deep, probing look at his life and the political philosophies he developed along the way. Every philosophy has a particular way of viewing events, and this book reflects the last 70-80 years of US history through the eyes of a libertarian. It's interesting to see Ron Paul's particular take on the major movements that have brought us to where we are today. The book is not perfect, but the whole effect is powerful especially near the end.