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7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
To be honest I was horrified, September 17, 2008
This review is from: Sex, Science, and Stem Cells: Inside the Right Wing Assault on Reason (Hardcover)
I could not put this book down. I found this work by Diana DeGette to be an excellent, clearly written easy to read view of specific aspects of the workings of Congress and the Senate. In particular Diana DeGette provides the reader with a solid insight to the realities and challenges associated with passing legislation and driving intelligent discussion using facts and logic within government circles. In so doing she exposes the extent to which these processes are hampered by opinion driven and uninformed personal world views. Also she demonstrates through easy to follow examples, the extent to which extremist special interest groups hamper changes which the average rational person will see as purely benevolent.
No doubt her specific subject matter will be controversial particularly in the U.S. as she focuses on sex and reproductive issues. Her approach however, is reason and fact based and oriented to achieving changes for the greater good. To be honest I was horrified to learn the extent to which America and indirectly the rest of the world is manipulated by a relative small number of people and organizations who have at the top of their priorities imposing their personal values on the rest of us and here's the thing, they do this regardless of what the facts show and the extent to which their views negatively impact the lives of literally millions of people.
Diana DeGette's approach is to narrate a personal journey describing the surprising impact her professional accomplishments have made on her personal life, how she has dealt with them and with some of "life's curve balls" specifically when her daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and the impact that made to her motivations.
If you consider yourself a rational person, i.e. someone who can be swayed by facts.
If you want to learn more about what really goes on in congress and the process of creating bills for improving peoples lives.
If you would like a solid insight into the biases of Congress people, Senators and the even The President.
If you are generally interested in the specific subject matter, birth control, abortion, HIV/AIDS, sex education, religion and government.
Then this book is for you.
If you have already made up your mind.
If you are not interested in facts and the result of scientific studies if they do not support your established opinions.
If you are interested in the welfare of people only if you can also control their world view, religion and or and the way they choose to live their lives.
Then this book in not for you.
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3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent insider story, March 30, 2009
This review is from: Sex, Science, and Stem Cells: Inside the Right Wing Assault on Reason (Hardcover)
Congresswoman Diana DeGette has written an interesting, lively book on the fight between the right wing and the left on issues such as stem cell research, abstinence-only programs and the availability of Plan B to women in the military. Make no mistake, her book is not a balanced view of the facts, it is a passionately written expose told exclusively from her point of view in the fight, but what a point of view it is.
From the view of an insider, this book is full of fascinating stories of just how things get done in congress and at times it is amusing, others frustrating. It reads much like a biography, starting with Ms. Degette's turn in the Colorado legislature and follows her up to early 2008, detailing her struggles and views along the way.
Whether you agree or not with her opinions (particularly on cloning), this books is a great look at the inside world of congress, including a different side of the "snowflake babies veto" (I always did wonder what that was about), and answers questions about why the Bush administration continued to uphold the stem cell research ban despite public support to the contrary. Some would argue that Ms. Degette has written a book to champion her own efforts in congress, and I would say: of course she has. She has been pushing her causes for years and of course her book is going to support her opinion on the cause. However, if you take the time to check out the details of her book, despite not including sources (which is why I didn't give this book 5 stars), you can easily verify the scientific facts that she cites and the congressional records that she sources.
Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone. It probably won't convince you otherwise if you strongly feel that her opinion is wrong, but it will give anyone a view into the workings of our government that will stay in your mind long after you have put the book down.
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4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Political Memoir and a Political Rant, October 6, 2008
This review is from: Sex, Science, and Stem Cells: Inside the Right Wing Assault on Reason (Hardcover)
Diana DeGette is my congresswoman, so I felt motivated to buy and read her book. I wanted to understand her views on stem cell research, and I wanted to learn more about her as a person and a politician.
This is a very emotional book. Representative DeGette is frustrated, angry, and embarrassed. She's frustrated with anyone who doesn't agree with her "common sense" views on anything related to human sexuality and reproduction, she's angry at the religious right for all the victories they have achieved against her, and she's embarrassed that her country is not like liberal Western Europe, where most women are on the pill, and people engage in free love and have abortions all the time and no one is the least bit bothered by it.
So, it's an emotional book, but it's also a very personal book, and this is perhaps the book's saving grace. This isn't so much a book about government policies relating to embryonic stem cell research; it's really a book about Diana DeGette. It's a memoir. Here is the story of a gifted and talented woman who worked her way through college and law school, built a law practice, and then took a risk and entered politics. This book will interest anyone studying the late-20th century politics and government of Denver and Colorado, a political history that DeGette helped create.
Readers will find a big disconnect between the introduction and the rest of the book. The introduction is strident and desultory; the balance of the book is measured and coherent. I think Diana DeGette wrote the introduction herself and Daniel Paisner, her credited ghostwriter, wrote the rest. Still, the entire work effectively conveys DeGette's overwhelming frustration with people who think differently than her. I think she wants her political legacy to be that of a hero for women's causes, but Catholics and other annoying "anti-choice" types keep getting in her way.
Other reviewers have already pointed out that the book presents figures and research findings without proper citations or attribution, and this is true but not a major flaw. For me personally, the book's major disconnect relates to research in general. DeGette consistently portrays herself as a proponent of embryonic stem cell research, and she effectively lists and explains the importance and value of such research. But is she really a research proponent? I work at the only public university in her district, and I don't know of a single thing she's done to support research at this university or research anywhere of any kind except government-funded stem cell research. So she's not really a supporter of research, judging by her lack of support for research in Denver at least.
In the end, DeGette's book is a pretty good, ghostwritten memoir, a political rant, and a case study of feminist political activism
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