Customer Reviews

Suddenly the American Idea Abroad and at Home 1986 to 1990

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This interesting collection of 1986-1990 columns by George Will clarifies the times - Glasnost, Gobarchev, Reagan, Bush Sr., the fall of the Berlin Wall, baseball, politics, etc. Will informs, educates, and makes valid points, even though he occasionally veers rightward with foolhardly blather. Still, unlike many conservative commentators, Will is no tawdry mouthpiece. He sometimes criticize allies (and praises opponents), and Will refuses to twist facts, invent statistics, or slander the faith and patriotism of those that dissent. Can we say likewise about screeching fools like Coulter, Limbaugh, and others that demand goose-stepping adherence?

Thinking people will both agree and disagree with Will, depending on the column. Still, you can learn something from his crisply informative writing.

George Will's fourth collection of columns is "Suddenly", covering the years 1986 to 1990.

Will had no shortage of consequential topics to write about during those years. Foremost among them was the event that provided the title of this volume--the sudden collapse of communism in Eastern Europe in 1989, the event we thought we would never live to see. The 1988 election and the Bork nomination fight were other important happenings that Will covered at that time.

The author also purveyed his conservative insights on a wide range of other subjects such as education, drugs, baseball, and science.

In a column in the book praising columnist Joseph Alsop, Will asserted that Alsop met the challenge faced by journalists and columnists, which is "to irrigate their judgment and imagination with clear, cold waters from springs--history, literature, art--that flow far from the deadening everydayness of public life". Over the last few decades, America has been fortunate to have another columnist who has excelled brilliantly at that task.