An Unlikely Conservative: The Transformation of an Ex-Liberal [Or How I Became the Most Hated Hispanic in America] (Hardcover)

~ Linda Chavez (Author) "THE CALL INVITING ME TO AUSTIN came on New Year's Eve 2000 Clay Johnson, the head of president-elect George W. Bush's transition office, reached me..." (more)
Key Phrases: transition office, racial quotas, public liaison, Mexican American, United States, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Nearly two years after losing her chance to be President Bush's secretary of labor, Chavez offers up a memoir cum apologia steeped in defensiveness. Although she recognizes that her failure to be candid with Bush's advisers about the illegal alien she housed for an extended period in the early 1990s cost her the cabinet position, she doesn't hesitate to pass the blame around. She lashes out at the media's coverage of her downfall and at the neighbor she asked for advice before talking to the FBI, who turned out to be the sister of ABC's White House correspondent. Her self-righteousness shapes the bulk of the narrative: all her professional setbacks, for example, were inevitably the fault of white administrators who didn't expect her kind of talent from an affirmative action minority. Then there's the constant rejection from Hispanic peers, who "viewed me not just as an opponent but as a heretic, a traitor." The story of her transition from college liberalism and union activism to various appointments in the Reagan administration has several interesting sections, like her combative experiences as a grad student teaching UCLA's first "Chicano literature" class. But many will find it hard to feel sympathy for someone who takes such glee in the opportunity, now that she apparently has nothing left to lose politically, to settle old scores.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Immensely readable." -- Commentary, November 2002

"It is her struggle to achieve equality as a person that makes the book worth reading." -- The New York Sun

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (October 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465089038
• ISBN-13: 978-0465089031
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,107,571 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars OUTSTANDING, October 7, 2002

By A Customer

This very personal memoir reveals a side of Linda Chavez that even her longtime admirers probably haven't seen before. She is of course a brilliant lady--a sharp observer of culture and politics. Here we learn how a working-class Hispanic girl made an unexpected journey from dingy apartments in New Mexico and Colorado to the corridors of power in Washington. The story is gripping and the prose is excellent. She provides an inside look at her failed nomination as labor secretary, but the bulk of the book is about her family life and unrelated professional episodes (teaching at UCLA, working as a Democratic and union activist in the 1970s, becoming a "Reagan Democrat," and so on). Fans of Chavez won't want to miss it.

24 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AN EXAMPLE OF TRUE COMPASSION, December 2, 2002

By	Donna Gail Burke "Donna Garner" (Hewitt, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Linda Chavez is indeed an "unlikely conservative." Her Hispanic roots in Albuquerque, her tumultuous family life, her chaotic married life to a Jewish husband she loves very much, her experiences as a caring mother, her accounts of affirmative action at the University of Colorado and at UCLA, her up-close-and-personal days as a teacher of troubled young people, her labor-union days, her civil rights advocacy, her religious experiences in the Catholic church, her candid account of her nomination to Sect. of Labor by Pres. George W. Bush -- all are spelled out in fascinating detail.

While reading the book, I not only felt that I had taken a peek into Ms. Chavez's personal life, but I also felt I had relived an important part of our country's history. Ms. Chavez's attention to detail, her recall of names, and her descriptions of behind-the-scenes political maneuvering brought back pieces of history that I had either forgotten or had never known.

AN UNLIKELY CONSERVATIVE is an excellent read and offers vital insights into the political world. Ms. Chavez's descriptions of her life is both unpretentious and straight-forward. Any reader would benefit from reading her book to find out how she changed from being an active supporter of the Democratic Party to becoming a leading Republican proponent of conservatism.

37 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring life story, educational political story, November 6, 2002

By	Andrew S. Rogers (Seattle, Washington) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (VINE VOICE)

(Full disclosure: One of Linda Chavez's friends and former colleagues, mentioned several times in this book, is a friend of my wife's and mine as well. I've never met Miss Chavez, however -- though, after reading this book, I wouldn't mind doing so someday.)

In the whole vast array of American culture, few people are as morally represensible as those who insist that a person's race or ethnicity (or sex or sexual preference) MUST inevitably define their world view and, more to the point, their politics. Linda Chavez "became the most hated Hispanic in America" by maintaining -- and, worse, passionately and effectively defending -- ideas that are out of step with what we're told Hispanics are "supposed to" believe.

But this book is a biography, not a political tract. Miss Chavez tells us her life story, focusing on her evolution from Young People's Socialist League-member in the 1960s to highly-visible neocon today. Along the way, she gives us a moving portrayal of her family's climb out of poverty, her devotion to family and friends (and theirs to her), an inside look at political activism on both the left and right, and -- no small thing -- one of the most damning portrayals of 1970s campus radicalism since David Horowitz.

In keeping with her theme of "the transformation of an ex-liberal," the pace of Miss Chavez's narrative picks up somewhat once she becomes an ex-liberal. The actively political period of her life seems rather rushed compared to the earlier sections of her book, as though the author was in a hurry to get to, and through, the story of her withdrawn nomination as Labor Secretary after the 2000 election. If Miss Chavez had chosen to flesh out this portion of her life a bit more, I'm sure it would have been just as interesting as the rest of her story turned out to be.

This book reveals a lot about the real nature of American politics, and much of it isn't very pretty. But it also reveals something about the cliché-ridden, often derided, idea of the "American dream." And that part of the story is very attractive indeed.