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With a Happy Eye But . . .: America and the World, 1997--2002 (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Headmistress, reverend clergy, faculty, distinguished guests, proud parents, and, especially, members of the Class of 1999..." (more)
Key Phrases: toothbrush abrasion, political hygiene, express advocacy, New York, First Amendment, New Jersey (more...)

3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The fifth collection of conservative pundit Will's columns (The Morning After, etc.) shows his usual erudition (the title comes from Auden), but they seem more outdated this time around. The terrorist attacks figure prominently in an overwrought introduction ("The scream of the incoming aircraft was a howl of negation"), but most of the "current events" addressed the battle between gay activists and the Boy Scouts, pressure on members of the European Union to accept the euro, disabled golfer Casey Martin's fight to use a golf cart on the pro tour feel like curious relics of a pre-September 11 world, and his longstanding complaints about the wickedness of Oliver Stone and the decline of civilization on liberal college campuses come across as cranky grumblings. He gets in plenty of digs at Bill Clinton: "not the worst president the republic has had, but... the worst person ever to have been president"; he even finds occasional fault with George W. Bush (though the worst adjective he can think of to describe Bush's initial waffling over the Enron scandal is "Clintonian"). The final chapters are heartfelt memorials to Will's father and to columnist Meg Greenfield, but one wishes that Will had applied the level of sustained reflection they show to a fuller analysis of one or two subjects, such as the contested 2000 election or the war on terrorism, instead of the jumbled impressions offered here.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This book is the seventh volume of Will's collected columns, essays, and addresses to be published since 1978. Given his fame as a syndicated newspaper and Newsweek columnist (he won the Pultizer Prize for commentary in 1976) and as a television personality (he has served as an analyst with ABC News since the early 1980s), readers come to this work with high expectations that are not disappointed. In this book, Will describes contemporary Americans as "naive optimists." Within the context of the Clinton years, the 2000 elections, and the shadow of 9/11, he opines on the inevitability of war, the necessity of the death penalty, the need for the military to remedy moral values, the fundamental flaws of a (liberal) intelligensia "too short on certitude," and his impatience with a society "too squeamish to call evil by its right name." An accomplished essayist, Will provides a model for writing that dismisses alternative viewpoints, and though his writings are valuable to readers across the political spectrum, they may leave liberals spluttering. Recommended for general collections in high school, public, and academic libraries.
Jean S. Caspers, Linfield Coll. Lib., McMinnville, OR
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Free Press (September 19, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0684838214
ISBN-13: 978-0684838212
Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds

Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #850,981 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
Headmistress, reverend clergy, faculty, distinguished guests, proud parents, and, especially, members of the Class of 1999. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
toothbrush abrasion, political hygiene, express advocacy, speech police, expressive association, political money

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, First Amendment, New Jersey, United States, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Bill Clinton, Brooks Brothers, Soviet Union, Social Security, South Carolina, World Series, Hillary Clinton, Wall Street, George Washington, President Clinton, Private Ryan, Teddy Roosevelt, The Federalist, Cold War, European Union, Henry Adams, James Madison, Ninth Circuit Court, Pat Moynihan

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 99 books:

The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw in Front Matter, page 93, and page 110
Unfree Speech: The Folly of Campaign Finance Reform by Bradley A. Smith on page 279, and page 285
Brain Storm: A Novel by Richard Dooling on page 123, and page 124
The Great Gatsby: Peng5:Great Gatsby Fitzgerald by F. Fitzgerald on page 266, and page 342
The Great Gatsby (Textplus) by Francis Scott Fitzgerald on page 266, and page 342

See all 99 books this book cites

1 book cites this book:

Mapping Postmodernism: A Survey of Christian Options by Robert C. Greer in Back Matter

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Customer Reviews

11 Reviews

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
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Average Customer Review

3.6 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Vintage Will, October 7, 2002

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

George Will has written a lot of books, and this is definitely ... one of them.

What that means is that if you already have an opinion of George Will, "With a Happy Eye, But..." probably won't change it much one way or the other. His politics are much the same. His long-time concerns are still in the front of his mind. And his voice (self-assured if you like it, pompous if you don't) is as distinctive as ever. Will's fans will want to add this book to their collection. If you're not a fan, the columns here collected may not convert you.

This title helps cement Will's reputation as America's leading spokesman for (as I once heard Buckley described) "conservatism of a sort." The columns include his argument that "Capitalism is a Government Project" (p. 222), his endorsement of General Sherman's war of extermination against the South as a model for defeating terrorism (p. 71), and his defense of "the seamlessness of cultural memory" (p. 184). I was glad to see his memorable and important "Clinton's Legacy: An Adjective" (p. 237) printed here in its entirety, not in the bowdlerized form in which it appeared in several newspapers.

Given the time span this book covers (1997-2002), I was surprised there aren't more columns about the three central events of the era: impeachment, the 2000 elections, and September 11, 2001. Will wrote a lot more about them at the time, of course, but only a select few columns made the cut into this book. As in any collection, a lot of ground is covered, from politics to pop culture. Over time, many of the "news hooks" these columns are based on will fade -- if they haven't already faded -- from memory. But even then, the real value, Will's ability to articulate his principles, will stand out all the more.

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23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good, September 4, 2002

By A Customer

The Publishers Weekly editorial book review printed here by Amazon shows how the extreme hard core left wing detests the popularity of books with a straight-forward, consevative view. However, this book will join Coulter's and Hannity's as a best seller and for good reason - it is well written and provides a view of recent events that is not presented by ABC, CBS, NBC or many daily newspapers. This is an interesting and well written book for anyone, regardless of your political perspective. Recommended.

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5.0 out of 5 stars America at the Turn of the 21st Century, June 24, 2009

By	Eric Mayforth (Houston, Texas) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: With a Happy Eye, but... : America and the World, 1997--2002 (Paperback)

George Will's seventh collection of columns covers the period from 1997 to 2002, and the opening essay that Will wrote describes the prosperous "holiday from history" that Americans enjoyed until 9/11/01, when the terrorist attacks injected big, consequential questions back into our political discussions.

This collection includes more than just columns--there are a couple of commencement addresses, as well as a great speech Will delivered at Princeton concerning cultural literacy and the importance of reading.

As has been the case for decades, ethical and moral questions have abounded in American life, and some of the columns the author wrote around the turn of the century addressed issues such as stem cell research, privacy, abortion, and school prayer. Will devoted several columns each to education and to the free speech issues involved in the fight over campaign finance reform.

American conservatism lost a giant in 1998 with the passing of Barry Goldwater, and Will wrote a column remembering the Arizonan's contributions to conservatism and to the nation. Some of the other people that Will devoted columns to during these years include Princess Diana, Vince Lombardi, C.S. Lewis, John Adams, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and James Madison.

Five of Will's year-end columns are here as well, rounding out yet another great collection of writings by one of American conservatism's indispensable thinkers.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Dumb
Mr. Will, what you've just wrote is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent book were you even close to anything that... Read more

Published 7 months ago by Optimus Prime

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Collection of Columns and a Snapshot of America
George Will's "With a Happy Eye But...: America and the World, 1997-2002" is a collection of select George Will columns during the turn of the century. Read more

Published on May 30, 2007 by A. Courie

4.0 out of 5 stars A good book for fans of George Will.
A nice collection of the articles of George Will. If you are a fan of Mr. Will's writing, you will enjoy this book. Read more

Published on May 3, 2004 by ROBERT KINGSLEY

1.0 out of 5 stars Let the pompous rule!!!
Here we are treated to yet another book by George Will the most pompous political pundit to come down the pike in years. Read more

Published on February 15, 2004

2.0 out of 5 stars George Will, conservafop
As an ardent reactionary, I used to be optimistic about the future of the conservative-liberal political wars. My optimism was based on a Darwinian analysis. Read more

Published on April 25, 2003 by Jack Maybrick

5.0 out of 5 stars Will does it again
A must read for all Americans.

Published on February 2, 2003 by Jeffrey Wozniak

4.0 out of 5 stars A Conservative I Can Respect
I have never been a big fan of George Will. I had only known him as the lone conservative at the end of Newsweek Magazine. Read more

Published on November 26, 2002 by Jeremy S. Burnich

5.0 out of 5 stars A philosophy building to the hard truth
There are so few personalities as George F. Will, especially in the media. This book is such hard to accept truth I believe that it wouldn't have been published if not for his... Read more

Published on September 25, 2002 by A. Reynolds

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