ANHOW REview of Books: "Why the Left Hates America" by Daniel J. Flynn -- Adilbrand Noblesword's Hall of Warriors

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Date Posted: 16:28:06 05/03/03 Sat
Author: Mt. Healthy Mountaineer, your intrepid reviewer
Subject:

ANHOW REview of Books: "Why the Left Hates America" by Daniel J. Flynn

"Why the Left Hates America: Exposing the Lies That Have Obscured Our Nation's Greatness"
Published: 2002 by Prima Publishing

The thesis of this exceedingly-well footnoted book is that some on the ultra-left of the American political scene have pet theories that they espouse and that they hate it when facts do not bear out their theories. Among these are what Flynn calles "The Five Big Lies". They are:

1. American women live under a patriarchy.
2. America is the World's leading threat to the environment.
3. America is a racist nation.
4. The US is an imperial power.
5. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer.

Flynn quotes his opponents extensively and thens rebuts their arguments with his own extensive research from a wide variery of sources (he has over 500 end-notes, often with commentary - not a small task).

Flynn does not claim that the US is perfect in any of the above 5 areas. Far from it. He just submits that some on the left have given themselves over to hyperbole and unfairly characterized America and Americans.

Who is the Left that he is disputing - not any of the normal run-of-the-mill politicians in the Democratic Party (the one that is the "left" in normal political terms for those political novices out there), but rather the ultra-left, such as Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn, Ted Turner, Stokely Carmichael, Cornel West, Patricia Ireland to name a few. I was put in mind of an ultra-feminist (wow - did she have hairy armpits and legs!) that taught my English 101 class at Indiana University. The poetry and essays and short story assignments were all about sexism and racism. I was told to write what I thought, but the only time I got above a "C" was when I wrote what she thought.

Anyway, this is a quick and thought-provoking read that has the added bonus of being very enjoyable to read. I give this book an "A"

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