New Interview From The Entertainment Critic: The Broken Window
NEW INTERVIEW FROM THE ENTERTAINMENT CRITIC: JEFFERY DEAVER, AUTHOR OF THE BROKEN WINDOW
Please check out the new interview by James Myers, The Entertainment Critic, of Author Jeffery Deaver, about his new Lincoln Rhymes book, the new best seller, The Broken Window.
From The Publisher: “Lincoln Rhyme and partner/paramour Amelia Sachs return to face a criminal whose ingenious staging of crimes is enabled by a terrifying access to information....
When Lincoln's estranged cousin Arthur Rhyme is arrested on murder charges, the case is perfect -- too perfect. Forensic evidence from Arthur's home is found all over the scene of the crime, and it looks like the fate of Lincoln's relative is sealed.
At the behest of Arthur's wife, Judy, Lincoln grudgingly agrees to investigate the case. Soon Lincoln and Amelia uncover a string of similar murders and rapes with perpetrators claiming innocence and ignorance -- despite ironclad evidence at the scenes of the crime. Rhyme's team realizes this "perfect" evidence may actually be the result of masterful identity theft and manipulation.
An information service company -- the huge data miner Strategic Systems Datacorp -- seems to have all the answers but is reluctant to help the police. Still, Rhyme and Sachs and their assembled team begin uncovering a chilling pattern of vicious crimes and coverups, and their investigation points to one master criminal, whom they dub "522."
When "522" learns the identities of the crime-fighting team, the hunters become the hunted. Full of Deaver's trademark plot twists, The Broken Window will put the partnership of Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs to the ultimate test.”
This interview is available exclusively on The Entertainment Critic Magazine, found at http://www.theentertainmentcriticmagazine.com. To listen to the interview: To access the interview, look under the Interview section. Click on the wavy lines in the top right hand corner to stop the music, and then click on the MP3 player in the lower left corner. You'll see the interview listed, click on Jeff’s name in the player, the interview will take a moment to download and then will begin playing Enjoy the interview, and please drop us a line at james@theentertainmentcriticmagazine.com and let us know how you liked the interview and if there is anything we can do to improve our process.
NEW INTERVIEW FROM THE ENTERTAINMENT CRITIC: JEFFERY DEAVER, AUTHOR OF THE BROKEN WINDOW
Please check out the new interview by James Myers, The Entertainment Critic, of Author Jeffery Deaver, about his new Lincoln Rhymes book, the new best seller, The Broken Window.
From The Publisher: “Lincoln Rhyme and partner/paramour Amelia Sachs return to face a criminal whose ingenious staging of crimes is enabled by a terrifying access to information....
When Lincoln's estranged cousin Arthur Rhyme is arrested on murder charges, the case is perfect -- too perfect. Forensic evidence from Arthur's home is found all over the scene of the crime, and it looks like the fate of Lincoln's relative is sealed.
At the behest of Arthur's wife, Judy, Lincoln grudgingly agrees to investigate the case. Soon Lincoln and Amelia uncover a string of similar murders and rapes with perpetrators claiming innocence and ignorance -- despite ironclad evidence at the scenes of the crime. Rhyme's team realizes this "perfect" evidence may actually be the result of masterful identity theft and manipulation.
An information service company -- the huge data miner Strategic Systems Datacorp -- seems to have all the answers but is reluctant to help the police. Still, Rhyme and Sachs and their assembled team begin uncovering a chilling pattern of vicious crimes and coverups, and their investigation points to one master criminal, whom they dub "522."
When "522" learns the identities of the crime-fighting team, the hunters become the hunted. Full of Deaver's trademark plot twists, The Broken Window will put the partnership of Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs to the ultimate test.”
This interview is available exclusively on The Entertainment Critic Magazine, found at http://www.theentertainmentcriticmagazine.com. To listen to the interview: To access the interview, look under the Interview section. Click on the wavy lines in the top right hand corner to stop the music, and then click on the MP3 player in the lower left corner. You'll see the interview listed, click on Jeff’s name in the player, the interview will take a moment to download and then will begin playing Enjoy the interview, and please drop us a line at james@theentertainmentcriticmagazine.com and let us know how you liked the interview and if there is anything we can do to improve our process.
New Interview From The Entertainment Critic: Lily Koppel on The Red Leather Diary
NEW INTERVIEW FROM THE ENTERTAINMENT CRITIC: LILY KOPPEL, AUTHOR OF THE RED LEATHER DIARY
Please check out the new interview by James Myers, The Entertainment Critic, of Author Lily Koppel, About Her Completely Unique, Top Selling Book, The Red Leather Diary.
From The Publisher: “Rescued from a Dumpster on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, a discarded diary brings to life the glamorous, forgotten world of an extraordinary young woman.
For more than half a century, the red leather diary lay silent, languishing inside a steamer trunk, its worn cover crumbling into little flakes. When a cleaning sweep of a New York City apartment building brings this lost treasure to light, both the diary and its owner are given a second life.
Recovered by Lily Koppel, a young writer working at the New York Times, the journal paints a vivid picture of 1930s New York–horseback riding in Central Park, summer excursions to the Catskills, and an obsession with a famous avant-garde actress. From 1929 to 1934, not a single day's entry is skipped.
Opening the tarnished brass lock, Koppel embarks on a journey into the past, traveling to a New York in which women of privilege meet for tea at Schrafft's, dance at the Hotel Pennsylvania, and toast the night at El Morocco. As she turns the diary's brittle pages, Koppel is captivated by the headstrong young woman whose intimate thoughts and emotions fill the pale blue lines. Who was this lovely ingénue who adored the works of Baudelaire and Jane Austen, who was sexually curious beyond her years, who traveled to Rome, Paris, and London?
Compelled by the hopes and heartaches captured in the pages, Koppel sets out to find the diary's owner, her only clue the inscription on the frontispiece–"This book belongs to . . . Florence Wolfson." A chance phone call from a private investigator leads Koppel to Florence, a ninety-year-old woman living with her husband of sixty-seven years. Reunited with her diary, Florence ventures back to the girl she once was, rediscovering a lost self that burned with artistic fervor.
Joining intimate interviews with original diary entries, Koppel reveals the world of a New York teenager obsessed with the state of her soul and her appearance, and muses on the serendipitous chain of events that returned the lost journal to its owner. Evocative and entrancing, The Red Leather Diary re-creates the romance and glitter, sophistication and promise, of 1930s New York, bringing to life the true story of a precocious young woman who dared to follow her dreams.”
This interview is available exclusively on The Entertainment Critic Magazine, found at http://www.theentertainmentcriticmagazine.com. To listen to the interview: To access the interview, look under the Interview section. Click on the wavy lines in the top right hand corner to stop the music, and then click on the MP3 player in the lower left corner. You'll see the interview listed, click on Lily’s name in the player, the interview will take a moment to download and then will begin playing Enjoy the interview, and please drop us a line at james@theentertainmentcriticmagazine.com and let us know how you liked the interview and if there is anything we can do to improve our process.
NEW INTERVIEW FROM THE ENTERTAINMENT CRITIC: LILY KOPPEL, AUTHOR OF THE RED LEATHER DIARY
Please check out the new interview by James Myers, The Entertainment Critic, of Author Lily Koppel, About Her Completely Unique, Top Selling Book, The Red Leather Diary.
From The Publisher: “Rescued from a Dumpster on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, a discarded diary brings to life the glamorous, forgotten world of an extraordinary young woman.
For more than half a century, the red leather diary lay silent, languishing inside a steamer trunk, its worn cover crumbling into little flakes. When a cleaning sweep of a New York City apartment building brings this lost treasure to light, both the diary and its owner are given a second life.
Recovered by Lily Koppel, a young writer working at the New York Times, the journal paints a vivid picture of 1930s New York–horseback riding in Central Park, summer excursions to the Catskills, and an obsession with a famous avant-garde actress. From 1929 to 1934, not a single day's entry is skipped.
Opening the tarnished brass lock, Koppel embarks on a journey into the past, traveling to a New York in which women of privilege meet for tea at Schrafft's, dance at the Hotel Pennsylvania, and toast the night at El Morocco. As she turns the diary's brittle pages, Koppel is captivated by the headstrong young woman whose intimate thoughts and emotions fill the pale blue lines. Who was this lovely ingénue who adored the works of Baudelaire and Jane Austen, who was sexually curious beyond her years, who traveled to Rome, Paris, and London?
Compelled by the hopes and heartaches captured in the pages, Koppel sets out to find the diary's owner, her only clue the inscription on the frontispiece–"This book belongs to . . . Florence Wolfson." A chance phone call from a private investigator leads Koppel to Florence, a ninety-year-old woman living with her husband of sixty-seven years. Reunited with her diary, Florence ventures back to the girl she once was, rediscovering a lost self that burned with artistic fervor.
Joining intimate interviews with original diary entries, Koppel reveals the world of a New York teenager obsessed with the state of her soul and her appearance, and muses on the serendipitous chain of events that returned the lost journal to its owner. Evocative and entrancing, The Red Leather Diary re-creates the romance and glitter, sophistication and promise, of 1930s New York, bringing to life the true story of a precocious young woman who dared to follow her dreams.”
This interview is available exclusively on The Entertainment Critic Magazine, found at http://www.theentertainmentcriticmagazine.com. To listen to the interview: To access the interview, look under the Interview section. Click on the wavy lines in the top right hand corner to stop the music, and then click on the MP3 player in the lower left corner. You'll see the interview listed, click on Lily’s name in the player, the interview will take a moment to download and then will begin playing Enjoy the interview, and please drop us a line at james@theentertainmentcriticmagazine.com and let us know how you liked the interview and if there is anything we can do to improve our process.
New Book Review and Interview By The Entertainment Critic: The Whole Truth by David Baldacci
The Whole Truth
THE ENTERTAINMENT CRITIC BOOK REVIEW, BY JAMES MYERS www.theentertainmentcritic.com www.theentertainmentcritic.net www.theentertainmentcriticmagazine.com
THE WHOLE TRUTH By David Baldacci Published by: Grand Central Publishing Publication Date: April, 2008 Price: $26.95 406 Pages ISBN-13: 9780446195973 Four Star Rating ****
BALDACCI RECEIVED A B.A. FROM VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY AND A LAW DEGREE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. AS A STUDENT, BALDACCI WROTE SHORT STORIES IN HIS SPARE TIME, AND LATER PRACTICED LAW FOR NINE YEARS NEAR WASHINGTON, D.C.
WHILE LIVING IN ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA, BALDACCI WROTE SHORT STORIES AND SCREENPLAYS WITHOUT MUCH SUCCESS. IN DESPAIR, HE TURNED TO NOVEL WRITING, TAKING THREE YEARS TO WRITE ABSOLUTE POWER. IT TOOK BALDACCI TWO YEARS TO GET THE BOOK PUBLISHED, BUT WHEN IT FINALLY DID HIT THE SHELVES IN 1996 IT WAS AN INTERNATIONAL BEST SELLER.
IT WAS MADE INTO A FILM, ABSOLUTE POWER (1997), STARRING CLINT EASTWOOD AND GENE HACKMAN
BALDACCI HAS GONE ON TO PUBLISH FOURTEEN MORE NOVELS: TOTAL CONTROL, THE WINNER, THE SIMPLE TRUTH, SAVING FAITH, WISH YOU WELL, LAST MAN STANDING, THE CHRISTMAS TRAIN, SPLIT SECOND, HOUR GAME, CAMEL CLUB, THE COLLECTORS, SIMPLE GENIUS, STONE COLD, AND THE YOUNG ADULT NOVEL FREDDY AND THE FRENCH FRIES: FRIES ALIVE! HE HAS ALSO PUBLISHED A NOVELLA FOR THE DUTCH ENTITLED OFFICE HOURS, WRITTEN FOR THE NETHERLANDS' YEAR 2000 "MONTH OF THE THRILLER". BALDACCI ALSO AUTHORED A SHORT STORY, "THE MIGHTY JOHNS", AS PART OF A 2002 MYSTERY ANTHOLOGY.
BALDACCI HAS AUTHORED SEVEN ORIGINAL SCREENPLAYS, AND HIS WORKS HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED IN MAGAZINES, NEWSPAPERS, AND JOURNALS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. ALL OF HIS BOOKS HAVE BECOME NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLERS, TRANSLATED INTO OVER 37 LANGUAGES AND SOLD IN MORE THAN 85 COUNTRIES. OVER 40 MILLION COPIES OF BALDACCI'S BOOKS ARE IN PRINT WORLDWIDE.
DAVID BALDACCI SERVES AS A NATIONAL AMBASSADOR FOR THE NATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY AND PARTICIPATES IN NUMEROUS CHARITIES AS WELL AS FOUNDING HIS OWN FAMILY FOUNDATION FOR LITERACY, WISH YOU WELL FOUNDATION.
“AT PRECISELY ZERO HOURS UT, or midnight Universal Time, the image of the tortured man erupted onto the world’s most popular Web site. The first six words he spoke would be remembered forever by everyone who heard them. “I am dead. I was murdered.” He was speaking Russian on the screen but at the bottom his tragic story was retold in virtually any language one desired with the press of a key. Secret Russian Federation police had beaten “confessions” of treason out of him and his family. He’d managed to escape and make this crude video. Whoever held the camera had either been scared to death, drunk, or both, for the grainy film vibrated and shook every few seconds. The man said if the video had been released that meant he’d been recaptured by government thugs and was already dead. His crime? Simply wanting freedom. “There are tens of thousands just like me,” he told the world. “Their bones lie heavy on the frozen tundra of Siberia and in the deep waters of Lake Balkhash in Kazakhstan. You will see evidence of this soon. There are others who will take up the fight now that I am gone.” He warned that while the world had focused on the Osama bin Ladens of the world for so long, the old evil, with a destructive force a million times greater than the combined Islamic renegades, was clearly back, and deadlier than ever. “It is time the world knew the whole truth,” he shouted at the camera, then broke down in tears. “My name is Konstantin. My name was Konstantin,” he corrected. “It is too late for me and my family. We are all dead now. My wife, my three children, all gone. Do not forget me, and why I died. Do not let my family perish in vain.” As the man’s image and voice faded from view, a mushroom cloud lit up the screen, and superimposed on the bottom of this horrifying visual was the ominous tagline: First the Russian people, then the rest of the world. Can we afford to wait? “
“Wars are the easiest things to start and the hardest things to end.” ---David Baldacci, The Whole Truth
The versatile David Baldacci is back with his new political thriller, The Whole Truth. This novel asks a unique question: What if the entire world, governments, leaders, and citizens around the globe were united on a crusade to stop an evil that doesn’t exist, was completely fabricated, and promulgated in a savvy public relations ploy through mass communications and the Internet. In his 15th legal thriller, Baldacci asks, how would we respond to an imaginary global crisis? Baldacci has elected to take us one step beyond 1984, by giving us a look behind the curtain at the wizard himself.
Nicholas Creed, owner and operator of the Ayres Corporation, is a billionaire military weapons manufacturer who has no boundaries for his ambitions. Creed wants to restructure the world in his own image, and he has the wealth, power and knowledge to do it. He can control world order by manipulating not only people, but entire countries. He wants to take the focus off the Mideast, and bring back The Cold War to put the world’s ire back where it belongs. He hires Dick Pender, former White House staffer and spinmaster, founder of Pender and Associates, a highly profitable perception magician who specializes in “perception management.” ("Dick, I need a war.") Perception management does not spin facts or stories; it prefers to manufacture the facts and sell them to the naïve public as true. ('Why waste time trying to discover the truth, when you can so easily create it?') Creed needs a war to boost sagging arms sales; Pender produces a fabricated “You Tube” type video, consisting of doctored news footage, and an actor, Konstantin, who claims thousands are being killed by a “Secret Russian Federation.” The actor on the video speaks, 'It is time the world knew THE WHOLE TRUTH.' The result is that the world condemns Russia as mass murderers. A build up of arms between Russia and China begins in earnest. The smear campaign works, enabling Creed to push and escalate an arms race, making his company wildly profitable.
Shaw, a mystery man with no past, working for a super secret agency of the US government, has lived many lives outwitting terrorists, drug lords, skinhead and international wrong doers. He is a James Bond-like figure, and Baldacci’s most intriguing character. As a hired gun, it is his job to find out who and what is behind this great fabrication. He works for this agency under duress (they’ve planted an explosive tracking device in his arm). He’d like to retire and settle down with his fiancee, Anna Fischer, who works for the Phoenix Group think tank. Unfortunately, the think tank is one of the pawns in the Creed/Pender network. The book really begins to heat up, when Anna sends an e-mail critical of the invented Russian story to an Internet blogger. By accident she has put her man into the dead center of this controversy. A team of supposed Russian hit men invade the Phoenix Group and kill everyone in the building --- including Anna. When Shaw learns of this, he re-ups with his agency and vows to find and destroy the people behind this massacre.
A fourth figure in this novel is Katie James, a journalist, who has written a story that turns out to be completely false, and return from Afghanistan an alcoholic barely able to handle her new assignment, the obit column. A two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner, disgraced and demoted, she is determined to get back into the limelight by landing a major story. Inadvertently, she stumbles on to an operation involving Shaw, who saves her life, but condemns her to life on the run with him. She may have finally found the biggest story of her life; that is if Shaw can keep them both alive. She and Shaw are on the run throughout the U.S. and Europe, just a half step ahead of the killers while trying to work out just what is the whole truth.
Baldacci’s tale is striking on several levels. Well written, great prose, spy-like dialogue and breathtaking suspense make this a great political thriller. The Shaw is a character we hope to see a lot more of. I get the feeling that Baldacci could create a whole series of thrillers around this guy.
Baldacci is the master of engrossing political tomes that are centered on frightening modern realities. The ease that the communications made through the ‘Net can be misused to mislead is a disturbing thought-provoking concept. Video is so easily distributed to your MySpace and Facebook pages, that mass movements, commercial and political, can be created overnight. No one is better at warning about the modern day Big Lie like David Baldacci. Big Brother meets You Tube in this one of kind international thriller. Bond and Bourne have nothing on Baldacci. This is an international spy thriller that you just cannot put down.
NEW INTERVIEW FROM THE ENTERTAINMENT CRITIC: DAVID BALDACCI, AUTHOR OF THE WHOLE TRUTH
Please check out the new interview by James Myers, The Entertainment Critic, of Author David Baldacci, About His Thought Provoking, Top Selling Book, The Whole Truth.
This interview is available exclusively on The Entertainment Critic Magazine, found at http://www.theentertainmentcriticmagazine.com. To listen to the interview: To access the interview, look under the Interview section. Click on the wavy lines in the top right hand corner to stop the music, and then click on the MP3 player in the lower left corner. You'll see the interview listed, click on David’s name in the player, the interview will take a moment to download and then will begin playing Enjoy the interview, and please drop us a line at james@theentertainmentcriticmagazine.com and let us know how you liked the interview and if there is anything we can do to improve our process.
THE ENTERTAINMENT CRITIC BOOK REVIEW, BY JAMES MYERS www.theentertainmentcritic.com www.theentertainmentcritic.net www.theentertainmentcriticmagazine.com
THE WHOLE TRUTH By David Baldacci Published by: Grand Central Publishing Publication Date: April, 2008 Price: $26.95 406 Pages ISBN-13: 9780446195973 Four Star Rating ****
BALDACCI RECEIVED A B.A. FROM VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY AND A LAW DEGREE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. AS A STUDENT, BALDACCI WROTE SHORT STORIES IN HIS SPARE TIME, AND LATER PRACTICED LAW FOR NINE YEARS NEAR WASHINGTON, D.C.
WHILE LIVING IN ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA, BALDACCI WROTE SHORT STORIES AND SCREENPLAYS WITHOUT MUCH SUCCESS. IN DESPAIR, HE TURNED TO NOVEL WRITING, TAKING THREE YEARS TO WRITE ABSOLUTE POWER. IT TOOK BALDACCI TWO YEARS TO GET THE BOOK PUBLISHED, BUT WHEN IT FINALLY DID HIT THE SHELVES IN 1996 IT WAS AN INTERNATIONAL BEST SELLER.
IT WAS MADE INTO A FILM, ABSOLUTE POWER (1997), STARRING CLINT EASTWOOD AND GENE HACKMAN
BALDACCI HAS GONE ON TO PUBLISH FOURTEEN MORE NOVELS: TOTAL CONTROL, THE WINNER, THE SIMPLE TRUTH, SAVING FAITH, WISH YOU WELL, LAST MAN STANDING, THE CHRISTMAS TRAIN, SPLIT SECOND, HOUR GAME, CAMEL CLUB, THE COLLECTORS, SIMPLE GENIUS, STONE COLD, AND THE YOUNG ADULT NOVEL FREDDY AND THE FRENCH FRIES: FRIES ALIVE! HE HAS ALSO PUBLISHED A NOVELLA FOR THE DUTCH ENTITLED OFFICE HOURS, WRITTEN FOR THE NETHERLANDS' YEAR 2000 "MONTH OF THE THRILLER". BALDACCI ALSO AUTHORED A SHORT STORY, "THE MIGHTY JOHNS", AS PART OF A 2002 MYSTERY ANTHOLOGY.
BALDACCI HAS AUTHORED SEVEN ORIGINAL SCREENPLAYS, AND HIS WORKS HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED IN MAGAZINES, NEWSPAPERS, AND JOURNALS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. ALL OF HIS BOOKS HAVE BECOME NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLERS, TRANSLATED INTO OVER 37 LANGUAGES AND SOLD IN MORE THAN 85 COUNTRIES. OVER 40 MILLION COPIES OF BALDACCI'S BOOKS ARE IN PRINT WORLDWIDE.
DAVID BALDACCI SERVES AS A NATIONAL AMBASSADOR FOR THE NATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY AND PARTICIPATES IN NUMEROUS CHARITIES AS WELL AS FOUNDING HIS OWN FAMILY FOUNDATION FOR LITERACY, WISH YOU WELL FOUNDATION.
“AT PRECISELY ZERO HOURS UT, or midnight Universal Time, the image of the tortured man erupted onto the world’s most popular Web site. The first six words he spoke would be remembered forever by everyone who heard them. “I am dead. I was murdered.” He was speaking Russian on the screen but at the bottom his tragic story was retold in virtually any language one desired with the press of a key. Secret Russian Federation police had beaten “confessions” of treason out of him and his family. He’d managed to escape and make this crude video. Whoever held the camera had either been scared to death, drunk, or both, for the grainy film vibrated and shook every few seconds. The man said if the video had been released that meant he’d been recaptured by government thugs and was already dead. His crime? Simply wanting freedom. “There are tens of thousands just like me,” he told the world. “Their bones lie heavy on the frozen tundra of Siberia and in the deep waters of Lake Balkhash in Kazakhstan. You will see evidence of this soon. There are others who will take up the fight now that I am gone.” He warned that while the world had focused on the Osama bin Ladens of the world for so long, the old evil, with a destructive force a million times greater than the combined Islamic renegades, was clearly back, and deadlier than ever. “It is time the world knew the whole truth,” he shouted at the camera, then broke down in tears. “My name is Konstantin. My name was Konstantin,” he corrected. “It is too late for me and my family. We are all dead now. My wife, my three children, all gone. Do not forget me, and why I died. Do not let my family perish in vain.” As the man’s image and voice faded from view, a mushroom cloud lit up the screen, and superimposed on the bottom of this horrifying visual was the ominous tagline: First the Russian people, then the rest of the world. Can we afford to wait? “
“Wars are the easiest things to start and the hardest things to end.” ---David Baldacci, The Whole Truth
The versatile David Baldacci is back with his new political thriller, The Whole Truth. This novel asks a unique question: What if the entire world, governments, leaders, and citizens around the globe were united on a crusade to stop an evil that doesn’t exist, was completely fabricated, and promulgated in a savvy public relations ploy through mass communications and the Internet. In his 15th legal thriller, Baldacci asks, how would we respond to an imaginary global crisis? Baldacci has elected to take us one step beyond 1984, by giving us a look behind the curtain at the wizard himself.
Nicholas Creed, owner and operator of the Ayres Corporation, is a billionaire military weapons manufacturer who has no boundaries for his ambitions. Creed wants to restructure the world in his own image, and he has the wealth, power and knowledge to do it. He can control world order by manipulating not only people, but entire countries. He wants to take the focus off the Mideast, and bring back The Cold War to put the world’s ire back where it belongs. He hires Dick Pender, former White House staffer and spinmaster, founder of Pender and Associates, a highly profitable perception magician who specializes in “perception management.” ("Dick, I need a war.") Perception management does not spin facts or stories; it prefers to manufacture the facts and sell them to the naïve public as true. ('Why waste time trying to discover the truth, when you can so easily create it?') Creed needs a war to boost sagging arms sales; Pender produces a fabricated “You Tube” type video, consisting of doctored news footage, and an actor, Konstantin, who claims thousands are being killed by a “Secret Russian Federation.” The actor on the video speaks, 'It is time the world knew THE WHOLE TRUTH.' The result is that the world condemns Russia as mass murderers. A build up of arms between Russia and China begins in earnest. The smear campaign works, enabling Creed to push and escalate an arms race, making his company wildly profitable.
Shaw, a mystery man with no past, working for a super secret agency of the US government, has lived many lives outwitting terrorists, drug lords, skinhead and international wrong doers. He is a James Bond-like figure, and Baldacci’s most intriguing character. As a hired gun, it is his job to find out who and what is behind this great fabrication. He works for this agency under duress (they’ve planted an explosive tracking device in his arm). He’d like to retire and settle down with his fiancee, Anna Fischer, who works for the Phoenix Group think tank. Unfortunately, the think tank is one of the pawns in the Creed/Pender network. The book really begins to heat up, when Anna sends an e-mail critical of the invented Russian story to an Internet blogger. By accident she has put her man into the dead center of this controversy. A team of supposed Russian hit men invade the Phoenix Group and kill everyone in the building --- including Anna. When Shaw learns of this, he re-ups with his agency and vows to find and destroy the people behind this massacre.
A fourth figure in this novel is Katie James, a journalist, who has written a story that turns out to be completely false, and return from Afghanistan an alcoholic barely able to handle her new assignment, the obit column. A two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner, disgraced and demoted, she is determined to get back into the limelight by landing a major story. Inadvertently, she stumbles on to an operation involving Shaw, who saves her life, but condemns her to life on the run with him. She may have finally found the biggest story of her life; that is if Shaw can keep them both alive. She and Shaw are on the run throughout the U.S. and Europe, just a half step ahead of the killers while trying to work out just what is the whole truth.
Baldacci’s tale is striking on several levels. Well written, great prose, spy-like dialogue and breathtaking suspense make this a great political thriller. The Shaw is a character we hope to see a lot more of. I get the feeling that Baldacci could create a whole series of thrillers around this guy.
Baldacci is the master of engrossing political tomes that are centered on frightening modern realities. The ease that the communications made through the ‘Net can be misused to mislead is a disturbing thought-provoking concept. Video is so easily distributed to your MySpace and Facebook pages, that mass movements, commercial and political, can be created overnight. No one is better at warning about the modern day Big Lie like David Baldacci. Big Brother meets You Tube in this one of kind international thriller. Bond and Bourne have nothing on Baldacci. This is an international spy thriller that you just cannot put down.
NEW INTERVIEW FROM THE ENTERTAINMENT CRITIC: DAVID BALDACCI, AUTHOR OF THE WHOLE TRUTH
Please check out the new interview by James Myers, The Entertainment Critic, of Author David Baldacci, About His Thought Provoking, Top Selling Book, The Whole Truth.
This interview is available exclusively on The Entertainment Critic Magazine, found at http://www.theentertainmentcriticmagazine.com. To listen to the interview: To access the interview, look under the Interview section. Click on the wavy lines in the top right hand corner to stop the music, and then click on the MP3 player in the lower left corner. You'll see the interview listed, click on David’s name in the player, the interview will take a moment to download and then will begin playing Enjoy the interview, and please drop us a line at james@theentertainmentcriticmagazine.com and let us know how you liked the interview and if there is anything we can do to improve our process.
New Book Review By The Entertainment Critic: The Shack by William P. Young
The Shack
THE ENTERTAINMENT CRITIC BOOK REVIEW, BY JAMES MYERS www.theentertainmentcritic.com www.theentertainmentcritic.net www.theentertainmentcriticmagazine.com
THE SHACK By William P. Young Published by: Windblown Media Publication Date: May, 2007 Price: $14.99 248 Pages ISBN-13: 9780964729230 Five Star Rating *****
BORN IN GRANDE PRAIRIE, ALBERTA CANADA, MAY 11, 1955 RAISED BY MISSIONARY PARENTS LIVED HIS EARLY LIFE AMONG THE DANI TRIBE WORKED HIS WAY THROUGH BIBLE COLLEGE GRADUATED SUMMA CUM LAUDE FROM WARNER PACIFIC COLLEGE IN PORTLAND, OREGON MARRIED TO KIM WARREN HAS ALWAYS BEEN A WRITER, INCLUDING SONGS, POETRY, SHORT STORIES, OR NEWSLETTERS THE SHACK WAS A STORY HE WROTE FOR HIS 6 CHILDREN AT HIS WIFE’S SUGGESTION WITH NO INTENTION TO PUBLISH HIS CHILDREN, WIFE AND FRIENDS URGED HIM TO MAKE THE BOOK PUBLIC PAUL IS A DEEPLY RELIGIOUS PERSON HE IS NOW THE AUTHOR OF THE SINGLE MOST SURPRISING BOOK OF 2008, AND ARGUABLY THE MOST PHENOMENAL BOOK IN THE HISTORY OF LITERATURE IN WESTERN CIVILIZATION
THE SHACK ORIGINALLY A BOOK/PAMPHLET HE TOOK TO KINKOS TO PUBLISH FOR CHILDREN, WAS PICKED UP AND PUBLISHED BY 2 OF HIS FRIENDS, WAYNE JACOBSEN AND BRAD CUMMING WHO FORMED WINDBLOWN MEDIA FOR THE EXCLUSIVE PURPOSE TO SELF PUBLISH THE SHACK THIS BOOK HAS GONE FROM A HOBBY, TO GARAGE SELLER, TO BEST SELLER THE SHACK HAS RISEN TO BECOME THE #1 BEST SELLING PAPERBACK IN AMERICA HAS BEEN ON THE TOP 50 USA TODAY’S BEST-SELLING BOOKS FOR OVER 20 WEEKS THERE ARE NOW 1.2 MILLION COPIES IN PRINT FAITHWORDS, A DIVISION OF HACHETTE BOOK GROUP SIGNED AS A CO-PUBLISHER WITH WINDBLOWN HACHETTE HAS AGREED TO A 500,000 COPY PRESS RUN IN JUNE 2008 AND A MARKETING CAMPAIGN IN THE SECULAR MARKET IN JULY, 2008 THE BOOK MAY BE MADE INTO A MOVIE
“Now Sarayu paused before answering. ‘You humans, so little in your own eyes. You are truly blind to your own place in the Creation. Having chosen the ravaged path of independence, you don’t even comprehend that you are dragging the entire Creation along with you.’ She shook her head and the wind sighed through the trees nearby. ‘So very sad, but it won’t be this way forever.”
It is rare that I am completely taken by surprise when I read a new book, or at least a book that is new to me. When publishers send advanced copies to be reviewed they also send packets of information about the book, the author and other reviews. By the time I read most of the books that I am sent, I am already writing the review in my head and I have a pretty good idea of what that book, the author and the theme of my review is going to be. With book trailers on You Tube, commercials on televisions, the endless parade of authors on talk shows, and the promotional materials that accompany books, it is rare indeed that the contents of a small, but emotionally powerful and moving book takes me completely off guard. It is even more surprising when I receive a book that is self published that the book is actually a polished, well written, sophisticated, thought provoking product that other reviewers have compared with Pilgrim’s Progress, or any other such benchmarks of classic literature. There is no doubt about it, this book is a five-star winner, maybe 6, that came as a complete and utter surprise to me. This modern day religious parable reminds me of the feeling that I had the first time that I read Paulo Coelho‘s masterpiece, The Alchemist. It is a small, compact story that provokes the depth of thought, and the range of emotions that well-written books were meant to provoke; when reading is truly the best experience. This book, like all masterpieces of literature, is the reason most of us love to read in the first place. I promise you, reading this book could change you life.
The Shack begins 4 years before the actual story begins when Missy, the daughter of Mack (Mackenzie) Phillips is abducted during a family vacation. Her body is never found, but the police found evidence in an abandoned shack proving that the girls was brutally murdered by a notorious serial killer who’s specialty is preying on young girls. The story begins when Mack, who has been living in the shadow of what Young calls his, “Great Sadness,” receives a note from God, inviting him to return to this same shack for a get together, a long encounter with the Holy Trinity. (Paul told me in an interview that the shack is a metaphor for all the evil done to him over the years, for the ugly dark place that seemed beyond God’s healing reach).
After much internal debate, Mack returns to The Shack to be greeted by a matronly large and earthy African-American woman known as Papa, an anthropomorphism of God The Father. He is introduced to the 2 other characters of Jesus, (Abba), a middle aged Jewish man with a prominent nose, and The Holy Spirit (Sarayu), a gentle wind represented by a small, delicate woman of Asian descent. The book is mainly an internal dialogue between Mack and these delightful characters. The key to the book is the revelations that come from the 3 in their conversations with Mack and with each other. The topics that are covered in the book seem to me to be revelations and disclosures to Mack concerning his suffering over his daughter’s loss and the mistrust that he has for a God who allowed his daughter to suffer and die in such a horrifying way. It is as if Mack is being given secret pieces of a jigsaw puzzle to assemble in order to explain the unexplainable aspects of his life; a picture once assembled that shows where all the pieces fit. It is revealed to Mack that God is inherently good and belief in his goodness is the only way to understand and trust in God. The evil in life comes from man and other sources. It is good that is absolute; evil only exists as a contrast to that which is good, sort of a measure to determine what is good. All understanding of God stems from our relationships, not only with God but with other men, with other women, and in our special interpersonal relationships.
The original thought and themes that arise from the book are religiously unorthodox and thought-provoking.
(1) The Path to Enlightenment: “legalistic” organized religion, denominations, and doctrines are not necessary to find God’s love and to affect a rebirth. You can discover Jesus’ love inside of yourself and in your relationships with other people, particularly with the loving relationships that exist in your life;
(2) The Trinity: There is no real hierarchy or chain of command in this group, but they are in a loving circle of relationship, a ‘great chain of being.’ There is also a greater understanding of the human condition that exists within the Trinity. The three are a necessary precondition to all love that exists, and this is the love that all humans seek, even from each other. It is the relationship of the 3, and their relationship to each other that gives birth and is the genesis of all love that exists between men and women.
(3) Submission: Takes on a whole new meaning in this book, submission becomes devotion, love and respect. The three are submitted or in a relationship with each that they wish to share with Mack. They in turn submit or acknowledge the love and respect that they have for him. To experience this submission correctly, the feelings must be mutual; to regard each others concerns to be as significant as your own. Hierarchy is unnecessary.
(4) Free Will: Jesus tells Mack “I want brothers and sisters who will share life with me.” He indicates that he does not want slaves to do his will. The choice to accept God is available to man, but not forced upon him. The Shack seems to indicate that man has been forgiven for sins and can choose to have a relationship with him. Consequences for the failure to choose are not discussed, but you get an impression that like Mack, man left to his own devices has chosen the consequences of his own actions, to be lost and without any true peace
(5) Forgiveness: The story’s main focus seems to be place on forgiveness. Mack has to first forgive God for the loss of his daughter or at least come to some understanding why God could not intervene to save Missy, perhaps to forgive even her killer. The book seems to expose an unconditional forgiveness, a forgiveness where God has already, long ago forgiven man and offers the opportunities to recognize him through our relationships with others, and to accept the unconditional love and forgiveness as authentic. The mere acceptance of his love and forgiveness affects reconciliation.
(6) Revelation: Both the message that there is a God and that he offers unconditional love and acceptance are messages that are not static or found in the Bible alone. The Shack seems to indicate that there are voices of revelation that call to us everyday if we learn to recognize the “still, small voices.” Revelation comes from within ourselves, from our own voice, and from the voices of the people around us, especially those with whom we are involved in interpersonal relationships; the closer the relationship, the more pronounced and recognizable the voice. This includes your relationship with the Spirit aspect of the tribune. Your relationship with her, gives you the ability to recognize the voice; the more practice you have at paying attention to it, the easier it becomes to recognize. You can also find the voice by observations of your environment. Art, music, science, other people, nature, joy, sorrow are messengers of such a revelation. The Bible is also recognized as a method of communication, but Mack learns that communication also occurs outside of the box and that God’s attempts to communicate with man are persistent and cannot solely be contained in “a box.”
(7) Salvation: The Shack seems to point to a quasi-universal salvation. The acceptance and transformation does not necessarily come from being a Christian alone, there appear to be other paths that can lead one to God.
(8) Politics, Religion and Economics: These are referred to as “man-created trinity of errors that ravage the earth” deceiving us. The book indicates that these things are distractions that lead to falsehoods and not the true path to enlightment.
Needless to say, Paul Young’s modern day interpretation of theology has some of the organized church up in arms. Theologians have called the book “deeply subversive,” “spiritually incorrect,” and “dangerous.” Some have gone as far as to say that “if you haven’t read The Shack, don’t!” I’m not a theologian, but if you are a conservative, strict constructionist of scripture, this book may not be for you. Please be aware that there is controversy that surrounds the book. Paul Young has indicated that he has no desire to “duke it out in a cage-match” with the organized church; the book is more of a recounting of a journey of self discovery and original thought than a new wave religion to be feared. Pulling people away from churches is not the point; sharing the findings of the journey is the point.
With that caveat, I found the book to be brilliant. The obvious metaphor for a journey into the past to unravel the secrets of the universe is handled in a revealing, sensitive way that is incredibly emotional. The distant, judgmental god of Mack’s youth is discarded for a more accepting, loving God; one who gives you the tools and the hope to heal all the items you have placed in your own Shack. Young’s book is a soaring, surprising success. His own story told in an allegory like form of overcoming the ill that has been done him in his life as well as the ill he has done to himself, makes Mack a figure that most of us clearly identify with. This jigsaw puzzle has more than enough pieces to make it interesting reading. The courage that it must have taken Paul Young to make such a self-examination and to write this book for his children must have been difficult enough; the decision to share his thoughts with the rest of us was inspired. In an America, where only 3 of 10 people attend weekly worship services, and literally millions are ignorant of the Bible, The Shack offers comfort and revelation to those who struggle with pain. A fluid and dynamic depiction of a relationship with God and with each other, The Shack is the most original book of 2008. If you have an open mind and are not easily offended by out the box thinking, The Shack offers a doorway to “a free and open life full of love and empty of all secrets.” This is a wonderful little book that friends give to friends. This is literature at its best, a treasure. A great read from a new voice, The Shack receives my highest recommendation.
THE ENTERTAINMENT CRITIC BOOK REVIEW, BY JAMES MYERS www.theentertainmentcritic.com www.theentertainmentcritic.net www.theentertainmentcriticmagazine.com
THE SHACK By William P. Young Published by: Windblown Media Publication Date: May, 2007 Price: $14.99 248 Pages ISBN-13: 9780964729230 Five Star Rating *****
BORN IN GRANDE PRAIRIE, ALBERTA CANADA, MAY 11, 1955 RAISED BY MISSIONARY PARENTS LIVED HIS EARLY LIFE AMONG THE DANI TRIBE WORKED HIS WAY THROUGH BIBLE COLLEGE GRADUATED SUMMA CUM LAUDE FROM WARNER PACIFIC COLLEGE IN PORTLAND, OREGON MARRIED TO KIM WARREN HAS ALWAYS BEEN A WRITER, INCLUDING SONGS, POETRY, SHORT STORIES, OR NEWSLETTERS THE SHACK WAS A STORY HE WROTE FOR HIS 6 CHILDREN AT HIS WIFE’S SUGGESTION WITH NO INTENTION TO PUBLISH HIS CHILDREN, WIFE AND FRIENDS URGED HIM TO MAKE THE BOOK PUBLIC PAUL IS A DEEPLY RELIGIOUS PERSON HE IS NOW THE AUTHOR OF THE SINGLE MOST SURPRISING BOOK OF 2008, AND ARGUABLY THE MOST PHENOMENAL BOOK IN THE HISTORY OF LITERATURE IN WESTERN CIVILIZATION
THE SHACK ORIGINALLY A BOOK/PAMPHLET HE TOOK TO KINKOS TO PUBLISH FOR CHILDREN, WAS PICKED UP AND PUBLISHED BY 2 OF HIS FRIENDS, WAYNE JACOBSEN AND BRAD CUMMING WHO FORMED WINDBLOWN MEDIA FOR THE EXCLUSIVE PURPOSE TO SELF PUBLISH THE SHACK THIS BOOK HAS GONE FROM A HOBBY, TO GARAGE SELLER, TO BEST SELLER THE SHACK HAS RISEN TO BECOME THE #1 BEST SELLING PAPERBACK IN AMERICA HAS BEEN ON THE TOP 50 USA TODAY’S BEST-SELLING BOOKS FOR OVER 20 WEEKS THERE ARE NOW 1.2 MILLION COPIES IN PRINT FAITHWORDS, A DIVISION OF HACHETTE BOOK GROUP SIGNED AS A CO-PUBLISHER WITH WINDBLOWN HACHETTE HAS AGREED TO A 500,000 COPY PRESS RUN IN JUNE 2008 AND A MARKETING CAMPAIGN IN THE SECULAR MARKET IN JULY, 2008 THE BOOK MAY BE MADE INTO A MOVIE
“Now Sarayu paused before answering. ‘You humans, so little in your own eyes. You are truly blind to your own place in the Creation. Having chosen the ravaged path of independence, you don’t even comprehend that you are dragging the entire Creation along with you.’ She shook her head and the wind sighed through the trees nearby. ‘So very sad, but it won’t be this way forever.”
It is rare that I am completely taken by surprise when I read a new book, or at least a book that is new to me. When publishers send advanced copies to be reviewed they also send packets of information about the book, the author and other reviews. By the time I read most of the books that I am sent, I am already writing the review in my head and I have a pretty good idea of what that book, the author and the theme of my review is going to be. With book trailers on You Tube, commercials on televisions, the endless parade of authors on talk shows, and the promotional materials that accompany books, it is rare indeed that the contents of a small, but emotionally powerful and moving book takes me completely off guard. It is even more surprising when I receive a book that is self published that the book is actually a polished, well written, sophisticated, thought provoking product that other reviewers have compared with Pilgrim’s Progress, or any other such benchmarks of classic literature. There is no doubt about it, this book is a five-star winner, maybe 6, that came as a complete and utter surprise to me. This modern day religious parable reminds me of the feeling that I had the first time that I read Paulo Coelho‘s masterpiece, The Alchemist. It is a small, compact story that provokes the depth of thought, and the range of emotions that well-written books were meant to provoke; when reading is truly the best experience. This book, like all masterpieces of literature, is the reason most of us love to read in the first place. I promise you, reading this book could change you life.
The Shack begins 4 years before the actual story begins when Missy, the daughter of Mack (Mackenzie) Phillips is abducted during a family vacation. Her body is never found, but the police found evidence in an abandoned shack proving that the girls was brutally murdered by a notorious serial killer who’s specialty is preying on young girls. The story begins when Mack, who has been living in the shadow of what Young calls his, “Great Sadness,” receives a note from God, inviting him to return to this same shack for a get together, a long encounter with the Holy Trinity. (Paul told me in an interview that the shack is a metaphor for all the evil done to him over the years, for the ugly dark place that seemed beyond God’s healing reach).
After much internal debate, Mack returns to The Shack to be greeted by a matronly large and earthy African-American woman known as Papa, an anthropomorphism of God The Father. He is introduced to the 2 other characters of Jesus, (Abba), a middle aged Jewish man with a prominent nose, and The Holy Spirit (Sarayu), a gentle wind represented by a small, delicate woman of Asian descent. The book is mainly an internal dialogue between Mack and these delightful characters. The key to the book is the revelations that come from the 3 in their conversations with Mack and with each other. The topics that are covered in the book seem to me to be revelations and disclosures to Mack concerning his suffering over his daughter’s loss and the mistrust that he has for a God who allowed his daughter to suffer and die in such a horrifying way. It is as if Mack is being given secret pieces of a jigsaw puzzle to assemble in order to explain the unexplainable aspects of his life; a picture once assembled that shows where all the pieces fit. It is revealed to Mack that God is inherently good and belief in his goodness is the only way to understand and trust in God. The evil in life comes from man and other sources. It is good that is absolute; evil only exists as a contrast to that which is good, sort of a measure to determine what is good. All understanding of God stems from our relationships, not only with God but with other men, with other women, and in our special interpersonal relationships.
The original thought and themes that arise from the book are religiously unorthodox and thought-provoking.
(1) The Path to Enlightenment: “legalistic” organized religion, denominations, and doctrines are not necessary to find God’s love and to affect a rebirth. You can discover Jesus’ love inside of yourself and in your relationships with other people, particularly with the loving relationships that exist in your life;
(2) The Trinity: There is no real hierarchy or chain of command in this group, but they are in a loving circle of relationship, a ‘great chain of being.’ There is also a greater understanding of the human condition that exists within the Trinity. The three are a necessary precondition to all love that exists, and this is the love that all humans seek, even from each other. It is the relationship of the 3, and their relationship to each other that gives birth and is the genesis of all love that exists between men and women.
(3) Submission: Takes on a whole new meaning in this book, submission becomes devotion, love and respect. The three are submitted or in a relationship with each that they wish to share with Mack. They in turn submit or acknowledge the love and respect that they have for him. To experience this submission correctly, the feelings must be mutual; to regard each others concerns to be as significant as your own. Hierarchy is unnecessary.
(4) Free Will: Jesus tells Mack “I want brothers and sisters who will share life with me.” He indicates that he does not want slaves to do his will. The choice to accept God is available to man, but not forced upon him. The Shack seems to indicate that man has been forgiven for sins and can choose to have a relationship with him. Consequences for the failure to choose are not discussed, but you get an impression that like Mack, man left to his own devices has chosen the consequences of his own actions, to be lost and without any true peace
(5) Forgiveness: The story’s main focus seems to be place on forgiveness. Mack has to first forgive God for the loss of his daughter or at least come to some understanding why God could not intervene to save Missy, perhaps to forgive even her killer. The book seems to expose an unconditional forgiveness, a forgiveness where God has already, long ago forgiven man and offers the opportunities to recognize him through our relationships with others, and to accept the unconditional love and forgiveness as authentic. The mere acceptance of his love and forgiveness affects reconciliation.
(6) Revelation: Both the message that there is a God and that he offers unconditional love and acceptance are messages that are not static or found in the Bible alone. The Shack seems to indicate that there are voices of revelation that call to us everyday if we learn to recognize the “still, small voices.” Revelation comes from within ourselves, from our own voice, and from the voices of the people around us, especially those with whom we are involved in interpersonal relationships; the closer the relationship, the more pronounced and recognizable the voice. This includes your relationship with the Spirit aspect of the tribune. Your relationship with her, gives you the ability to recognize the voice; the more practice you have at paying attention to it, the easier it becomes to recognize. You can also find the voice by observations of your environment. Art, music, science, other people, nature, joy, sorrow are messengers of such a revelation. The Bible is also recognized as a method of communication, but Mack learns that communication also occurs outside of the box and that God’s attempts to communicate with man are persistent and cannot solely be contained in “a box.”
(7) Salvation: The Shack seems to point to a quasi-universal salvation. The acceptance and transformation does not necessarily come from being a Christian alone, there appear to be other paths that can lead one to God.
(8) Politics, Religion and Economics: These are referred to as “man-created trinity of errors that ravage the earth” deceiving us. The book indicates that these things are distractions that lead to falsehoods and not the true path to enlightment.
Needless to say, Paul Young’s modern day interpretation of theology has some of the organized church up in arms. Theologians have called the book “deeply subversive,” “spiritually incorrect,” and “dangerous.” Some have gone as far as to say that “if you haven’t read The Shack, don’t!” I’m not a theologian, but if you are a conservative, strict constructionist of scripture, this book may not be for you. Please be aware that there is controversy that surrounds the book. Paul Young has indicated that he has no desire to “duke it out in a cage-match” with the organized church; the book is more of a recounting of a journey of self discovery and original thought than a new wave religion to be feared. Pulling people away from churches is not the point; sharing the findings of the journey is the point.
With that caveat, I found the book to be brilliant. The obvious metaphor for a journey into the past to unravel the secrets of the universe is handled in a revealing, sensitive way that is incredibly emotional. The distant, judgmental god of Mack’s youth is discarded for a more accepting, loving God; one who gives you the tools and the hope to heal all the items you have placed in your own Shack. Young’s book is a soaring, surprising success. His own story told in an allegory like form of overcoming the ill that has been done him in his life as well as the ill he has done to himself, makes Mack a figure that most of us clearly identify with. This jigsaw puzzle has more than enough pieces to make it interesting reading. The courage that it must have taken Paul Young to make such a self-examination and to write this book for his children must have been difficult enough; the decision to share his thoughts with the rest of us was inspired. In an America, where only 3 of 10 people attend weekly worship services, and literally millions are ignorant of the Bible, The Shack offers comfort and revelation to those who struggle with pain. A fluid and dynamic depiction of a relationship with God and with each other, The Shack is the most original book of 2008. If you have an open mind and are not easily offended by out the box thinking, The Shack offers a doorway to “a free and open life full of love and empty of all secrets.” This is a wonderful little book that friends give to friends. This is literature at its best, a treasure. A great read from a new voice, The Shack receives my highest recommendation.
New Book Review From The Entertainment Critic: What Happened by Scott McClellan
What Happened
THE ENTERTAINMENT CRITIC BOOK REVIEW, BY JAMES MYERS www.theentertainmentcritic.com www.theentertainmentcritic.net www.theentertainmentcriticmagazine.com
WHAT HAPPENED By Scott McClellan Published by: Public Affairs Books, a Division of Perseus Books Publication Date: May 28, 2008 Price: $27.95 368 Pages ISBN-13: 9781586485566 Four Star Rating ****
SCOTT MCCLELLAN SERVED AS WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY FROM 2003 TO 2006, BEFORE THAT HE SERVED AS THE PRINCIPAL DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY AND AS TRAVELING PRESS SECRETARY FOR THE BUSH-CHENEY 2000 CAMPAIGN. EARLIER IN HIS CAREER, MR. MCCLELLAN SERVED AS DEPUTY COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR IN THE TEXAS GOVERNOR'S OFFICE AND CAMPAIGN MANAGER FOR THREE SUCCESSFUL STATEWIDE CAMPAIGNS. HE IS NOW A SENIOR ADVISER TO A GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY FIRM AND COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGIST. BORN IN AUSTIN, TEXAS, HE NOW LIVES NEAR WASHINGTON, D.C
“The University of Texas has always been special to my family and me. My grandfather, the late Page Keeton, was the legendary dean who led its law school to national prominence. I was born and reared in Austin, Texas, where it is located, and earned an undergraduate degree from the university.
I am very familiar with the UT Tower, the main building in the center of campus, with words from the Gospel of John carved in stone above its south entrance: “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”
Those powerful words have always piqued my curiosity, as a person of faith and as an ordinary human being keenly interested in the larger meaning of life. But not until the past few years have I come to truly appreciate their message.
Perhaps God’s greatest gift to us in life is the ability to learn from our experiences, especially our mistakes, and grow into better people. That uniquely human quality is rooted in free will and blossoms in our capacity for knowledge, based on understanding the truth — not as we might imagine or wish it to be, but as it is. And that includes recognizing our faults and accepting responsibility for them. Through contrition we find the truth and the freedom that comes with it, even as we improve ourselves and grow closer to the image that God our Creator has in mind for us to become.
My mother, who began her career in public service as a high school civics and history teacher, likes to say, “It is people, not events, that shape history.” She couldn’t be more right. History is rooted in the choices made by people — flawed, fallible people.
This is a book about the slice of history I witnessed during my years in the White House and about the well-intentioned but flawed human beings — myself included — who shaped that history. I’ve written it not to settle scores or enhance my own role but simply to record what I know and what I learned in hopes that my account will deepen our understanding of contemporary history, particularly the events that followed the tragic attacks of September 11, 2001.
I began the process of writing this book by putting myself under the microscope. In my efforts on behalf of the presidential administration of George W. Bush I fell far short of living up to the kind of public servant I wanted to be. Having accepted the post of White House press secretary at age 35 and possessing scant experience of the Washington power game, I didn’t fully understand what I was getting myself into. Today, I understand it much better. This book records the often painful process by which I gained that understanding.
I frequently stumbled along the way and failed in my duty to myself, to the president I served, and to the American people. I tried to play the Washington game according to the current rules and, at times, didn’t play it very well. Because I didn’t stay true to myself, I couldn’t stay true to others. The mistakes were mine, and I’ve suffered the consequences.
My own story, however, is of small importance in the broad historical picture. More significant is the larger story in which I played a minor role — the story of how the presidency of George W. Bush veered terribly off course.
As press secretary, I spent countless hours defending the administration from the podium in the White House briefing room. Although the things I said then were sincere, I have since come to realize that some of them were badly misguided. In these pages, I’ve tried to come to grips with some of the truths that life inside the White House bubble obscured.
My friends and former colleagues who lived and worked or are still living and working inside that bubble may not be happy with the perspective I present here. Many of them, I’m sure, remain convinced that the Bush administration has been fundamentally correct in its most controversial policy judgments, and that the dis-esteem in which most Americans currently hold it is undeserved. Only time will tell. But I’ve become genuinely convinced otherwise.
The episode that became the jumping-off point for this book was the scandal over the leaking of classified national security information — the so-called Plame affair. It originated in a controversy over the intelligence the Bush administration used to make the case that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq represented a “grave and gathering danger” that needed to be eliminated. When a covert CIA officer's identity was disclosed during the ensuing partisan warfare, turning the controversy into the latest Washington scandal, I was caught up in the deception that followed. It was the defining moment in my time working for the president, and one of the most painful experiences of my life
When words I uttered, believing them to be true, were exposed as false, I was constrained by my duties and loyalty to the president and unable to comment. But I promised reporters and the public that I would someday tell the whole story of what I knew. After leaving the White House, I realized that the story was meaningless without an appreciation of the personal, political, and institutional context in which it took place. So the story grew into a book.
Writing it wasn’t easy. Some of the best advice I received as I began came from a senior editor at a publishing house that expressed interest in my book. He said the hardest challenge for me would be to keep questioning my own beliefs and perceptions throughout the writing process. His advice was prescient. I’ve found myself constantly questioning my own thinking, my assumptions, my interpretations of events. Many of the conclusions I’ve reached are quite different from those I would have embraced at the start of the process. The quest for truth has been a struggle for me, but a rewarding one. I don’t claim a monopoly on truth. But after wrestling with my experiences over the past several months, I’ve come much closer to my truth than ever before.
Many readers will have come to this book out of curiosity about the man who is a leading character in my story, President George W. Bush. You’ll learn about my relationship with him and my experiences as part of his team as you read these pages. For now, let me observe that much of what the general public knows about Bush is true. He is a man of personal charm, wit, and enormous political skill. Like many other people, I was inspired to follow him by his disarming personality and by his record as a popular, bipartisan governor who set a constructive tone and got things done for the people. We all hoped and believed he could do the same for the nation.
Certainly the seeds of greatness seemed to be present in the Bush administration. Although Bush attained the White House only after an extended legal battle over the outcome of the 2000 election, he began his presidency with considerable goodwill. He commanded a rare, extended period of national unity following the unimaginable national tragedy that struck our nation in September 2001.
On paper, the team Bush assembled was impressive. Vice President Dick Cheney was a serious, vastly experienced hand in the top levels of government. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld had already enjoyed one successful run at the Pentagon and boasted a résumé listing a string of business and government achievements. Secretary of State Colin Powell, an able and widely respected military leader, was easily the most popular public figure in the country and could well have been the first African American president of the United States had he been interested in the job. Even Bush’s chief political adviser, Karl Rove, had a powerful reputation as a brilliant strategic thinker who was helping to make the Republican party the nation’s greatest political force.
I believed in George W. Bush’s leadership and agenda for America, and had confidence in his authenticity, integrity, and judgment. But today the high hopes that accompanied the early days of his presidency have fallen back to earth.
Rumsfeld and Powell are gone, their tenures controversial and disappointing. Vice President Cheney’s role is widely viewed as sinister and destructive of the president’s legacy. And Rove’s reputation for political genius is now matched by his reputation as an operative who places political gain ahead of the national interest.
Through it all, President Bush remains very much the same. He is self-confident, quick-witted, down-to-earth, and stubborn, as leaders sometimes need to be. His manner is authentic, his beliefs sincere. I never knew Lyndon Johnson (another Texan with a stubborn streak whose domestic accomplishments were overshadowed by a controversial war) or Richard Nixon (a president whose historically low poll ratings following Watergate have been rivaled only by Bush’s). But according to historians, both men were consumed with defensiveness, anger, and ultimately anguish as their presidencies unraveled under the pressure of war and scandal, respectively. George W. Bush is different. He is very much the man he always was — though not quite the leader I once imagined him to be.
It was the decision to go to war in Iraq that pushed Bush’s presidency off course. It was a fateful misstep based on a confluence of events (the shock of 9/11 and our surprisingly — and deceptively — quick initial military success in Afghanistan), human nature (ambition, certitude, and self-deceit), and a divinely inspired passion (President Bush’s deeply held belief that all people have a God-given right to live in freedom). For Bush, removing the “grave and gathering danger” that Iraq supposedly posed was primarily a means for achieving the far more grandiose objective of reshaping the Middle East as a region of peaceful democracies.
History appears poised to confirm what most Americans today have decided — that the decision to invade Iraq was a serious strategic blunder. No one, including me, can know with absolute certainty how the war will be viewed decades from now when we can more fully understand its impact. What I do know is that war should only be waged when necessary, and the Iraq war was not necessary.
Waging an unnecessary war is a grave mistake. But in reflecting on all that happened during the Bush administration, I’ve come to believe that an even more fundamental mistake was made — a decision to turn away from candor and honesty when those qualities were most needed.
Most of our elected leaders in Washington, Republicans and Democrats alike, are good and decent people. Yet too many of them today have made a practice of shunning truth and the high level of openness and forthrightness required to discover it. Most of it is not willful or conscious. Rather it is part of the modern Washington game that has become the accepted norm.
As I explain in this book, Washington has become the home of the permanent campaign, a game of endless politicking based on the manipulation of shades of truth, partial truths, twisting of the truth, and spin. Governing has become an appendage of politics rather than the other way around, with electoral victory and the control of power as the sole measures of success. That means shaping the narrative before it shapes you. Candor and honesty are pushed to the side in the battle to win the latest news cycle.
Of course, deception in politics is nothing new. What’s new is the degree to which it now permeates our national political discourse.
Much of it is barely noticeable and seemingly harmless, accepted as par for the course. Most of it is done unconsciously or subconsciously with no malicious intent other than to prevail in the increasingly destructive game of power and influence.
Some of it is self-deceit. Those engaging in it convince themselves to believe what they are saying, though deep down they know candor and honesty are lacking. Instead of checking their political maneuvering at the door when the campaign ends, they retain it as part of the way Washington works. The deception it spawns becomes the cancer on our political discourse, greatly damaging the ability of our elected leaders to govern effectively and do what is best for America.
Too many politicians and their followers have become passionately committed to a preconceived, partisan view of reality that allows little room for compromise or cooperation with the other side. The gray nuances of truth are lost in the black-and-white ideologies both parties embrace. Permanent division, gridlock, and a general inability to constructively address the big challenges we all face inevitably follow.
President Bush, I believe, did not consciously set out to engage in these destructive practices. But like others before him, he chose to play the Washington game the way he found it, rather than changing the culture as he vowed to do at the outset of his campaign for the presidency. And like others before him, he has engaged in a degree of self-deception that may be psychologically necessary to justify the tactics needed to win the political game.
The permanent campaign also ensnares the media, who become complicit enablers of its polarizing effects. They emphasize conflict, controversy, and negativity, focusing not on the real-world impact of policies and their larger, underlying truths but on the horse race aspects of politics — who’s winning, who’s losing, and why.
In exploring this syndrome and the way it helped damage at least one administration, I’ve tried to contribute to our understanding of Washington’s culture of deception and how we, the American people, can change it.
Although my time in the Bush White House did not work out as I once hoped, my optimism regarding America has been strengthened. I’ve met many, many people who are eager for positive change and are ready to devote their lives and energies to the future of our country. I still believe, in the words of then-Governor Bush, that it’s possible to show “that politics, after a time of tarnished ideals, can be higher and better.” I’m convinced that, if we take a clear-eyed look at how our system has gone awry and think seriously about how to fix it, there’s nothing we can’t achieve.
This book, I hope, will contribute to that national conversation.” Scott McClellan, former Press Secretary to President George W. Bush, has written an explosive, new book, What Happened that does not ask the question as much as it supplies the missing pieces of the answer. At the age of 30, he accepted what appeared to bed the job of a lifetime, press spokesman for Texas governor, George W. Bush. Bush was just beginning his candidacy for President. Scott identified with GWB due to his strong record of successful bipartisan leadership, as a compassionate, committed conservative. He was particularly inspired by his promise to restore dignity and honesty to the Office of The President of the United States after the tumultuous years under Bill Clinton’s scandalous and partisan administration.
McClellan served the “W” White House for over 7 years as part of the inner circle of trusted advisors to the President, as well as his Press Secretary. From his position and vantage point, he witness the events of the most challenging and contentious periods in American history. He witnessed the day to day operations of the Bush White House, and observed it veer disastrously and irretrievably off course. In this startlingly, candid book, he shares his provocative story with the American people.
What Happened provides a one of a kind prospective of all of the events, policies, and personalities of the Bush administration, including the Iraq War, 9/11, the Valerie Plame leak scandal, Hurricane Katrina and all of the propaganda and marketing campaigns designed to exculpate the White House and mislead the American people.
What Happened demonstrates what President Bush knew or should have known, how the Bush White House operates, and how the goals and priorities of the Bush Administration were shaped and focused. Scott offers completely unique opinions about the roles and personalities of the top advisors including, Karl Rove, Andy Card, Karen Hughes, Condoleezza Rice, and VP Dick Cheney.
More importantly, this book is a true confession of Scott’s understanding of exactly how our political culture became so toxic and intolerable. His compelling case against ‘politics as usual’ in the process of campaigning, governing, or covering politics for the media is the most unique insights offered into modern politics currently in written form. He has also offered potential solutions to make institutional changes to reform the Washington policies of deception that he feels poisoned the Bush Administration for within. He offers sound advice to the American people concerning the selection of a new leader.
This book blows the lid off of the incredibly secretive and manipulating workings of the Bush administration, and comes at a time when the President is still in office. His writing shows the painful truth that the powers to be were ultimately deceiving themselves. It is an often all too painful acknowledgement of what occurred, and his role in it. This is the most open, vivid and disturbing political book so far this year, giving incredible insight into the upcoming Presidential elections. Don’t miss this one. It is a political fireball of an eye opener.
THE ENTERTAINMENT CRITIC BOOK REVIEW, BY JAMES MYERS www.theentertainmentcritic.com www.theentertainmentcritic.net www.theentertainmentcriticmagazine.com
WHAT HAPPENED By Scott McClellan Published by: Public Affairs Books, a Division of Perseus Books Publication Date: May 28, 2008 Price: $27.95 368 Pages ISBN-13: 9781586485566 Four Star Rating ****
SCOTT MCCLELLAN SERVED AS WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY FROM 2003 TO 2006, BEFORE THAT HE SERVED AS THE PRINCIPAL DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY AND AS TRAVELING PRESS SECRETARY FOR THE BUSH-CHENEY 2000 CAMPAIGN. EARLIER IN HIS CAREER, MR. MCCLELLAN SERVED AS DEPUTY COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR IN THE TEXAS GOVERNOR'S OFFICE AND CAMPAIGN MANAGER FOR THREE SUCCESSFUL STATEWIDE CAMPAIGNS. HE IS NOW A SENIOR ADVISER TO A GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY FIRM AND COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGIST. BORN IN AUSTIN, TEXAS, HE NOW LIVES NEAR WASHINGTON, D.C
“The University of Texas has always been special to my family and me. My grandfather, the late Page Keeton, was the legendary dean who led its law school to national prominence. I was born and reared in Austin, Texas, where it is located, and earned an undergraduate degree from the university.
I am very familiar with the UT Tower, the main building in the center of campus, with words from the Gospel of John carved in stone above its south entrance: “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”
Those powerful words have always piqued my curiosity, as a person of faith and as an ordinary human being keenly interested in the larger meaning of life. But not until the past few years have I come to truly appreciate their message.
Perhaps God’s greatest gift to us in life is the ability to learn from our experiences, especially our mistakes, and grow into better people. That uniquely human quality is rooted in free will and blossoms in our capacity for knowledge, based on understanding the truth — not as we might imagine or wish it to be, but as it is. And that includes recognizing our faults and accepting responsibility for them. Through contrition we find the truth and the freedom that comes with it, even as we improve ourselves and grow closer to the image that God our Creator has in mind for us to become.
My mother, who began her career in public service as a high school civics and history teacher, likes to say, “It is people, not events, that shape history.” She couldn’t be more right. History is rooted in the choices made by people — flawed, fallible people.
This is a book about the slice of history I witnessed during my years in the White House and about the well-intentioned but flawed human beings — myself included — who shaped that history. I’ve written it not to settle scores or enhance my own role but simply to record what I know and what I learned in hopes that my account will deepen our understanding of contemporary history, particularly the events that followed the tragic attacks of September 11, 2001.
I began the process of writing this book by putting myself under the microscope. In my efforts on behalf of the presidential administration of George W. Bush I fell far short of living up to the kind of public servant I wanted to be. Having accepted the post of White House press secretary at age 35 and possessing scant experience of the Washington power game, I didn’t fully understand what I was getting myself into. Today, I understand it much better. This book records the often painful process by which I gained that understanding.
I frequently stumbled along the way and failed in my duty to myself, to the president I served, and to the American people. I tried to play the Washington game according to the current rules and, at times, didn’t play it very well. Because I didn’t stay true to myself, I couldn’t stay true to others. The mistakes were mine, and I’ve suffered the consequences.
My own story, however, is of small importance in the broad historical picture. More significant is the larger story in which I played a minor role — the story of how the presidency of George W. Bush veered terribly off course.
As press secretary, I spent countless hours defending the administration from the podium in the White House briefing room. Although the things I said then were sincere, I have since come to realize that some of them were badly misguided. In these pages, I’ve tried to come to grips with some of the truths that life inside the White House bubble obscured.
My friends and former colleagues who lived and worked or are still living and working inside that bubble may not be happy with the perspective I present here. Many of them, I’m sure, remain convinced that the Bush administration has been fundamentally correct in its most controversial policy judgments, and that the dis-esteem in which most Americans currently hold it is undeserved. Only time will tell. But I’ve become genuinely convinced otherwise.
The episode that became the jumping-off point for this book was the scandal over the leaking of classified national security information — the so-called Plame affair. It originated in a controversy over the intelligence the Bush administration used to make the case that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq represented a “grave and gathering danger” that needed to be eliminated. When a covert CIA officer's identity was disclosed during the ensuing partisan warfare, turning the controversy into the latest Washington scandal, I was caught up in the deception that followed. It was the defining moment in my time working for the president, and one of the most painful experiences of my life
When words I uttered, believing them to be true, were exposed as false, I was constrained by my duties and loyalty to the president and unable to comment. But I promised reporters and the public that I would someday tell the whole story of what I knew. After leaving the White House, I realized that the story was meaningless without an appreciation of the personal, political, and institutional context in which it took place. So the story grew into a book.
Writing it wasn’t easy. Some of the best advice I received as I began came from a senior editor at a publishing house that expressed interest in my book. He said the hardest challenge for me would be to keep questioning my own beliefs and perceptions throughout the writing process. His advice was prescient. I’ve found myself constantly questioning my own thinking, my assumptions, my interpretations of events. Many of the conclusions I’ve reached are quite different from those I would have embraced at the start of the process. The quest for truth has been a struggle for me, but a rewarding one. I don’t claim a monopoly on truth. But after wrestling with my experiences over the past several months, I’ve come much closer to my truth than ever before.
Many readers will have come to this book out of curiosity about the man who is a leading character in my story, President George W. Bush. You’ll learn about my relationship with him and my experiences as part of his team as you read these pages. For now, let me observe that much of what the general public knows about Bush is true. He is a man of personal charm, wit, and enormous political skill. Like many other people, I was inspired to follow him by his disarming personality and by his record as a popular, bipartisan governor who set a constructive tone and got things done for the people. We all hoped and believed he could do the same for the nation.
Certainly the seeds of greatness seemed to be present in the Bush administration. Although Bush attained the White House only after an extended legal battle over the outcome of the 2000 election, he began his presidency with considerable goodwill. He commanded a rare, extended period of national unity following the unimaginable national tragedy that struck our nation in September 2001.
On paper, the team Bush assembled was impressive. Vice President Dick Cheney was a serious, vastly experienced hand in the top levels of government. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld had already enjoyed one successful run at the Pentagon and boasted a résumé listing a string of business and government achievements. Secretary of State Colin Powell, an able and widely respected military leader, was easily the most popular public figure in the country and could well have been the first African American president of the United States had he been interested in the job. Even Bush’s chief political adviser, Karl Rove, had a powerful reputation as a brilliant strategic thinker who was helping to make the Republican party the nation’s greatest political force.
I believed in George W. Bush’s leadership and agenda for America, and had confidence in his authenticity, integrity, and judgment. But today the high hopes that accompanied the early days of his presidency have fallen back to earth.
Rumsfeld and Powell are gone, their tenures controversial and disappointing. Vice President Cheney’s role is widely viewed as sinister and destructive of the president’s legacy. And Rove’s reputation for political genius is now matched by his reputation as an operative who places political gain ahead of the national interest.
Through it all, President Bush remains very much the same. He is self-confident, quick-witted, down-to-earth, and stubborn, as leaders sometimes need to be. His manner is authentic, his beliefs sincere. I never knew Lyndon Johnson (another Texan with a stubborn streak whose domestic accomplishments were overshadowed by a controversial war) or Richard Nixon (a president whose historically low poll ratings following Watergate have been rivaled only by Bush’s). But according to historians, both men were consumed with defensiveness, anger, and ultimately anguish as their presidencies unraveled under the pressure of war and scandal, respectively. George W. Bush is different. He is very much the man he always was — though not quite the leader I once imagined him to be.
It was the decision to go to war in Iraq that pushed Bush’s presidency off course. It was a fateful misstep based on a confluence of events (the shock of 9/11 and our surprisingly — and deceptively — quick initial military success in Afghanistan), human nature (ambition, certitude, and self-deceit), and a divinely inspired passion (President Bush’s deeply held belief that all people have a God-given right to live in freedom). For Bush, removing the “grave and gathering danger” that Iraq supposedly posed was primarily a means for achieving the far more grandiose objective of reshaping the Middle East as a region of peaceful democracies.
History appears poised to confirm what most Americans today have decided — that the decision to invade Iraq was a serious strategic blunder. No one, including me, can know with absolute certainty how the war will be viewed decades from now when we can more fully understand its impact. What I do know is that war should only be waged when necessary, and the Iraq war was not necessary.
Waging an unnecessary war is a grave mistake. But in reflecting on all that happened during the Bush administration, I’ve come to believe that an even more fundamental mistake was made — a decision to turn away from candor and honesty when those qualities were most needed.
Most of our elected leaders in Washington, Republicans and Democrats alike, are good and decent people. Yet too many of them today have made a practice of shunning truth and the high level of openness and forthrightness required to discover it. Most of it is not willful or conscious. Rather it is part of the modern Washington game that has become the accepted norm.
As I explain in this book, Washington has become the home of the permanent campaign, a game of endless politicking based on the manipulation of shades of truth, partial truths, twisting of the truth, and spin. Governing has become an appendage of politics rather than the other way around, with electoral victory and the control of power as the sole measures of success. That means shaping the narrative before it shapes you. Candor and honesty are pushed to the side in the battle to win the latest news cycle.
Of course, deception in politics is nothing new. What’s new is the degree to which it now permeates our national political discourse.
Much of it is barely noticeable and seemingly harmless, accepted as par for the course. Most of it is done unconsciously or subconsciously with no malicious intent other than to prevail in the increasingly destructive game of power and influence.
Some of it is self-deceit. Those engaging in it convince themselves to believe what they are saying, though deep down they know candor and honesty are lacking. Instead of checking their political maneuvering at the door when the campaign ends, they retain it as part of the way Washington works. The deception it spawns becomes the cancer on our political discourse, greatly damaging the ability of our elected leaders to govern effectively and do what is best for America.
Too many politicians and their followers have become passionately committed to a preconceived, partisan view of reality that allows little room for compromise or cooperation with the other side. The gray nuances of truth are lost in the black-and-white ideologies both parties embrace. Permanent division, gridlock, and a general inability to constructively address the big challenges we all face inevitably follow.
President Bush, I believe, did not consciously set out to engage in these destructive practices. But like others before him, he chose to play the Washington game the way he found it, rather than changing the culture as he vowed to do at the outset of his campaign for the presidency. And like others before him, he has engaged in a degree of self-deception that may be psychologically necessary to justify the tactics needed to win the political game.
The permanent campaign also ensnares the media, who become complicit enablers of its polarizing effects. They emphasize conflict, controversy, and negativity, focusing not on the real-world impact of policies and their larger, underlying truths but on the horse race aspects of politics — who’s winning, who’s losing, and why.
In exploring this syndrome and the way it helped damage at least one administration, I’ve tried to contribute to our understanding of Washington’s culture of deception and how we, the American people, can change it.
Although my time in the Bush White House did not work out as I once hoped, my optimism regarding America has been strengthened. I’ve met many, many people who are eager for positive change and are ready to devote their lives and energies to the future of our country. I still believe, in the words of then-Governor Bush, that it’s possible to show “that politics, after a time of tarnished ideals, can be higher and better.” I’m convinced that, if we take a clear-eyed look at how our system has gone awry and think seriously about how to fix it, there’s nothing we can’t achieve.
This book, I hope, will contribute to that national conversation.” Scott McClellan, former Press Secretary to President George W. Bush, has written an explosive, new book, What Happened that does not ask the question as much as it supplies the missing pieces of the answer. At the age of 30, he accepted what appeared to bed the job of a lifetime, press spokesman for Texas governor, George W. Bush. Bush was just beginning his candidacy for President. Scott identified with GWB due to his strong record of successful bipartisan leadership, as a compassionate, committed conservative. He was particularly inspired by his promise to restore dignity and honesty to the Office of The President of the United States after the tumultuous years under Bill Clinton’s scandalous and partisan administration.
McClellan served the “W” White House for over 7 years as part of the inner circle of trusted advisors to the President, as well as his Press Secretary. From his position and vantage point, he witness the events of the most challenging and contentious periods in American history. He witnessed the day to day operations of the Bush White House, and observed it veer disastrously and irretrievably off course. In this startlingly, candid book, he shares his provocative story with the American people.
What Happened provides a one of a kind prospective of all of the events, policies, and personalities of the Bush administration, including the Iraq War, 9/11, the Valerie Plame leak scandal, Hurricane Katrina and all of the propaganda and marketing campaigns designed to exculpate the White House and mislead the American people.
What Happened demonstrates what President Bush knew or should have known, how the Bush White House operates, and how the goals and priorities of the Bush Administration were shaped and focused. Scott offers completely unique opinions about the roles and personalities of the top advisors including, Karl Rove, Andy Card, Karen Hughes, Condoleezza Rice, and VP Dick Cheney.
More importantly, this book is a true confession of Scott’s understanding of exactly how our political culture became so toxic and intolerable. His compelling case against ‘politics as usual’ in the process of campaigning, governing, or covering politics for the media is the most unique insights offered into modern politics currently in written form. He has also offered potential solutions to make institutional changes to reform the Washington policies of deception that he feels poisoned the Bush Administration for within. He offers sound advice to the American people concerning the selection of a new leader.
This book blows the lid off of the incredibly secretive and manipulating workings of the Bush administration, and comes at a time when the President is still in office. His writing shows the painful truth that the powers to be were ultimately deceiving themselves. It is an often all too painful acknowledgement of what occurred, and his role in it. This is the most open, vivid and disturbing political book so far this year, giving incredible insight into the upcoming Presidential elections. Don’t miss this one. It is a political fireball of an eye opener.
New Book Review by The Entertainment Critic: The Host
BEST NEW RELEASE
The Host
THE ENTERTAINMENT CRITIC BOOK REVIEW, BY JAMES MYERS www.theentertainmentcritic.com www.theentertainmentcritic.net www.theentertainmentcriticmagazine.com
THE BEST NEW RELEASE
THE HOST By Stephenie Meyer Published by: Little, Brown & Company Publication Date: May 6, 2008 Price: $25.99 624 Pages ISBN-13: 9780316068048 Five Star Rating *****
New Interview From The Entertainment Critic: The Broken Window
NEW INTERVIEW FROM THE ENTERTAINMENT CRITIC: JEFFERY DEAVER, AUTHOR OF THE BROKEN WINDOW
Please check out the new interview by James Myers, The Entertainment Critic, of Author Jeffery Deaver, about his new Lincoln Rhymes book, the new best seller, The Broken Window.
From The Publisher: “Lincoln Rhyme and partner/paramour Amelia Sachs return to face a criminal whose ingenious staging of crimes is enabled by a terrifying access to information....
When Lincoln's estranged cousin Arthur Rhyme is arrested on murder charges, the case is perfect -- too perfect. Forensic evidence from Arthur's home is found all over the scene of the crime, and it looks like the fate of Lincoln's relative is sealed.
At the behest of Arthur's wife, Judy, Lincoln grudgingly agrees to investigate the case. Soon Lincoln and Amelia uncover a string of similar murders and rapes with perpetrators claiming innocence and ignorance -- despite ironclad evidence at the scenes of the crime. Rhyme's team realizes this "perfect" evidence may actually be the result of masterful identity theft and manipulation.
An information service company -- the huge data miner Strategic Systems Datacorp -- seems to have all the answers but is reluctant to help the police. Still, Rhyme and Sachs and their assembled team begin uncovering a chilling pattern of vicious crimes and coverups, and their investigation points to one master criminal, whom they dub "522."
When "522" learns the identities of the crime-fighting team, the hunters become the hunted. Full of Deaver's trademark plot twists, The Broken Window will put the partnership of Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs to the ultimate test.”
This interview is available exclusively on The Entertainment Critic Magazine, found at http://www.theentertainmentcriticmagazine.com.
To listen to the interview: To access the interview, look under the Interview section. Click on the wavy lines in the top right hand corner to stop the music, and then click on the MP3 player in the lower left corner. You'll see the interview listed, click on Jeff’s name in the player, the interview will take a moment to download and then will begin playing Enjoy the interview, and please drop us a line at james@theentertainmentcriticmagazine.com and let us know how you liked the interview and if there is anything we can do to improve our process.
Jeff’s Website: http://www.jefferydeaver.com/
You Tube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JfQopn4uMY ... (continue)
NEW INTERVIEW FROM THE ENTERTAINMENT CRITIC: JEFFERY DEAVER, AUTHOR OF THE BROKEN WINDOW
Please check out the new interview by James Myers, The Entertainment Critic, of Author Jeffery Deaver, about his new Lincoln Rhymes book, the new best seller, The Broken Window.
From The Publisher: “Lincoln Rhyme and partner/paramour Amelia Sachs return to face a criminal whose ingenious staging of crimes is enabled by a terrifying access to information....
When Lincoln's estranged cousin Arthur Rhyme is arrested on murder charges, the case is perfect -- too perfect. Forensic evidence from Arthur's home is found all over the scene of the crime, and it looks like the fate of Lincoln's relative is sealed.
At the behest of Arthur's wife, Judy, Lincoln grudgingly agrees to investigate the case. Soon Lincoln and Amelia uncover a string of similar murders and rapes with perpetrators claiming innocence and ignorance -- despite ironclad evidence at the scenes of the crime. Rhyme's team realizes this "perfect" evidence may actually be the result of masterful identity theft and manipulation.
An information service company -- the huge data miner Strategic Systems Datacorp -- seems to have all the answers but is reluctant to help the police. Still, Rhyme and Sachs and their assembled team begin uncovering a chilling pattern of vicious crimes and coverups, and their investigation points to one master criminal, whom they dub "522."
When "522" learns the identities of the crime-fighting team, the hunters become the hunted. Full of Deaver's trademark plot twists, The Broken Window will put the partnership of Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs to the ultimate test.”
This interview is available exclusively on The Entertainment Critic Magazine, found at http://www.theentertainmentcriticmagazine.com.
To listen to the interview: To access the interview, look under the Interview section. Click on the wavy lines in the top right hand corner to stop the music, and then click on the MP3 player in the lower left corner. You'll see the interview listed, click on Jeff’s name in the player, the interview will take a moment to download and then will begin playing Enjoy the interview, and please drop us a line at james@theentertainmentcriticmagazine.com and let us know how you liked the interview and if there is anything we can do to improve our process.
Jeff’s Website: http://www.jefferydeaver.com/
You Tube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JfQopn4uMY
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