|
| A Time to Fight: Reclaiming a Fair and Just America | 
 enlarge | Author: Jim Webb
Publisher: Broadway
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy Used: $4.25
You Save: $20.70 (83%)
New (49) Used (29) from $4.25
Avg. Customer Rating:  38 reviews
Sales Rank: 21145
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.3
ISBN: 0767928350
Dewey Decimal Number: 320.60973
EAN: 9780767928359
ASIN: 0767928350
Publication Date: May 19, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Good Bright with unmarked text and solid binding. gift inscription to front end paper. slight spine roll. shelf wear. good plus in very good dust wrapper.
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Well written July 20, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Senator Webb writes extremely well. He makes a strong case for his beliefs. I was particularly impressed with his discussion about the state of imprisonment in this country.
 All Americans need to read this book August 25, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Being a former Marine also and the fact that my family roots started in Virginia. Sen. Web gives a stunning account of both his personal life and a look inside the halls of Congress. His book is on target as to where we as Americans are today. And what we as a nation need to do to bring our nation back together. I salute you LT. Semper Fi
 a time to fight September 7, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
While I have a great deal of respect for Senator Webb, I was disappointed by his book. In the book, Webb takes to task the policies of the Bush administration, the corruption in the Senate, the truculent campaign of Chuck Robb, the conduct of the war and so on. But where he falls short is in his ability to deliver fresh ideas for how to solve some of the pressing issues that plague the country.
If the objective of the book was to leave the reader with a heightened respect for Senator Webb's service to our country and his knowledge of world affairs, the book succeeded. If the objective was to expose issues of political shortcomings, elevate the discourse, and offer compelling solutions, then it failed.
Challenge to today's Americans September 22, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"A Time to Fight" is largely autobiographical, describing Webb's family background, military career (Viet Nam), writing career (several novels), Washington bureaucrat career (Secretary of the Navy), bitterly fought 2006 Senate campaign, and now his Senate career. Very impressive, obviously.
In the midst of all that, Webb also includes numerous historical references and anecdotes, mostly about military history, politics, and economics.
The rest of the book describes some of America's pressing challenges. Some of Webb's figures are shocking. For example, on the issue of the disparity in wealth between rich and poor, Webb says that J.D. Rockefeller made about 7,000 times the average per capita income in 1894, while today's money managers can make 700,000 times the average per capita income. Webb is concerned about whether the social contract that binds us together as a nation can survive that enormous disparity in wealth or the other problems he describes, such as the Iraq War, the rising power of countries like China, our exploding prison population (largely resulting from throwing thousands of urban blacks in jail for selling pot to suburban whites), the influence of special interests on politicians, and the military-industrial complex.
Making those challenges even more difficult to solve, according to Webb, is the poisonous political environment, where neither side seems to be willing to work with the other side, and where politicians pander to their base constituencies about deeply felt, but ultimately trivial, cultural issues, such as abortion, flag burning, and gay marriage, while ignoring issues that may literally threaten our survival as a nation.
I was a bit disappointed with how vague Webb's prescriptions were for dealing with the challenges he listed, but this was still a very interesting book.
And now, I think I'll check the want ads to see if there are any openings for money managers!
 A New-Found Respect for My VA Senator October 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
My point of view, first of all, is that there is an under-current, of a powerful, select elite who control the market, our politics and news. Most of the media I digest is in the margins.
That being said, I was surprised at the empathy I had for Jim Webb's military perspective. His autobiographical approach to dissecting the time-line of America's political parties gave me a much more human connection to the soldiers who have made history, and who are currently fighting. Webb adds much richness to this work by integrating his own story into his switch from siding with the Republican Party to the Democratic Party. He takes the reader on a journey of how others with his values have changed as the presidency has changed as well.
While I am all-too aware of the corruption of Wall Street and within our justice system, which Webb outlines, there are areas of American (and Middle-Eastern) history in which I have sadly have been ignorant. Webb, if anything, has a strong understanding of the fine points of this history and how it dangerously repeats itself when we are uninformed.
There were many military and political experts with experience who were ignored by the Bush and his cabinet members in regards to the pit-falls of initiating a war in Iraq. Webb, having fought in Vietnam, has visited the darkest places of the psyche and knows that spilling blood comes with great, unseen consequences. It is done only as a last resort. Our occupation over-seas has created more terrorism than his, and others, careful, thoughtful approach. It is more than rhetoric; He has evidence.
It is assuring to see that a Senator can be so openly opposed to a domineering, covertly and overtly aggressive administration. Webb proves the adage that the personal is political and does so with the flow of a gifted writer. Though he offers a general idea to elicit people's passion to demand a change for the better, there could have been so much more. I was left feeling like the book was unfinished. Though the information and the solutions are truthful, it is a somewhat timid truth which only touches the surface a deep ocean of manipulation and anticipated revolution.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
