I don't like reading books that tell me what I already know, and this book did quite a bit of that. That said, if you're looking to understand why conservatives/right wingers/republicans think the way they do, this book will give you some insight. ( )

reasonably accurate tour through most issues important for conservatives. Somewhat simplistic...best for political novices.

This is a decent book. It didn't tell me anything I didn't know or already believe, but it did offer a few insights on how to argue a point and a few tidbits of informational ammunition. Of course, it is not meant to be a weighty tome on conservative thought, that is left to other works. Luckily, and handily (it is a handbook), there is a nice annotated bibliography at the end of the book with a few titles I have not encountered before.

Unfortunately, a book like this will do nothing to convince a liberal - most Democrats already think that conservatives are unthinking knaves who just spout back sound bites anyway. (I loathe the phrases "soundbite politics" and "bumper sticker politics" used in conjuction with Republicans; as if "it's the economy stupid" was the paragon of intellectual political discourse.) Anything you trot out from this book will be denounced as a lie or a caricaturization.

So take a gander at some of these low star reviews from Amazon:

"It never ceases to amaze me how conservatives prefer a brief read to something written in depth. Perhaps some things are much too challenging for narrow minds."

And every Democrat is a Rhodes scholar and reads Noam Chomsky all day. My left foot.

"The author would put us back in the time when raw sewage freely poured into rivers, smokestacks freely belched poisons into the air, and when children had the freedom to work in factories and mines, regardless of age. Nothing in a business's concern with the bottom line would have ended these practices without federal regulation."

Yes. Conservatives hate clean air and clean water. In fact, nowhere in the book does Smith say anything about rolling back environmental protections.

"It's no real surprise that he credits noted rascist and isolationist Patrick Buchanan as inspirational on pg 214, this man obviously hates America."

You can make that claim. I personally don't much go for Buchanan, but he is a compotent thinker - you can debate if he's racist or not. But I could claim that Chomsky is an anti-Semite, or Jesse Jackson is a racist - but it gets us nowhere, and liberals can quote Chomsky or Ward Churchill all they want. I don't care.

My point is: an average book, an average author, average arguments - but the haters will hate and the lovers will love. ( )