The ACCIDENTAL ACTIVIST | 
 enlarge | Authors: Candace Gingrich, Chris Bull
Publisher: Scribner Paper Fiction
Category: Book
List Price: $17.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 971616
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.8
ISBN: 0684836556
Dewey Decimal Number: 305.489664092
EAN: 9780684836553
ASIN: 0684836556
Publication Date: September 9, 1997
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
After the 1994 elections, Newt's zealous promotion of "family values" made lesbian little sister Candace a prime media target. The attention she received not only embarrassed Newt and his cronies, it launched Candace on an unexpected career as a political activist. The Human Rights Campaign Fund recruited her as a spokesperson and for the last two years she's been traversing the country, speaking everywhere from rallies to gay bars and spearheading a voter registration effort. With Chris Bull, a correspondent for the Advocate, a national gay news magazine, Ms. Gingrich tells of her rise to fame and how she hopes it will undo the "accident" that put her in the spotlight in the first place.
Product Description
When the Republican landslide of 1994 propelled her brother, Newt Gingrich, to the top of national politics, Candace Gingrich knew her life would never be the same. Alarmed at the epidemic of gaybashing in America and her own brother's support for antigay legislation, Candace felt she had to act. The Accidental Activist chronicles her journey from being an unknown, part-time truck loader for UPS to a nationally renowned activist for gay rights.Whether she is exposing the hypocrisy in Newt's "family values," discussing the experiences of famous families with gay members, or trying to reconcile her love for her brother with her hatred of his politics, Candace Gingrich's poignant memoir -- now updated with a new epilogue -- reflects her extraordinary candor and courage.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Expected More December 29, 2005
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
With states amending their constitutions to ban gay marriage, the media's fixation on "family values" and the Red state vs. Blue state dichotomy, it is welcome feeling to know that these issues did not spring today or ten years ago when Candace Gingrich wrote her personal and political memoir.
The Accidental Activist by Gingrich (Yes, she is related to the former Speaker of the House of Representatives) is an attempt to describe how she turned to campaigning for GLAAD in opposition to her brother's stand on gay issues.
If only Gingrich had settled on that.
Instead she uses the book as a sounding board to hurl invectives at critics. While she berates the Right for intolerance and hypocrisy, she condones it at her own end. The negative connotations for her opponents are too numerous to mention. Gingrich christens James Dobson's Focus on the Family and Pat Robertson's 700 Club as antigay organizations even though they harp toward abortion. (Not that there is much to like about Robertson).
Indeed just about anyone is termed antigay. Elsewhere she lashes out against "indiscriminate Republican budget slashers"; so much for decency in political discourse.
Other times she is content to leave certain statements that beg for explanation hanging. For example, "A spate of genetic research has shown we are the way we are by nature." What does "the way we are" mean? Or when a fan writes, "My straight daughter was born with rights. My gay daughter has to fight for them." Which rights are being talked about?
The harshest criticism would be on her portrayal of her brother. Lacking nuance, it is a facile attempt to play to his image as the far Right poster boy. She fails to acknowledge that political expediency demands an eschewal of libertarian ideals once in the mainstream. It is not admirable, but elections have never been won by being idealistic.
With Vice President Dick Cheney's daughter coming out as lesbian, the avalanche of events has overtaken this book. If you believe as US News and World Report does in its December 5, 2005 issue that Newt Gingrich is making a comeback, you might want to read the Accidental Activist. If not, there should be tons of good stuff out there, somewhere.
 The Accidental Activist May 30, 2002
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This personal and political memoir clearly depicts the struggles and warmth of her experience. The determination to explain what it is like to live as a homosexual in America has been successful. One of the most heroic works I have read.
 Radical Left-wing reading July 4, 1998
1 out of 17 found this review helpful
The only people that could agree with this book are far, far left wing. Candence simply rides on her brother's fame and runs roughshoud over him. This is one book that should stay in the closet.
Absolutely Activating! August 27, 1996
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
Candace Gingrich has in her own way scared me into becoming moreof an activist than I would ever have considered myself being.Living my everyday life believing that I knew what was going on in Washington has all changed thanks to the Accidental Activist. Candace goes out of her way to give "Brother Newt" every oppurtunity available to counter her words, but is always snubbed instead. Critics blasting her for using Newt's "fame" as a way to boost her own popularity obviously haven't read the book! Candace proves that she's a leader in her own right, and obviously, this Gingrich knows the true meaning of words such as "power" and "family values". A MUST READ for ANY and ALL people interested in what's going on in government and human rights today!
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