Moyers on Democracy | 
 enlarge | Author: Bill Moyers
Publisher: Doubleday
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 21437
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.3 x 1
ISBN: 0385523807
Dewey Decimal Number: 320.973
EAN: 9780385523806
ASIN: 0385523807
Publication Date: May 6, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Bill Moyers on America today:
“Here in the first decade of the twenty-first century the story that becomes America’s dominant narrative will shape our collective imagination and our politics for a long time to come. In the searching of our souls demanded by this challenge . . . kindred spirits across the nation must confront the most fundamental liberal failure of the current era: the failure to embrace a moral vision of America based on the transcendent faith that human beings are more than the sum of their material appetites, our country is more than an economic machine, and freedom is not license but responsibility—the gift we have received and the legacy we must bequeath.
“Although our sojourn in life is brief, we are on a great journey. For those who came before us and for those who follow, our moral, political, and religious duty to make sure that this nation, which was conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all are equal under the law, is in good hands on our watch.”
—from “For America’s Sake”
People know Bill Moyers mostly from his many years ofpath-breaking journalism on television. But he is also one of America’s most sought-after public speakers. His appearances drawsell-out crowds across the country and are among the most reproduced on the Web. “And one reason,” writes noted journalist Bill McKibben, “is that Moyers pulls no punches. His understanding of America’s history is at least as deep as his understanding of Christian tradition, which is an integral part of his background . . . With his feet firmly planted in the deepest American traditions, Bill Moyers is helping to keep alive an oratorical tradition that is fading after two centuries. Trained by his career in broadcasting, he writes for the ear, his cadences and his repetitions timed to bring an audience to full realization of its role and its power.”
And that is the message of this book. Moyers on Democracy collects many of Bill Moyers’smost moving statements to connect the dots on what is happening to our country—the twinned growth of private wealth and public squalor, the assault on our Constitution, the undermining of the electoral process, the accelerating class war against ordinary (and vulnerable) Americans inherent in the growth of economic inequality, the dangers of an imperial executive, the attackon the independence of the press, the despoiling of the earth we share as our common gift—and to rekindle the reader’s conviction that “the gravediggers of democracy will not have the last word.” Richly insightful and alive with a fierce, abiding love for our country, Moyers on Democracy is essential reading in this fateful presidential year.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 Red meat August 17, 2008
0 out of 6 found this review helpful
Moyer's is the epitome of what's wrong with modern journalism: leftist ideologues shaping current events to fit their agenda. He tries to take the wooden spoon to Rush Limbaugh's behind as some kind of curse on humanity, while Rush is 100% upfront about what his agenda is people like Moyer try to pass themselves off as unbiased, non-agenda driven truth-sayers. And Rush as a nag, please, Moyers lives off the red meat of telling people what's wrong with this country. There's seemingly never any good in this country other than the capability of maintaining the lofty Utopian dream Moyers has in his head.
And that's where a good chuckle comes in when he starts talking of personal responsibility. Is it the personal responsibility of taking charge of your own path in life, or, taking personal responsibility for everything that the government hasn't relieved you of under the nanny state that he so desires.
Moyers believes the Bush administration has eroded the foundations of the republic. And Bush has been far from perfect, but bet the farm that the Founding Fathers would be much more in line with Bush's vision of America than they would Moyers.
 The Call for Truth July 29, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Bill Moyers writes with passion and outrage about the current state of affairs in America. The speeches in this book were given over a period of years from 1987 to 2007. Each speech is introduced with a current comment. Unfortunately the issues addressed haven't changed with time other than being more in need of change.
My favorite speeches were the eulogies which he was asked to give for people he came to know and greatly admire - Lady Bird Johnson, Barbara Jordan, William Sloan Coffin, and Fred Friendly. Moyers sums up their lives and greatly honors them with his words.
Of Barbara Jordan:"The founders would have been lucky to have had her in that Constitutional Convention. If she had been present, it would have taken far less time for Barbara Jordan to be recognized as a whole person in the sight of the law, or for this country to fulfill its promise.
As it is, the good fortune has been yours and mine. Just when we despaired of finding a hero, she showed up, to give the sign of democracy."
MOYERS ON DEMOCRACY July 12, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Bill Moyers has a clear insight to many of our countries urgent problems and the causes of them. This book is a fantastic read. Worth the money! I bought a second copy to pass around.
Bill Moyers, our National Treasure July 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
TitleMoyers on Democracy
Author
Bill Moyers
Rating*****
Tagsdemocracy, politics, religion, civil rights, speeches
This is a collection of Moyer's speeches over many years that touch on the subject of democracy. If I could, I'd give a copy to everyone in the world to read. Forget Nicholas Cage movies, Bill Moyers is THE National Treasure.
Mr. Moyers probably doesn't believe in reincarnation - though he would respect my right to do so - but I think in one of his previous lives he must have been a bard, and in another one of those court jesters who was the only person to tell the king the truth. For he has both the journalistic integrity to be dedicated to finding the truth and to sharing it with the public. The speech he gave on Hubert Humphrey is one of the best pieces of writing, fiction or non-fiction, I've ever read in my life, and many of the other pieces are of similar quality.
It is hard to give a sense of the book, because it wanders many places in talking about democracy. There are obituaries here, to such people as Barbara Jordan, William Sloane Coffin, and Fred Friendly. There is a commencement address. Issues of media, politics, and religion are discussed. And always, Moyers gives us history, often history of the relatively unknown and their struggles to be free. It is an inspirational book, one that sets the mind alight to preserve and restore freedom and its handmaiden, responsibility.
PublicationDoubleday (2008), Edition: 1, Hardcover, 416 pages
Publication date2008
ISBN0385523807 / 9780385523806
A Mistitled Book July 2, 2008
5 out of 21 found this review helpful
Bill Moyers new book, like Mr. Moyers entire career, illustrates what's wrong with modern liberalism: there is nothing wrong with the goals or the sentiment, but the arrogance of the mindset leads to an inability to understand any objections to their agenda and a lack of the foresight needed to consider the ramifications of it. This is a perfect illustration of what Talleyrand said about the Ancien Regime: "They forget nothing and they learn nothing."
Perhaps it is too harsh to attach much significance to what is, after all, a repackaging of ephemeral writings, designed to make a few bucks for Mr. Moyers and to throw some red meat to the less thoughtful of his fans, but my own particular run in with Mr. Moyers is illustrative.
A few years ago, The Wall Street Journal ran an account by a federal judge of J. Edgar Hoover's secret files, among which the judge found a request by Mr. Moyers shortly before the 1964 election, requesting the FBI to provide him with a list of homosexual Republicans which he could use in a smear campaign. This was worse than anything that went on at Watergate, since the nation was not at war and Moyer's targets were not public officials capable of defending themselves but average citizens who weren't.
Shortly after that, a cultural institution, of which I was a member, announced that it was awarding a lifetime acheivement award to Mr. Moyers. Angry at the timing, I resigned from the institution and sent a letter explaining my reasons to the Board of Trustees, a copy of which was quite properly sent to Mr. Moyers. Mr. Moyers sent me a letter of justification and asked me to forward it to the Board, which I did. His letter was contradictory: he smeared the judge, then, admitting the charges claimed that it was old news and finally offered a totally implausible excuse for what he did. But here's the kicker: he had one of his minions investigate me, as was clear in references to my background in his letter.
It takes an unusual kind of arrogance to defend yourself against spying by spying on your accuser. Mr. Moyers originally studied for the ministry before he found the attractions of mammon more to his liking. Rigid belief in doctrine and blind true believer faith in one's creed are virtues in a man of the cloth, but when you turn to the things Jesus told us to render unto Caesar, those virtues become character flaws.
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