Useful Idiots: How Liberals Got It Wrong in the Cold War and Still Blame America First

Charen, Mona

ISBN 10: 0895261391 / ISBN 13: 9780895261397

Published by Regnery Publishing, 2003

Crease on cover*. Seller Inventory # mon0000695370

Synopsis:

In this book, Mona Charen holds liberals accountable -- and reveals the horrifying crimes that these liberals helped defend and cover up for the Communists. Meet the 'useful idiots': Jane Fonda, Dan Rather, Al Gore, Ted Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Jesse Jackson, and all the other liberals who were -- and are -- always willing to blame America first and defend its enemies as simply 'misunderstood'. These are the liberals who flocked to Castro's Cuba and called it paradise, just as a previous generation of liberals visited the Soviet Union and proclaimed its glorious future. They are the liberals who saw Communist Vietnam and Cambodia -- in fact, Communism everywhere -- as generally a beneficial force, and blamed America as a gross, blind, and blundering giant. Now that the Cold War has been won, these liberals, amazingly, are proud to claim credit for the victory -- conveniently forgetting their apologies for the Communists and their spluttering attacks on Cold Warriors like Ronald Reagan.

Review: "I prayed that such a book would be written but doubted anything so wonderfully readable and instructive at the same time would come along. But here is Mona Charen’s great explication of the central conflict of our times." –William F. Buckley Jr., editor-at-large, National Review "This valuable book documents the extent of liberal bias in American political commentary. It is simultaneously insightful, delightful, and deeply disturbing." –Jeanne Kirkpatrick, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations "With America once again at war, it’s useful to be reminded of the phenomenon of useful idiots. Unfortunately, they’re once again with us. So Mona Charen’s fine historical study is uncannily relevant." –William Kristol, editor, Weekly Standard "Mona Charen documents the endorsement of Marxist-Leninist rhetoric by the American Left throughout the Cold War and the current attempt to hide that ugly legacy. All those interested in Cold War politics should add this to their library." –William J. Bennett, former Secretary of Education under President Ronald Reagan "Mona Charen shows us in all its gory detail the history of the liberal Left’s hatred of America, from toadying to murderous communist regimes, even during the Cold War, to excusing the slaughters committed today by Islamofascists. Useful Idiots reminds us that the West is endangered by enemies within who seek to weaken our morale even as we face assault from without." – Robert H. Bork, Professor of Law at Yale and former United States Attorney General "Charen's marshaling of the written record powerfully supports her conclusion that many on the Left got the Cold War very wrong, are trying to reshape its history, and worst, in knee-jerk fashion are transferring old attitudes and errors to new threats." – The Montana Professor "Syndicated columnist and CNN commentator Charen offers a moral indictment of those public figures―politicians, entertainers and professors―who, she says, stubbornly refused to see communism for what it was: a brutal, dictatorial death machine." – Publisher's Weekly "Useful Idiots ... recalls example after jaw-dropping example of American liberals defending, flattering, and excusing the crimes of one Communist ruler and regime after another. Fidel Castro, Ho Chi Minh, Mao Zedong, the Khmer Rouge, Leonid Brezhnev, Kim Il Sung, the Sandinistas: Over and over the pattern was repeated, from the dawn of the Bolshevik Revolution to the collapse of the Iron Curtain ― and beyond." – Boston Globe

Bibliographic Details

Title: Useful Idiots: How Liberals Got It Wrong in ...
Publisher: Regnery Publishing
Publication Date: 2003
Binding: hardcover
Condition: Good