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• The Good Fight
Harry Reid, Mark Warren

Putnam Adult, 2008 - 304 pages

average customer review:based on 12 reviews
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   highly recommended  highly recommended





excellent on Bush but can't match the ones abroad

Harry Reid came from a totally non-religious, squalid background in the tough Nevada mining town of Searchlight. His father, a miner, abused both alcohol and his wife. Reid and his brothers "took him down" once to stop the abuse. Eventually, Harry rose through hard work, 75 to 80 hours per week, and, with some networking help, became a lawyer.

His parental home, a shocking shack far worse than Elvis Presley's parental shack in Tupelo, Miss., had no equivalent in most advanced nations in '39, the year of his birth. The question that immediately arises is why does Reid fail to address the fact that slum houses were so prominent, so widely dispersed across the U.S. at that time and still constitute, at the present, a major feature of slumerica. Here arises a subtle theme of Reid's book, namely, one works oneself out of slumerica, but one doesn't understand why slumerica continues. Reid never once focuses on this issue. Instead, he uses it for grandstanding, for hooking onto the log-cabin-to-the-White-House myth, the Horatio Alger myth, the aspirational sentiments of most in spite of the fact that downward mobility is the reality of many Americans far more than in most advanced nations. (See the number of university educated people living in marginal trailer homes or having jobs that are performed by grade-school grads in other nations or check economic research summarized in "The Economist" re upward mobility among the poor in the EU being far better than in the U.S.)

Reid values education, but it was of the type that is used for career advancement, for escaping the slum and squalor of slumerica. In spite of becoming credentialed, he failed in being educated. He absorbed and never weaned himself of the crude values of the coarse and tough mining town. He revered turning out for football and boxing and adulated coaches. Yet, in the absence of ethical-philosophical growth, the true qualities of becoming educated, he never once (like autobios or even scholarly accounts of Nixon, Ford, LBJ, Eisenhower, etc.) focuses on becoming educated. Turning out for football and boxing and being subordinated to the exploitative bureaucratic processing of sports bureaucracies is all dominating. Reid does not grasp that organized sports bureaucracies have bludgeoned the educational system. Coaches at many universities may earn 2 to 8 times more than their presidents and academic corruption related to sports is epidemic across the U.S. It is crucial to grasp the fact that senior American politicians totally avoid this issue and cannot even admit it nor understand it nor reform it. In this sense, Reid is like the ones he correctly criticizes, namely, Bush, Rumsfeld, et al.

Like Bush, Reid has a history degree and like Bush exhibits few signs of having learned the wisdom of history. Instead, as most senior politicians, he perpetuates the myth of the "Great Country," the myth of U.S. soldiers being "the most thoughtful" and "poised 18 year-olds anywhere." (He needs to read Chalmers Johnson, et al. and look at comparative crime rates of U.S. bases abroad, for a start). Above all, he adheres to the invalid and dangerous notion--which one doesn't find in most nations--that the military dispenses liberties. While advocating not using the Yucca site for nuclear storage, he evades completely how nuclear tests and other military activities have spread nuclear contamination and toxicities not just across his home state Nevada, but across all of the U.S. so that the clean-up cost will bludgeon the living standard and tie millstones around the necks of all U.S. taxpayers--if such contamination can even be cleaned up. Amazing how he is totally unaware that military-derived poisons across the U.S. have become a noticeable cause of diseases and deaths.

After marrying, Reid embraced religion though he does not tell why, leaving the suspicion it was, as is the case with many politicians, for political posturing. He entitled his book "The Good Fight" which may have been derived from the Bible though it may also echo his coarse background and patronizing boxing fights of Mohammed Ali in Las Vegas' ambience.

Nevertheless, Senator Reid acquires unquestionable moral stature in the direction of Fulbright during the Vietnam era when he, with sincerity, exposes, criticizes and tries to correct Bush's massive deceptions, violation of laws and war crimes. This is THE crucial and most important issue and here Reid redeems himself successfully.

But again, had he familiarized himself with the facts before the Iraq war broke out by reading foreign news accounts (which gave plenty of correct info), he could have avoided voting for the war. Thus, the excuse that Bush misled Congress won't fly. It was the pressure of the junior high school political pep rally mentality which kow-towed Congress into submission.

Reid does not seem to be aware that social security and other policies, which he affirms and defends are adopted from foreign countries. He states that they made "America great." The fact that ecological policies are also coming from abroad (as corrective measures did with the car industry, with inflation and the educational system, etc.) denies the validity of Reid's characterization that the U.S. is as "self-correcting as any society ever to have existed." The fact remains that slumerica has not been corrected since his birth: 75 to 80 hour work-weeks are more common here than abroad, the infrastructure is dilapidated, huge overwhelming debts everywhere, massive trade deficits, a constantly declining dollar and no savings rate.

Thus, the greatest failing of Reid's book, namely, no focus on America's economic conditions, nothing about the mortgage mess, the stock market corruption and the S and L imbroglio, etc. and, above all, no comparison how other nations without many resources have no grinding poverty that characterizes slumerica. For someone who came from slumerica, this is puzzling and should cause him to read "Why the U.S. Needs an Economic Miracle" accessible at "http://comparativegems.blogspot.com/".
















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Fascinating Stories and penetrating insight of Washington

With the exception of 1 or 2 chapters early on, the book was a page turner. I couldn't put it down. The book is a worthwhile read whatever your political persuasion.

Jerry









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RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "PUT THE POLITICS ASIDE AND YOU HAVE A REALLY INTERESTING AMERICAN STORY!"

I would first like to make it clear that I am not what you would call a political "animal". Though of course I knew that Harry Reid is a United States Senator, I did not buy this book for his political beliefs or stance on current issues. I had seen a couple of interviews with him on TV regarding this book that all centered on his "hard-scrabble" background and family issues, and that's what led to me to buy this book. I don't know of any American today who isn't sick and tired of this "ENDLESS- PRIMARY-ELECTION" with its continuous mud-slinging, back-stabbing, lies and innuendos. Maybe it's just the season, but Senator Reid's political chapters seem to be infected with the same diatribes. BUT...

The rest of the book which entails Reid's personal life is ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING! I think maybe the Senator didn't realize how interesting and entertaining his tales of his days as a lawyer and the CHAIRMANSHIP OF THE NEVADA GAMING COMMISSION are. Harry was born in a tiny mining town in Searchlight, Nevada. The leading industry in town when he was born wasn't mining, it was prostitution. Searchlight had thirteen whorehouses and no churches. As a child, Harry learned how to swim at a whorehouse. His parents had problems with alcohol and at times would have physical fights in front of their children. Harry's statement regarding this situation is what starts to endear the reader to this "man" rather than politics. "I AM NOT CONFESSIONAL BY NATURE, SO SOME OF THESE THINGS ARE SURPASSING HARD FOR ME TO SAY. I LOVED MY PARENTS VERY MUCH. THEY GAVE LIFE EVERYTHING THEY HAD. BUT NO CHILD SHOULD BE RAISED THE WAY I WAS RAISED." The house he was raised in was nothing more than a shack made out of railroad ties. His Father was fifty-seven-years-old when he committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. "The last year of his life, he had been sober-no more masking his demons with alcohol. Harry and his brothers still joke that it was being sober that killed him."

The author shares a number of his legal cases that ranged from "Martinez v. Safeway. This was one of many cases that Harry's firm did not want him to handle, since the client had no money. Harry defended Joyce Martinez a cocktail waitress who was arrested at her place of work for supposedly writing bad checks. She not only didn't write the checks but Safeway thinking it was above the law, skipped steps that needed to be taken during the legal process. Harry won the case and Joyce's award was the largest in history in a case of malicious prosecution. Another case he defended against was entitled: "United States of America vs. Four Machine Guns and One Silencer.

In 1972 Howard Hughes owned five hotels in Las Vegas and no one in Vegas had seen him. As Chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission Harry was ordered by the Governor to get Howard Hughes to appear at a meeting, or Hughes's gaming licenses would be revoked. Harry's reaction was: "He had not granted an interview in twenty years. HE HAS NOT BEEN SEEN IN TWENTY YEARS, and you want me to arrange a meeting with a man who had refused to see ANYONE for decades. Okay, I would do it." Harry had to track down the "Mormon Mafia", who were a group of loyal employees that Hughes had surrounded himself with. "Hughes felt that because of their devout faith, they were the only people he could trust." They tracked Hughes down in Europe and arranged a one hour meeting in London. The Governor and the Chairman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board flew to London and met with Hughes for one hour. Reid never got to meet him face to face but the Governor told him that Hughes "looked emaciated, with sunken eyes, free-range fingernails, and a mop of long, stringy hair." After the meeting Hughes's gaming license was renewed.

There was an incident while Harry was gaming commissioner when he was approached by an underworld character and offered a bribe. Harry became part of a sting operation and when the FBI burst into the room to arrest the mob guy, Harry lost his temper and thought "How could they think they could do this to me? I was so angry I went up to the gangster and said: You SOB, you tried to bribe me! I lunged at the gangster and got him in a choke hold. I was in a rage. The FBI agents had to pull me off of the criminal." Harry and his family started to get death threats and they even tried to bomb his cars. Harry decided then to get into politics.

As I said in the opening of my review, Senator Reid might not fully appreciate how fascinating and engaging his stories are. He says he has many more of them. I would wholeheartedly recommend the Senator write another book fully dedicated to the non-political parts of his life. Near the very end of the book, Harry receives a request from his sixteen-year-old granddaughter, as part of a project in her school to have a family member write about an experience that helped shape their testimony about faith. One part of his response touched me deeply, and I couldn't think of a better way to end my review.

"MY OUTLOOK ON LIFE -MY-FAITH- IS BEST SUMMARIZED BY AN INSCRIPTION FOUND IN A COLOGNE, GERMANY, CELLAR WHERE JEWS HID FROM THE NAZIS WHICH READ, "I BELIEVE IN THE SUN EVEN WHEN IT IS NOT SHINING. I BELIEVE IN LOVE EVEN WHEN NOT FEELING IT. I BELIEVE IN G-D EVEN WHEN HE IS SILENT."




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Better on Reid's earlier days, so-so on Washington

"The Good Fight" explains well why Harry Reid is a good Democrat on most social issues.

Growing up in a shack with an outhouse in half-dead Searchlight, Nev., in the New Deal, he learned about the hope and support government programs can offer to people on the edge.

Searchlight is detailed with warts, vivid colors and all by Reid. So, too, are his parents.

Beyond that, the best part of the book was Reid's discussion of his years as chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission. While he doesn't go into a tell-all of Mob influence over Vegas casinos, he gives the reader enough information to see how much the city needed cleaning up. And, with Reid presiding over the commission at the time non-Mafiosi like Steve Wynn and Kirk Kerkorian started building, he was part of Vegas' transition to the world of today.

That said, the Washington years are somewhat thin. All Democrats are great, as is independent Joe Lieberman on anything besides Iraq. The difficulty of herding cats as Senate Majority Leader is discussed in brief, but not too much on any one issue or vote.

Nor do we hear anything about how Obama-Clinton has played out inside the Senate Democratic caucus. I would have loved to hear Reid drop a few "fly on the wall" comments.

So, this is a three/four star book, but I give it a bump, in part with the context of people one-starring the book for other reasons.


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An uncommon story

There are plenty of rags-to-riches stories in America, but there are few that read with so much candor. Senator Reid's deadpan humor also comes thru. I highly recommend this book - if you're a Democrat, to learn a bit more about your party's unassuming leader; if you're a Republican, to get a leg up one hell of an opponent!


reviews: page 1, 2, 3



One of the remarkable books of this season? a tough, plainspoken, deeply passionate narrative by one of our most important national figures.

We all know them: politicians? books that read as if they?ve been cobbled together from old speeches. The Good Fight is as far from that as it is possible to get.

In a voice that is flinty, real, and passion-filled, Senator Harry Reid tells the tale of two places, intertwining his own story, particularly his early life of deep poverty in the tiny mining town of Searchlight, Nevada??a place that boasted of thirteen brothels and no churches??with the cautionary tale of Washington, D.C.: ?If I can do nothing greater in this book than explain those two places to each other, then I will have done something important.?

Reid is inspired by obstacles. Brought up in a cabin without indoor plumbing, he hitchhiked forty-five miles across open desert to high school. He worked full-time as a Capitol Hill policeman to get through law school, after the school refused him financial aid, telling him he wasn?t cut out to be a lawyer. As head of the Nevada Gaming Commission, he led an unrelenting fight to clean up Las Vegas, despite four years of death threats ?and much worse. And in Congress, Reid?s spent more than twenty-five years battling those who would take the country in the wrong direction: ?The radical ideologues degrade our government, so much so that when they are in charge of it, they do not know how to run it.?

And, always, it all comes back to Searchlight: ?Who I am now, and what I am doing now, began in that town, with those people, in those mines.? This book is the story of a man who knows what a good fight is, because he has had to fight like hell for everything his whole life. It is populated by a rich and raucous cast of great and failed men, eccentrics, visionaries, gangsters, and presidents who make up his life and times. And it is for all those who not only like a good story, but wonder what we should do now in America.


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