Pure Goldwater by John W. Dean, Barry M. Goldwater Jr., Mel Foster (Narrated by)

From Barnes & Noble

Republican candidate Barry Goldwater (1909-98) was soundly trounced in the 1964 presidential election, but this maverick Arizona senator helped create the conservative power base that dominated American politics for decades thereafter. Though the author of The Conscience of a Conservative was rightly regarded as a founder of the modern right-wing movement, his libertarian views often clashed with those of social conservatives on issues including, but not limited to, abortion, gays in the military, Iran-Contra, and Whitewater. For more than a half a century, he recorded his candid opinions on the pages of an extraordinary public journal. Pure Goldwater, edited by bestselling author John Dean and Goldwater's son and namesake, contains excerpts from that journal, in addition to correspondence, interviews, and behind-the-scenes conversations. A singular voice in our history.

From the Publisher

Barry Goldwater was a defining figure in American public life, a firebrand politician associated with an optimistic brand of conservatism. In an era in which American conservatism has lost his way, his legacy is more important than ever. For over 50 years, in those moments when he was away from the political fray, Senator Goldwater kept a private journal, recording his reflections on a rich political and personal life. Here bestselling author John Dean combines analysis with Goldwater's own words. With unprecedented access to his correspondence, interviews, and behind-the-scenes conversations, Dean sheds new light on this political figure. From the late Senator's honest thoughts on Richard Nixon to his growing discomfort with the rise of the extreme right, Pure Goldwater offers a revelatory look at an American icon--and also reminds us of a more hopeful alternative to the dispiriting political landscape of today.

Publishers Weekly

Starred Review.

Senator Barry Goldwater (1909-1998), whose 1960 best-seller Conscience of a Conservative helped define the modern conservative movement, was by 1996 describing himself and Bob Dole as "the new liberals of the Republican Party." Author Dean (Broken Government, Conservatives Without Conscience) and Goldwater Jr., the Senator's son and an eighth-term California congressman, explore the complicated figure in this "scrap book" of journal excerpts, correspondence, articles and other primary testimony. A Republican maverick who valued principle over political expediency, Goldwater can be predictable-maintaining loyalty toward Nixon even as the President edged him out of inner White House circles (as late as May 1973, Goldwater called for Jack Anderson's Pulitzer to be re-dubbed "the Benedict Arnold Award")-but he was neither an ideologue nor a mud-slinger: for instance, his hard-hitting fight against President Johnson stopped short of scandalizing LBJ's chief of staff, arrested for "disorderly" conduct in a men's toilet, and in 1994 he went against the powerful new GOP congress by saying publicly of Whitewater, "I haven't heard anything yet that says this is all that big of a deal." Covering personal life, career and retirement, including his 1964 bid for president, this is an invaluable chronicle of the times, told by an American who changed politics by being, simply, "an honest man who tried his damnedest."
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Karl Helicher - Library Journal

Although mostly remembered for his landslide loss in the 1964 presidential election, Barry Goldwater enjoyed a distinguished 30-year career in the Senate and a full and productive life. His son, an eight-term congressman, and Dean (Conservatives Without Conscience) compiled this collection of Goldwater's letters and selected diary entries across 60 years, letting Goldwater tell his own story. The result is an engaging, if selective, memoir that describes Goldwater's Arizona childhood, family life, politics, many nature hikes through his beloved Arizona, and the Presidents he knew, including JFK, whom he considered a good President, and Nixon, whom he came to loathe as a result of Watergate. The writings here were not intended for publication; Goldwater wrote them for his children. Some include funny, salty remarks that add to the folksy style. This icon of conservatism often mentions his contempt for large government and taxes but also reveals his pro-choice views, support for gay rights, environmental concern, and support for a state holiday honoring Martin Luther King. Not included is Goldwater's take on the 1964 election, other than blaming his pasting on the media and Lyndon Johnson's dirty tricks. The editors show Goldwater's ultimate success as being remembered as he hoped to be: "an honest man who tried his damndest." Recommended for public and academic libraries.-

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Product Details

• ISBN: 1400157366
  
• ISBN-13: 9781400157365
• Format: Other Format
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc.
• Pub. Date: June 2008
• Edition Description: Unabridged
• Sales Rank: 584,683

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents