Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #304949 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-15
• Released on: 2008-04-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 416 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781403977410
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From 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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Review

From the Publisher
Q&A with Barry Goldwater, Jr.

Why did you write the book now?
My father's journals are rich with personal observations and feelings that have never been seen before. I am sure my father would not mind them being published for he enjoyed stirring the water of public opinion.

What is the story behind your collaboration with John Dean on this book?
John was doing research for another article at the AZ Historical Foundation located at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona when we stumbled upon several boxes containing my father's journals. These papers were presumed lost. We both came to the same idea that the public should see these and thus started the collaboration.

Will the personal writings in this book change public opinion of who Barry Goldwater, Sr. was?
Yes, they will see a kinder and gentler man who really cared about his country, his family, his party, and the average human being's welfare.

Do you think there is a message that this book has to offer today's presidential hopefuls?
Yes, get politics out of the gutter. Politics and government needs to be restored to a higher level of honesty and dedicated service. Start getting along and stop all the bitter partisan fighting.

Has the Republican Party changed since your father's time in office? If so how?
Conservative Republicans have been taken over by the religious right, the so-called social conservatives. My father had a deep faith in God but he never felt a need to put a bumper sticker on his car or dictate to anyone else how or what to believe. The demand of some to vote for a candidate strictly on the basis of religious views deeply troubled him, as such dictates violated freedom of choice and personal privacy, the antithesis of the original philosophy of the Conservative movement, of which he was a founder.

Why is Goldwater conservatism still relevant today?
Because it is all about maximizing individual freedom. This country is the only country founded on freedom but today we are slowly losing these to a growing government.

Customer Reviews

Pure enjoyment
For those of us of a certain age, Barry Goldwater was the prickly candidate for president in 1964, whose "extremism in defense of liberty" speech turned away millions of voters. But Goldwater stayed around long after that and it's a good thing he did. "Pure Goldwater", a neatly arranged compilation of his journal entries (along with some letters and speeches) reveals a much more complex and attractive man than the public got to know more than a generation ago.

The title of the book could not have been more appropriate. Here we see Senator Goldwater in all of his frankness, lambasting presidents with whom he worked, yet revelling in the love of his family, photography, flying and service to his country. In reading "Pure Goldwater" it's not hard to be in agreement with him on one page and subsequently want to wring his neck on the next. He seemed always to be on the cutting edge of the day's events, even when he was doing some of the "cutting", himself. It's fascinating to see him comment on every president from FDR to Clinton and there was much about most of them he didn't like.

Much of the book centers around his relationship with Richard Nixon and the trials and tribulations of Watergate and perhaps the most intriguing part of the book follows his recollections on summing up Nixon's chances in the Senate for impeachment survival. I remember that day well and how it changed my mind about Senator Goldwater. Here was a true statesman rising to the occasion in a most difficult time in our nation's history.

Barry Goldwater's seeming drift to the left regarding such issues as women's choice and gay rights no doubt sent shivers up and down the collective spines of his conservative colleagues. But Goldwater reasoned well and was always practical and this will be a big part of his legacy...a conservative man ahead of his time. "Pure Goldwater" is a pure joy to read and I commend John Dean and Barry Goldwater, Jr. for allowing us this terrific look at the senator...as told through his own words. I highly recommend it.

TEN star Great book
Let me state from the get go that I am a Senator Goldwater and President Reagan style Republican.

What I think this books value is in 2008 is how it sheds alot of light on Senator Hillary Clinton who was a Goldwater girl as well as Senator John McCain who in his pre 2008 years was more Goldwater minded than most people know. But he has gone off course so badly and isnt the same open honest straight talking express man he once was.

Also of interest to me was how Libertarian minded Senator Goldwater was and not the conservative Republican of recent years which is right wing Christian close minded mode. I say this as a Christian who is Goldwater mode.

This is a book that anyone interested in sanity, smaller government, and Constitutional law should read. Sadly so many people probably see Goldwater as some right wing zealot. Thats President G. W. Bush, not Senator Goldwater.

Essential Pure Goldwater!
Mr. Dean and Barry Jr. have culled from the late Senator Goldwater's personal archive the most telling letters and journal entries imaginable. Barry Goldwater not only comes to life, he literally leaps off the pages, and his words are as relevant today as they were when he penned them. OF PARTICULAR note are the letters to Sen. John McCain, who actually took over Barry's seat in the Senate. WOW - very interesting and VERY enlightening. Who should buy this book? EVERYONE loved Senator Goldwater as well as his critics and all WHO ARE CONCERNED with the upcoming election and beyond that, the place of the USA in general. I strongly recommend this work. It is brilliant. It is Pure Goldwater!