I bought this book as a result of watching an interview of Mr Smerconish on CNN (I believe) which gave me the strong impression that it would discuss what goes on in talk radio, and television "news" - how various news outlets slant their opinions, how they qualify people to interview, how they choose and present the facts, etc. I was disappointed to find out that this book does very little of that.
I do find Mr Smerconish to be an interesting person. I had never heard of him before (my fault, probably). I agree with him on some things, disagree on others, but appreciate the fact that he does not toe a party line, much to the consternation of some ideologues, apparently. He is very independent and his own man. Republicans who are worried about the future of the party may want to read this book.
My problem with the book, however, is that it is mostly about him and not, as I thought it would be, about TV and radio news programs. It is really an autobiography, somewhat interesting but a little too self-serving for my tastes. In some ways, apologetic.
The footnotes and references are almost a waste. Don't spend a lot of time going to the back of the book to read them if you expect to find references to material that will add to what he has said. They are mostly references to newspaper articles, and many times even to his own columns and radio interviews of others. I have not actually tried to go to the websites referenced, but I suspect that many are so outdated that I wouldn't be able to access them anyway. I mean, why quote someone and add a footnote that says something like "Colin Powell interviewed by Michael Smerconish, Michael Smerconish Show?"
In short, I kept waiting for the good stuff but never got it.
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Morning Drive: Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started Talking (Hardcover)Product Description: Michael Smerconish-attorney-turned-political-pundit, radio talk show host, columnist, author and all-around lightning rod of controversy and spirited discussion-is back!
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The book explores many of the questions of hunting and anti-hunting.It spends a surprising amount of time considering the question of whether human evolution was driven by hunting (perhaps because that has been one ofthe justifications for the continuation of hunting traditions), as well asa review of the emergence of anti-hunting themes and the animal rightsmovement.It makes an obvious error in the interpretation of Leupold'sstatement in the assignment of rights in the discussion of Leupold's landethic.The point of the book is to develop arguments against many of thecurrent justifications for hunting, and for the emergence of the notion ofanimal rights.It does not do a very good job of describing the currenthunting ethic in the US, nor does it describe the rather complexgradiations in that population.
