Rating: 
Summary: My favorite "arthur"
Review: One of the most moving passages I've ever read was in a column by Molly Ivins a few months ago. "Get the damn mammogram!" I could almost hear her growling, after telling her readers she had breast cancer.Think about having the power to save a person's life like that. Who knows how many women thought about their own health after reading Ms. Ivins' words? The influence Ms. Ivins wields has always been benign. She tells it like it is, warts 'n' all (and in the Texas Lege, it appears, there are more than a few warts). I admire her greatly, and count her as a role model. Read Molly Ivins' books. She is biting, sarcastic, downright rude at times. She is also insightful and compassionate. To say the least, she is one of my favorite "arthurs."
Rating:
Summary: Humor adds to her message without clouding essential truths
Review: This collection of Molly Ivins news articles is a god-send for those of us who are not privileged to be able to read her column on a regular basis. This truth-seeker tells it like it is and the reader is left with the feeling that you have just shared an intimate cup of coffee with one of the most astute political observers of our time. My only regret when I closed the book is that my own writing skills are not on a par with this seasoned journalist. I look forward to more and more of her quality analysis and use of the language to demand our attention to the important issues of the day.
Rating: 
Summary: Political Insights with Wit and Texas Charm
Review: Whenever I see a Molly Ivans piece on the op-ed page of my morning paper, a warm feeling of anticipation comes over me. So when I came across this collection of her essays at an airport ``bookstore'' before a long trip home, plunking down the $12 was a no-brainer. I wasn't disappointed. The pieces in this book are full of Texas charm, humor, and just plain common sense, but also the facts that so often go unreported in today's news. Her topics are many, but three that come up often in this collection are media ethics (got that? media ethics debated by a journalist!), hypocrisy (Al D'Amato conduct an ethics investigation?), and her favorite, the U.S. campaign financing system (which she refers to as ``legalized bribery'') and its fundamental effects on our society. ``The truth is that there is no political story more important than campaign financing. It's not just the hottest political story---it's the only story. It's the key to the real source of class warfare in this country.'' Not only are these issues and many others addressed intelligently with an eye toward ferreting out the truth, but they are often a laugh riot! The introduction to the book was written in January, 1998, just after the Lewinsky scandal broke, and all but one of the pieces were originally published from 1993 to 1997. Some of the events Ivans refers to are thus a bit dated today (early 1999), but her writing still packs a wallop.
| 
