Rating: 
Summary: A Very Bright Man!
Review: This book affirmed in my mind that this man is made of the fiber it takes to be president of the United States. George Bush has had four years, and it's time to give someone else a chance. Kerry is a man who will not jump to war, who will be in favor of keeping social security, who will be in favor of concentrating more on domestic issues than world domination. After reading this book, one gets a sense that soundbites in the news cannot come close to telling the whole story about this man. He HAS a plan for health care, education, terrorism, the environment and so on. He very clearly spells out his plans in the book.
After seeing him speak live in Sheboygan, Wisconsin last week, I grew more confident that this man is ready to lead a nation and ready to improve relationships between the USA and hundreds of countries around the world. He very clearly articulates in the book how important the United Nations is and how it must be preserved to bring the world together.
If you want to see how bright this man really is, to get beyond the soundbites and the rhetoric, then pick up this very readable book. You'll be glad you did!!
Rating: 
Summary: Intro to Kerry
Review: A Call to Service is written at a very basic reading level, and outlines Kerry's agenda for reforming the national economic policy (trade, taxes, job creation, balancing the budget), healthcare system, school system, international relations, and energy & environmental policy. The theme of the book is around the call to service, and recreating citizenship as a participatory ideal, not a consumer oriented one.There's nothing earthshattering in the book, though he does make some concrete policy proposals in understandable language. He repeatedly invokes John McCain and Bill Clinton, alludes to Kennedy, and chastises Bush & Cheney. Overall, unless you want to make a campaign contribution, you'll find much more information on Kerry's campaign website.
Rating: 
Summary: Kerry inspired me!!
Review: A lot is written about what we're supposed to do for our country- but this man actually has done it. When he was my age, he not only had earned 3 Purple Hearts, but he had the guts to stand up to Congress. I can't imagine doing anything like this. And I would like someone like Kerry to be our President. This book isn't preachy, and it's not overlong. I encourage you to check it out.
Rating: 
Summary: A call to service for North Vietnam
Review: After the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese leadership including General Giap credited Kerry's antiwar groups and Jane Fonda in turing the tide. North Vietnam was planning a conditional surrender at the Paris Peace Conference. After the North Vietnamese saw how well their allies (Kerry) on the streets of and the campuses of America, the North Vietnamese decided to fight on. The efforts of Kerry & Fonda dragged the war on longer causing 20,000 more American boys to die. Don't believe it? Use the Internet and you will find the answers. Finally, John Kerry actually went in front of a Senate committee and essentially called American troops in Vietnam - babykillers. Kerry also lied and said American troops were murdering 200,000 Vietnamese a year. Kerry provided no evidence to back up these lies. The North Vietnamese thanked Fonda and Kerry's group for their efforts in saving the communists in Hanoi. This man is not fit to be a dog catcher.
Rating:
Summary: "Ask not what your country can do for you..."
Review: Before I even picked up this book, I knew from the onset that I wouldn't be voting for George W(MD) Bush this November. I knew enough about the Republican to know that there was no way on Earth that he'd be earning my vote. But I was curious about the other guy on the ballot. Is he worth voting for? Where does he stand on the issues? Does he have a platform other than being "Anyone But Bush"? I was a bit unsettled by some things in his record, such as his voting in favor of the Iraq War Disaster and the PATRIOT Act. But after reading his version of where he stands on the issues, I feel much better about my choice in November. There actually is a good guy on the ballot; thank goodness! His book centers around two main elements: what kinds of things are going wrong in America today, and what direction he would like America to move in instead. He, perhaps, doesn't spend as much time as he could on the first item, but remember that this is only a two-hundred page book, so obviously he doesn't have time to go into detail on every single one of Bush's multiple foul-ups. It's his defense and detailing of his own basic ideals that is the core of the book. The central theme here is an echo of that famous line of another JFK from Massachusetts: "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." John Kerry has served his country in various capacities, and sees service (military, civilian, volunteer) as being the highest form of patriotism. He praises Clinton's bolstering of AmeriCorps, and bemoans Bush's gutting of it. He says we all need to have an interest in our nation's schools, universities, government, environment, military, police force, etc. Ultimately, we all benefit when these institutions are functioning to their fullest potential. I was impressed by his determination to end America's reliance on foreign (and most domestic) oil in a relatively short amount of time. It wouldn't be a huge technological difficulty, of course, but it's great to see a politician who's actually in favor of advancing the science on this issue and not just praying that at some point in the future, oil will rain from the sky. He lays out his position on this and other matters in a clear but specific manner. I liked his writing style; it's clear, but not simplistic. He understands that actions have consequences, and he doesn't shirk away from the good or the bad. At various points during the book, he relates the policy he's discussing with his own personal experiences. This is not unusual; all politicians will attempt this -- some more successfully than others. I'd say that Kerry is one of the better ones. He talks about recovering from prostate cancer, thinking about a) how fortunate he was and b) how he could possibly have afforded this excellent care if he had been one of the over 40 million people without health care coverage. Unlike the current millionaire in the White House, I definitely got the impression that he genuinely cares about how most of the country lives and how day-to-day life can be a financial struggle even without the surprise extra costs of medical care. His goals are clear, but commonsensical: no more uninsured children in America, and to give everyone the opportunity to join the same program that Federal Employees (like Congressmen) get. Indeed, most of his ideas have a common-sense feel to them. A lot of the solutions to today's crises are simple: the problem is that the guy currently in charge lacks the cajones to actually implement them. He certainly seems to have a greater willingness to reach out to people on both sides of the Congressional aisle, as well as to people on both sides of the Atlantic. During the book, he name-drops a few of the more popular kids in Congress (independent-minded Republican John McCain appears frequently) as an example of this. I found this particularly interesting as I've been less and less happy with both of the national political parties, and have instead been interested in those individual members who actually try to get things done. It would be fascinating to see what would happen if we got a genuine uniter in the White House. I did have to chuckle at a few of the book's more clumsy attempts at appealing to various "swing" groups. What percentage of the audience will really be swayed by Kerry's interested in NASCAR? Oh, and given the similarity between the narrative voice and Kerry's own verbal style, I could actually believe that he wrote the book himself. That must be something of a rarity for this style of political campaign book! I'd recommend this to everyone who plans to vote in November as a good starter for where Kerry's position is. Obviously, this is slanted and biased in favor of its author, but I found it to be a great place to start researching the issues. In this world of 24-hour news channels that focus upon smaller and smaller sound-bites (Shouldn't it be the opposite? You'd think with more time than the evening news, they'd have room to focus on details and issues, except the opposite seems to be true.), it's nice to have the opportunity of a leisurely look through a series of important issues. I don't know who will end up winning the election this fall, but the topics discussed in A CALL TO SERVICE certainly deserve to enter the national debate.
Rating:
Summary: Kerry is not perfect...
Review: but to hell with all of us if he isn't 1,000,000 better than King George....
Rating:
Summary: I liked his FIRST book better!
Review: Don't get me wrong, "A Call to Service" is good...for its intended purpose. It's meant to be a fluff piece for someone who is clearly contemplating a run, and his campaign platform is laid out nicely here, minus his views on what is necessary to defend the United States in a time of war, like now. That's why I found John Kerry's FIRST book much more informative. It's called, "The New Soldier", and he wrote it in 1971, right after he founded Vietnam Veterans Against the War and threw his service medals over the White House fence (a few months after doing a mock-trial of U.S. servicemen for "war crimes" in partnership with Jane Fonda). Kerry doesn't want you to see it, his staffers have bought up pretty much every copy in existence, but there are a few on E-Bay for amazing sums .... I understand most people wouldn't want to lay down $500 to learn Kerry's real views on national defense, but check the book out, anyways. The book's anti-American cover definitely makes it a timeless "must-see", I strongly encourage you to search for "The New Soldier" by John Kerry.
Rating:
Summary: Stump-Speech-Style Description of Proposed Programs
Review: Far be it for me to evaluate the ideas of a presidential candidate. I do have opinions about how well Senator Kerry communicated the ideas in the book. It seems to me that he did an average job for a politician. It is important that political candidates write books. Television loves "sound bites" which are too short to express a whole idea that is more complicated than "love your Mom." Advertising is usually full of mud slinging and labels rather than details. Debates are all about accusations. In case you do not read the book, here is a summary of the ideas presented in the book: 1. International action by the United States should be done in concert with the international community, involving established organizations like the United Nations and the IMF. So we should not have gone to war with Iraq until an international consensus had been built. 2. President Bush has done a good job of leading the military into action, but has not balanced that leadership with diplomacy and international cooperation to make our positions as strong as possible. 3. Nations like France, Russia and Germany need to be more cooperative in dealing with international problems. 4. The United States needs to become a model of the benefits and superiority of proper behavior in a democracy. 5. Domestic economic policy should shift from tax cuts on unearned income for the rich to developing jobs through tax incentives to create new jobs, new technology to expand domestic employment, a higher minimum wage, and better education for all Americans. 6. Schools need to be improved by funding "No Child Left Behind" and structural changes in public schools to make them more effective. 7. The U.S. needs to become less dependent on Middle Eastern oil by establishing new technologies to use solar, wind, and water power. He would also like to accelerate the development of more high tech sources of energy. 8. The environment should receive more protection than it is getting now. We should go back to being an international leader in this area. 9. Health care costs need to be cut immediately and bureaucracy taken out of the system while expanding coverage to almost all Americans in inexpensive ways. 10. College should become universally available to those who are willing to prepare, with economic incentives to make this easier. 11. All young people should be asked to do 2 years of community or military service after they are 18. 12. Where we do not have the money to solve problems, we should encourage voluntary efforts to make up the difference. 13. Veterans should receive a fairer shake on their medical care. 14. States should get the financial aid they used to receive for federal programs. In many cases, the points were raised so generally that it was unclear how they would be implemented . . . or how well the implementation would work. That's where the stump-speech style got in the way of communication. I found the suggestions about how to change medical care to be the least clear, and I would have liked to know more. In particular, it would have helped to see some documentation of "why" the proposed changes would work better where the suggestions are new. The book also portrays a series of principles that he urges future presidents to follow: 1. Represent all Americans rather than just your voting bloc. 2. Keep your campaign promises. 3. Work in cooperation with the other political party. 4. Focus on creating conditions that allow citizens to succeed on their own. The book also recounts his experience as a Vietnam war protester, prosecutor, a lieutenant governor in Massachusetts, and as a long-time member of the Senate in dealing with these issues. Most of the ideas are expressed in terms of precedents by former presidents. Senator Kerry most often seems to be echoing the "Ask not what your country can do for you . . . but what you can do for your country" charge made by President Kennedy in his inaugural address. I thought the most revealing parts of the book involved his descriptions of accommodations he has made with Republicans in the past to accomplish bi-partisan objectives. That part rang true with me. The only time I have met Senator Kerry (although I live in his home state of Massachusetts) was at a conference in Washington in October 1987, when he had only been a senator for a few years. My host was a Republican senator, Larry Pressler. Senator Pressler arranged for a number of ranking Republicans to meet with us, and Senator Kerry was the only Democrat he invited. It was clear at the session that Senator Kerry felt that he should reach out to Republicans to accomplish important tasks. I hope that we will have more opportunities to learn about Senator Kerry's detailed thoughts on how to deal with our many pressing problems. As I finished the book, I realized that I have become accustomed to thinking of politicians in terms of their parties and their foibles. It would be refreshing to think of them instead as standing for important principles of excellence, helping all Americans, and being a good role model.
Rating: 
Summary: Huh.
Review: First, how can the reviewer below claim anyone as fond of schmoozing with Hollywood and with hair hearkening back to the British Invasion is not a "vanity candidate?" Anyway, the book itself is written from a moderate point of view. I suppose it would be pointless to ask Dems to compare Kerry's actual voting record with how he tries to bring himself across in this book. He is self-serving, self-promoting. He refers to his service in Vietnam at every turn, failing to point out that he testified that his same "fellow soldiers" were murderers and rapists. Well, he can talka bout his service all he wants, but I agree with him that actions speak louder than words. The only problem is, Kerry's words and actions are so at odds as to negate each other. There are several other galring omissions. His personal/public stance on aborition is not adequately explained, nor are his bizarre changes on the Iraqi war. His economic proposals are, at best, vague; at worst, disjointed and classist hate speech. Upon reading this book, one would believe that Sen. Kerry is not only a Democrat, but a Republican, Green, and Libertarian at the same time! Quite a feat! I wonder if he will be nominated at any other party conventions this summer. I had hoped for an accounting from John Kerry, but this book is a vanilla, cliched view of the same tired arguments that didn't win in 2000, and will not win in 2004. The Democratic party just can't meet America in the center, no matter how "moderate" they try to appear. In short, a tired old book from a man being pushed by a tired old party. All the college students and fringe elements in the world can't save this one from going down as a very, very unsatisfactory work.
Rating:
Summary: A Portrait of Ideas and Courage
Review: For those of you who don't already know John Kerry, this is a great way to learn what makes him tick and what he finds important. Unlike the sound bites we usually hear in the media, this book actually details Kerry's well-thought out and progressive solutions to many of Americas's problems. The topics range from foreign policy and domestic issues to the environment and veteran affairs. You'll walk away from this book with a much clearer sense of the man and his vision for our country, as well as a profound respect for this dedicated and courageous public servant. I recommend it highly to anyone who wants to make an informed decision about a presidential candidate.
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