Rating:  Summary: Have you no shame? Review: Garbage like this book is nothing new, but I will never get used to the idea that so many readers, at least some of whom I assume are adults, are willing to swallow its contents so uncritically. Has everyone stopped thinking for themselves? How can anyone give 5 stars to a book that states that Democrats are treasonous and support America's enemies? On that basis alone it should be rejected by any principled reader. I am in my fifties and grew up in Baltimore, a largely Democratic town, in a blue collar area. In my neighborhood, the fathers of many of my friends were veterans of WWII and/or Korea. Most of them were and still are Democrats. My best friend's father, to this day an outspoken Democrat, came home from France missing his left arm and leg. I knew many others like him and many of them came back from war with both visible and invisible scars received in some foreign country fighting for us. Even if you don't want to use your brain and common sense in evaluating the propaganda of this and many other writers, at least try to recognize that your rating and supportive comments amount to an endorsement of the outrageous insults Coulter so cavalierly tosses at these great Americans who paid a huge price for our freedom. Just because Coulter's right to pen this trash is one of those freedoms doesn't mean it should be accepted by any feeling, thinking reader. Coulter is a dishonest, self-aggrandizing, spoiled child and her judging the patriotism of anyone, much less these heroes is a vile insult.
Rating:  Summary: What every American shold know. Review: Coulter is brilliant and her take no prisoners approach annoys her foes and inspires her friends. This book is excellent and well researched. No one can refute Coulter's claims. Liberals have been enraged since its publication. AC sets the record straight and ,in the process, puts the nose on the human face of Liberalism out of joint. A roaring success and a must read. Bravo, Ann!
Rating:  Summary: A Simple Test... Review: I'll put it this way. Read the book, then go through some of the reviews here that are slamming it. You'll notice an interesting pattern- most of the negative reviewers fall right into the predictable patterns Coulter describes in the book (and in her previous best-seller "Slander"). They are either attacking her personally (mocking her dress, her association with "right wing" Fox News, or blasting her with person insults), attacking her readers personally (those stupid, inferior, "right wing" conservatives), or crying about how her book somehow infringes on their right to have contrarian views- "McCarthyism!" -apparently suggesting that Coulter should keep her own "right wing" opinion to herself in the name of everyone's right to have their own opinion...Or worse, they hold up some sort of silliness like Michael Moore's "Stupid White Men" as an example of a more even tempered and clear headed (and -hah- well-researched and factual) alternative. Just don't expect much from her detractors in terms of sustained, reasoned dissent. Slander (yeah, I know, bad pun) is more like it.Yes, this book represents a conservative opinion undiluted by liberal standards of polite decorum (which only conservatives are expected to uphold anyways), and some of Coulter's conclusions are worthy of further discussion. And yes, she tends to throw around the term "liberal" a bit too generally, but one can't help but get the impression that it is all within the greater framework of her own scathing sense of sarcasm, giving those she opposes a taste of their own medicine, so to speak. I won't waste more of your time other than to say this: In the middle of reading the chapter on McCarthy, I listened to a brief news report on the controversy surrounding a judicial nominee being filibustered by the Democrats because of his pro-life Catholic beliefs. Republicans claimed that the Democrats were refusing the nominee on the basis of what amounted to religious bigotry. How did the Democrats respond? ...by accusing the Republicans of "religious McCarthyism." Read the book- you'll get the irony. I give the book 4 out of 5 stars, only because I think the 5 star stuff should be reserved for the works of Paul Johnson, Roger Scruton, Roger Kimbal, Allan Bloom, Russell Kirk and the like. Coulter is a popularizer of conservatism, but like all popularizers (Hannity, Limbaugh, Charen, Savage on the right; Carville, Moore, Franken, ad nauseum on the left) she sometimes substitutes an emotional appeal or a clever twist of rhetoric for a thorough discussion. For some folks, this will leave you with unanswered questions and hoping for more. Still, the book is great fun- all the more so for the predictability of the responses of her detractors.
Rating:  Summary: Shrill, hysterical and oh so wrong Review: Ann Coulter's shrill and hysterical book "Treason" just may be the best thing to happen to American liberals in a long time. In one fell swoop, the leggy blonde pundit known just as much for her skimpy on-air outfits as for her fire-breathing politics has given mainstream American conservatism a very large black eye. By claiming that liberals actively betray America by the mere expression of their opinions, Coulter has mainstream conservatives (you know, the people who depend on facts and logic to prove a point instead of screeching buzzwords) cringing and running for cover. Coulter is also the author of "Slander," in which she claimed that the media is full of traitorous liberals, and "High Crimes and Misdemeanors," in which she valiantly tried to prove that Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky was worthy of impeachment and removal from office. But in "Treason," she has outdone herself, denouncing all liberals - and oddly enough, her definition of "liberal" seems to be "anyone who doesn't agree with me" - as America-hating traitors who ought to be strung up. I started reading "Treason" expecting a good laugh from Coulter, who has proven herself to be so ideologically blind on most subjects that she could go on and on about how the sky is red if a liberal pointed out that it was blue. However, I have to say that she gets awfully tiring after the first chapter or so. A book full of shrieking about how Joe McCarthy was just a misunderstood patriot (somehow, she never quite gets around to mentioning that he recklessly destroyed an awful lot of lives while never actually uncovering a genuine Communist) and how Americans who opposed the invasion of Iraq were a bunch of Saddam-loving sympathizers - well, it gets to be just too much. To be honest, I started getting sick of her during the acknowledgements, when she delivered a gratuitous slap at Senator Charles Schumer, whose "crusading wrath" she claimed would come down on people she thanked for help in writing this screed. Most of the book is like that. Name-calling, personal attacks, sneering assaults on love of country simply for opposing government policy. For example: ' "Whenever the nation is under attack, from within or without, liberals side with the enemy." ' "Is there no traitor liberals won't defend?" ' "The entire country was in a cauldron of rage at these inept, traitor supporting Democrats." ' "Still angry at men like Bush because she wasn't invited to the prom, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wrote..." ' "From the traitor lobby's women's auxiliary, syndicated columnist Molly Ivins wrote..." And so on and so forth, for three hundred pages plus endnotes. Is this really America she writes about? Last I heard, in this country we all have the right, indeed the civic duty, to speak up and let our voices be heard, especially if we disagree with the government. Ann Coulter may be the darling of Fox News and other right-wing media outlets, but man oh man, has she got a lot to learn about making it in the real world. You see, Ann, people who discuss national affairs without resorting to insults generally frown upon the sort of derogatory, frantic screaming you call discourse. Oh, and by the way, in America, dissent is not treason, no matter what you think.
Rating:  Summary: Coulter reveals what I suspected: Liberals hate freedom Review: As a Proud American I do my best to keep up with the opinions on both sides, politically. I think I have a pretty fair and balanced understanding of what the liberals and the conservatives stand for, and I can say this: Ann Coulter's book was the best book I have read this year! I have often wondered just what is the problem with these liberals. You see them standing around being lazy, or slaughtering puppies, all the while thinking they are doing what is best for America. Well I can tell you, liberals actually hate us because we are free. They want to take away our freedom. Luckily we have photogenic pundits who speak in small words, such as the wonderful Ann Coulter. Not at all content to argue based on the issues, as a foolish liberal would attempt, Coulter makes a bee-line for the enemy. Why bother backing up your arguments with facts, statistics, and logic? That is some hard stuff intellectually and let me tell you, you'll lose a lot of that conservative readership. Ann understands this, and wisely spends most of this book calling liberals names. Let me get this down just so you understand me: Liberals hate America. Liberals hate ice cream, puppies, and fireworks. Liberals want to take away George W. Bush's divine right to rule and replace him with a fascist like Saddam Hussein or a godless heathen like Joe Lieberman. Did you know that if you made a list of the Democrats and Republicans in the US Senate, and tallied up their opinions on today's major issues such as the war on terrorism and affirmative action, you'd see that most of our elected officials are actually centrists with little difference of opinion? Coulter wisely ignores this fact because she KNOWS: Even if they don't look very different on paper, liberals are darn right evil. EVIL.
Rating:  Summary: Telling it like it is Review: Ann tells it like it is, AGAIN. For those of us born in the '50s, who are too young to remember Alger Hiss and Joe McCarthy, it is good to be taught what really happened, along with the mood of the times. Harry Truman apparently detested Winston Churchill and liked Stalin, which was news to me. History taught by the liberal media never gets the facts straight. Thank heavens for Ann Coulter, who isn't afraid to tell the truth about what really happened. This book will open your eyes to all of the liberal treachery that tries to makeover the USA into some kind of socialistic "paradise". Would that there be more courageous people like her to get the story straight in the mainstream media.
Rating:  Summary: No stars Review: This book is utter bs. Why are we not allowed to rate with no stars? Does Coulter deserve "one star" just for getting published?
Rating:  Summary: Must Reading for All True Believers! Review: With biting satire rivaling that of Alexander Pope, the Wicked Wasp of the Republican ultra-right scewers long-held conservative myths with a vitriol that would put any Fox News commentator to shame. Her ability to rewrite history with a skill that would arouse envy in a Harvard Professor, Coulter provides fascinating insight into the careers of conservative icons such as Joseph McCarthy, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan who in her view, were definitely on the Right side of history. Even if merely skimming the book at your local bookstore (which I highly recommend), a must read is the section characterizing Senator McCarthy as true hero of the war on communism. Few people realize the courage displayed by Joe McCarthy as he faced a battery of cameras and reporters drunk or drugged out of his mind as he announced, "In my hand I have a list of known Communists who have infiltrated the halls of power in these United States.", when all he really had in his hand was a sheaf of blank papers, or perhaps The Racing News. I highly recommend this magnificent work of timeless satire to any demagogue worthy of the title. It is the best satire I have read since Mein Kampf; written, coincidently, by another who stood on the Right side of History. Surely this work will confirm the decision of the editors of National Review Online, who recognized the worth of Ms. Coulter's writing prowess and rewarded her justly.
Rating:  Summary: This one has the liberals enraged Review: Ann Coulter's "Treason" really has liberals enraged. For proof, check out the reviews on these pages. Usually reviews on books of this ilk, attacking the liberal ideology, mostly get five star reviews from conservatives and little notice from the liberal ideologues. But this one is obviously more threatening to them, and they have pulled out all the stops on attacking it. They are writing attack reviews pretending to be conservatives, and voting en bloc against the five star reviews. It has their attention. That's good!
Treason was bound to average three stars. Conservatives give it five, and the liberals whom it attacks obviously rate it as low as possible out of sheer hatred. The only thing that affects its rating is the number of each group that review it, and since it is so threatening they are pulling out all the stops while Ann just sells more books (see its sales rank). It is very well written, well edited, and full of facts, names and history that are well documented in the voluminous references at the end of the book. The facts and names are pretty well indisputable, and the history is all documented, and can be checked with a little research, using Ann's references and the internet. What does Ann say in this book? You need to read it! I wish it could be made available to all Americans, and that all would read it, even if only out of curiosity. It describes how the liberal establishment has always defended communists--even spies like Alger Hiss and the Rosenbergs--passionately, refusing to believe their guilt even when it was demonstrated beyond a doubt; how they have vilified traitors' accusers, like Whittaker Chambers and Joseph McCarthy, even when the Venona project which broke the Soviet codes in 1943 and was kept secret even from Roosevelt and Truman (the code-breakers didn't trust Democrats because they were Soviet sympathizers, and their administrations were riddled with communists) decoded Soviet cables to its agents in America proved them right, and that the accused were indeed paid Soviet agents. It describes how FDR and Truman promoted Hiss even after being informed by the FBI that he was a spy, and how Dean Acheson and other top officials stood by him and refused to believe his guilt even after it was proven. It describes how the lefties always take the side of our enemies against their own country, and make it our fault that the terrorists attacked us on September eleventh, and describe their own country as an international "bully," and even travel to North Vietnam to give comfort to the enemy, posing by the anti-aircraft guns that are being used to shoot down our airmen. Is "treason" too harsh a word? I think not! She describes how the Roosevelt and Truman administrations were shot through with Soviet agents, and that McCarthy's biggest fault was that he understated the danger. The Venona project and the Soviet's own archives, opened after the end of the cold war, named names and described the activities of top people in our government who were paid communist agents or active sympathizers: Alger Hiss, Roosevelt's trusted advisor at Yalta, where FDR gave Poland to the USSR, and who set up the UN and was its Secretary-General during the inception phase; Harry Dexter White, assistant secretary of the Treasury Department under FDR, who hired at least 11 Soviet agents to work for him and conspired with Frank Coe and Solomon Adler to kill a critical loan to Nationalist China; Lauchlin Currie, administrative assistant to FDR; Duncan Lee, chief of staff to the head of the OSS (forerunner of the CIA); Harry Hopkins, special advisor to FDR, described by the KGB as a Soviet agent of "major significance"; Henry Wallace, vice president under FDR (he insisted that peace would be assured "if the United States guaranteed Stalin control of Eastern Europe"); Owen Lattimore, foreign policy 'expert' who loitered around the State Department and surrounded himself with Soviet spies, and whose specialty was China (lost to communism); and Joseph Davies, FDR appointed ambassador to the USSR who told the AP in 1946, "Russia in self-defense has every moral right to seek atomic bomb information through military espionage if excluded from such information by her former fighting allies." President Roosevelt, who affectionately called Joe Stalin 'Uncle Joe', said of the Soviet Union in his fourth inaugural address, "In order to make a friend, one must be a friend." President Truman, in 1946, wrote in his diary that the Russians "Have always been our friends and I can't see any reason why they shouldn't always be." She points out how the elite liberal press (New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, et al) have consistently vilified any and everyone who accused Soviet agents like Hiss and the Rosenbergs, indulging consistently in ad hominem attacks (accusing Whittaker Chambers of being a homosexual, and having a homosexual relationship with his brother, who had committed suicide; depicting Joseph McCarthy as unshaven and with flies buzzing about him in their cartoons, and coining the term 'McCarthyism' for anyone who looks at liberal anti-Americanism with anything other than admiration.) What does Ann say in this book? You will have to read it. I guarantee that it will open your eyes and tell you things about our history in the last century the significance of which you did not realize. I was in China throughout 1948, and watched as our State Department, through the person of John Service, built up Mao Tse Tung to the detriment of our wartime ally, Chiang Kai-shek, and eventually led to his ruin and China's entry into the communist sphere. The same thing happened in Yugoslavia, when the Truman State Department supported the communist Josep Tito. And how about Daniel Ortega in Nicaraugua, and "Doctor" Castro (as Jack Paar so lovingly described him). This book is historically accurate, and an eye-opener, which is why the liberals hate it so much. Joseph (Joe) Pierre, USN (Ret.)
author of Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenance and other books
Rating:  Summary: Why are people buying this book? Review: This book is for the intellectually challenged and the ideologically indulgent. Yet a bestseller, just like "Stupid White Men" by Michael Moore. Stop buying hateful, innacurate pieces of fiction like this.
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