Rating: 
Summary: An Opportunists Forever More
Review: As a lifelong Georgian who has worked for Zell Miller, this book comes as no surprise. Simply put, Zell is an unusually skilled opportunist and he's taking advantage of those who have an unsatiated appetite for republican demagagery (sic).He earned the moniker of "Zig-Zag Zell" for the many changes, shifts and turns on issues. When a state lottery became popular, Zell decided he was for it after having renounced it. You name the issue and you can bet Zell has changed his mind about it several times. And now with this book, he's taken advantage of his seat in Washington to draw attention to himself. Using little supportive detail or substance, he's written a "piss and vinegar" critique of today's democratic party that will no doubt sell like gangbusters among the republican illiterati. I'm glad my copy was given me as a gift. I certainly wouldn't have spent my own money on it. If you're considering buying Zell's book as a gift for another, consider a donation to their favorite charity.
Rating:
Summary: The Point?
Review: If Miller thinks that the Democrats are "out of step" with the country on many key issues, then why does he not become a Republican? The Democratic party continues to be accused of being "Republican Lite," even if some of its wings remain committed to their liberal ideals. What would the Democratic party have to gain by becoming more conservative? Leftists often accuse the U.S. political system and its two player-parties of being them same even now. So if the Democratic party would move more to the ideological Right, there really would be one party, dedicated to the impovrishment of the country's citizens and engaged in an endless and perpetual set of expensive wars abroad.
Rating: 
Summary: Must Read
Review: This book is a must read for people of all political persuasions. Zell Miller exhibits a rare honesty in his writing, and whether you agree or disagree with him, no one will doubt after reading this book that Senator Miller, unlike most politicians, is writing what he truly believes when he's all alone in the quiet. A great inside scoop about how our country really looks and works.
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Summary: Republican Plant Tells Lies
Review: Zell Miller really needs to join the radical right of the Republican Party, and stand with the racists and war profiteers of the GOP. This book only documents his own lack of vision for this country and what it really stands for. Retire, Zell, and start snarfing up all that lobbyist money.
Rating: 
Summary: He's a democrat not a Democrat
Review: In reading Senator Miller's book, one cannot help but wonder if the real purpose was to inspire a draft Zell movement within the Democratic party for 2004. If so, the rapid rise of Howard Dean and insurgency of Wes Clark during the course of its drafting and publication has probably made that moot. Despite its gratuitous, self-serving account of his life and political career, it is a worthy read because it does an excellent job of explaining why middle class whites, particularly in the south, feel like orphans when it comes to national political parties with little representation being provided by either, one of whom caters to the wealty and big business, and the other looking out for organized labor, minorities, gays and the non-working poor. Interestingly, he asserts that the special interests being served by the Republican party are not bringing turmoil to the GOP because they are shrewed enough to remain behind the curtain which prevents the masses from seeing how much influence they have. This point seems simplistic in my view, as it would appear that the masses are not ignorant but have reached the same conclusion as the Senator: when forced to choose between the two, Republicans are the lessor of two evils. While Senator Miller explains his support of President Bush on the basis of his willingness to undertake a fight in the name of freedom and to cut taxes, he points out that in general, Republicans are just as willing to spend taxpayer funds as Democrats, and that the only real difference is which special interest groups get the loot. You should read this book, not because of what it says about the Democratic party or its current crop of candidates (very little with a most personal jab at Howard Dean, whom he describes as a not very deep Vermont pond), but because of what it says about special interest money and the influence it has on Capital Hill. In that respect, it is a very candid assessment of the sad state of current affairs within our government. That, along with his observations about how political campaigning changed over his lifetime and his insight into Presidents Carter and Clinton make it worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: The Conscience of a Conservative REPUBLICAN
Review: .
The net result is that Mr. Miller would be well advised to offer a sequel entitle, "A National Party No More: The Conscience of a Conservative REPUBLICAN." Meanwhile, true conservatives - those who wish to conserve the Bill of Rights and the spirit of liberty they represent - would be well advised to join with the true, Barry Goldwater Republicans; otherwise known as the Libertarians. Read "The Conscience of a Conservative" by Barry M. Goldwater and kiss the compromising Republican Party goodbye!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Passionate writing from a sincere pen
Review: Zell Miller has eloquently combined autobiographical aspects, covering his childhood and rise to political leadership, as well as ideological notes and commentary. Senator Miller has the cajones to attack liberal democrats when he feels his "old South" sense of values is in disagreement with them. Throughout the book, the 44-year officeholder speaks candidly about many issues facing our country now, analyzing them thoroughly and thoughtfully. There are no sacred lambs here, although Miller takes a higher road than other smear merchants have in their books; the Senator remains on a pleasant basis with those he speaks of in the text. On the whole, Miller has worked hard to put together a worthwhile account of his life and the many lessons he has learned in many years, particularly throughout politics, as well as serious confrontation of the woes that face his esteemed nation in 2003.
Rating:
Summary: What ZELL didn't tell you: Lester Maddox's Key Man
Review: For those of us who have known Zell and watched his career, this book in which he abandons those who have supported him over the years is not surprising. So, he makes his case on the shortcomings of the Democratic Party but then jumps ship on the party and friends that elected him to every public office he held. WHAT HE DOES NOT BRAG ABOUT OR TELL HIS READERS IS THAT HE WAS LESTER MADDOX'S EXECUTIVE SECRETARY - CHIEF OF STAFF - WHEN THIS RACIST IDIOT WAS ELECTED GOVERNOR OF GEORIGA. ZELL WORKED FOR HIM FOR FOUR YEARS. It is not surprising to those of us who know him that he - at the end of his political career - returns to the comfort of the right wingers that he started off with!
Rating:
Summary: Common Sense
Review: This is a refreshingly honest political memoir and call to action from an experienced and wise leader. Zel Miller may be out of synch with his party's leadership but he writes with conviction and courage of where and how the Democrats have veered left and can no longer claim to be representing the values of a majority of Americans. Senator Miller pulls no punches in his criticsm of the current presidential candidates. Whether you agree or disagree with Senator Miller's positions on social issues you have to admire his guts and common sense.
Rating: 
Summary: No Insight on Democrats; Please, Switch Parties and be Happy
Review: "A National Party No More," ostensibly a book of political criticism, is equal parts autobiographical. The book contains scattered reminisces of Miller's childhood and long political career, generous amounts of "down-home" moralizing, and assurances, as far as core Democratic issues go, that "he has been there and done that." He claims to have personally lived in meager circumstances (in today's lexicon, in poverty), to be a committed conservationist, and to not have a discriminatory bone in his body, rejecting his publicly-spoken racist statements as a young man. In other words, Miller wants to convince us that he is the true Democrat, in touch with the issues and, above all, values of middle-America. However, it is extremely odd that a book that is so assertive in its condemnations makes little effort to examine numerous contemporary economic issues that are having an impact on working Americans and are traditionally addressed by Democrats. Millions of manufacturing jobs have been replaced by low-wage service work; free-trade agreements have resulted in a substantial drain of jobs to overseas locations with harsh working regimes; a variety of visa programs are both putting downward pressures on wages and stealing jobs from many technical and professional Americans; and out-of-control corporations operate with impunity to manipulate markets, loot retirement accounts, and redistribute income upwards as never done before. Not only are these, and many other, extremely important and harmful core Democratic issues not discussed by Miller, but one does not learn how Democrats are handling them. There is so little analysis of what national Democrats are actually thinking, saying, and doing, that the reader is left to puzzle over Miller's strong disapproval of them. To Miller, Democrats are "die-hard liberals" and members of the "loony left" and would require him to keep his "left turn signal blinking and burning brightly" were he to follow their lead. This sort of gratuitous labeling is designed to stop understanding political issues in its tracks. Miller claims that Democrats are captured by many "special interests," which he derisively labels as the "Groups." It is absolutely true that Democrats attempt to represent a greater variety of societal elements, some better organized than others, than do Republicans. For example, labor unions and environmental groups bring informed interest to bear on real problems, which apply to Southerners, as well as to Northerners. Miller's fixation on the detriments of "groups" undercuts his willingness to recognize and address legitimate issues. However, Miller is totally silent on the impact of the largest interest group on politicians, and that is the massive big business lobby. The groups trying to influence Democrats only wish that they could have the insider status that business lobbyists do. The regulatory bodies in this country have been captured by industry insiders. The financial harm done to ordinary citizens by the failure of S&L regulators, the SEC, and utility regulators, etc has been enormous. Of course, corporate PAC money dwarfs that contributed by all other bodies in election cycles. These are issues for "true" Democrats. It is perfectly clear that Miller has not been a life-long Democrat because of a careful study of the pros and cons of various parties. Actually, Miller inherited his Democratic leaning from his mother, a die-hard Democrat. She was, in Miller's words, a strong supporter of FDR and disliked Hoover, who essentially abandoned working people in the Great Depression. Miller seems to be completely unaware of the ironies here. FDR and his band of Progressives implemented by far the most radical economic program that this country has ever seen. Many Democrats of that day were to the left of today's "liberals" that Miller is now so keen to castigate. Yet he finds no fault with FDR. How inconsistent can one get? Miller is especially disingenuous in his explanations for the demise of national Democrats in the South. The national Democratic Party accommodated the racist, Southern wing of the party until the mid-1960s. After Johnson's Great Society initiative, it was first Goldwater, then the Nixon Republicans, who began to capture the old-South vote with subtle racist appeals. More recently, Southern suburbanites have been captured by the free-market mantra and tax-cuts of the right. Republicans have also tried to capture the "values" argument. The relatively greater affluence of Republican supporters helps them to avoid some of the social dysfunctions of poorer people, who are scapegoated as having poor character. Democrats, by association with their lower income support base, get labeled as lacking "values." But it is an insidious conceit to claim moral superiority. In a real stretch, Miller accuses national Democrats as simply writing off Southerners, regarding them as back-woods ignoramuses. Furthermore, he attaches disproportionate importance to national Democrats not being intimately familiar with details of Southern culture. They are supposed to know how to eat catfish correctly, and indulge in all other arcane Southern habits. Of course, none of that has any connection to politics. One wonders if a conservative from Montana, who is just as likely to violate Southern protocol, would be subject to the same criticism as a liberal. There are many long-time supporters of the Democratic Party, who feel that the Democrats have lost their way. But their analysis is completely opposite that of Miller's. It would be their contention that Democrats have lost sight of their core issues, those of FDR and Johnson, and that they have been captured by the special interests of Wall Street and the corporate PACs, just like the Republicans. In their view, the Democratic Party needs to move leftward, not to the right. Miller's book is a self-congratulatory autobiography combined with very simplistic political commentary. It really does little to advance understanding of today's world and the Democratic Party. Frankly, more was expected of this author than was delivered. Miller remains more "old-South" than he realizes, and he stands starkly exposed because his Southern Democratic Party has long since disintegrated.
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