The point of it all : a lifetime of great loves and endeavors / Charles Krauthammer ; edited by Daniel Krauthammer.
Record details
- ISBN: 1984825488
- ISBN: 9781984825483
- Physical Description: xxxiii, 360 pages ; 25 cm
- Edition: First edition.
- Publisher: New York : Crown Forum, [2018]
Content descriptions
General Note: | Includes index. |
Formatted Contents Note: | PART I: WHAT A PIECE OF WORK IS MAN. 1: Life well lived. Reveries of a newborn father ; Irving Kristol : a great good man ; Ronald Reagan : he could see for miles ; Thomas Jefferson : the sublime oxymoron ; Thank you, Isaiah Berlin ; John Paul II : the power of faith ; George Weidenfeld : Syrian Christians and the English Jew ; Meg Greenfield : my editor, my friend -- 2: Customs and culture. Why I love Australia ; Rampway to heaven ; Junk rights ; Genius, insanity, innocence ; Two Cromwells : separate and independent realities ; Parenthesis to history ; The Cold War memorials -- 3: Contests. Suffering a relapse, and loving it ; The tyranny of chess ; Revenge, American-style ; Man vs. computer : still a match ; The greatness gap ; Why do they even play the game? ; Jim Dickson's triumph -- 4: Cosmos. In sorrow and glory we find our common humanity ; Front-page physics : why the news from beyond is beyond us ; What Sputnik launched ; Pluto and us ; Space : the visionaries take over ; Redeeming Columbia -- 5: The doctor is in. A doctor's duty ; Why doctors quit ; Sick, tired and not taking it anymore ; The twilight of psychotherapy ; They die with their rights on -- 6: Matters of life and death. Five lives vs. one principle ; Stem cells : mounting the slippery steps ; The abortion debate : just words ; The price of fetal parts ; What to do for little Charlie Gard -- PART II: MAN AND SOCIETY. 7: Look outward. Three pieces of sage advice -- 8: Against the grain. Apocalypse, with and without God ; When modern medicine fails ; The myth of "settled science" ; Thought police on patrol -- 9: The too-examined life. Suicide ad absurdum ; Holiday : living on a return ticket ; Shakespeare, ruined ; Illusions of self-love -- 10: Out of many, one. Assimilation nation ; The tribalization of America ; Counting by race ; Redskins and reason ; Neither ennobling nor degrading ; On lowering the flag -- 11: Church and state. Civil religion--and no religion ; Just leave Christmas alone ; Religion as taste -- PART III: POLITICS, FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC. 12: The two last tribes of Israel. The miracle, at 60 ; The Holocaust and Jewish identity ; Demystifying Judaism ; How to fight academic bigotry ; Do we really mean "Never again"? -- 13: Keeping the world at bay. How to deal with countries gone mad ; The Iranian "moderate" ; Middle East peace and the great Muslim civil war ; The Bush legacy ; Iraq, abandoned ; The climate pact swindle ; Russia rising ; To die for Estonia? ; Trump and the "Madman Theory" -- 14: Democracy and its discontents. In defense of fanatics ; The death penalty and the Constitution ; Finally getting it right on affirmative action ; The right-to-work dilemma ; Brexit : sovereign kingdom or Little England? ; Trump derangement syndrome : you can't govern by id ; Revolt of the attorneys general ; American democracy : not so decadent after all -- 15: On liberty. Constitutions, conservatism and the genius of the Founders ; The meaning of human rights -- PART IV: COMPETING VISIONS : America's role and the course of world history. 16: Reluctant colossus. When to intervene ; The arrow of history ; Trump's foreign policy revolution -- 17: The end of "the end of history". After a mere 25 years, the triumph of the West is over ; The coming disillusionment of liberated Europe ; The authoritarian temptation -- PART V: SPEAKING IN THE FIRST PERSON. 18: A life without regrets. An anniversary of sorts ; Choosing a life ; A statement of principle ; Beauty and soul ; A note to readers ; Eulogy / by Daniel Krauthammer. |
Summary, etc.: | A collection of the influential columnist's most notable works and writings includes never-before-published speeches on his political philosophy and personal history and a major, new essay about the state of global democracy. "Created and compiled by Charles Krauthammer before his death, [this book] is a powerful collection of the influential columnist's most important works. Spanning the personal, the political and the philosophical, it includes never-before-published speeches and a major new essay about the effect of today's populist movements on the future of global democracy. Edited and with an introduction by the columnist's son, Daniel Krauthammer, it is the most intimate and profound book yet by the legendary writer and thinker. In his decades of work as America's preeminent political commentator, Charles Krauthammer elevated the opinion column to a form of art. Whether writing about statecraft and foreign policy or reflecting on more esoteric topics such as baseball, spaceflight and medical ethics, Krauthammer was beloved not only for his penetrating wit and insight but also for his ability to identify the hidden moral truths that animate our politics and culture. This new collection, which Krauthammer composed before his death in June 2018, features the columns, speeches and unpublished writings that showcase the best of his original thought and his last, enduring words on the state of American politics, the nature of liberal democracy and the course of world history The book also includes a deeply personal section offering insight into Krauthammer's beliefs about what mattered most to him--friendship, family and the principles he lived by--all anchored by Daniel Krauthammer's poignant eulogy for his father. For longtime readers and newcomers alike[this] is a timely demonstration of what it means to cut through the noise of petty politics with clarity, integrity and intellectual fortitude. It is a reminder of what made Charles Krauthammer the most celebrated American columnist and political thinker of his generation, a revealing look at the man behind the words and a lasting testament to his belief that anyone with an open and honest mind can grapple deeply with the most urgent questions in politics and in life."--Dust jacket. |
Search for related items by subject
Subject: | Political science. |
Genre: | Essays. |
Available copies
- 35 of 35 copies available at Bibliomation.
- 1 of 1 copy available at Bridgeport Public Library. (Show preferred library)
Holds
- 1 current hold with 35 total copies.
Other Formats and Editions
Show Only Available Copies
Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
North Branch - Bridgeport | 814 KRAUTHAMMER (Text) | 34000081422081 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
Ansonia Public Library | 814.6 KRA (Text) | 34045101780463 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
Bethel Public Library | 814 KRA (Text) | 34030142393203 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
Brookfield Library | 814.6/KRAUTHAM (Text) | 34029144278917 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
C.H. Booth Library - Newtown | 814.6 KRA (Text) | 34014141704974 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
Derby Public Library | 814.6 KRA (Text) | 34047141097486 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
Douglas Library of Hebron | 814.6 KRA (Text) | 33400142826463 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
Easton Public Library | 814.6 KRAUTHAMMER, CHARLES (Text) | 37777123581068 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
Edith Wheeler Memorial Library - Monroe | 814.6 KRAUTHAMMER (Text) | 34026141857271 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
Gunn Memorial Library - Washington | 814.6 KRA (Text) | 34055141153696 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
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The Point of It All : A Lifetime of Great Loves and Endeavors
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Excerpt
The Point of It All : A Lifetime of Great Loves and Endeavors
PART I WHAT A PIECE OF WORK IS MAN CHAPTER 1 LIFE WELL LIVED Reveries of a Newborn Father Three weeks ago Daniel Pierre Krauthammer, our first, entered the world. It was a noisy and boisterous entry, as befits a 10-Âpound Krauthammer. It has been just as noisy and boisterous since. I had been warned by friend and foe that life would never be the same. They were right. Of course, like all exhausted newborn fathers, I am just looking for sympathy. It is my wife, Robyn, whose life has been fully merged with his, in a symbiosis profound and delicate. His sucking, did you know, causes the uterus to contract and helps shrink it back to normal size. Twenty days old, and he is healing her. What she does for him, of course, would not fit in a month's worth of columns. What do I do? It seems my job is to father, a verb which must count as one of the age's more inventive creations. How exactly to father? I don't really know. The women's movement, to which the idea owes its currency, is right to insist that the father do more. But more of what? I have been asking myself that lately as I rock him and hold him and speak to him in the gravest of tones. But we both know, we all three know, the truth: Nature has seen to it that anything I can do, she can do better. Mine is literally a holding action. Of course, the imperative to father is only the last of the social conventions one must bend to on the road to parenting. (I am learning the language.) First, there is Lamaze, the classes that teach you to be natural. Robyn does not fancy oxymorons. And I, as a former psychiatrist, know a placebo when I see one. We said no to Lamaze. We said yes to the Volvo. In fact, on the Volvo we went all the way. We got the station wagon with roof rack: the ultimate yuppie conveyance. "For safety reasons only," I explain to friends, a protest that meets with knowing smiles. Finally, there is the supreme modern convention: the now-Âabsolute requirement that father, in surgical gear, attend the birth. Of course, you don't have to if you don't want to. You can, if you wish, wait outside, like Dagwood Bumstead, pacing and smoking and fretting until it's over. You have the perfect right to betray your wife, spurn your child and disgrace your sex. It's a free country. The transformation of expectant father from nuisance--Âpacked off to boil water, find towels and generally get out of the way-- to conscripted co-Âproducer of the birth epic is one of the anthropological wonders of the age. And on the whole, apart from the coercion, a good thing. Father's presence serves two purposes. One is to reduce the anguish of the mother. The other is to increase the anguish of the father. Both seem to me laudable goals. It makes up a bit for the extraordinarily unfair imbalance of suffering that attends childbirth. Thank God, the new convention does not (yet) command fathers to attend a caesarean delivery. I speak from experience. Robyn needed a caesarean and, hoping I could comfort her, I was with her in the operating room. I was not looking for a Maslovian peak-Âexperience, the kind of epiphany that reputedly accompanies the moment of birth. I was doubtful, not just because of my usual skepticism, but because of my previous career. In medical school, I had assisted at several births, including a couple of caesareans, and always had trouble seeing the poetry for the blood. There was little poetry this time either. It was an agonizing hour for her, and for me. (Daniel did very well.) The poetry came afterward, in the recovery room, where I found Daniel asleep in Robyn's arms. It has been poetry and reverie ever since. Having a child, I discovered, makes you dream again and, at the same time, makes the dreams utterly real. Lately I have been dreaming of the future. I find entirely new meaning in what we in Washington call "out-Âyears." Take 1989, the year the budget deficit comes down to $100 billion. A time far, far away . . . until I figured it is the year when we retire Daniel's Pampers. A manageable deficit, only a few thousand nappy changes away. Stranger years, years of exotic immensity, years that till now had meaning to Arthur C. Clarke only, become utterly mundane. 2001, the year of the mystical obelisk, and Daniel should be getting his learner's permit. 2010, the obelisk returns and Daniel is looking for a job. 2050, a year of unimaginable distance: his first Social Security check. "Checks? Social Security?" my friend Pepe interrupts. "Where's your imagination, man? They'll all be memories. Think big. 2050: the year he takes a sabbatical on Saturn." I'm thinking small. I gaze at his body, so perfectly formed, so perfectly innocent. It has yet to be written on. I look at his knee and wonder where will be the little mark that records his first too-Âhard slide into second base. The Washington Post, June 28, 1985 Excerpted from The Point of It All: A Lifetime of Great Loves and Endeavors by Charles Krauthammer All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.