Politics: Observations and Arguments, 1966-2004

Hertzberg collects 121 of his published essays on the American political scene, nearly half drawn from his "Comment" pieces for the New Yorker. Styling himself a social democrat of the European variety, as well as a liberal Democrat of the American breed, he comments on a broad range of political events, figures, and processes, including the "Child Monarch" (Ronald Reagan), the controversy over the "under God" phrase in the Pledge of Allegiance, presidential elections and campaigns, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the bigotry at Bob Jones University, the Senate Watergate hearings, capital punishment, and the "War on Drugs." Annotation ?2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)