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List Price: $13.95 | | Publisher: Harper Perennial
Salesrank: 843554
Released: February 5, 2008 |
| Our Price: $0.01 |
| Used Price: $0.01 |
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| Media: Paperback |
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Editorial Review:
It has been said that everyone in America is firmly planted in red or blue—permanently conservative or irreversibly liberal. But are we all really that locked in to the left or the right? A lifelong liberal, John Moe was determined to find out. So he reset his radio dials from NPR to Rush Limbaugh, joined some of today's most influential conservative thinkers for a series of "conversion sessions," made pilgrimages to the Ronald Reagan and Richard M. Nixon museums, and spent the Fourth of July in the most Bush-friendly county in the country, in an attempt to discover if there was actually a conservative trapped inside him yearning to be set free.
Conservatize Me is a fresh, humorous, and highly entertaining look at our country's political landscape, one that will strike a powerful chord with millions of disgruntled Americans while stimulating the mind and tickling the funny bone.
Conservatize Me: A Lifelong Lefty's Attempt to Love God, Guns, Reagan, and Toby Keith Reviews:
Author is a good humor writer, but this book was weak 
2008-12-15 - John Moe is a good humor writer, and this book has some good insights both serious and humorous. That said, as work of political analysis, it often falls flat. I was especially underwhelmed by Moe's approach to writers like Jonah Goldberg and William Kristol. The fact that both will sit down with Moe and have a civil conversation is not evidence that their stated positions are reasoned, sound, or compassionate. Just because they are not raving lunatics like Ann Coulter or Michael Savage does not lend them credibility.
William Kristol, especially, is routinely wrong in his analysis, and boldly wrong in his predictions, especially regarding the Iraq war. Yet he still somehow maintains credibility as a pundit.
Also, while I appreciate Moe's willingness to immerse himself in red state culture like Toby Keith concerts, Wal-Mart style, and Rodeos, and I realize that there are many kind, generous people in both red and blue states, Moe's unwillingness to judge some of the people he meets leaves him open to charges of moral relativism (a charge often aimed at lefties by righties). Moe and other liberals need to say "More and broader knowledge is better than less, or narrow knowledge. Reading newspapers and books about issues makes one more informed, and better equipped to make informed judgments about issues." Red state citizens who wish to remain ignorant about issues have that right, of course, but their willful ignorance is not equivalent to the informed skepticism of blue state "elites". (I realize I am using stereotypes here.) Moe's unwillingness to criticize weakens the book.
Overall, an OK book, but I wouldn't recommend it.
Entertaining but not terribly insightful 
2008-08-15 - First let me get this out of the way: I enjoyed Conservatize Me. It is well written, funny, and very entertaining.
That having been said, I have a bone to pick with this book. Had this been a book about an outsider looking into the world of conservatism, it would have been just about right. Unfortunately, it uses the ultimately unsuccessful conceit of a liberal trying to "become" conservative by indulging in what he believes, through some pretty shallow assumptions and an abiding faith in gross stereotyping, to be conservative activities. In order to get into the conservative mindset, his first step is to buy an expensive suit (to fit in with the neocons) and a bunch of clothes at Wal-Mart with American flags (to fit in with the common folk), his next step is to fill his Ipod with nothing but Kid Rock and country songs, then he rounds it all off by consuming apparently nothing more than beef jerky, Jelly Bellies, and chewing tobacco. This strikes me as something akin to trying to learn how the Chinese think by eating chop suey and watching Jackie Chan movies for a month.
Now maybe I'm taking John Moe's "Experiment" too seriously. But if so, I think Moe may also be taking his "Experiment" too seriously as well. Perhaps it was at the behest of his editor, but the last several chapters are taken up my Moe's apparently serious lamentations that he can't quite seem to get into the "Conservative" mentality. Ultimately, still buzzing on beef jerky apparently, Moe has an epiphany that conservatives and liberals both really want to do what is right, and they simply have different perspectives on how to get there, and that we're all basically the same under the skin. While I suppose that's largely true, I was left wondering why Moe needed to spend a month wearing Rustler jeans to figure this out when simply talking to people without the conceit of the "Experiment" would almost certainly have brought him to the exact same conclusion.
I don't want to be too harsh. I really did enjoy Conservatize Me, and I don't regret buying it. The first few chapters, in which he talks to well-known conservative theorists and pundits, and sits in on the College Republicans national convention, are very entertaining. However in the end, unfortunately, I don't think that John Moe ultimately understood what his goal was in either conducting his "Experiment" or in writing Conservatize Me.
Induces Liberal Laughter
2008-07-07 - When John Moe takes something seriously---like his attempt to transform from a Seattle liberal into a W-loving, Wal-Mart wearing, neoconservative, warmongering country music lover---it is very, very funny.
Really "Fair & Balanced" 
2008-06-10 - A great book. Surprising that it is not more well-known. Author has a humorous way of showing the good and bad of both sides. Through this process of self-discovery, the author comes to the conclusion that he is in the middle of both sides. Such an enlightened viewpoint is a breath of fresh air from the many extremists who don't want to be confused with the facts. Highly recommended no matter your political persuasion.
Funny, if not overly deep
2007-11-09 - If you are considering this book, you have to think of it as fluff. The book is full of amusing anecdotes and interesting conversations. While I was reading it, I thought maybe I should try to lighten up about conservatives. Of course, the very next book I real was "Imperial Life in the Emerald City" and I went right back to hating the conversative movement. I guess my feeling of detente with conservatives crashed hard into the reality of conservative's actual policies.
