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The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power |  | Author: Jeff Sharlet
Brand: MyBook
Category: Book
List Price: $15.99
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as of 9/9/2010 04:16 MDT details
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Seller: lighthouse-books
Rating:  175 reviews
Sales Rank: 9926
Media: Paperback
Edition: 10th ptg.
Pages: 464
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.3 x 1.2
ISBN: 0060560053
Dewey Decimal Number: 277.3083
EAN: 9780060560058
ASIN: 0060560053
Publication Date: June 1, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| • | ISBN13: 9780060560058 | | • | Condition: New | | • | Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed |
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Product Description
They insist they are just a group of friends, yet they funnel millions of dollars through tax-free corporations. They claim to disdain politics, but congressmen of both parties describe them as the most influential religious organization in Washington. They say they are not Christians, but simply believers. Behind the scenes at every National Prayer Breakfast since 1953 has been the Family, an elite network dedicated to a religion of power for the powerful. Their goal is "Jesus plus nothing." Their method is backroom diplomacy. The Family is the startling story of how their faith—part free-market fundamentalism, part imperial ambition—has come to be interwoven with the affairs of nations around the world.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 175
An important well written book September 2, 2010
Lawrence A. Zieminski (Fort Bragg, NC USA)
I first heard about this book during the various C-street scandals that hit some Republican senators over the last year or so. I got the book, mistakenly assuming it would be about the C-Street house and how it is used by various Congressman (I was wrong, but that book is coming out this Fall). Instead I found a book that covers the history of Christian Fundamentalism. Rather than just covering The Family (a particular group of fundamentalists), Sharlet goes back and starts with the Revival moments that swept America 200 years ago. I wasn't too familiar with the topic, so this was a great lesson in how this brand of Christianity started and thrived throughout our nation's history.
Sharlet covers The Family in almost overwhelming detail, from its creation, to its associations and its leaders. He also covers other important aspects of modern Christian fundamentalism, such as home-schooling (which puts an emphasis on viewing everything through a God filter).
All in all, I thought this was a great primer for people who don't know anything about modern Christian fundamentalism (especially as it pertains to American politics).
 the family August 30, 2010
Darlene Jones (REEDSVILLE, PA, US)
this book was a hard read. if it wasn't a book club selection i never would have purchased it.
Religious secret fanatics in our government. August 30, 2010
freddie king jr
Who knew all these religious nuts were living and inbreeding off each other. Great and scary expose' Mr Sharlet does a great job of fairily exposing the hypocracy in Washington,and how these politicians have to feign loyalty for cheap rent.
 Important Work August 28, 2010
Christine (Bellevue, WA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is well-written and gives timely information in a historical context. It added to my own research in unexpected ways.
 A sermon for the converted August 22, 2010
hydrophilic (San Francisco, CA USA)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
If you dislike fundamentalist Christians and enjoy being outraged, then this is the book for you. If you want to read something informative rather than simply inflammatory, you'll do better elsewhere.
The author's premise is that there is a shadowy, neo-fundamentalist movement behind pretty much every American domestic and foreign policy debacle in the past century. I consider myself skeptical, and I had a very difficult time with a book that is essentially a conspiracy theory.
It's unfortunate because the author makes a number of disturbing claims that, if true, deserve more examination. However, he directs such bile at his subject that it is impossible to trust his version of events. It's clear that if a connection can be made between this movement's members and an ugly piece of history, the author will include it, no matter how tenuous the evidence. There is also no historical perspective on policy. For instance, the author covers in detail how Abrams, one of the movement's leaders, was "soft" on post-WW II Nazi officers, while (1) failing to mention that many people shared his views at that time, and (2) not acknowledging that many believe that the severe sanctions imposed on Germany in WW I allowed for the rise of Hitler. That unspeakable abominations occurred in WW II is not up for debate. However, when the author is so unwilling to grant the tiniest bit of dimension or moral texture to this man Abrams, it leaves you wondering what else has been left out.
It also appears that the author met dozens of people while writing this book, and he did not like or trust a single one of them. He makes a huge number of petty and sarcastic asides, which would be more appropriate in a gossip magazine than what is ostensibly a serious piece of research.
The book also lacks focus. It would probably have been more successful if it focused exclusively on Doug Coe, a leader in this network, or perhaps simply on the movement's current political sway. Instead, the book bizarrely begins with John Edwards, the supposed spiritual father of "The Family" almost two hundred years ago. The book then jumps about a hundred years forward to detail how "The Family" began as a union buster. Many of the things the author describes over the rest of the century are unsavory, but they are also irrelevant. It's essentially the same technique as claiming that the Democratic party today is evil because it was pro-slavery at its inception. Many feminists who pushed for a woman's right to vote also supported eugenics. That doesn't somehow invalidate the 19th Amendment.
The author's allegations against Coe *are* relevant, but not much of the book is about him. The author also makes a laughably simplistic argument that Hillary Clinton moved to the right due solely to "The Family's" influence, as if the criticism she endured during her eight years in the White House had nothing to do with it, or that there's no possibility that she simply wanted a larger political base.
Finally, the book's prose is verbose and uneven, making it an unbelievably boring read. I have read some bad books in my time, many of them much worse than this one, but I don't think I've ever had so much trouble finishing 387 pages. I read this for a book club, and I found myself dreading the time I'd set aside for it.
At the end of the day, this book is simply meant to inflame the passions of those who already buy into the author's political beliefs. In other words, he's preaching to the choir.
I give it two stars because it covers an important subject, and there are some nuggets of information buried in the mess.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 175
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