Patriotic Grace: What It Is and Why We Need It Now

by Peggy Noonan

Book Overview

Peggy Noonan's Wall Street Journal column has been must reading for thoughtful liberals and conservatives alike. Now she issues an urgent, heartfelt call for all Americans to support the next... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0061735825
• ISBN13: 9780061735820
• Release Date: September 2008
• Publisher: Harper
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.0" x 7.1"

Customer Reviews

Noonan's Grace - Brain Food For America's Future

As readers of her weekly column in the Wall Street Journal already know, Peggy Noonan is perhaps the finest political thinker, analyst and writer of her time. She has a unique ability to capture the look and feel, and the sensibility/insensibility of events, then translate them into understandable context. It is what made her a great speech writer for Ronald Reagan, and, not surprisingly, it is why "Patriotic Grace" is not only a great book, but an important book that hopefully will jump start a new dialogue about America, and what it means to be an American, and what it will take to lead Americans in the 21st Century. It is not an insignificant note that the book is dedicated to Senators McCain and Obama (among others). Noonan begins with two powerful metaphors. The first recounts the story of brave, scared GIs, all huddled together in Higgins Boats headed accross the Channel to their unsought, but undenied, rendez-vous with destiny at Omaha Beach. The second is an accounting of a serious (but ultimately false) bomb scare that scattered dignitaries assembled in the White House for President Reagan's funeral. A wheel-chair bound older woman could not descend the stairs until she was quietly lifted up by others and carried to safety. In both cases everyone knew that they needed to rely on the skills and strength, bravery and humanity of one another for their mere survival. And so, posits Noonan, it is now the same in America and for all Americans. The author urges that we must all learn, and expect, to carry one another - literally and figuratively - in a post 9/11 world that is more surly, more dangerous, and less accommodating of American arrogance and hubris than in the past. This means reducing/eliminating the symbols and distinctions that have increasingly divided us: red state/blue state; liberal/conservative; Democrat/Republican. These are the emblems of the past which do not serve us well in the future, Noonan spends much time translating the meaning of the Bush years into a series of 14 common sense suggestions, and painful lessons, from which the next President, and coming generations can hopefully learn. They are too numerous to mention in a brief review, but, they clearly include comporting ourselves with a greater degree of grace and accommodation, both internally and internationally, to listen more to one other and to scream less at each other, and to work much harder at being a true beacon that other world communities strive to become. And, all of this is written in a style as though the conversation were being held between the Author and her Reader. You read it. You understand it. You believe it. You want the new dialogue to begin. Let's hope that our alleged leaders are listening. The world has changed and bad things have happened to the United States in this Millennium. Noonan predicts that even worse things are not only possible, but likely - which only accelerates the need to reduce and eliminate the

Graceful Patriotism

Peggy Noonan is the writer I'd most like to talk with, to respond to her insights and listen to her straightforward opinions. Since we aren't acquainted, the next best thing is reading her new book. Her writing exudes innate decency, old fashioned virtues and enduring values. She decries the extremes on both sides of the political spectrum, and the degeneration of the level of national discourse. She describes the indignity of going through airline security as a middle aged woman, and although I do not travel by plane (since 9/11!), I am a middle aged woman, and I exist on dignity, so can well understand her silent outrage at what our nation has come to. Patriotic Grace is inspiring, uplifting, but also profoundly pessimistic about the future of our nation. I also deeply feel our country has descended to terrible depths of degradation, we have accustomed ourselves to vulgarity and ugliness, both verbal and visual, in the public sphere. That Noonan is aware of this is to her great credit. I hope many people read this small book and identify with its message.

Why I Read Peggy Noonan

I think Peggy Noonan is First Violin in the Opinion Orchestra. This book is little. You will only spend a few hours reading it, the urgency of the 2008 election sends Peggy straight to the point. The questions are enormous. What are we putting on our page of history before it turns? How prepared are we to defend ourselves, really? Despite such gravity, I felt my spirits lift when I closed the cover. If you feel spattered by the toxic splash of election coverage, buy this book. Refresh yourself, then press it into the hands of kindred minds.

A superb analysis of the need for change in America

Without a shadow of doubt, Peggy Noonan is the finest writer when it comes to describing politics, social conditions and personal attitudes of Americans. She is a gem. This book is her eighth and finest yet. In addition to her facile intellect she presents a genuine cry from the heart about the tragedy of America today. After 9/11, Americans and the world united in support. Now, Noonan writes, "If we had a major terrorist attack tomorrow, half the country -- more than half -- would not completely trust the federal government to do what it has to do, would not trust it to tell the truth, would not trust it, period." It's not surprising. Noonan was a speechwriter for President Reagan whose philosophy was, "Government is the problem." Now she seems utterly amazed that Americans think government is a problem, not a solution. It leads me to wonder: What if Winston Churchill, after being named Prime Minister in May 1940 and with Panzers closing in on the British army at Dunquerque, had not said, "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat." Instead, citing his predecessors, what if he said government was the problem and advised, "Let's go down to the pub and have a Boddy or two." True to her Reaganesque roots, Noonan still blames government. She's brilliant at this one-note song of sorrow, which makes her book very timely reading. She could be part of the solution if she'd go beyond her anti-government mood and think about how to make government effective and trustworthy again. Harry Truman did it, when America faced much wider and far more dangerous challenges. Perhaps she's at her limit as a journalist -- defining problems but trusting others to maturely find solutions. "The greatest generation" of journalists always had quick and ready solutions; journalists today are stuck with whining about problems but never offering solutions. They seem to fear perhaps being wrong. Noonan is as astute as any at such whining; that alone makes her book one of the best and most relevant for today's America. Noonan writes, "It's beyond 'The president is overwhelmed.' The entire government is overwhelmed." Nonsense. If the government is truly overwhelmed, then America is finished. The answer is to make it work, not to whine about difficulties. Did Churchill whine? Former Sen. Phil Gramm, a McCain advisor, is absolutely right about America becoming a nation of whiners. It's time to stop whining and start working. This book is a vital start. Buy it. Read it. Loan it to friends. Discuss it. Praise it. Condmen it. It will launch an intelligent conversation among caring people about the nature of America tomorrow. Noonan offers a magnificent portrait of America today. However, instead of the feel-good "It's morning in America" complacency, the next president must offer some blood, toil, tears and sweat. It's a challenge Americans always respond to with magnificent courage, determination, effort and patriot

Peppered with Insight

You read Noonan and you stumble on one of her insights, put the book down, and think to yourself "Yeah, that's right. I never quite saw it that way before." Illustration: the presidency has changed because Bush and Clinton personalized it so that it stopped being about the office and started being about them.Bingo. The passage on the messages and calls made by those who were about to die on the 9-11 flights makes you want to cry. Noonan is right: "crisis is a great editor." They said what needed to be said, what mattered, and not one of their words was wasted or mean spirited. She is fair. On Bush and landing the plane on the carrier deck for the Mission Accomplished speech, she smacks their arrogance, saying "they were looking for trouble." On the Dems and Iraq---they looked for a way to oppose it without any political cost."There is always a cost." Her tone is sad yet hopeful. Her Big Idea? Judge Learned Hand said:the spirit of liberty is the spirit that is never sure that it is always right. I'd think she'd embrace that. Give her new one a read.