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A Nation Of Wusses: How America's Leaders Lost The Guts To Make Us Great (2012)

by Ed Rendell(Favorite Author)

3.5 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1118279050 (ISBN13: 9781118279052)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Wiley

review 1: I like Rendell. One of my greatest regrets is declining the invitation to attend his first Governor's Inaugural Ball. I appreciate his forthrightness and everything he has done for the City of Philadelphia and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Having said that, I have to confess that this book leaves a lot to be desired. It feels as though it was written by a high school senior. The "fixes" that he offers are painfully obvious and lack depth. And while I understand that he is citing examples of his success at administering those fixes, they come off as more self-congratulatory than as true teaching moments.
review 2: Had it not been for the title--too interesting to ignore--I may have passed on reading this one having, quite honestly, lost my appetite for pol... moreitics. But I wanted to know how in the world wuss would be defined. Am I a wuss?Didn't take long. Aside from the policies; some I agreed with, others I questioned, and those I didn't understand...just the inference behind the first chapter, `The Wussification of America,' (humorous as it was), not only summed up how he defined a wuss, but kept my laughing in check until I could hold it no more.Oh my goodness, I laughed so hard about 'Swifty' the donkey (the mascot), and the sturgeons, and why Rendell is against receiving plaques, that I could barely see straight! Definitely a beautiful book. Really appreciated the way this one was composed; complete with heartfelt stories and tremendous cases-in-points... the most impressive being the "Carey Report--" a nearly 1000 page investment report about ways NYC could save money, in which he applied to eliminate the deficit (without raising taxes) during his term as mayor. I'm going to wuss out myself on explaining why this surprised me, only to admit that this was just about when I began respecting Rendell for more than his great witty sense of humor. From how he handled what to do with the snow after the great snowfall in 2006, to him and Clinton eating those cheesesteaks in Pat's...you know... doing the "Philadelphia lean," where the picture showed up on the front page of the Inquirer but, "oh, by the way," the actual story was buried subsequent pages later, I'll say, yes he is smart...alongside his great sense of humor. A very relevant read. less

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