Silent America: Essays from a Democracy at War

When read online these essays seem huge, but in print they are just right. BW is a visionary, and I was captured in his vision within the first paragraph of each of these essays. I suspect M. Hogan did not bother to read it, but was instead giving his customary 1 star review to anything perceived as right-wing.

Until you read these essays, you will not believe how powerful they are. They discuss the core concepts of our lives, in relation to our current world-historical struggle against terrorism. At this point, you're probably thinking "Hey, there are a thousand philosophy books that do that." Sure, but these essays are not written for philosophy majors. They are written for everyone. The style is casual and approachable - any literate person can read these essays for both pleasure and information. You'll be halfway through an essay, and enjoying it immensely, before you realize that the author has laid the groundwork for a serious point on some deep concept such as honor, courage, and responsibility. Many of us would like to believe that, when it comes to such moral concepts, we are driven by pure logic, like Mr. Spock. Bill Whittle supplies plenty of that, giving strong rational cases for his positions. But the truth is that we can't sift through the logical fine points in every incident of our lives that has a moral dimension. In some instances, there's no time - we must react. Even for cases that are not urgent, we face so many judgements we can't possibly agonize over each one. We need guiding principles. These principles help us understand what to do, in the face of both our own impulses, and also in the face of pressure and propaganda from various sources. Principles such as freedom, honor, courage, and responsibility are not passe, as many might have you believe, but are more important than ever. This book explains why. You can sample the essays in this book at Bill Whittle's web site, ejectejecteject.com. But if you're like me, you'll also want to have a copy for your library, or to give to others for whom the Internet is not a primary source of information.

Bill Whittle may have the clearest vision of both the future and the past of anyone in America. I have read many of his essays from his website, but this compilation puts them all into one book you can take with you anywhere. If you don't break down and cry at least once each essay, you aren't a thinking person, if you don't recognize the importance of supporting our Constitution and country after any three essays, you may have a learning disability! If you believe in the American way of life, you will definitely consider this book a keeper!

Bill Whittle entitled his collection of essays "Silent America" because his is the eloquent voice not normally heard in the media. His voice is not shrill or complaining, cajoling nor insistent, critical or angry. His is the voice of those people - still a majority in this country - who get up each morning and go to work believing in the goodness and dignity of our nation and ourselves. His is the voice of people who work two jobs when necessary, rather than take "charity" - but who will give their last dollar so that another's children won't go hungry. His is the voice of the people tired of hearing about how bad things are, and how we must give up our dreams and live in some dreary collective because we're just not realists. Bill IS a realist, of the finest stripe, and by far the best living essayist I have ever read. The man is an ARTIST with words, painting beautiful vistas, carving soul-rending sculptures, and casting evil in frozen bronze for all to see and RECOGNIZE. And through it all, he shines a brilliant light, the one I believe our Founders saw when they sat down to build this nation, on the lies and defeatism of those who claim to love our country, but do their best to tear it down from the inside with envy and worry, self-doubt and self-loathing. If you consider yourself a "Red-Stater," you should read this book and remind yourself of why you believe the things you believe. If you're a "Blue-Stater" you should read this book to try and understand why you're just not reaching us. And, just perhaps, you'll rediscover that America is, while not perfect, still the greatest nation this world has yet seen. Bill can show you that.

Bill Whittle's "Silent America" is a must-read for those who believe in the power of liberty and the strength of the American spirit. In no other work will you find the viewpoint of this nation's "intelligent non-intellectuals" stated so reasonably and eloquently; Whittle is, with no exaggeration, the Mark Twain of post-9/11 America. "Silent America" is also a stinging refutation to the defeatist anti-Americanism of authors such as Moore, Chomsky, and Vidal. They would do well to read this book for a better understanding of why their work still doesn't find traction within the mainstream population of the US.