The Leveling Wind: Politics, the Culture, and Other News

In the first half of the Nineties, the period covered by "The Leveling Wind", George Will's fifth collection of columns, problems such as illegitimacy and identity politics were becoming more pronounced, and the author tackled these issues and many others, such as education and the Gulf War. One of the best columns that Will has ever written was the column of June 18, 1990, on collective guilt. He goes so far as to say that the rejection of such guilt is a moral movement and that the country is "growing up" from guilt, in stark contrast to the professional guiltmongers themselves, who fancy themselves more moral and enlightened than the rest of the country. The author takes out his needle and skewers those souls who believe that quotas, reverse discrimination, and left-wing racial and gender indoctrination improve, not worsen, relations between groups. Four of the author's year-end columns and two of his commencement addresses are here, as well as a column on basketball's centennial and columns devoted to Andrew Jackson, Pat Buchanan, Michael Jordan, Zachary Taylor, Henry Clay, and Barry Goldwater. This outstanding collection closes with Will's moving column concerning his son Jon, who was born with Down syndrome.

This collection of George Will columns from 1990-1994 is worth reading, but it falls a bit short of his 1986-1990 predecessor (SUDDENLY) due to his increasing partisanship. Will usually has a firm grasp of the facts, and his columns remind us of the themes of the early 1990's (George Bush Sr., Bill Clinton, Ross Perot, Gulf War, etc.). For these reasons this book is clearly worth reading. But Will loses some of his edge with his relentless knocks against President Clinton, and by endorsing fads like term limits. Still, these are informative columns, written by one not afraid to criticize friends or praise opponents. As a thinking conservative, Will is no screeching fool like Coulter, Limbaugh, or others that that twist facts, invent statistics, and slander dissenters. Thoughtful readers may often disagree with Will, but they'll usually learn something from his columns.

His conservative view of current affairs is the most inspiring articles I have ever read for the modern day-to-day history.