0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
great book, 2008-11-28
I'm actually thinking about taking his class next year and i'm going to keep this book for reference. Well written.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Well written, 2007-11-23
As an introduction to the topic, I think that this book is excellently written. The only problem is that the author gives his opinion in so many places. I think it is good for an author to state his opinion and explain it to people, but not in a book that is an introduction to a topic. In introductions it would be better to let the reader just know about the topic since it is too early for him/her to have an opinion about it. However, the author did explain most ideologies and he was fair in treating them. He did not attack ideologies that were not his own. The book clearly explains most ideologies and the author brings into the discussion economic, political and philosophical issues in a coherent way. Had he not been so opinionated I would have given this book five stars.
3 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
Liberal tripe, 2007-10-08
My daughter has to answer some questions based on parts of this book and I was wondering why she was complaining. All you have to do is read part of it and you see that it's inaccurate and wrong. In a vacuum, I can see how people would fall for this stuff, but with so much more information around us, the book is obviously indoctrination for kindergarteners - it's that simplistic.
I suggest you watch this talk by Evan Sayet. Evan used to write for Bill Maher: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaE98w1KZ-c
Evan is talking about the newer strain of liberals - which he calls Modern Liberals - as opposed to the more traditional ones that are aligned with our Founding beliefs. You can see the patterns of Modern Liberalism in all sorts of things. Evan explains why Modern Liberals want the US (and Western Civilization) to lose in Iraq, why they fight increasing the supply of oil (which will help poor people), why they support the Iranian President's verbal attacks on Israel and the US while ignoring the human rights record and his attacks on gays, why mediocre (socialized) healthcare is better than good healthcare, etc, etc, etc.
Please watch the video.
As for my daughter's work, it comes down to answering correctly or according to what the teacher wants.
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
awesome book, 2007-03-03
while admittedly the writer has a particularly left wing stance the book is very well written and easy to pick up. the chapters are well organized and most topics are written very nonpartisan.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
I Still Keep Referring to This Book, 2002-02-04
I keep going back to this book in all my political readings. It succinctly categorizes the major ideologies, gives brief histories, and places them in the larger picture to make the whole of political ideology more digestible. In the process, it clarifies left/right labels and dispels many of the myths that the general public has, infected by spin machines and AM radio.I personally didn't see a pro-Marxist tilt in the book. Yet many of us who have grown up in Cold War McCarthyite America may reflexively call any book that vaguely mentions Karl Marx without dismissing him right off as "pro-Marxist."
Baradat is at his best when he steps back and shows each ideology as being part of the ebb and flow of history, of revolution and counter-revolution.
"Political Ideologies" works well as a board to dive into heavier works.