Title: Things That Matter Pdf Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes and Politics
Author: Charles Krauthammer
Published Date: 2013
Page: 387
In this Amazon One-to-One, Charles Krauthammer and Dana Perino discuss Dr. Krauthammer’s new book Things That Matter: Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes, and Politics. Charles Krauthammer is a Pulitzer Prize-winning syndicated columnist, political commentator and physician. Dana Perino is a Former White House Press Secretary who worked with President George W. Bush, contributor and co-host of The Five on FOX News. She is a long-time friend and fan of Charles Krauthammer. Dana Perino: Your new book covers three decades of your writings, divided into 16 chapters, and grouped into categories of the things that have mattered to you in your life. As you reviewed your body of work, were you surprised by anything that you had written? Did you ever think, “I can’t believe I ever thought that”? Charles Krauthammer: No real surprises—I find that I agree with myself a lot—except for my enthusiastic review of Independence Day. Though I might've been unduly swayed by seeing the premiere with my son, then ten, who announced after the showing that he would see the movie every week for the rest of his life. DP: The thing that has mattered most to you is your family. Your book opens with a column that could be called “a two-hankie job.” How hard is it to write about the people that you love, to give people a glimpse into your personal life? CK: I didn’t become a writer to write about myself. In fact, I don't even like using the word "I" in writing an opinion column, let alone a personal one. The only times I really have written about my own life is when it had a purpose outside myself, such as honoring a person, perhaps a friend or mentor, of extraordinary character. DP: As a long-time fan of yours, there are some of your columns that I remember reading, and where I was when I read it, and how I said to my husband, “That’s exactly what I was thinking!” Do you know when a column is going to be a hit? CK: Quite the opposite. I'm always amazed how wrong I am. A column that I think will sink like a stone might catch on like wildfire. Others that I'm proud and smug about as I submit for publication, leave no trace. Which is why I'm a writer, not a publisher. I wasn't made for marketing. DP: The original essay you penned for Things That Matter is like an award-winning exhibit of your heart and mind. What will readers learn about you that they may not have known? CK: How improbable my life story is. I still wake up simply amazed how I've ended up where I am, mostly by serendipity and sheer blind luck. I started out as a doctor. I ended as a writer. And that's the least of the stunning twists and turns that have defined my life—which I write about, for the first time, in the introductory essay to Things That Matter. DP: You have become a must-read and a must-see on television news programs. Parents shush their children when you’re about to speak. On the rare Friday when you don’t have a column or when you’re not on Special Report with Bret Baier, your mom gets calls of “Where is Charles?” Disappointment hangs heavy over your fans. But who are your weekly must-reads? CK: George Will. David Brooks. Mickey Kaus. And for that happy half of every year—April through October—the (daily) box score of the Washington Nationals. DP: Do you think that your training as a psychiatrist has given you an advantage when observing people in politics? CK: Actually, no. Psychiatry has everything to say about mental illness, very little to say about ordinary life. It offers no magical formulas for understanding human behavior beyond what any lay person can see. Although I do like to joke that there's not much difference in what I do today as a political analyst in Washington from what I used to do as a psychiatrist in Boston—in both lines of work, I deal every day with people who suffer from paranoia and delusions of grandeur. The only difference is that the paranoids in Washington have access to nuclear weapons. DP: You wrote a column on September 12, 2001 that is included in Things That Matter. How difficult was that to write under the time pressure of the day, and to keep your commentary to standard column length? CK: Like the whole country, I was on fire with fury. I felt I simply had to write. The difficulty was less time pressure than emotional pressure—trying to suppress my feelings so I could be as analytical as possible. Sometimes that kind of writing can be disastrous. I think this one came out right. DP: Given the mention in your essay, and because I have a gut feeling that we’re on the same page, what is your preferred style on serial commas? CK: With commas the rule should always be: the fewer the better. They are a scourge, a pestilence upon the land. They must be given no quarter. When you list three things, it should be written: a, b and c. If you see a comma after the "b"—call 911 immediately. DP: Many readers may not realize that you once were a Democrat? Was it a gradual or a spectacular breakup? CK: Like most breakups, gradual. Like few breakups, however, without regret. DP: You have covered politics and government since the Carter administration. Do you believe that America’s politics are too strained, too partisan, and too deranged to make meaningful progress? CK: Not at all. What we need is not a new politics but a new president. DP: What do you think will be the things that matter 20–30 years from now? CK: The things that really matter, as I try to explain in the introductory essay—the cosmic questions of origins and meaning, the great achievements of science and art, the great mysteries of creation and consciousness—shall always be with us. Thirty years from now, 300 years from now. I hope that one contribution of this book will be to provide some illumination on these wondrous mysteries and achievements. DP: If you had a magic wand and could get the U.S. federal government to do three things, what would be your top priorities? CK: Abolish the income tax code with its staggeringly intrusive and impenetrable provisions and replace it with a clean consumption tax. Get out of the race business and return the country to the colorblind vision of Martin Luther King. Kill the penny. “Required reading…Krauthammer is among the very best—and this is the best of the best, selected by him, with an engaging and fascinating introduction…Amazingly fresh, and full of thought-provoking formulations and arguments.” –The Weekly Standard “A fantastic read, a cerebral read, a fun read.” –Guy Benson, Townhall “It’s going to be a big hit.” –Bill O’Reilly, The O’Reilly Factor (October 21, 2013) “Krauthammer’s assets include steel-trap logic, an epée wit, a profound sense of history, and a withering contempt for journalists who would rather cringe in the dark than bring the truth to light.” –City Journal America, you’ve got to read this for your own great pleasure and relief.” –Hugh Hewitt (October 31, 2013) "The best American columnists make their British counterparts look like bumbling amateurs,but none of them writes with more sense,sensibility and sanity than the Washington Post's Charles Krauthammer. Things That Matter, selected from a lifetime of writing, bears comparison with the greatest of American prose." -Daniel Johnson, Standpoint "Usually thought of as a conserva-tive, this syndicated columnist has won both the left-wing People for the American Way’s First Amendment Award and the right-wing Bradley Foundation’s first $250,000 Bradley Prize. Readers of all political persuasions will find plenty here that’s thought-provoking and worthwhile." -Pittsburg Tribune-Review “Krauthammer’s first collection in more than 20 years is a priceless introduction to the columnist’s writing. And for those who have thrilled at the sight of a Krauthammer byline for decades, Things That Matter is a window into the master polemicist’s habits of mind, heart, and technique.” -Matthew Continetti, Commentary “For three decades, Charles Krauthammer has enriched American political discourse with his sharply-honed analysis, humane values, and questing mind. From personal meditations to learned examinations of history and policy, Things That Matterstands as a record of a transformative period in the American experience, and a remarkable intellect at work.” -Henry A. Kissinger "Charles Krauthammer is not only the most influential conservative commentator in America, his writing transcends the crush of daily events and can be read, with profit, always." –David Brooks, New York Times columnist and bestselling author of The Social Animal “Amid today's clutter of print and cacophony of broadcast commentary, Charles Krauthammer's lapidary judgments stand out, and stand the test of time. Literature has been called news that lasts. Krauthammer's columns take journalism to the level of literature.” –George F. Will, Washington Post columnist “Blending high-mindedness with strong conservative values, he has commanded respect on both the extreme and moderate sides of the spectrum, becoming the closest thing the factionalized GOP could have to a spokesperson, a de facto opposition leader for the thinking right.” -POLITICO
A brilliant stylist known for an uncompromising honesty that challenges conventional wisdom at every turn, Krauthammer has for decades dazzled readers with his keen insight into politics and government. His weekly column is a must-read in Washington and across the country. Now, finally, the best of Krauthammer’s intelligence, erudition and wit are collected in one volume.
Readers will find here not only the country’s leading conservative thinker offering a passionate defense of limited government, but also a highly independent mind whose views—on feminism, evolution and the death penalty, for example—defy ideological convention. Things That Matter also features several of Krauthammer’s major path-breaking essays—on bioethics, on Jewish destiny and on America’s role as the world’s superpower—that have profoundly influenced the nation’s thoughts and policies. And finally, the collection presents a trove of always penetrating, often bemused reflections on everything from border collies to Halley’s Comet, from Woody Allen to Winston Churchill, from the punishing pleasures of speed chess to the elegance of the perfectly thrown outfield assist.
With a special, highly autobiographical introduction in which Krauthammer reflects on the events that shaped his career and political philosophy, this indispensible chronicle takes the reader on a fascinating journey through the fashions and follies, the tragedies and triumphs, of the last three decades of American life.
He would switch to CNN from time to time so I would get a good listen on them Having an extreme right-wing father, he would put on FOX news every evening after work while casually drinking beer. Growing up, the voices of the FOX reporters would be in the background. He would switch to CNN from time to time so I would get a good listen on them. What both channels had in common was that these so-called adults would complain like little kids most of the time. But one stood out that had a very calm attitude, which was Charles Krauthammer. Asking myself how he keeps his composure at such a calm state with all these people I didn't know that he was paralyzed which was a tragic story. Even though I ignored the stuff my dad was watching, if I heard Mr. Krauthammer talk, then I would keep an open ear pretending I wasn't interested. What got me interested in buying this book was because Mr. Krauthammer had many other interests outside of politics like art, math, music, chess science and sports. The first hour reading the book, I fell in love with it immediately and couldn't put it down. He used a lot of different non-political fields to explain politics and it made so much sense. Some moments even caused me to burst out in laughter. It's not in any way deep reading. The prose is addictive and the "chapters" are about a two and a half pages so it makes you feel like, "okay, one more article and I get some lunch or sleep. But you might end up like me and read for two hours straight without realizing it. Anyone trying to dip their feet into politics for the first time should add this to your basic reading list. From what everyone else is saying, I'm not the only one who feels this way.The Best of a Top-Shelf Columnist Charles Krauthammer has been a leading voice for conservatism during the Obama years, but his run as a superlative columnist stretches back to the 1980s. "Things That Matter" is a collection of Krauthammer's best columns and essays of the last few decades.Krauthammer was a liberal when he was younger, but recounts his journey across the political spectrum and his path from medicine to journalism. While he says that the topics that most captivate the human mind are not political, he reminds us that a society must get politics right if everything else is to flourish, providing Nazi Germany as an example of how demented politics can destroy a society that was advanced in so many other areas.This collection includes some of the author's most hard-hitting columns of the Obama years in which Krauthammer spells out how liberal policies are weakening America both domestically and internationally. In addition to these columns on topical issues, other columns take a wider view in examining the importance of having conservative domestic and foreign policies. Krauthammer also looks back at figures such as Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, and Martin Luther King, as well as at events such as the French Revolution and the Cold War.While Krauthammer is known as a political columnist, he applies his superb insights into life and human nature across many other arenas as well—there are fascinating columns in this collection on chess, dogs, baseball, science, mathematics, and much more.Those who are familiar with the author's work are likely to know that he was paralyzed in an accident when he was young. The volume shows his strength of character in that he touches only lightly on the topic and asserts that one can have a very good life in spite of paralysis. Krauthammer's writing style is nothing short of phenomenal, and this superb amalgam of topical and timeless columns by one of the Right's leading voices will likely be read avidly even decades from now.Krauthammer's work is wonderful. His brilliance Mr. Krauthammer's work is wonderful. His brilliance, wit, wisdom and fairness shine through in each of his marvelous yarns and they reveal the things that really do matter in life - the many aspects of love - whether in appreciation of dogs or of baseball or of political super heroes. Mr. Krauthammer is a super hero of encouragement and brilliance to the tired, old hippy that I am.
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