From the Left
A Life in the Crossfire
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
THE WASHINGTON POST BESTSELLER
"Bill Press has done it all. He was the Chair of the California Democratic Party, he has been involved in numerous campaigns, he has been a prolific writer, and has worked as a host and commentator on radio and TV. In other words, he knows politics inside and out. This is the tale of an engaged and often outraged citizen who loves his country and wants to see it move forward in a progressive direction." —Senator Bernie Sanders
A memoir of talk radio host and political commentator Bill Press.
The name Bill Press is synonymous with honest journalism, intelligent commentary, and progressive politics.
But based on where he came from, it's a wonder he didn't end up a Trump voter. He grew up in a blue-collar family in a small town in Delaware south of the Mason-Dixon line, where segregation was the rule. As a Catholic, he was taught that abortion, divorce, sex outside of marriage, and homosexuality were morally wrong: beliefs later reinforced in ten years of seminary studies for the priesthood. He was on his way to be a rock-ribbed conservative.
So what went right for him that he swerved so far to the left?
In From the Left, Press shows this gradual transformation, starting with two years of studies in Europe and a providential escape to California. From Sacramento he made his way to Southern California television and talk radio as a political commentator and liberal talk show host. Jumping to Washington and national cable TV, Press hosted Crossfire and The Spin Room on CNN, and Buchanan and Press on MSNBC. A member of the White House Press Corps and columnist for Tribune Media Services and The Hill, Press was an early supporter of Bernie Sanders and hosted two of the Senator's first presidential strategy sessions in his living room.
If you're already on the left, you'll cheer a fellow traveler. If not yet there, you soon will be.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this breezy memoir Press, former cohost of CNN's Crossfire and Spin Room, recounts the many hats he's worn in his career, among them Catholic seminarian, environmental activist, political candidate, campaign director (including for Jerry Brown's quixotic 1976 presidential bid), and journalist. Press reveals a knack for being in the right place at the right time; for instance, during a visit to Nicaragua in 1986, he received an early tip-off about the Reagan administration's secret arms supplies to the Contras. He comes across as a broad-minded personality; despite his leftist perspective, he admires John McCain and was personally friendly with Pat Buchanan. Press is generally a clear writer and fine raconteur, though at times he is frustratingly cryptic, as when he describes persuading Governor Brown to adopt his "California Urban Strategy" but doesn't give more than a superficial explanation of what it entailed. In praising Bernie Sanders, Press lapses into hyperbole, such as in confidently predicting that Sanders, had he been the Democratic nominee, would have won the 2016 presidential race. Press's account of his life to date will instruct and provide encouragement to his fellow embattled progressives.
