|
|
#1 Photo Products - A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity
|
List Price: $26.00
Our Price: $13.55
Your Save: $ 12.45 ( 48% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Broadway
|
Average Customer Rating:  
|
|
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 070.92
EAN: 9780767928823
ISBN: 0767928822
Label: Broadway
Manufacturer: Broadway
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 272
Publication Date: 2008-09-23
Publisher: Broadway
Release Date: 2008-09-23
Studio: Broadway
|
|
|
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating:
Summary: "This Time It's Personal"
Comment: As the book jacket of A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity says, "this time it's personal." Bill O'Reilly, the man so many folks love to hate (please don't get Barney Frank started), this time around explains how he came to be the man he is. While it is doubtful that his detractors will read the book, those who admire O'Reilly, or at the least find him to be entertaining, will probably enjoy this one.
Bill O'Reilly, born in 1949, seems to have always been a bit of a rebel despite his upbringing by Depression era parents. Many of his core beliefs, such as spending wisely and saving for the future, come from that upbringing and, in fact, the core belief central to his makeup, a strong feeling that people should be treated fairly in life and that evil must be confronted and challenged, comes from watching his own parents struggle to make their way.
O'Reilly watched his father trade job security for a lifetime of stagnation in a job that never rewarded him the way he deserved to be rewarded and, as a result, the younger O'Reilly chose to be the free agent that he is today. Being an independent, as O'Reilly calls himself, allows him to look at both sides of an issue without having to worry about official party lines or whom he might offend by his position on any particular issue. His willingness to challenge those with whom he disagrees, especially those he believes to be playing unfairly or unethically, makes O'Reilly into an equal-opportunity offender. Most of the time, he has the Democratic faithful screaming for his head; at other times, the screaming comes from Republican Party faithful.
A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity is filled with stories from O'Reilly's childhood and early career, stories that give insight into how one rebellious, non-conformist kid with a low attention span became the anti-evil crusader he is today. Whether it was designing a plot to get even with a neighbor who confiscated his group's rubber ball when it went onto his property or driving the nuns at his Catholic school to distraction, O'Reilly was developing the nonconformist personality that he uses so effectively today.
But there is more to the man, much more. He has a sentimental side, and a hardcore loyalty to his oldest friends, that he seldom displays in public. Friends come and go in life, usually because circumstances change and neither side makes the special effort required to maintain contact over the years. O'Reilly refuses to let that happen. He feels a special bond with the people he grew up around and those he met at university or early on in his public career, and he is determined to maintain those friendships, often organizing group events that bring together a dozen or two people at a time.
The bottom line for Bill O'Reilly is that he absolutely detests unfairness and those who make their way in life by taking advantage of others. He is a firm believer in self-reliance but he knows that self-reliance works only in a social and economic system that is based on fairness. He hates the world of special privileges and, when he finds people gaming the system, he calls them out, a habit that makes a lot of people very uncomfortable.
O'Reilly lives by a simple philosophy, really. He believes that "you either fight active evil or you accept it. Doing nothing is acceptance. There is no in-between." As he puts it, "When it is all over, when you are dead...your legacy will be defined by two simple questions: How many wrongs did you right, and how many people did you help when they needed it?"
Like him, take him or leave him, love him, or hate him, it's hard to argue with that philosophy.
Customer Rating:
Summary: This book was a bore
Comment: This book did nothing for me. I couldn't get past the first 20 pages! Don't waste your time and money.
Customer Rating:
Summary: honest,raw as always
Comment: Reminiscent of the past as relates to future. My life similar as well I am sure many of age 44 and over. Changes aren't always great.
I always love O'Rielly's books
Customer Rating:
Summary: Where is the friendly Amazon delete-bot to save the day?!?!?!?!?!
Comment: Whenever anyone writes negative reviews of new books, the friendly Amazon delete-bot comes to save the day by helpfully deleting them all--regardless of merit or cause--so the publisher's sales are not hurt. It looks like maybe Mr. O'Reilly's work doesn't deserve the delete-bot treatment for one reason or another. Sorry Bill, you are going to have to deal with honest reviews. Amazon has elected to allow freedom of speech for reviews about your book, at least for now--or maybe the delete-bot is simply too busy cleaning up the Thomas Friedman and Barack Obama listings to make it over here just yet.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Pretty entertaining book
Comment: This was a pretty entertaining read. He had an interesting childhood. I can definitely see why he is the way that he is.
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews:
|
|
The year was 1957, the month September, and I had just turned eight years old. Dwight Eisenhower was President, but in my life it was the diminutive, intense Sister Mary Lurana who ruled, at least in the third-grade class where I was held captive. For reasons you will soon understand, my parents had remanded me to the penal institution of St. Brigid’s School in Westbury, New York, a cruel and unusual punishment if there ever was one.
Already, I had barely survived my first two years at St. Brigid’s because I was, well, a little nitwit. Not satisfied with memorizing the Baltimore Catechism’s fine prose, which featured passages like “God made me to show his goodness and to make me happy with him in heaven,” I was constantly annoying my classmates and, of course, the no-nonsense Sister Lurana. With sixty overactive students in her class, she was understandably short on patience. For survival, she had also become quick on the draw.
Then it happened. One day I blurted out some dumb remark, and Sister Lurana was on me like a panther. Her black habit blocked out all distractions as she leaned down, looked me in the eye, and uttered words I have never forgotten: “William, you are a bold, fresh piece of humanity.”
And she was dead-on. One day in 1957, in the third-grade classroom of St. Brigid’s parochial school, an exasperated Sister Mary Lurana bent over a restless young William O’Reilly and said, “William, you are a bold, fresh piece of humanity.” Little did she know that she was, early in his career as a troublemaker, defining the essence of Bill O’Reilly and providing him with the title of his brash and entertaining issues-based memoir.
And this time it’s personal. In his most intimate book yet, O’Reilly goes back in time to examine the people, places, and experiences that launched him on his journey from working-class kid to immensely influential television personality and bestselling author. Readers will learn how his traditional outlook was formed in the crucible of his family, his neighborhood, his church, and his schools, and how his views on America’s proper role in the world emerged from covering four wars on five continents over three-plus decades as a news correspondent. What will delight his numerous fans and surprise many others is the humor and self-deprecation with which he handles one of his core subjects: himself, and just how O’Reilly became O’Reilly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
