Conceived in Liberty by John J. Tierney, Jr. is a disappointment on just about every level. It claims (as others have but Tierney does so far more rigidly) that liberty is THE singular source of both the American worldview and all other issues (civil right, women's rights, etc). While this sounds like something that is a little overstated, it certainly doesn't sound too bad, maybe his idea of liberty is broad, fluid and adaptable. Well, no.

I will say for someone in an academic setting he wrote quite clear prose. That is about as far as I can go with this book's redeeming qualities. It isn't that he doesn't support (by cherry-picking) his ideas, he does. It isn't even that I found how he started many of his diatribes particularly off. It is his use of the idea of liberty, which is used both in a specific manner when it suits his argument then again in a broader context when that suits him. Regardless of which manner he uses it it is used less as a support for his ideas than he abuses the concept to make it into a support.

This book should make more clear in its marketing material that it is a conservative slant on a very narrow version of liberty, thus a very narrow version of what America means and stands for. After reading, I looked his other work up and realized I should have done so before reading. This is a person who believes that anti-war groups are "anti-American" and need to be controlled if not outright eliminated.

If you are middle of the road and unsure if this book is for you, I'll give one quote that captures the general position of the political spectrum on which this work and author are situated. Your agreement or disagreement with it should serve as the recommendation for whether you will find this work enlightening or scary. In talking about the war on terror, particularly what has transpired domestically since 2001, he says "mericans have not been asked to sacrifice their basic freedoms, leisures, or prosperities." If you believe that firmly and absolutely then you will love this book. If you have some issues with the statement but largely agree, then you may enjoy the book but be prepared it uses a select portion of the population when determining what liberty means. If you find it hard to believe this statement would be in a book from a "learned professor" then you probably won't like it. Tierney is very much about "American Exceptionalism", to the exclusion of even giving other nations who have a strong self-image any nod toward being in the same league. If this is you, you might be a, uh, fan of his.

Like any book that leans too far to either side, I only recommend this to those with a similar lean. The only positive I found in it, and I am not sure he would use his words the way I do, is a quote from the same section of the book."Salesmanship, with all its transparent character, can only carry us so far." This seems to rule out a Trump presidency since that is all Trump is.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via Edelweiss. ( )