Right Turns, Michael Medved
Right Turns, Michael Medved
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Right Turns
Unconventional Lessons from a Controversial Life

Author: Michael Medved

Narrator: Robertson Dean

Unabridged: 16 hr 43 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 12/28/2004


Synopsis

Nationally syndicated talk-radio host and noted film critic Michael Medved has taken an extraordinary journey from liberal activist to outspoken conservative. Along the way he has earned millions of admirers—and more than his share of enemies—by advancing controversial, often counterintuitive arguments, including:

• Liberals love losing because it makes them feel virtuous
• America isn’t normal—it’s bizarrely blessed
• Hollywood has lost touch with America—and punishes people who point that out
• Conservatives are both happier and nicer than liberals
• Talk radio is a source of hope, not hatred
• Business isn’t exploitative—it’s heroic
• There is no such thing as “planned parenthood”
• A more Christian America is good for the Jews
• Do-it-yourself conservatism provides the only cure for save-the-world liberalism

In the candid, electrifying Right Turns, Medved chronicles the adventures that taught him these and many other lessons—the startling events that propelled him from Vietnam protest leader to optimistic promoter of American patriotism, from secularism to religion, from adventurous single guy to doting husband and father. In the process he skewers leftist orthodoxy, revealing why the Right is right and why his former colleagues on the Left remain hopelessly wrong on every cultural, political, and social issue.

Medved enters today’s ideological fray armed with experience as, among many other things, a campaign aide for radical Democrats, a minority recruiter for police departments, a Hollywood screenwriter, a Bobby Kennedy volunteer, a teacher at religious schools, a world-champion hitchhiker, an expert on bad movies, and a veteran TV host on PBS and a British network—who declines to own a TV himself.

Medved relishes the contradictions behind the high-profile controversies in which he’s played a leading role—as a prominent movie reviewer who attacked the film industry in a bestselling book, as an observant Jew whose radio show is a favorite with evangelical Christians, as a writer once designated the “Bard of the Baby Boomers” who now expresses contempt for his generation’s arrogant indulgence, and as a fearless battler who has sought advice from both Rush Limbaugh and Hillary Clinton and has given advice to both Mel Gibson and Barbra Streisand.

Right Turns displays the slashing argument and disarming wit that have made Medved’s radio program America’s number one show on politics and pop culture.

About The Author

Michael Medved's daily three-hour radio program, The Michael Medved Show, reaches more than two million listeners coast to coast. He is the author of over nine books, including the bestsellers Hollywood vs. America and What Really Happened to the Class of '65?, and is a member of USA Today's board of contributors. For more than a decade he cohosted Sneak Previews, PBS's weekly movie review show. An honors graduate of Yale, Medved lives with his family in the Seattle area.Robertson Dean has acted on- and off-Broadway and in many leading roles at regional theaters throughout the United States. His film work includes Star Trek: Nemesis and Vanilla Sky.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Julio

I had a political friend who used to define this type of literature as " I was a commie dupe but now I know better". Michael Medved, and I have described my misadventures with him on other GOODREADS posts, herewith tells the tale of how a 1960s Jewish high school kid and 1970s progressive on Campus......more

Goodreads review by Jeff

A decent book, but somewhat uneven in interest level. It is, at its core, an autobiography of Michael Medved. The book starts out, and is probably most interesting, describing his childhood through college years at Yale, including his firsthand experiences with personas such as John Kerry, Hillary R......more

Michael Medved chronicles his life which will have you glued to his book from start to finish. From his early childhood, Michael explains how he went from becoming an aspiring attorney, to nationally recognized movie critic, then finally to conservative radio talk show host. And in between each mean......more

Goodreads review by Harry

This is an engaging memoir. The "lessons" are chapters, each focused on some aspect of the author's life, and arranged in roughly chronological order. Medved describes the arc of his life as a journey from liberal to conservative. He is obviously a bright guy, and displays genuine concern for the he......more


Quotes

Right Turns tells the hugely entertaining, ultimately inspiring story of one leftist from the ’60s who finally discovered—and liberated—his inner conservative. In the process, Michael Medved demonstrates why our side of the political divide has both better answers and more fun. His book is insightful, funny, powerful, and important.” —Rush Limbaugh

“Michael Medved provides an important and distinctive perspective on popular culture—fierce, fearless, funny, and formidable.” —Mel Gibson

“How does one go from liberal activist to conservative cultural critic? This accounting of Michael Medved’s journey is eloquent, informative, challenging, moving, and downright fascinating. I learned a lot . . . you will too!” —Dr. Laura Schlessinger

“Michael Medved is a gifted communicator and an incisive cultural critic. His political and religious autobiography, Right Turns, is more than the communication of an idea or the analysis of our culture, however. It is an educational, entertaining, and deeply enlightening journey to intellectual maturity and reason.” —William J. Bennett

“Michael Medved is the liberals’ worst nightmare—he knows their arguments, outlook, and eccentricities, having lived as one of them in his reckless youth. Unlike most Americans, Michael sat at their dinner tables and heard them speak honestly—since they didn’t realize he’d rat them out someday. Having the goods on liberals allows him to destroy their arguments. Michael’s own right turns have helped many Americans discover Right thinking, and this powerful, gripping book should win many more converts.” —Ann Coulter