Are You Liberal? Conservative? or Confused? Book

"Are You Liberal? Conservative? or Confused?" discusses political labels. What do they mean? Liberal, conservative, left, right, democrat, republican, moderate, socialist, libertarian, communist. Maybury examines each party's social and economic agendas, and also discusses to how the party philosophies fit with the principles of America's founders. Maybury accomplishes all this with his clear, concise style making the whole book easy to read in a few hours, though you will be thinking about it long after.

If you read the title and answered "Confused!" this book is definitely for you. Even if you could answer confidently "Liberal!" or "Conservative!" it is still worth a look. I was fascinated to learn more about parties I thought I understood well. It was refreshing to examine the roots of America's more prominent parties, rather than the buzzy "hot button" issues that seem to dominate the media especially around election-time, as well as to learn more about other political labels that are bandied about, often without clear definition. I tried to read this with an open mind, reading about each party with as little judgment as possible and trying understand what might attract people to each political party. I also tried to consider why government leaders might favor certain parties'be it for altruistic means or to increase their own political power. Maybury's focus on each party's economic agendas is also fascinating, especially given the economy's dominance in this current election.

Highly recommended! (Especially during the election year!) If you are "Confused", hopefully this book will help you gain better understanding of how your beliefs fit with a certain party. If you already align yourself staunchly to one party or another, perhaps Maybury will help you better understand those from opposing parties and be better able to articulate why you believe what you believe.

This would also be a great book to give a high school student so he/she can better understand the elections as they are happening now, and be a more informed voter when they are able to vote in the next elections. I think for young people especially it is easy to be caught up in the media buzz or to follow a party simply because it is what one's family follows (or, perhaps, to choose the opposite simply because it is *not* what one's family follows!) and this book will provide them with important information and could help them take time to do some inward reflection to see what truly resonates with them as an individual.