McConkey A Political Novel (Audible Audio Edition) John J McConkey Joseph B Kearns Books
Download As PDF : McConkey A Political Novel (Audible Audio Edition) John J McConkey Joseph B Kearns Books
In 1951, at the age of six, John McConkey meets his great-uncle Jack, whose stories about his own life fascinate the boy's imagination. As John comes of age in the 60's and 70's, Uncle Jack's socialist, working-class views challenge John's understanding of power, politics, and the "official" versions of history.
A fascinating glimpse into more than a century's worth of landmark political events, including the 1892 Homestead Strike, the Spanish-American War, the Ludlow Massacre, the Red Scare, the New Deal, the Cold War, JFK's assassination, 9/11, and the ins and outs of modern corruption, McConkey leads the listener to think beyond the status quo - and to question the stories we have been taught.
As John progresses from wide-eyed little boy to acerbic old man, his journey provides glimpses into our own modern world in this quirky and compelling novel.
McConkey A Political Novel (Audible Audio Edition) John J McConkey Joseph B Kearns Books
Book Review: McConkeyWhen you were young, how did you receive your political education? Did your parents whisper, “Keep your mouth shut and your head down. Don’t rock the boat.” Or did they insist, “Look deeper. There’s more to this than meets the eye.”
Well, McConkey is all about looking deeper, looking below the surface, which is the only real way to examine American history. It is also about connecting your personal life with the American story – that is, what were your relatives doing during the major events that shaped (and misshaped) our country’s history?
It’s significant that the author seems to be a Baby Boomer. We Boomers spent our childhood in the fifties and early sixties in a dreadful silence, a time when nobody talked about anything of social significance – race, class, gender, religion, politics. We lived only a few short years from the Holocaust, but that topic was taboo. We lived at the dawn of the nuclear age, but hardly anybody ever talked about the Bomb.
It’s appropriate that the narrator grew up in Philadelphia, a city full of history and the birthplace of our government.
And it’s only fair that a Boomer should speak out now, in order to pass on what he has learned to Millenials and their children. The first lesson is simple: Turn off your TV. Yes, we who lived at the birth of television know far better than anyone that there is no truth to be found there. Instead, says McConkey, you have to discover the truth on your own. Quoting the lyrics of the song “Master Jack” by Four Jacks and a Jill at the beginning of the book, the author warns the reader,
You taught me all the things the way you’d like them to be,
But I’d like to see if other people agree.
It’s all very interesting the way you disguise,
But I’d like to see the world through my own eyes.
The story opens as the narrator, a boy of six, meets his Uncle Jack. Because the man is a truth-teller, he is labeled a liar. Because he was born in 1880, he’s got history to tell – that is, retell. And because he loves the boy, he shapes the boy’s political education.
This book makes a great gift. Men will like it because the author and main characters are men. Women will like it because it’s written from a very personal point of view. Above all, the stories are fascinating and the writing flows from a small mountain stream into a mighty river and down to the sea.
Which stories do I like best? My favorite is about the Homestead Steel Strike of 1892, mostly because Uncle Jack’s stupid father joined the wrong side – the Pinkertons! By ferrying strikebreakers across the river, he got himself stranded on a barge, facing a hail of bullets from Pittsburgh’s striking steelworkers.
There are stories about all the people you know – Eugene V. Debs, A. Philip Randolph, John J. Pershing, George Patton, FDR, Douglas MacArthur, Dwight Eisenhower, JFK. And many you don’t – the scary ones – Ivy Lee, Gerald MacGuire, John J. McCloy, Wild Bill Donovan, and John McCone.
Before reading this book, I figured I knew a lot about American history. Still, I was surprised by what I did not know: the Espionage Act, the Business Plot, the role the Pentagon may have played in ousting Richard Nixon, and our most mysterious president, George H.W. Bush.
The best era to read about is the Vietnam War and its aftermath, the short springtime known as the 1970s when America was not at war. The best theme, which runs throughout the book, is “The Lone Gunman.”
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McConkey A Political Novel (Audible Audio Edition) John J McConkey Joseph B Kearns Books Reviews
This engaging narrative of modern American history, told in the form of an autobiography, is interspersed with conversations between the writer and his swashbuckling Uncle Jack—now a nonagenarian. After a lifetime working for the CIA and several of its predecessors, Jack has been in a position to observe events as they actually unfolded. The reader is challenged to recall the evidence behind conventional assertions in the popular press, including the New York Times. The personal narrative of the author furnishes a refreshing counterpoint to the skullduggery that has underlain much of our national history, and describes its consequences for the man in the street.
Exactly as specified. Great transaction.
McConkey is an autobiography by someone who could be most of us. A man is born into a complex and ultimately divided family who struggles to start his own life, his own family and ultimately gain his own temporary balance with the forces of the world. What makes the story unusual and compelling is that there is the mysterious Uncle Jack who appears repeatedly--each of these instances accompanied by a part of American history. Jack is an insider and he either knows, or he knows what can be known. These historical inserts, with commentary from Jack, fill us in on what happened or might have happened at the time of some of the more startling American events of the past hundred and fifteen years. Although the autobiographical discourse seems authentic, we never know whether Jack is a fictional device, or if he is a real uncle. At the conclusion, the author adds information about himself that is intensely honest and personal. If you have already made up your mind that it Un-American to dwell on our black-eyes, this may not be the book for you which means, of course, that it IS the book for you. My own life, however, apparently overlaps the author’s substantially. The recall of the events that have shaped us, with Jack’s perspective provided, is very satisfying.
Book Review McConkey
When you were young, how did you receive your political education? Did your parents whisper, “Keep your mouth shut and your head down. Don’t rock the boat.” Or did they insist, “Look deeper. There’s more to this than meets the eye.”
Well, McConkey is all about looking deeper, looking below the surface, which is the only real way to examine American history. It is also about connecting your personal life with the American story – that is, what were your relatives doing during the major events that shaped (and misshaped) our country’s history?
It’s significant that the author seems to be a Baby Boomer. We Boomers spent our childhood in the fifties and early sixties in a dreadful silence, a time when nobody talked about anything of social significance – race, class, gender, religion, politics. We lived only a few short years from the Holocaust, but that topic was taboo. We lived at the dawn of the nuclear age, but hardly anybody ever talked about the Bomb.
It’s appropriate that the narrator grew up in Philadelphia, a city full of history and the birthplace of our government.
And it’s only fair that a Boomer should speak out now, in order to pass on what he has learned to Millenials and their children. The first lesson is simple Turn off your TV. Yes, we who lived at the birth of television know far better than anyone that there is no truth to be found there. Instead, says McConkey, you have to discover the truth on your own. Quoting the lyrics of the song “Master Jack” by Four Jacks and a Jill at the beginning of the book, the author warns the reader,
You taught me all the things the way you’d like them to be,
But I’d like to see if other people agree.
It’s all very interesting the way you disguise,
But I’d like to see the world through my own eyes.
The story opens as the narrator, a boy of six, meets his Uncle Jack. Because the man is a truth-teller, he is labeled a liar. Because he was born in 1880, he’s got history to tell – that is, retell. And because he loves the boy, he shapes the boy’s political education.
This book makes a great gift. Men will like it because the author and main characters are men. Women will like it because it’s written from a very personal point of view. Above all, the stories are fascinating and the writing flows from a small mountain stream into a mighty river and down to the sea.
Which stories do I like best? My favorite is about the Homestead Steel Strike of 1892, mostly because Uncle Jack’s stupid father joined the wrong side – the Pinkertons! By ferrying strikebreakers across the river, he got himself stranded on a barge, facing a hail of bullets from Pittsburgh’s striking steelworkers.
There are stories about all the people you know – Eugene V. Debs, A. Philip Randolph, John J. Pershing, George Patton, FDR, Douglas MacArthur, Dwight Eisenhower, JFK. And many you don’t – the scary ones – Ivy Lee, Gerald MacGuire, John J. McCloy, Wild Bill Donovan, and John McCone.
Before reading this book, I figured I knew a lot about American history. Still, I was surprised by what I did not know the Espionage Act, the Business Plot, the role the Pentagon may have played in ousting Richard Nixon, and our most mysterious president, George H.W. Bush.
The best era to read about is the Vietnam War and its aftermath, the short springtime known as the 1970s when America was not at war. The best theme, which runs throughout the book, is “The Lone Gunman.”
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