Amazon.com
As he did in his bestselling books The O'Reilly Factor and The No Spin Zone, TV and radio host Bill O'Reilly again blasts a host of selfish and corrupt individuals and institutions for threatening the nation's well-being--no surprise there. What is surprising is the personal tone of Who's Looking Out For You, which is as much self-help as social or political commentary. Is O'Reilly getting soft? Hardly. He still packs a punch, but this time he mixes tales of outrage with practical advice gleaned from his own experiences and mistakes. The underlying theme of the book is trust. If you can identify and associate with those that deserve your trust, he argues, you will get along well in both your personal and professional life. Among those external forces undeserving of trust, according to O'Reilly, are the media (particularly harmful to children, he warns), the legal system, and the government: "Our federal government is not good at helping real people who have real problems, and it doesn't care about the money you give it as long as that revenue train keeps chugging along," he writes. He also hammers the INS for their lax stance on illegal immigrants and the damage it has caused the country, irresponsible parents, secularists, network news executives, ideologues, and minority leaders who foster hatred in order to serve their own interests, to name just a few offenders. Though some of his advice tends toward the obvious, it is hard to argue with his emphasis on self-reliance, especially at a time when the answer to the question posed in his title seems to be "just me." It's a good bet that many readers will also add Bill O'Reilly to this list. --Shawn Carkonen
From Publishers Weekly
The tough-talking, no-spin anchor of The O'Reilly Factor offers his many fans another no-holds-barred excoriation of the usual suspects-but also, surprisingly, some others. In his latest, the bestselling author (The No-Spin Zone) scrutinizes the forces at play in the lives of ordinary Americans, seeking to answer the question in the title. His conclusion: not the U.S. government; not the media; not the Catholic bishops ("elderly white men who have spent their lives playing politics and currying favor with the conservative zealots in the Vatican"). Other offenders include "antipolice minority `leaders' "; Hollywood moguls who put profit before public morality; lawyers eager to make a buck on the back of taxpayers and the justice system itself- and the list goes on. But this is not an exercise in complaint; in fact, it is the opposite. This surprisingly personal book gets even more personal in the last two chapters where O'Reilly provides examples of his own blunders and vulnerabilities on his path to success. In the last chapter, entitled "Here's to You," O'Reilly counsels his readers: take care of your mind and your body; read books; exercise; forgive yourself; be independent and practice tolerance. While he at times falls into cliche and overly simplistic analysis, he manages to pull off an inspirational guide to life's most basic quandaries. O'Reilly has found a niche and continues to capitalize successfully on it. He is able to package conservative ideas so that they are palatable to a broader audience, and despite his confrontational, some might say merciless, style, he makes his readers and viewers feel that he is looking out for them.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
