- Hardcover: 320 pages
- Publisher: Crown (Feb 21 2012)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0307952525
- ISBN-13: 978-0307952523
- Product Dimensions: 16.5 x 2.9 x 24.2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 612 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #247,223 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
Publishers Weekly Pick of the Week
"In While America Sleeps, Russ Feingold takes us behind the scenes in the Congress in the time leading up to and following 9/11. In thoroughly analyzing the good decisions and the many dangerous mistakes that were made after the attacks, Senator Feingold gives us insights that should help Americans support policies that keep us and our liberties secure. This book will alarm you, entertain you, enlighten you, and prepare you as citizens to engage in the national debate about a crucial part of our foreign policies." –Senator Bob Kerrey
“While we hail from different political parties and most often disagree about the issues of the day, I have never met a more decent or honest public servant than Russ Feingold. We don’t often hear about Members of Congress with the courage of their convictions, but Russ lived that quality every day in the U.S. Senate. We waged many battles together for campaign finance reform, and I am honored to call him my friend. In his new book, While America Sleeps, Russ illuminates some of the challenges our nation faces in the post-9/11 era with his trademark integrity and independence.” –Senator John McCain
“Great senator! Great book!” –Lorrie Moore, author of A Gate at the Stairs
“Feingold offers a thoughtful prescription for elected officials and voters alike, and he invokes a passionate plea for every American to realize the momentous connections between ourselves and others around the world so that our nation is better able to proactively meet future challenges.” –Booklist
“Sage, sensible words by a leader who can now point to how right he was.” –Kirkus
“[Feingold’s] shockingly reasonable and carefully considered responses, as well as his respect for, and collaboration with, such Republican colleagues as John McCain and John Ashcroft, will make progressives, Wisconsinites, and other frustrated Americans nostalgic for the days of a more thoughtful, productive Congress.” –Publishers Weekly
"In While America Sleeps, Russ Feingold takes us behind the scenes in the Congress in the time leading up to and following 9/11. In thoroughly analyzing the good decisions and the many dangerous mistakes that were made after the attacks, Senator Feingold gives us insights that should help Americans support policies that keep us and our liberties secure. This book will alarm you, entertain you, enlighten you, and prepare you as citizens to engage in the national debate about a crucial part of our foreign policies." –Senator Bob Kerrey
“While we hail from different political parties and most often disagree about the issues of the day, I have never met a more decent or honest public servant than Russ Feingold. We don’t often hear about Members of Congress with the courage of their convictions, but Russ lived that quality every day in the U.S. Senate. We waged many battles together for campaign finance reform, and I am honored to call him my friend. In his new book, While America Sleeps, Russ illuminates some of the challenges our nation faces in the post-9/11 era with his trademark integrity and independence.” –Senator John McCain
“Great senator! Great book!” –Lorrie Moore, author of A Gate at the Stairs
“Feingold offers a thoughtful prescription for elected officials and voters alike, and he invokes a passionate plea for every American to realize the momentous connections between ourselves and others around the world so that our nation is better able to proactively meet future challenges.” –Booklist
“Sage, sensible words by a leader who can now point to how right he was.” –Kirkus
“[Feingold’s] shockingly reasonable and carefully considered responses, as well as his respect for, and collaboration with, such Republican colleagues as John McCain and John Ashcroft, will make progressives, Wisconsinites, and other frustrated Americans nostalgic for the days of a more thoughtful, productive Congress.” –Publishers Weekly
Book Description
Former senator Russ Feingold looks at institutional failures, both domestic and abroad, since the 9/11 terrorist attacks and proposes steps to be taken—by the government and by individuals—to ensure that the next ten years are focused on solving the international problems that threaten America.
In While America Sleeps, Russ Feingold details our nation’s collective failure to respond properly to the challenges posed by the post-9/11 era. Oversimplification of complicated new problems as well as the
cynical exploitation of the fears generated by 9/11 have undermined our ability to adjust effectively to America’s new place in the world. This has weakened our efforts to protect American lives, our national security, and our constitutional values. Ranging from institutional failures to “get it right” by Congress, the executive branch, and the media to the way we have spoken of the war on terror, the nature of Islam, and American exceptionalism, too often we have not made the best choices in confronting, in Churchill’s words, the “new conditions under which we now have
to dwell.”
Senator Feingold explores the way in which the American public has been fed inadequate information
or mere slogans to explain 9/11, Al Qaeda, and related events. This compares unfavorably with the candor often associated with, for example, FDR’s fireside chats during World War II. Lumping Al Qaeda into a catch-all category known as “bad guys,” failing to make it clear that Islam itself is not a threat to our way of life, and underestimating the extreme difficulty of fully invading individual countries as a way to root out international terrorism are examples of this misdirection. Moreover, our general inability to keep our eyes on the international ball seems to have grown
even worse in the years following 9/11.
More than ten years after one of the greatest wake-up calls in human history, our nation seems to have again grown complacent about the issues that suddenly seemed so urgent immediately after 9/11. While America Sleeps suggests ways in which we can awaken a new national commitment to engage with
the rest of the world and one another in a less simplistic and more thoughtful way. Feingold’s hope is that when the history of this era is written, it will be said that our country was taken off guard at the height of its power at the turn of the century and stumbled for a decade in an unfamiliar environment, but in the following decade America found a new national commitment of unity and resolve to adapt to its new status and leadership in the world.
In While America Sleeps, Russ Feingold details our nation’s collective failure to respond properly to the challenges posed by the post-9/11 era. Oversimplification of complicated new problems as well as the
cynical exploitation of the fears generated by 9/11 have undermined our ability to adjust effectively to America’s new place in the world. This has weakened our efforts to protect American lives, our national security, and our constitutional values. Ranging from institutional failures to “get it right” by Congress, the executive branch, and the media to the way we have spoken of the war on terror, the nature of Islam, and American exceptionalism, too often we have not made the best choices in confronting, in Churchill’s words, the “new conditions under which we now have
to dwell.”
Senator Feingold explores the way in which the American public has been fed inadequate information
or mere slogans to explain 9/11, Al Qaeda, and related events. This compares unfavorably with the candor often associated with, for example, FDR’s fireside chats during World War II. Lumping Al Qaeda into a catch-all category known as “bad guys,” failing to make it clear that Islam itself is not a threat to our way of life, and underestimating the extreme difficulty of fully invading individual countries as a way to root out international terrorism are examples of this misdirection. Moreover, our general inability to keep our eyes on the international ball seems to have grown
even worse in the years following 9/11.
More than ten years after one of the greatest wake-up calls in human history, our nation seems to have again grown complacent about the issues that suddenly seemed so urgent immediately after 9/11. While America Sleeps suggests ways in which we can awaken a new national commitment to engage with
the rest of the world and one another in a less simplistic and more thoughtful way. Feingold’s hope is that when the history of this era is written, it will be said that our country was taken off guard at the height of its power at the turn of the century and stumbled for a decade in an unfamiliar environment, but in the following decade America found a new national commitment of unity and resolve to adapt to its new status and leadership in the world.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.3 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
39 of 43 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the Smartest Guys in any Room, Feb 22 2012
By J. Benishek - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: While America Sleeps: A Wake-up Call for the Post-9/11 Era (Hardcover)
I am still in shock that someone like Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) beat someone as intelligent and logical as Russ Feingold. In this book, Feingold (a fairly liberal thinker), presents nonpartisan issues with clarity. In my opinion, he presents a new way of seeing things, and he offers ideas on how to become a stronger, and more united country. I'd highly recommend this book!
40 of 47 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A lone independent thinker, Feb 21 2012
By Tw Rutledge "Thom Rutledge, author of Embraci... - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: While America Sleeps: A Wake-up Call for the Post-9/11 Era (Hardcover)
Thank you, Senator Feingold, for this book and for your service to the people of our nation. As a psychotherapist I have been concerned (understatement) about our government's response to the terrorists attacks of 9-11-01 from the beginning. I was just putting the final touches on my book Embracing Fear in September 2001 and resisted the temptation to revamping that book to address people's response to the attacks. Only with hindsight can I see that a book about how to respond to fears generated that day might have been the way to go. Little did any of us know at that time that our national response to a terrorist attack would be to become more traumatized and terrified than strong and courageous. The ridiculous political division in America today is not so much the result of our having been attacked on our own soil but instead the result of our willingness to be terrorized. That is just psych 101.With "While America Sleeps," Senator Feingold tells a very important story from inside our government. Being courageous is nothing new to the author: he has been doing that throughout his time in the U.S. Senate and I have no doubt long before that. My wish is that all Americans could read this book with open minds and hearts and be willing to be influenced (not controlled, not convinced) by what Senator Feingold has to tell us.
Embracing Fear: How to Turn What Scares Us into Our Greatest Gift
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A thought provoking look at the problems dividing America., Mar 11 2012
By M. Myhren-Bennett "Blooming with Books" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: While America Sleeps: A Wake-up Call for the Post-9/11 Era (Hardcover)
While America Sleeps:A Wake-up Call for the Post-9/11 Era
By Russ Feingold
While America Sleeps is an insightful look from former US Senator Russ Feingold in how America contributed to the its own fall. By assuming an attitude of disinterest in the world outside our own we convinced the rest of the world that we don't care about their plight or day-to-day struggles unless there is something in it for us.
America ignored the warning signs, thinking the mere greatness of our name would keep us safe. But we were rudely awakened on September 11, 2001 when we were attacked on our own soil not with conventional weapons, but with airplanes.
But in the "war on terror" that followed we lost our focus. Instead of focusing on Al Qaeda we determined that we needed a target with boundaries, we needed to focus our attention on a country we could see rather than faceless terrorists that could be hidden throughout the world's vast population.
While the majority of the country had to return to its normal day-to-day life, Washington was scared. And any threat whether or not it was credible added to the anxiety. 9/11 gave certain government agencies the excuse needed to end or curtail basic freedoms Americans expected. Privacy was one victim of 9/11. Under the Patriot Act the government claimed the right to Library records, records of phone and internet usage, and the right to search and seizure without notice.
9/11 also provided the government with a reason to torture post 9/11 detainees, while they downplayed the inhuman cruelty of a practice that did not lead to the capture of Osama bin Laden.
Playing on fear these government agencies grabbed power that was not theirs and refuse to let it go. But many Americans are unaware of what they have lost in the decade following 9/11. Civil liberties and Constitutional rights have been undermined in the name of the war on terror.
To truly fight terrorists and Al Qaeda we must focus on the needs of the outside world. We must care about the needs of Asia, Africa, Central and South America. We should be reaching out to the people of these countries. What happens in one is not isolated to only that country. Terrorists have no boarders, they go where they can do the most to promote their cause.
Americans cannot assume that everyone knows English. We must make an effort to learn the languages of others, to understand their culture. Americans suffer from the notion that they have a "divine role" and that they are "the ideal experiment in government and nation building" a notion held since its founding. America has an arrogance about her place in the world, but do nothing to help others. We must reach out and attempt to bridge the gap that divides us from the rest of the world.
As the years have past since 9/11 America has turned its focus inward. The wake-up call of that September morning in 2001 has faded. America is returning to its sleeping state of oblivion. Unless we make a change in how we conduct our day-to-day living, our education system, our government, and our media coverage - we will forever remain vulnerable to terror and we will have no one to blame but ourselves. We received our wake-up call but did we heed it? Just as ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it neither can we claim ignorance of the world as an excuse for ignoring ir.
While America Sleeps is an intriguing look at Washington and how it is run. The power wielded by a few is the greatest danger to fixing what is broken. But the greatest power lies not in who is elected, but in those who are behind the scenes, those who have financial power.
While America Sleeps is not light reading. It is thoughtfully and provokingly written is such a manner as to awaken the reader to the dangers that are both within and without. America must remember this warning from Proverbs 18:12 "Before his downfall, a man's heart is proud."
This title was provided as a Digital ARC loan for the purpose of this review.
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