The pursuit of happiness, and other sobering thoughts

by George F. Will

A collection of Mr. Will's newspaper and Newsweek essays.

Genres: Politics, History, Nonfiction

333 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

George Frederick Will is an American newspaper columnist, journalist, and author. He is a Pulitzer Prize-winner best known for his conservative commentary on politics. By the mid 1980s the Wall Street Journal reported he was "perhaps the most powerful journalist in America," in a league with Walter Lippmann (1899–1975).

Will served as an editor for National Review from 1972 to 1978. He joined the Washington Post Writers Group in 1974, writing a syndicated biweekly column, which became widely circulated among newspapers across the country and continues today. His column is syndicated to 450 newspapers. In 1976 he became a contributing editor for Newsweek, writing a biweekly backpage column until 2011.

Will won a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for "distinguished commentary on a variety of topics" in 1977.[6] Often combining factual reporting with conservative commentary, Will's columns are known for their erudite vocabulary, allusions to political philosophers, and frequent references to baseball.

Will has also written two bestselling books on the game of baseball, three books on political philosophy, and has published eleven compilations of his columns for the Washington Post and Newsweek and of various book reviews and lectures.

Will was also a news analyst for ABC since the early 1980s and was a founding member on the panel of ABC's This Week with David Brinkley in 1981, now titled This Week with George Stephanopoulos. Will was also a regular panelist on television's Agronsky & Company from 1977 through 1984 and on NBC's Meet the Press in the mid-to-late 1970s. He left ABC to join Fox News in early October 2013.

Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

No one was more influential in making me a conservative than George Will, who I began reading when I was in my early twenties. I suppose I've missed a few of his columns over the past thirty years but not many. This was the first of his column collections that I read and it, along with all his other books (including the baseball books), remain on my bookshelf. Flipping through "The Pursuit of Happiness" now, while the topics may be dated, the philosophical tenets that underscore Will's judgements are universal and enduring. George F. Will was the finest conservative thinker and public intellectual of the last quarter of the twentieth century. In the twenty-first century, Charles Krauthammer is giving him a run for his money.

[Behrooz Parhami · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the unabridged 2-hour audio version of this title (read by the author, Recorded Books, 1983.

I came to know George F. Will through his columns in Newsweek magazine. He was, and still is, a conservative commentator, so, as a progressive liberal, I disagreed with his views, but not as often as one might think. I viewed him as a literate conservative, with a mighty pen and a wonderful sense of humor. He fell out of favor with me for his insensitive comments on rape, lamenting that the sexual-assault culture has made "victimhood a coveted status that confer privileges."

This short book contains a collection of Will's newspaper and magazine columns from the 1970s. He introduces the collection by reflecting on what a column is and what a columnist does, that is, what he might tell his children about the nature of his job. The selected columns deal with a number of heads of state, politicians, and other outsize personalities, such as Napoleon Bonaparte, Winston Churchill, Hubert Humphrey, and Elvis Presley. The US Supreme Court and the agony of being a Chicago Cubs fan are also among the topics discussed.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Super smart, really witty, great writer. Just a bit on the dry side.

[Ann Aldrich · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of columns from the 1970s -- some dated, but all erudite and witty. to known that Will's father was a professor of philosophy helps to understand where his enormous gifts for thought and language originate. the collection is divided into subject matter categories -- people, isues, campaigning, governing, foreigners, and personal. some of the politically conservative theology was too deep for me, but other insights were intriguing even in retrospect. negative opinions of Jimmy Carter are to be expected, but his animosity toward Nixon (both personal and poliical) and Kissinger are refreshing. Amazing to remember that there was once a time when people of differing views discussed their views with facts and logic instead of lies and emotion.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Will's collected columns have done more to fill in the gaps of my education (and to suggest new lines of academic exploration) about the 1970's and early 1980's than any of the material I covered in High School and college.

[Jeff Keehr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will is an incredible writer and I read these essays back when I used to admire him. He has since become a climate change denier and holds lots of other extremely regressive views that I would rather forget I ever read his books.