Book Launch Event: Tuesday 6/12/12
Tuesday June 12th at 3 PM: We were delighted to welcome former Governor Ed Rendell to the Midtown Scholar, to celebrate the publication of his new book! He talked about A Nation of Wusses and has signed copies at our bookstore-cafe. Stop in to pick up your autographed copy today! This marks the first in a series of visits he’ll be making to independent bookstores around Pennsylvania and the nation.
THE AUTHOR:
Ed Rendell served two terms as Democratic Governor of Pennsylvania (2003-2011), two terms as Mayor of Philadelphia (1992-2000) and served as the Chair of the Democratic National Committee in 2000. He’s now a Partner at Ballard Spahr, LLP and a senior political analyst for MSNBC. He also teaches at the University of Pennsylvania and appears as a co-host on the Philadelphia Eagles Post-game Show on Comcast SportsNet.
THE BOOK:
If you’ve been following the discourse in American politics over the last decade, as a citizen you must be frustrated with the process of power, and how those who hold it keep it all for themselves.
In A NATION OF WUSSES: How America’s Leaders Lost the Guts to Make Us Great (Wiley Press, 2012), former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell explains why America’s leaders rarely call for sacrifice for the greater good and more importantly avoid making any sacrifices themselves! Rendell sees job security as the primary consideration of any person with power in America, their own job security. Most politicians and bureaucrats can see no further ahead than the next election, sometimes no further than the next press conference.
As history has proven, Americans are rarely afraid of sacrifice and hard work when it means building a better future, but when was the last time you heard of a leader of anything making a sacrifice for the greater good? The people can only count on bold leadership when they make it clear to the powers that be that making the right choices, even the hard ones, is the key to winning the next election.
A NATION OF WUSSES covers a wide range of subjects with Governor Rendell’s usual sincere and brash aplomb, such as:
- Rollicking stories ranging from the profane to the profound that most hard choices are only “hard” because the polls conflict with your principles
- Ed Rendell’s rise to the top of Philadelphia, then Pennsylvania, then national politics, by doing what he thought was right, even when his actions looked as if they would lead to his downfall
- The high points of Ed Rendell’s career and the current landscape of American politics
As the 2012 presidential election approaches A NATION OF WUSSES and its author will be a salient addition to any dialogue.
About Catherine Lawrence
