eBook Jackhammered: A Congressman's Memoir of Big Time Politics, Blue Water Sailing and Believing epub

While I am not a political person due to all the lies, corruption and downright disgusting acts of the political process, I very much enjoyed Ed's book. Since the idea of politics rubs me so wrong for so many of the reasons Ed describes in his book, when he got really deep into the chain of event details, I just had to skip a few pages here and there. Sorry Ed. I am so impressed to read about an honest and trustworthy politician and lawyer! The two just don't seem to go together in these days and for that, I applaud this gentleman in the highest regard. (Yes, I sound jaded, but with the political and legal system as it is today, who wouldn't be?)

I couldn't put the book down for a huge percentage of his book. When he told of his life growing up, his entrance into the Marines, his family and adventures, I was right in the story beside him. He wrote it so well. When he spoke of his beautiful bride, Lana, I could just feel the love oozing out of the pages of the book. Such a love story to be honored!

Sadly, for me, the religious parts of the book were difficult for me to read. Having been a lifelong Christian and losing my faith about four years ago when I was, of all things... in a really in depth bible study class when various truths started to rub me the wrong way and I started asking lots and lots of questions and received no credible answers. After seeing through so many things that only previously my faith held me to believe, I reluctantly and very sadly gave up on it. So it was tough reading how Ed was declaring God's handiwork when, for me, it is no longer faith, but science. For those who believe, however, his acceptance is a triumph of highest esteem, that is for sure.

All in all, I really loved this book and applaud Ed for a life well lived. I wish he and Lana all the very best.

I can't remember why I chose this book for my Kindle. I don't usually read autobiographies any more. I am glad I read this one. His personal story gives a strong picture of what it was like to grow up in America during hard times. His is a strong example of how different choices in life contribute to later success in other areas. The description of their sailing experience and endurance during the unexpected Atlantic storm would be worth the read itself.

We too often have no appreciation for politicians now days. It was refreshing to read about his dedication to what he believed and his service to Arkansas and America.

I usually read a book in one or two days, but this one took several sittings, not because it was boring, but because each section was so engaging that each was a story in itself.

You will want to treat yourself to reading this book.

When the warm Gulf Stream in the Atlantic encounters a strong wind from the north (a Nor’easter), the situation is ripe for a perfect storm. That is precisely what Congressman Ed Bethune and his wife, Lana, faced in June 1990, two hundred miles out in the ocean, during their adventuresome attempt to sail from North Carolina to the Azores, a Portuguese archipelago in the North Atlantic, the first leg of their intended two to three year sailing odyssey. Bethune’s description of the harrowing experience of their thirty-one foot sail boat, Salute, being torn apart by the storm and their rescue by a US Coast Guard helicopter is the dramatic center piece of this well-written memoir. The recounting of the storm and rescue is so interestingly executed that it could well be extracted and published as a short story.

Though my political and religious views differ from Bethune’s’ (he is conservative in both arenas, while I am liberal) I found Jackhammer an engaging read from cover to cover. The earlier portions of the book were especially appealing to me because, like Bethune, I grew up in Arkansas during the 40s and 50s. But his descriptions of his childhood and youth in Little Rock and Pocahontas, Arkansas are so revelatory of the adolescent struggle to cope with and overcome a variety of challenges, any reader should be able to identify.

Beginning with Bethune’s descriptions of what he calls his incorrigible childhood and early youth including insights about his relationship with his mother and dad and their broken marriage, he efficiently and interestingly escorts the reader through his life. This journey includes service in the marine corps, his role as an FBI special agent, his period as a prosecutor, his six years as a US congressman and his senate race loss, his legal representation of individuals ranging for the poorest of the poor to the speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, and concludes with his adventuresome retirement. In the process, he makes himself vulnerable at several points, including what he calls the uncomfortable secret he concealed throughout his childhood, a secret that followed him even into his first year of military service.

For readers particularly interested in politics, the memoir frequently focuses on Bethune’s interactions with and observations about such political figures, in addition to Gingrich, as George H. W. Busch, John Boehner, and Jack Kemp.

Throughout the book, as throughout his adult life, Bethune’s wife, Lana, is a prominent player. This is true not only because of the role she has played in encouraging him and assisting him politically but also for her independent career as a successful teacher and, for a period of time, the social secretary for Vice President and Mrs. Dan Quayle.

At one point Bethune quotes the philosopher Frederich Nietzsche: “The secret for harvesting from existence the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest engagement is—to live dangerously! Build your cities on the slopes of Vesuvius! Send your ships into uncarted seas.” More than most, Ed and Lana Bethune have pursued such an existence and this memoir engagingly tells the tale.

Ed Bethune's life has had many layers and it is fascinating reading. As the layers fall away, a driven man evolves, but what drives him? Not money - he has walked away from money and seems to have comfortably left the power of Washington politics. The story told has good flow that takes the reader from one adventure to the next. From a middle-class but unsettled childhood to soldier, meeting his life's partner, thru politics in Arkansas and Washington, numerous sailing adventures - one almost deadly - the man, his values, his Christian growth emerges. The '50's and '60's recalled similar stories from my own childhood! This book is funny, exciting, poignant reading about a great American story!!