Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Inspiring
This book reads a lot like Sean Hannity's radio show, so you can almost hear Hannity delivering his messages in his voice. Hannity, like Rush Limbaugh and more recently Ann Coulter, is villified by so-called liberals for his conservative views. As far as the broadcasting and writing approach is concerned, Hannity isn't the entertainer Limbaugh is, nor is he as brusque as Coulter. But he wears his heart on his sleeve as he makes clear his ideals, and he makes his points in an honest, straight-forward way. Sure, he asks tough questions of those he disagrees with. And among his best points are that in this country, we have a right to disagree with each other--something which isn't tolerated at all in other parts of the world. But Hannity is the first to admit when his own party is in the wrong, and he never resorts to the name-calling and demonism which so often bog down political discourse these days. And that's refreshing.The book jacket is cloaked in red, white and blue, and one of Hannity's chief goals for writing the book is to illustrate the sacrifices our military has made for us over the years to keep our country strong and free. He states that it's crucial that our children learn of these sacrifices and of what people like Hannity's own grandfather went through as an Irish Catholic immigrant to reach this country safely and then find success here. Hannity takes strong issue with those who insist on bashing our country's freedoms and trying to quash them. He also cites numerous examples of how symbols like our nation's flag, pledge of allegiance and Declaration of Independence (not to mention our country's history) are being derided, ignored, tarnished and rewritten to suit political agendas and correctness at the expense of the ideals our country was built upon. He makes an awfully strong case for putting aside partisan politics when it comes to issues of national security, since countries hostile toward us are likely to make use of the internal bickering--and already have. There are those who won't read this book because Hannity makes clear his views on the importance of freedom, religion and self-sufficient people in a capitalist society. But to reject this book because of his conservative views is a huge mistake, because it serves as a most instructive reminder about the efforts of previous generations to insure that we have the right to debate and disagree as we do. Highly recommended, especially for those who have a negative view of this country. And recommended as well because of its capacity to teach patriotism--and yes, tolerance--to our young people.
Rating:  - telling it like it is
Red--that is, Bush--America has no more passionate spokesperson than Sean Hannity. He speaks for the values that still mean something to most of this country--faith, family, and freedom. He sees clearly through the relativistic mish-mash of modern times and pulls no punches. No, his ideas aren't extraordinarily complex; Hannity is no philosopher. But that's the point. Conservatism, as understood by regular people, is a simple thing, recognizing the simple truths of reality and existence--only to seem them obscured and distorted and even destroyed by the Left and, sometimes, too, by Republicans.The book reads easily and is part chronicle of his encounters with liberals, part exposition of his beliefs. It covers the gamut of today's issues: immigration, education, the environment, national defense, taxes, the media. He paints an accurate picture of the American left as mostly hypocritical, morally blind "Kool-Aid drinkers," whose ideas are dangerous and threatening to all that the country has held dear for over two hundred years. He tenaciously defends what he believes and does not fear admitting his faith in God and the role that his Christian beliefs play in his life. "Let Freedom Ring" is an admirable defense of conservative values and moral clarity. It will no doubt make some people uncomfortable and offend many others--but that's because it rings with such truth.
Rating:  - Relevant, hard-hitting, and insightful...to a degree
Hannity accomplishes much that is good in this wide-ranging and sometimes rambling indictment of the American Left Wing. To his credit, the author goes a long way toward correctly identifying the mindset of the American liberal. Perhaps of greatest value in the book is Hannity's proven talent for identifying the true cause of many issues. He should also be commended for his dogged pursuit (and timely use) of facts to support his case-something not often seen from the other side of the political aisle. He argues from a position of strength (i.e., a premise based in fact supported by a logical argument) on many issues, but where he falls short of the mark is in the intellectual discipline to consistently apply this formula to all of his arguments. Like many conservatives who embrace that title, Hannity remains objective only on issues related to fiscal policy and the nation's defense (of course, other trivial exceptions also apply). True to form, Hannity loses all semblance of the plodding, logical thinker on issues the invoke his unabashed religious views. To his credit, the author confronts this bias explicitly; he openly states his relgious tenets and then argues from them. While his candor is appreciated, it is precisely this logical inconsistency that dilutes the value of the book. For there is a certain intellectual dishonesty involved in placing equal weight on arguments that flow from fact-based, logical premises and those steeped in faith-based, irrational premises. The inevitable and regrettable result, is a book containing a hodge-podge of truly brilliant, rational arguments comingled with relgious appeals to authority, the fallacy of self-exclusion, the fallacy of composition, and other logical fallacies. These intellectual flaws do not, however, diminish the importance of those arguments that do stem from a rational basis. Hannity provides cogent and insightful attacks on the leftist mindset, and he lends much to the establishment of a proper agenda to combat it. Topics in the book include the war on terrorism, military defense, taxation, abortion, the enrivonment, and general social mores. Many of the topics are handled deftly, and much is provided in the way of historical and political perspective. However, as noted above, Hannity too often disarms himself by not arguing from a position of perfectly consistent logic. It would be nice to see a conservative completely identify the root cause of the insidious positions espoused by the likes of Al Gore and Tom Daschle. While much is made of their ample record of hypocrisy, Hannity refuses to take the moral high ground in attributing anything sinister to their motives. Why not? Perhaps it's time to call a spade a spade. Tom Daschle is another ivory-tower leftist who would have been perfectly at home in the hippie movement. Indeed, the only thing truly dangerous about this man is that the same asinine policies being spouted from the muck in Woodstock are now being bellowed from the floor of the U.S. Senate. Al Gore is an even easier case, and Hannity does a fair job of identifying Gore's anti-American screed ("Earth in the Balance") as just that. However, after correctly identifying the hateful nature and harm that works such as these can do to the United States, Hannity goes to great lengths to explicitly and repeatedly refer to the former Vice President as patriotic. Why the hesitation to drive the point to its proper conclusion? Perhaps Hannity's hedging on important points such as these reflect his publicist's means of keeping the door open to visitors on his radio and televisions shows. (If that is the case, perhaps his publicist should be noted among the contributors.) I suspect, however, that this sort of pragmatism is at the root of the conservative movement, for this sort of logical inconsistency is the hallmark of many conservatives today. Indeed, we see this sort of timidity with conservatives a great deal: lucid identification of crucial issues pursued only to the 80% mark...it's like a bad horror movie where the villain is always left alive to haunt us another day. Perhaps conservatives fear that a complete pursuit of their enemies might jeopardize their faith in the almighty compromise; perhaps it might take them too close to some of their own irrational premises. Either way, this hesitation is the reason that conservatives will never fully prevail in the war of ideas.
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