"Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"

Davina Morgan-Witts, BookBrowse editor

A few weeks ago a copy of What You Should Know About Politics But Don't: A Nonpartisan Guide to the Issues by Jessamyn Conrad turned up in the mail from Arcade Publishing.

In 13 snappy chapters Conrad covers it all. I read a chapter a day (give or take) and at the end of the first week I was a whiz on Elections, the Economy, Foreign Policy and the Military, not to mention Health Care, Energy and the Environment. By the end of the second week I'd got my head around Civil Liberties, the Culture Wars, Socioeconomic Policies, Homeland Security, Education and Trade.

Each chapter is easy on the eyes with bullet points and bold type to highlight key words and subheads; it's also easy to digest - written in plain English but without being simplistic or patronizing. And it comes with author blurbs from both sides of the fence including Bob Dole, Barack Obama, Walter Mondale, Tom Daschle and Trent Lott.

In a country where it is said that more people watched Super Bowl XLI than voted in the 2004 presidential election; and in an election cycle which bear a greater resemblance to American Idol than a vote for arguably the most important political position in the world (one that directly effects the lives of the 300 million of us living in the USA but also impacts those of the other 6.5 billion living elsewhere on this ever more crowded planet) don't we owe it to ourselves to get informed and stay informed? So, pick up a copy of What You Should Know About Politics But Don't today - and perhaps a couple more to give away!

"Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts".  So said Daniel Patrick "Pat" Moynihan (1927-2003).  Moynihan was Democratic Senator for New York from 1976 to 2000 (at which point he declined to run for re-election), before which he was ambassador to the UN and India and served in four successive presidential administrations from Kennedy to Ford.