The Pursuit of Happiness, and Other Sobering Thoughts

New York: Harper & Row, 1978. First Printing. Hardcover. Very good/very good. xvii, [1], 333, [1] pages. Index, DJ very slightly soiled and slight edge wear. Presentation copy inscribed by the author on the fep. George Frederick Will (born May 4, 1941) is an American political commentator. He writes regular columns for The Washington Post and provides commentary for NBC News and MSNBC. In 1986, The Wall Street Journal called him "perhaps the most powerful journalist in America," in a league with Walter Lippmann (1889-1974). He won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1977. On Sunday, March 19, 2017, Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd welcomed Will back as a panelist, stating he had been absent from the program since 1981 and that his return would mark his 52nd appearance. On May 8, 2017, Will was announced as an MSNBC and NBC News political contributor, a paid position in which he is expected to provide regular political input on shows such as Today, Morning Joe, and The 11th Hour. "The Pursuit of Happiness and Other Sobering Thoughts", George Will's first collection of columns, covers the period from 1974 to 1977, when issues such as abortion, homosexuality, capital punishment, and marijuana use were hot topics of debate--Will offers his opinions on these issues in this volume. Men and women are biological facts. Ladies and gentlemen - citizens - are social artifacts, works of political art. They carry the culture that is sustained by wise laws, and traditions of civility. At the end of the day we are right to judge a society by the character of the people it produces. The following essays deal with that and other sobering thoughts.