{"product_id":"the-point-of-it-all-isbn-9781984825506","title":"The Point of It All","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNEW YORK TIMES \u003c\/i\u003eBESTSELLER  • A powerful collection of the influential columnist’s most important  works—featuring rare speeches, a major essay about today’s populist  movements and the future of global democracy, and a new preface by the  author’s son, Daniel Krauthammer\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e“Charles will be remembered as one of the greatest public intellects of his generation.”—John McCain\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In  his decades of work as America’s preeminent political commentator,  whether writing about statecraft and foreign policy or reflecting on  more esoteric topics such as baseball, spaceflight and medical ethics,  Charles Krauthammer elevated the opinion column to a form of art. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e This  collection features the columns, speeches and unpublished writings that  showcase the best of his original thought and his last, enduring words  on the state of American politics, the nature of liberal democracy and  the course of world history. The book also includes a deeply personal  section offering insight into Krauthammer’s beliefs about what mattered  most to him: friendship, family and the principles he lived by.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eThe Point of It All \u003c\/i\u003eis  a timely demonstration of what made Charles Krauthammer the most  celebrated American columnist and political thinker of his generation, a  revealing look at the man behind the words and a lasting testament to  his belief that anyone with an open and honest mind can grapple deeply  with the most urgent questions in politics and in life.“For decades, Charles’ words have strengthened our democracy. His work was far-reaching and influential - and…his ideas and values will always be a part of our country.” \u003cb\u003e—George W. Bush \u003cbr\u003e  \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Charles will be remembered as one of the greatest public intellects of his generation. A true renaissance man, there was no topic too complex for Charles to probe; no party or politician too powerful to challenge…I’m confident his words will continue to inspire all of us to live bravely and think boldly.” \u003cb\u003e—John McCain \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Charles wrote for the right reasons. … To provoke us to think, to enlarge our understanding, at times to make us laugh. Like few others, he succeeded, week after week, Friday after Friday, year after year… he wrote a column of breathtaking range and intelligence and integrity.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A giant, a man who not only defended our civilization but represented what's best in it.\" \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e—National Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “A voice of reason and a powerful intellect in Democracy’s cause.” \u003cb\u003e—Condoleezza Rice \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “There are people you meet throughout your life that you just know will leave an impact forever. Charles Krauthammer was one of those people. His words and his knowledge and his eloquence on the issues of the day were unsurpassed. He could cut through the noise. He could get to the point better than anybody.” \u003cb\u003e—Bret Baier\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e“The Point of It All\u003c\/i\u003e is very wide-ranging, a true Krauthammer sampler. This is Krauthammer in full, or very nearly so. It is a book that says, 'This is what he believed. This is who he was.' As such, it is invaluable.” \u003cb\u003e—Jay Nordlinger\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eCharles Krauthammer\u003c\/b\u003e, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, was a syndicated columnist, political commentator, physician and bestselling author. His \u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e column ran weekly for 33 years and was syndicated in more than 400 newspapers worldwide. For over a decade he was a nightly panelist on Fox News’ flagship evening-news broadcast \u003ci\u003eSpecial Report\u003c\/i\u003e. He served as a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics and he was a member of Chess Journalists of America. Along with his wife Robyn, he cofounded Pro Musica Hebraica. He died on June 21, 2018.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e Daniel Krauthammer\u003c\/b\u003e’s writing has appeared in \u003ci\u003eThe Weekly Standard\u003c\/i\u003e,\u003ci\u003e National Review \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e The New Republic\u003c\/i\u003e. He holds degrees from Harvard, Oxford and Stanford in political science, economics and business administration, and has worked in government as well as in the entertainment and technology sectors. He spent the last year of his father’s life close by his side in the hospital, where together they worked toward completing this book.PART I\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWHAT A PIECE OF WORK IS MAN\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER 1\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLIFE WELL LIVED\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReveries of a Newborn Father\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThree weeks ago Daniel Pierre Krauthammer, our first, entered the world. It was a noisy and boisterous entry, as befits a 10-­pound Krauthammer. It has been just as noisy and boisterous since. I had been warned by friend and foe that life would never be the same. They were right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOf course, like all exhausted newborn fathers, I am just looking for sympathy. It is my wife, Robyn, whose life has been fully merged with his, in a symbiosis profound and delicate. His sucking, did you know, causes the uterus to contract and helps shrink it back to normal size. Twenty days old, and he is healing her.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat she does for him, of course, would not fit in a month’s worth of columns. What do I do? It seems my job is to father, a verb which must count as one of the age’s more inventive creations. How exactly to father? I don’t really know. The women’s movement, to which the idea owes its currency, is right to insist that the father do more.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut more of what? I have been asking myself that lately as I rock him and hold him and speak to him in the gravest of tones. But we both know, we all three know, the truth: Nature has seen to it that anything I can do, she can do better. Mine is literally a holding action.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOf course, the imperative to father is only the last of the social conventions one must bend to on the road to parenting. (I am learning the language.) First, there is Lamaze, the classes that teach you to be natural. Robyn does not fancy oxymorons. And I, as a former psychiatrist, know a placebo when I see one. We said no to Lamaze.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe said yes to the Volvo. In fact, on the Volvo we went all the way. We got the station wagon with roof rack: the ultimate yuppie conveyance. “For safety reasons only,” I explain to friends, a protest that meets with knowing smiles.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFinally, there is the supreme modern convention: the now-­absolute requirement that father, in surgical gear, attend the birth. Of course, you don’t have to if you don’t want to. You can, if you wish, wait outside, like Dagwood Bumstead, pacing and smoking and fretting until it’s over. You have the perfect right to betray your wife, spurn your child and disgrace your sex. It’s a free country.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe transformation of expectant father from nuisance—­packed off to boil water, find towels and generally get out of the way—­ to conscripted co-­producer of the birth epic is one of the anthropological wonders of the age. And on the whole, apart from the coercion, a good thing. Father’s presence serves two purposes. One is to reduce the anguish of the mother. The other is to increase the anguish of the father. Both seem to me laudable goals. It makes up a bit for the extraordinarily unfair imbalance of suffering that attends childbirth.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThank God, the new convention does not (yet) command fathers to attend a caesarean delivery. I speak from experience. Robyn needed a caesarean and, hoping I could comfort her, I was with her in the operating room. I was not looking for a Maslovian peak-­experience, the kind of epiphany that reputedly accompanies the moment of birth. I was doubtful, not just because of my usual skepticism, but because of my previous career. In medical school, I had assisted at several births, including a couple of caesareans, and always had trouble seeing the poetry for the blood.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere was little poetry this time either. It was an agonizing hour for her, and for me. (Daniel did very well.) The poetry came afterward, in the recovery room, where I found Daniel asleep in Robyn’s arms.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt has been poetry and reverie ever since. Having a child, I discovered, makes you dream again and, at the same time, makes the dreams utterly real. Lately I have been dreaming of the future. I find entirely new meaning in what we in Washington call “out-­years.” Take 1989, the year the budget deficit comes down to $100 billion. A time far, far away . . . until I figured it is the year when we retire Daniel’s Pampers. A manageable deficit, only a few thousand nappy changes away.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eStranger years, years of exotic immensity, years that till now had meaning to Arthur C. Clarke only, become utterly mundane. 2001, the year of the mystical obelisk, and Daniel should be getting his learner’s permit. 2010, the obelisk returns and Daniel is looking for a job. 2050, a year of unimaginable distance: his first Social Security check.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Checks? Social Security?” my friend Pepe interrupts. “Where’s your imagination, man? They’ll all be memories. Think big. 2050: the year he takes a sabbatical on Saturn.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI’m thinking small. I gaze at his body, so perfectly formed, so perfectly innocent. It has yet to be written on. I look at his knee and wonder where will be the little mark that records his first too-­hard slide into second base.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Washington Post, June 28, 1985New York Times bestseller","brand":"Forum Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303215845605,"sku":"NP9781984825506","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781984825506.jpg?v=1767740989","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/the-point-of-it-all-isbn-9781984825506","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}