Raising
Hell for Justice
The Washington Battles
of a Heartland Progressive
David R. Obey
"Dave Obey's story reminds us that
in a city of quicksand it is still possible to stand on principle
as a servant of your ideals and the public."
—Bill Moyers, author of Moyers on America
"Raising Hell for Justice is
a powerful and enlightening political memoir by one of America's
all-time great legislators. Obey is one of a vanishing breed
in Congress whose entire career in public life has been committed
to both advancing a principled agenda and working constructively
with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to hammer out agreements
that advance that agenda. Obey burns with a passion sparked by
his childhood experience growing up in an economically vulnerable
working class family and channeled into politics and policy-making
by his embrace of Catholic social justice and La Follette progressivism.
His compelling memoir demonstrates how ennobling and satisfying
a career in the first branch of government can be."
—Thomas
E. Mann, W. Averell Harriman Chair and senior fellow in governance
studies, Brookings Institution
David Obey has in his nearly forty years
in the U.S. House of Representatives worked to bring economic
and social justice to America's working families. In 2007 he
assumed the chair of the Appropriations Committee and is positioned
to pursue his priority concerns for affordable health care, education,
environmental protection, and a foreign policy consistent with
American democratic ideals.
Here, in his autobiography, Obey looks back on his journey in
politics beginning with his early years in the Wisconsin Legislature,
when Wisconsin moved through eras of shifting balance between
Republicans and Democrats. On a national level Obey traces, as
few others have done, the dramatic changes in the workings of
the U.S. Congress since his first election to the House in 1969.
He discusses his own central role in the evolution of Congress
and ethics reforms and his view of the recent Bush presidency—crucial
chapters in our democracy, of interest to all who observe politics
and modern U.S. history.
 David
R. Obey (D-Wausau) is the longest-serving
memberof the U.S. Congress in Wisconsin history and is the current
chair of the House Appropriations Committee. In the 1980s and
early 1990s, he chaired the Foreign Operations Subcommittee,
which funded America's economic and political response to the
collapse of the Soviet Union.
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September 2007
496 pp. 6 x 9
19 b/w photos
“Obey articulates strong principles and he describes how the political process works, and does not work, to make these principles a reality. . . . Obey might be the nation’s quintessential liberal Democrat. He is proud of that. Readers will be too, even if they do not share all of his policy positions.”
—Jeremi Suri, Wisconsin People and Ideas |
