Bøger af Marvin Olasky

"Portions of this book previously appeared in Marvin Olasky, Unmerited Mercy: A Memoir, 1968-1996 (Asheville, NC: World & Life Books, 2010)"--Colophon.

"What makes a leader truly great? Is it simply a matter of management style or personality? Or does character matter and, if so, how much? Most Americans believe a president's private activities bear little relation to his public-policy decisions, yet we also believe that moral vision plays a role in strong leadership. Where does the truth lie? In the first modern systematic examination of the bond between morals and politics, Marvin Olasky examines the lives and careers of thirteen noted American leaders, including the great, the good, and the deeply flawed, from George Washington, Henry Clay, and Booker T. Washington to Woodrow Wilson, John F. Kennedy, and Bill Clinton. Olasky looks closely at the connections between religion, sexual practices, and political decisions, examining the repeated connections between private character and public action. He explains how so-called "compartmentalization" proved to be as impossible for Lincoln as for Woodrow Wilson. A man's character shows its stamp repeatedly during a career. In The American Leadership Tradition Olasky has many lessons to offer. For the cynical, he reminds us that it is not true that "they all do it," as the lives of Andrew Jackson and Grover Cleveland can attest. For the nostalgic, he reminds us that there have been principled men, like George Washington, alongside unprincipled ones, like Henry Clay, from the beginning. After reading this book it will be impossible to argue that John Kennedy's womanizing reflected a side of him that had absolutely nothing to do with his presidency, or that Abraham Lincoln's rectitude was unconnected with his greatness. Olasky shows that faithfulness in marriage may be no guarantee of faithfulness to the country, but faithlessness is a leading indicator of trouble. Leaders who break a large vow to one person find it easy to break relatively small vows to millions. He finishes with a chapter on Bill Clinton and what his recent controversies mean for 21st-century America, a question that may haunt American politics for a long time to come"--

Authors Marvin Olasky and Leah Savas detail the long history of abortion and its impact on American culture through vivid personal stories that humanize people on both sides of the debate.

Compassionate conservatism is a new political force in the land, sweeping the grassroots of people of all faiths, races, and ethnicities. In its parts it offers solutions to many of our most intractable problems; in its whole it is nothing less than an innovative philosophy of government. No author is more qualified to explain its power and promise than Marvin Olasky, described by The New York Times as "the godfather of compassionate conservatism."Compassionate conservatism offers a new paradigm for how the government can and should intervene in the economy. It begins with a long-lost premise about human behavior: economics, by itself, is not what changes lives. Only faith, and deeply held beliefs, can do that. For decades government has focused only on material well-being, ignoring the passions and convictions that make life worth living. What is conservative about the new movement is that its leaders also know that government cannot instill these beliefs. What it can do is help them flourish. It can give aid, inspiration, and direction to America's natural "armies of compassion" that have been a hallmark of our history since the founding.Compassionate conservatism offers a way to transcend the root problems that currently oppress too many deserving Americans. It offers a unique vision of the triangular relationship between the state, our many churches, and our tens of thousands of charities. It is a true reinvention of welfare, a wholesale revolution in the welfare state, and a redefinition of the social safety net. In Compassionate Conservatism Marvin Olasky takes us on a road trip with his son, Daniel, across the country, showing exactly how the new movement is unfolding. Along the way, he offers a set of principles, and a brief tour through history to show that these are not so much radically new ideas as rediscoveries of long-lost wisdom. Read this book for a blueprint of the future of politics and welfare in America.

The fifteenth anniversary reissue of this groundbreaking book has a new foreword and preface to encourage a historically and biblically based approach to welfare.