James Dobson's War on America

by Gil Alexander-Moegerle

Overview

Former Dobson aide and Focus on the Family co-founder Gil Alexander-Moegerle offers an insightful and detailed expos? of this religious power-broker and his strong-arm corporation. Religious author and White House Family Conference task force member James Dobson formed the Focus on the Family corporation in 1977, a group that currently boasts plenty of political clout on the religious right, a $100 million budget, and a membership three times the size of Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition. This psychologist-turned-family-values-guru has a personal agenda so ambitious that Forest Sawyer of ABC News called him, "one of the most powerful men in America," while John Hockenberry of ABC noted, "On Capitol Hill, he's treated like some kind of powerful lobbyist." Although he may not be as well known as Jerry Falwell, Jim and Tammy Bakker, or Jimmy Swaggart, Dobson commands loyal legions who will do his bidding without question. And, like many moralists who call themselves "God's chosen," James Dobson has plenty to hide.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781573921220
Publisher:	Prometheus Books
Publication date:	03/01/1997
Pages:	314
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.03(d)

Editorial Reviews

...the first critical "insider" look at Dobson...shows those who daily speak out against the nation's decay have their own problems closer to home.

Fort Worth Morning Star-Telegram

This book is significant becuase it raises relevant issues concerning a highly regarded man and ministry. As Christians struggle with how to impact society, books such as this, though painful, are perhaps necessary.

Christian Booksellers Assoc.

In this often strident expos of James Dobson, founder and president of Focus on the Family, an ultraconservative Christian organization, former Focus vice-president Alexander-Moegerle issues a call to all politically concerned Americans to beware of Dobson's political agenda. It's no secret that Dobson, as Alexander-Moegerle writes, advocates "smaller government, larger defense, the elimination of the Department of Education and the NEA, and the barring of women and homosexuals from military service." Alexander-Moegerle relies on his more than 15 years of close contact with Dobson to paint a portrait of Dobson as an autocratic manager hungry for political power and recognition. According to the author, Dobson's Nazarene belief that he is sinless and morally perfect results in Dobson's stance that he is morally superior to others, even his employees. Such a stance, combined with Dobson's apparent sexism, racism and homophobia, and his ability to lobby Capitol Hill with "500,000 to 1 million phone calls and letters within hours," according to Alexander-Moegerle, seem to make Dobson a tremendous political threat to the pluralism and diversity of political views in America. Unfortunately, the second half of the book, in which Alexander-Moegerle chronicles his own lawsuit against the Dobson organization, mars the force of the rest of the book, since the text turns more toward personal vendetta than levelheaded critique. Even so, Alexander-Moegerle brings into the open some serious questions about Dobson and Focus on the Family that merit response.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The author, a former Dobson executive and co-host of the "Focus on the Family" radio program, offers an expos<'e> of this religious power broker and his corporation. He discusses his conservative religious beliefs; the communication and marketing formula that helped him amass a fortune; his battle with the media; internal difficulties that led to boardroom allegations of mismanagement of donor funds; and his radical political plan for America. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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