Easton Press William Bennett books
The Book of Virtues - signed first edition - 1993
The Moral Compass - signed first edition - 1995
America: The Last Best Hope - 2 volumes (volume 1 signed limited edition) - 2008
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Who is William Bennett?
Bennett was born in Brooklyn, the son of Nancy Walsh, a medical secretary, and F. Robert Bennett, a banker. He moved to Washington, D.C., where he attended Gonzaga College High School. He graduated from Williams College, where he was a member of The Kappa Alpha Society, and went on to earn a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in Political Philosophy. He also has a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
From 1976 to 1981 he was the executive director of the National Humanities Center, a private research facility in North Carolina. In 1981 President Ronald Reagan appointed him to head the National Endowment for the Humanities, where he served until Reagan appointed him Secretary of Education in 1985. Reagan originally nominated Mel Bradford to the position, but due to Bradford's pro-Confederate views Bennett was appointed in his place. This event was later marked as the watershed in the divergence between paleoconservatives, who backed Bradford, and neoconservatives, led by Irving Kristol, who supported Bennett. It was in 1986 that Bennett switched from the Democratic to the Republican party. Bennett resigned from this post in 1988, and later that year was appointed to the post of Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy by President George H. W. Bush. He was confirmed by the Senate in a 97-2 vote.
Bennett and his wife, Elayne, have two sons, John and Joseph. Elayne is the president and founder of Best Friends Foundation, a national program promoting sexual abstinence among adolescents. He is the brother of Washington attorney Robert S. Bennett.
Politics
Bennett tends to take a conservative position on affirmative action, school vouchers, curriculum reform, and religion in education. As Education Secretary, he asked colleges to better enforce drug laws and supported a classical education. He frequently criticized schools for low standards. In 1988 he called the Chicago public school system "the worst in the nation." He coined the term "the blob" to describe the state education bureaucracy, a term which was later taken up in Britain by Michael Gove.
Bennett is a staunch supporter of the War on Drugs and has been criticized for his views on the issue. On Larry King Live, he said that a viewer's suggestion of beheading drug dealers would be "morally plausible." He also "lamented that we still grant them [drug dealers] habeas corpus rights."
In 1995, he teamed up with C. Delores Tucker to create advertising to target Time Warner's lack of regulation of gangsta rap and its supposed glorification of violence and denigration of women. Bennett is a member of the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) and was one of the signers of the January 26, 1998 PNAC Letter sent to President Bill Clinton urging Clinton to remove Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein from power.
William Bennett books in order
Tried by Fire: The Story of Christianity's First Thousand Years (2016)
Going to Pot: Why the Rush to Legalize Marijuana Is Harming America, with Robert A. White (2015)
Is College Worth It? with David Wilezol (2013)
The Fight of our Lives co-authored with Seth Leibsohn (2011)
The Book of Man: Readings on the Path to Manhood (2011)
A Century Turns: New Hopes, New Fears (2010)
The True Saint Nicholas (2009)
The American Patriot's Almanac: Daily Readings on America (2008 with John Cribb)
America: The Last Best Hope (Volume II): From a World at War to the Triumph of Freedom (2007)
America: The Last Best Hope (Volume I): From the Age of Discovery to a World at War (2006)
Why We Fight: Moral Clarity and the War on Terrorism (2003)
The Broken Hearth: Reversing the Moral Collapse of the American Family (2001)
The Educated Child: A Parent's Guide from Preschool through Eighth Grade (1999)
The Index of Leading Cultural Indicators (1999)
Our Sacred Honor (1997, compilation of writings by the Founding Fathers)
Body Count: Moral Poverty...and How to Win America's War Against Crime and Drugs (1996)
Moral Compass: Stories for a Life's Journey (1995)
The De-Valuing of America: The Fight for Our Culture and Our Children (1992)
James Madison Elementary School: A Curriculum For American Students (August 1988, as Secretary of the Department of Education)
James Madison High School: A Curriculum For American Students (December 1987, as Secretary of the Department of Education)
First Lessons. A Report on Elementary Education in America (co-authored in September 1986, as Secretary of Department of Education)
Source and additional information: William Bennett