Dionne, E.J., Jr. 1952–

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Dionne, E.J., Jr. 1952–

(Eugene J. Dionne, Jr.)

PERSONAL: Born 1952, in Boston, MA; married Mary Boyle; children: James, Julia, Margot. Education: Harvard University, B.A. (summa cum laude), 1973; Oxford University, D.Phil., 1992. Hobbies and other interests: Government, research, elections, public opinion, conservative and liberal ideology, civil society, journalism.

ADDRESSES: Home—Washington, DC. Office—Washington Post, 1150 15th St. N.W., Washington, DC 20071. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Journalist, writer, and scholar. Worked as a reporter for the New York Times and the Washington Post. Guest scholar, Woodrow Wilson International Center, 1994–95; senior fellow, governmental studies, Brookings Institution.

AWARDS, HONORS: Los Angeles Times Book Prize, current interest category, 1991, for Why Americans Hate Politics: The Death of the Democratic Process; one of "Forty Most Influential Thinkers of Our Time," Sunday Independent (London, England), 1996; Carey McWilliams Award, American Political Science Association, 1996.

WRITINGS:

Why Americans Hate Politics: The Death of the Democratic Process, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1991, revised edition, 1992.

They Only Look Dead: Why Progressives Will Dominate the Next Political Era, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1996, revised edition, 1997.

(Editor) Community Works: The Revival of Civil Society in America, Brookings Institution (Washington, DC), 1998.

(Editor, with John J. Dilulio, Jr.) What's God Got to Do with the American Experiment?, Brookings Institution (Washington, DC), 2000.

(Editor, with William Kristol) Bush v. Gore: The Court Cases and the Commentary, Brookings Institution (Washington, DC), 2001.

(Editor, with Ming Hsu Chen) Sacred Places, Civic Purposes: Should Government Help Faith-Based Charity?, Brookings Institution (Washington, DC), 2001.

(Editor, with Robert E. Litan and Kayla Meltzer) United We Serve: National Service and the Future of Citizenship, Brookings Institution (Washington, DC), 2003.

(Editor, with Kayla M. Drogosz and Jean Bethke Elshtain) One Electorate under God?: A Dialogue of Religion and American Politics, Brookings Institution (Washington, DC), 2004.

Stand Up, Fight Back: Republican Toughs, Democratic Wimps, and the Politics of Revenge, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2004.

Contributor to periodicals, including Commonweal, New York Times Book Review, and Utne Reader.

SIDELIGHTS: A political correspondent for the Washington Post, E.J. Dionne, Jr., is the author of several books, including Why Americans Hate Politics: The Death of the Democratic Process. The book gives a history of American political thought from the 1960s and documents the public's growing disenchantment with government and divisive politics. According to Dionne, politicians—in order to woo powerful special interest groups—have increasingly concerned themselves with issues that America's centrist silent majority find irrelevant.

Politicians, Dionne states in Why Americans Hate Politics, pursue "a polarized politics that highlights symbolic issues, short-circuits genuine political debate, gives discontent few real outlets, allows money a paramount role in the electoral process, and leaves the country alarmed over whether it can maintain its standard of living. Is it any wonder that Americans have come to hate politics?" The solution, the author maintains, is to take the best elements from both liberal and conservative platforms to create a moderate, reasonable approach appealing to the centrist majority. And "to restore popular faith in the possibilities of government," Dionne argues in his book, "government must be shown to work."

Though some critics were skeptical that ideologues of the left and right would be able to work toward common ground, several reviewers praised Why Americans Hate Politics. Washington Post Book World contributor George V. Higgins, for instance, called Dionne's book "a splendid and thoughtful piece of work." Writing in the New York Time Book Review, Norman J. Ornstein commented that "it would be hard to imagine a better chronicle of our recent intellectual ferment than Why Americans Hate Politics. It is knowledgeable and sympathetic to all viewpoints while comprehending and communicating intricate personality, policy and doctrinal disputes. Mr. Dionne writes with the sprightly facility of a good journalist, while displaying the intellectual depth of the Ph.D. historian he is."

Dionne's book They Only Look Dead: Why Progressives Will Dominate the Next Political Era opens with a study of economic, cultural, political, and international factors that were credited with leading to a widespread loss of faith in government among Americans. Following this section, Dionne discusses how Democrats have responded to this loss of faith. He then examines the Progressive ideas of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson and discusses how present-day Progressives can learn from their example and expand on personal freedom rather than infringe in it. In the Political Science Quarterly, Gerald M. Pomper wrote: "Writing with the skill of a journalist and the perspective of a scholar, Dionne focuses on the ideas and ideologies that frame our national debate." Pomper also noted that although Dionne characterizes the Democratic party as "riven and inchoate," he nevertheless "expects it to achieve a grand intellectual synthesis." In Nieman Reports, Wallace Turner wrote, "This is good stuff, important and worthy of wide readership." In the Washington Monthly, James Fallows noted: "Dionne does not pretend that he has solved the problem of reconceiving government's role. But he has given us much to think about."

In compiling What's God Got to Do with the American Experiment?, Dionne and coeditor John J. Dilulio, Jr., asked social scientists, pastors, mayors, activists, and theologians to consider the relationship between religion and politics. Based on meetings at the Brookings Institution, the essays make clear that the U.S. government and U.S. citizens have never satisfactorily resolved the question of the proper relationship between organized religion and the state. In the Journal of Church and State, Scott R. Borderud wrote: "Dionne and Dilulio have given us an informative and positive, if not critical, overview of the role of religious institutions in American civic life."

In Bush v. Gore: The Court Cases and the Commentary, Dionne and coeditor William Kristol present a "valuable volume of leading court decisions and unusually varied commentaries," according to Peter Berkowitz in the Times Literary Supplement. The contributions, comprising twelve legal opinions and sixty-two journalistic articles, discuss the controversial and very close presidential election of 2000 and the ensuing court decisions regarding manual recounts of ballots previously counted by malfunctioning machines.

In Sacred Places, Civic Purposes: Should Government Help Faith-Based Charity?, Dionne ponders President George W. Bush's policies regarding faith-based initiatives, in which government money supports charities that are religiously affiliated. The book looks at social problems in five topically divided sections, such as teen pregnancy, crime, and substance abuse. Each section offers what a contributor to Social Service Review called "ideologically diverse" commentary. Fourteen essays and twenty-four short commentaries make up this volume, which tries to "open debate rather than pronounce judgments, to explore issues rather than push an agenda," noted Heidi Rolland Unruh of the Journal of Church and State, who also remarked: "The volume's well-crafted balance and breadth ensure its appeal to various groups."

Published in 2004, Stand Up, Fight Back: Republican Toughs, Democratic Wimps, and the Politics of Revenge is written in the format of three letters: one each to a liberal, a moderate, and a conservative. In this book, Dionne criticizes all three. He accuses Democrats of not being tough enough to fight back against Bush's mishandling of the country. He offers Democrats hope, however, and tips for success. Next, Dionne points to Bush himself, saying that the September 11th terrorist attacks on America gave the President a chance to unite the country. Instead, the President used the event as a way to further divide rich and poor through unjust tax cuts for the rich. In the book, Dionne wrote: "Never has a president seen so many of his critics (this one included) rooting so hard for his success. This was a moment when many of the deepest divisions in the country, some of them going back to the Vietnam War, might have been healed." Dionne blames Bush for the huge rift in the electorate as well. Vanessa Bush, writing in Booklist, commented: "Readers from both political poles will appreciate Dionne's wit and insight, whether or not they agree with his perspective." In addition, a Kirkus Reviews contributor called the book "balm for those who long to see a … not-quite-so-spiteful—opposition."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Dionne, E.J., Jr., Why Americans Hate Politics: The Death of the Democratic Process, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1991.

Dionne, E.J., Jr., Stand Up, Fight Back: Republican Toughs, Democratic Wimps, and the Politics of Revenge, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2004.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, June 1, 2004, Vanessa Bush, review of Stand Up, Fight Back, p. 1675.

Campaigns and Elections, June, 2004, David Mark, review of Stand Up, Fight Back, p. 47.

Humanist, July-August, 2002, Albert J. Menendez, review of Sacred Places, Civic Purposes: Should Government Help Faith-Based Charity?, p. 41.

Journal of Church and State, winter, 2001, Scott R. Borderud, review of What's God Got to Do with the American Experiment?, p. 148; summer, 2002, Heidi Rolland Unruh, review of Sacred Places, Civic Purposes, pp. 592-593.

Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 2004, review of Stand Up, Fight Back, p. 373.

New York Times Book Review, May 19, 1991, Norman J. Ornstein, review of Why Americans Hate Politics, p. 7.

Nieman Reports, summer, 1996, Wallace Turner, review of They Only Look Dead: Why Progressives Will Dominate the Next Political Era, p. 93.

Political Quarterly, April-June, 1997, Gerald M. Pomper, review of They Only Look Dead, p. 196.

Political Science Quarterly, fall, 1996, Gerald M. Pomper, review of They Only Look Dead, p. 548.

Social Service Review, September, 2002, review of Sacred Places, Civic Purposes, p. 520.

Times Literary Supplement, June 28, 1996, p. 26; July 27, 2001, Peter Berkowitz, "Down to the Wire," review of Bush v. Gore: The Court Cases and the Commentary, p. 25.

Washington Monthly, May, 1996, James Fallows, They Only Look Dead, p. 48.

Washington Post, December 16, 1996, Al Kamen, review of Why Americans Hate Politics, p. A23.

Washington Post Book World, May 19, 1991, George V. Higgins, review of Why Americans Hate Politics, p. 3.