Leaving Town Alive: Confessions of an Arts Warrior

Rating:
Summary: still relevant
Review: Almost ten years after John Frohnmayer was canned as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, this book means as much or more than it ever did. This is not so much an autobiography than it is a manifesto of how rabid we should be about protecting out first amendment rights. It shows the politicization of art, and of free speach, and of how more and more we are having those rights eroded away in the name of our own safety. Frohnmayer details the struggles that he went through to try to keep the NEA alive when it could very well have fallen apart... he details the mistakes he made, and the fight that he fought. It was refreshing to hear the accounts of someone who believes something strongly, and yet admits candidly when he made mistakes, and how we can learn from them. He describes how he went into that job as a first amendment moderate, and came out a first amendment radical. And after reading it (beginning as a first amendment radical), I came out a first amendment extremist. This is a must read for anyone who cares a tiny bit for his or her rights in this country.