Faith In The West Wing

Proverbial wisdom advises against discussing politics and religion in polite company. However, Aaron Sorkin and the producers of the award-winning television series The West Wing (NBC, 1999–2006) didn’t seem to get the memo. Still popular and surprisingly relevant several years after its final episode, this primetime dramatization of a fictional presidential administration regularly incorporated religious rhetoric, perspectives, and practices in its characters and storylines. With episodes featuring such explicitly religious titles as “Take This Sabbath Day,” “Faith-Based Initiative,” and “In God We Trust,” and with characters with such biblically based names as Josiah, Josh, Toby, Abbey, and Sam, the series took thoughtful religious faith seriously and implied that spirituality can serve as a vital component of civic virtue. While by no means an exhaustive examination of all seven seasons, this collection of essays explores some of the more prominent portrayals of religious faith and practice throughout the series to prompt and guide the readers’ own reflections and observations. Discussion questions are also provided at the end of each chapter for use in watch parties and other small group gatherings.

Step inside the Bartlet Administration in this detailed official companion to one of televisions most sophisticated dramatic series. Created by Aaron Sorkin, The West Wing won nine Emmy Awards in its first season alone, and is acclaimed for its writing, portrayals, and an intelligent, authentic depiction of White House life.

Presents eight teleplays selected from the third and fourth seasons of "The West Wing."

David Kuo came to Washington wanting to use his Christian faith to end abortion, strengthen marriage, and help the poor. He reached the heights of political power, ultimately serving in the White House under George W. Bush, after being policy adviser to John Ashcroft and speechwriter for Ralph Reed, Pat Robertson, and Bob Dole. It was a dream come true: the chance to fuse his politics and his faith, and an opportunity for Christians not just to gain a seat at the proverbial table but to plan the entire meal. Kuo spent nearly three years as second in command at the president's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Yet his experience was deeply troubling. It took both the Bush White House and a severe health crisis to show him how his Christian values, and those of millions of Americans, were being corrupted by politics. Instead of following the teachings of Jesus to serve the needy, Kuo found himself helping to manipulate religious faith for political gain. Public funds were used in battleground states, for Republican campaign events. The legislative process was used as a football, not to pass laws but to deepen purely symbolic fault lines. Grants were incestuously recycled to political cronies. Both before and after 9/11, despite lofty rhetoric from the president claiming that his faith-based program was one of his most important initiatives, there was no serious attempt to fund valuable charities. Worst of all was the prevailing attitude in the White House and throughout Washington toward Christian leaders. Key Bush aides and Republican operatives spoke of them with contempt and treated them as useful idiots. It became clear, during regular conference calls arranged from the White House with a key group of Christian leaders, that many of these religious leaders had themselves been utterly seduced by politics. It is time, Kuo argues, for Christians to take a temporary step back from politics, to turn away from its seductions. Tempting Faith is equal parts headline-making exposé, political and spiritual memoir, and heartfelt plea for a Christian reexamination of political involvement.

Eminent scholars Peter C. Rollins and John O'Connor make an important contribution to the field with an eclectic mix of essays, which translate visual language into on-screen politics. While the series may be criticized as "idealistic," its clever techniques of camera work, lighting, editing, and mise en scene reflect America's best image of itself, and entertains a loyal audience that desperately wants to believe in the nobility of the American dream. This collection introduces readers to the sensibilities to appreciate the show's nuances and the necessary knowledge to avoid any misreadings. It will be of interest to students of politics, popular culture, fans and critics alike.

True Faith and Allegiance is the highly-anticipated personal history from Alberto R. Gonzales, former Attorney General of the United States and former Counsel to the President—the only lawyer and only Hispanic to hold both these positions—an ultimate insider in the most tumultuous events in recent history. Born to a poor but proud working-class family in Humble, Texas, Gonzales was raised along with his seven siblings in a modest 2-bedroom home. His loving and devout parents taught him the conservative values of hard work and accountability that motivated Gonzales to the highest echelons of power. He was a confidante to President George W. Bush during the crucible of the 9/11 attacks, and he played a vital role in the administration’s immediate response to protect America and the far-reaching steps to prevent further harm.

Hurricane Katrina shredded one of the great cities of the South, and as levees failed and the federal relief effort proved lethally incompetent, a natural disaster became a man-made catastrophe. As an editor of New Orleans’ daily newspaper, the Pulitzer Prize—winning Times-Picayune, Jed Horne has had a front-row seat to the unfolding drama of the city’s collapse into chaos and its continuing struggle to survive. As the Big One bore down, New Orleanians rich and poor, black and white, lurched from giddy revelry to mandatory evacuation. The thousands who couldn’t or wouldn’t leave initially congratulated themselves on once again riding out the storm. But then the unimaginable happened: Within a day 80 percent of the city was under water. The rising tides chased horrified men and women into snake-filled attics and onto the roofs of their houses. Heroes in swamp boats and helicopters braved wind and storm surge to bring survivors to dry ground. Mansions and shacks alike were swept away, and then a tidal wave of lawlessness inundated the Big Easy. Screams and gunshots echoed through the blacked-out Superdome. Police threw away their badges and joined in the looting. Corpses drifted in the streets for days, and buildings marinated for weeks in a witches’ brew of toxic chemicals that, when the floodwaters finally were pumped out, had turned vast reaches of the city into a ghost town. Horne takes readers into the private worlds and inner thoughts of storm victims from all walks of life to weave a tapestry as intricate and vivid as the city itself. Politicians, thieves, nurses, urban visionaries, grieving mothers, entrepreneurs with an eye for quick profit at public expense–all of these lives collide in a chronicle that is harrowing, angry, and often slyly ironic. Even before stranded survivors had been plucked from their roofs, government officials embarked on a vicious blame game that further snarled the relief operation and bedeviled scientists striving to understand the massive levee failures and build New Orleans a foolproof flood defense. As Horne makes clear, this shameless politicization set the tone for the ongoing reconstruction effort, which has been haunted by racial and class tensions from the start. Katrina was a catastrophe deeply rooted in the politics and culture of the city that care forgot and of a nation that forgot to care. In Breach of Faith, Jed Horne has created a spellbinding epic of one of the worst disasters of our time.

“A careful, in-depth account of Ambassador Faith Whittlesey’s time both in and outside of Washington . . . a pioneer for women in politics” (American Swiss Foundation). “Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did,” so the saying goes, “but she did it backwards and in high heels.” Faith Whittlesey popularized this quotation during the 1980s, and many attribute the line to her. In this book, the life and career of Faith Whittlesey gives concrete meaning to the quotation. Raised in western New York State by highly motivated Irish-American parents of limited means, she worked to reach an eminent position as Ronald Reagan’s ambassador to Switzerland—twice—and to serve as the highest-ranking woman on Reagan’s White House staff from 1983–1985. There, she occupied the West Wing office soon to be Hillary Clinton’s, and as a widow since 1974 with three children, provided a female influence of her own to presidential culture well before it was fashionable. After leaving government service, Whittlesey practiced private-sector diplomacy, serving from 1989 as Chairman and then Emeritus of the American Swiss Foundation, organizing several private high-level delegations to visit China, and participating, both publicly and at times “behind the scenes,” in discussion of the most significant public policy issues of recent decades. This book “tells the story of the political career of a remarkable and sometimes polarizing political figure,” who despite daunting obstacles, was able to achieve exceptional influence, then use her position for the furtherance of common good (The Philadelphia Inquirer).