Review of
Instaread Summary of Crisis of Character A White House Secret Service Officer Discloses His
Firsthand Experience With Hillary, Bill, and How They Operate by Gary J.
Byrne and Grant M. Schmidt
Five out of five stars
The first
section of this summary is presented as a synopsis of the book with no
commentary. Events and analysis by Byrne in his role as a Secret Service agent
have the appearance of being an accurate rendition of the facts. It is only
when you get to the “Themes” and “Author’s Style sections that the truth is revealed.
The best one-sentence summary of the book is the last sentence, “Even those
looking for (Hillary) Clinton dirt are therefore likely to be disappointed.”
The perspective
of Byrne appears in the “Themes” section and is summarized in the following
sentences from the summary.
“In Byrne’s view, the Clintons’ personal and political
liberalism fueled a culture of recklessness, irresponsibility, and chaos.”
“In contrast to the liberal mindset, Byrne says the
United States needs a ‘warrior mindset.’”
“In military and civilian life, law enforcement
personnel are hamstrung by clueless, bureaucratic desk jockeys who don’t
understand the problems of those on the front lines.”
“Byrne’s experience taught him that promoting women or
minorities to fill diversity quotas undermines law enforcement preparedness and
puts officers at risk.”
In other words,
all the problems in the world are a consequence of the failures of liberalism
and everything would be better if there was less civilian control over the
military and police.
This
perspective is reinforced in the “Author’s Style” section and the author of the
summary is to be commended for describing Byrne’s true nature as is
demonstrated from these sections in the summary.
“Crisis of
Character is a memoir, but it’s not especially reflective or contemplative.
Instead, Gary J. Byrne’s tone is abrasive and hectoring. Most of his anecdotes
criticize the failures of others or justify Byrne’s own actions.”
“In one typical incident, Byrne boasts about pursuing
a suspicious vehicle even after his superiors have called him off. He is
certain he did the right thing, but there is never any evidence that the
vehicle posed a threat.”
“However, other Secret Service agents have said that
Byrne’s position would not have given him nearly as much access to the Clintons
as he claims. The Association of Former Agents of the United States Secret
Service issued a statement condemning Byrne’s memoir, of which it said, ‘One
must question the veracity and content of any book which implies that its
author played such an integral part of so many incidents.’”
Once again I
commend the author of the summary for doing the extra effort to explain why
Byrne himself is of questionable character and most likely is guilty of many of
the same deceptions that he accuses the Clintons of.
This book was made available for free for review
purposes.
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