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A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America
“When Cal Thomas speaks, I try to listen. I’ve been listening to him for a LONG time!" — Mike Huckabee “For more than 40 years, Cal Thomas had a front row seat to some of America's most contentious public policy debates. And for more than four decades, Cal wielded his pen to speak truth to power and to advance traditional conservative values. Cal's stories and tales from that front row—as the watchman—are sure to entertain!” — Mike Pence "A new bestselling page-turner." — Washington Examiner “This is what I have done—and am continuing to do—as I seek to serve God first and then my country.”—Cal Thomas
Cal Thomas—one of the most popular syndicated columnists in the country—is America’s “Watchman” in the night. In A Watchman in the Night , Cal Thomas takes the reader on a “road trip” through over fifty years of journalism and American life, serving as a “watchman” on culture and politics and seeking to conform it to a standard that never changes. A watchman “keeps guard over a building at night, to protect it from fire, vandals, or thieves.” Thomas is a believer that certain values and principles never change and has critiqued misbehavior and wrong-headedness by people on “his side” from the start. “If values and Truth mean anything,” Thomas says, “they must be applied equally. Hypocrisy and heresy cannot be ignored no matter the source.” In the book, Thomas does not stigmatize labels, such as “conservative” and “religious,” because Thomas “It allows people to define me and others by their perception of those labels. Ask me a question and I will give you my answer. For over fifty years in journalism, Thomas has offered incisive, humorous and often corrective commentary to our social, political, and religious conversations. An early commitment to addressing publicly what he sees has marked Thomas’ entire career. Cal has always called both parties, both sides of the American political divide, to account, to take the high road and to honor our civic and religious ideals with compatible behavior to the very best of our ability. This increasingly “radical” approach to public life has won him many friends on both sides of the political aisle, hundreds of thousands of faithful readers of his columns, and a continuous barrage of accolades and “hate mail,” much of it charming when it is not too foul to repeat. Cal came to the Christian faith while a young journalist at a dinner led by Dr. Richard Halverson, Pastor at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Bethesda, MD, and later, Chaplain of the United States Senate. This experience informed the rest of Cal’s life as he hosted his own private dinners for members of the press and members of Congress from both parties leading to deep friendships with Senator Ted Kennedy and many others, friendships which became a hallmark of Cal’s life despite wide political differences. For over two decades, Cal has hosted the National Prayer Breakfast Media Dinner as a continuation of his commitment to the reality that a relationship with Jesus Christ can change a person’s life and ultimately change a nation, and that things of such import are best discussed over dinner. The book includes tones about faith, but focuses on American social, cultural and political currents. A Watchman in the What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America is a living history of our times, of who we were then and who we are now and who we might become (for better or worse) in the future, and a remarkable chronicle of modern American life.
Cal Thomas—one of the most popular syndicated columnists in the country—is America’s “Watchman” in the night. In A Watchman in the Night , Cal Thomas takes the reader on a “road trip” through over fifty years of journalism and American life, serving as a “watchman” on culture and politics and seeking to conform it to a standard that never changes. A watchman “keeps guard over a building at night, to protect it from fire, vandals, or thieves.” Thomas is a believer that certain values and principles never change and has critiqued misbehavior and wrong-headedness by people on “his side” from the start. “If values and Truth mean anything,” Thomas says, “they must be applied equally. Hypocrisy and heresy cannot be ignored no matter the source.” In the book, Thomas does not stigmatize labels, such as “conservative” and “religious,” because Thomas “It allows people to define me and others by their perception of those labels. Ask me a question and I will give you my answer. For over fifty years in journalism, Thomas has offered incisive, humorous and often corrective commentary to our social, political, and religious conversations. An early commitment to addressing publicly what he sees has marked Thomas’ entire career. Cal has always called both parties, both sides of the American political divide, to account, to take the high road and to honor our civic and religious ideals with compatible behavior to the very best of our ability. This increasingly “radical” approach to public life has won him many friends on both sides of the political aisle, hundreds of thousands of faithful readers of his columns, and a continuous barrage of accolades and “hate mail,” much of it charming when it is not too foul to repeat. Cal came to the Christian faith while a young journalist at a dinner led by Dr. Richard Halverson, Pastor at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Bethesda, MD, and later, Chaplain of the United States Senate. This experience informed the rest of Cal’s life as he hosted his own private dinners for members of the press and members of Congress from both parties leading to deep friendships with Senator Ted Kennedy and many others, friendships which became a hallmark of Cal’s life despite wide political differences. For over two decades, Cal has hosted the National Prayer Breakfast Media Dinner as a continuation of his commitment to the reality that a relationship with Jesus Christ can change a person’s life and ultimately change a nation, and that things of such import are best discussed over dinner. The book includes tones about faith, but focuses on American social, cultural and political currents. A Watchman in the What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America is a living history of our times, of who we were then and who we are now and who we might become (for better or worse) in the future, and a remarkable chronicle of modern American life.
- GenresPoliticsNonfiction
330 pages, Hardcover
First published May 9, 2023
25 people are currently reading
65 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 18, 2023
This book can best be described in the words of Cal Thomas himself:
In the pages that follow, you can walk with me through a social, spiritual, and political "diary," in which I recall passing events and what I wrote about some of them.
The journey begins in 1984 and continues through 2022 when the book was turned in for publishing. For me, this is a walk down memory lane as my high school graduation was not long before that first column. Younger readers may be surprised to see bad ideas being tried and rejected and tried again wearing new masks. We can all learn from mistakes of the past and use that knowledge when we next have an opportunity to go to the ballot box. If you want to read more of Cal's commentary, you can visit calthomas.com.
In the pages that follow, you can walk with me through a social, spiritual, and political "diary," in which I recall passing events and what I wrote about some of them.
The journey begins in 1984 and continues through 2022 when the book was turned in for publishing. For me, this is a walk down memory lane as my high school graduation was not long before that first column. Younger readers may be surprised to see bad ideas being tried and rejected and tried again wearing new masks. We can all learn from mistakes of the past and use that knowledge when we next have an opportunity to go to the ballot box. If you want to read more of Cal's commentary, you can visit calthomas.com.
July 30, 2024
I'm not sure I could call this book completely even handed. The author is, after all, known for his conservative views on political and social matters. That said, his civility and willingness to listen to both sides of an issue have garnered him a significant number of friends on both sides of the aisle. You can't entirely ignore that kind of thing when you're looking at a memoir of sorts. And I suppose that's what this is. Although I prefer not to think of it as that. It feels more like a guided tour of history from 1 person's perspective. And what a remarkable guided tour it is.
The author's writing went into syndication in 1984. He had done hard-news journalism prior to that, but his syndicated column became one of the most popular because he wasn't afraid to take shots at the hypocrisy and lies of either party. He chooses to begin his cavalcade of years in 1984. He divides Each year into two segments. The first segment deals with the broad-brush Events of the year. You get highlights of what happened during that calendar year. Someone won an election; Someone lost another election. These annual highlight blurbs are fun to look at. They bring back all kinds of memories. I enjoyed the book for that reason alone. The second segment is what the author calls Cal's takes. My presumption is this segment is a summary of the various columns he wrote during that calendar year. These summaries are extremely concise and pithy. I enjoyed them very much.
Thomas remains consistent in his somewhat right-of-center Perspective. But the tone is generally civil. He reports on the year as he recollected it by virtue of his columns.
I would call this a light Reed. There's not a lot of dense material packed in here. You aren't going to get tons of graphs, pie charts, and tables. Instead, you simply get a relatively breezy look at each year between 1984 and 2022.
If there was an overarching undergirding theme of this book for me, it had to be the tragic decline of so many things that once seemed impregnable and valuable. In the early ‘80s, you sensed a more carefully demarked difference between political rights and wrongs. As you move down the procession of years, we watch those demarcations seem to get blurry until they almost no longer exist. While he doesn't engage in gloom-and-doom writing, I got the sense that he, too, recognized the declines in our moral and spiritual perspective in this country. And it seemed to me as I read this that those declines worry him a great deal. He believes that a relationship with Jesus Christ can change a life, and that life can then press forward to change a nation.
This isn't one of those compelling nonfiction books that force you to lay aside all your other assignments and responsibilities just so you don't miss a syllable. But it will hold your interest if you started, and regardless of which side of the aisle you are on, you may very well find things to agree about with this opinion columnist. The book seems to enjoy precious little popularity on Goodreads at the moment, but it's worth exploring if for no other reason than you get to walk through the highlights of each year and remember your own experiences associated with that year. It's a bit like peeking into Thomas's journal. And I'm not sure what that says about me, but I'm a big fan of peaking into someone's journal. I won't go so far as to break the lock to get it open, and I would never attempt to violate some password or other, but if you're going to wave it out there for me to look at, I'm definitely in.
The author's writing went into syndication in 1984. He had done hard-news journalism prior to that, but his syndicated column became one of the most popular because he wasn't afraid to take shots at the hypocrisy and lies of either party. He chooses to begin his cavalcade of years in 1984. He divides Each year into two segments. The first segment deals with the broad-brush Events of the year. You get highlights of what happened during that calendar year. Someone won an election; Someone lost another election. These annual highlight blurbs are fun to look at. They bring back all kinds of memories. I enjoyed the book for that reason alone. The second segment is what the author calls Cal's takes. My presumption is this segment is a summary of the various columns he wrote during that calendar year. These summaries are extremely concise and pithy. I enjoyed them very much.
Thomas remains consistent in his somewhat right-of-center Perspective. But the tone is generally civil. He reports on the year as he recollected it by virtue of his columns.
I would call this a light Reed. There's not a lot of dense material packed in here. You aren't going to get tons of graphs, pie charts, and tables. Instead, you simply get a relatively breezy look at each year between 1984 and 2022.
If there was an overarching undergirding theme of this book for me, it had to be the tragic decline of so many things that once seemed impregnable and valuable. In the early ‘80s, you sensed a more carefully demarked difference between political rights and wrongs. As you move down the procession of years, we watch those demarcations seem to get blurry until they almost no longer exist. While he doesn't engage in gloom-and-doom writing, I got the sense that he, too, recognized the declines in our moral and spiritual perspective in this country. And it seemed to me as I read this that those declines worry him a great deal. He believes that a relationship with Jesus Christ can change a life, and that life can then press forward to change a nation.
This isn't one of those compelling nonfiction books that force you to lay aside all your other assignments and responsibilities just so you don't miss a syllable. But it will hold your interest if you started, and regardless of which side of the aisle you are on, you may very well find things to agree about with this opinion columnist. The book seems to enjoy precious little popularity on Goodreads at the moment, but it's worth exploring if for no other reason than you get to walk through the highlights of each year and remember your own experiences associated with that year. It's a bit like peeking into Thomas's journal. And I'm not sure what that says about me, but I'm a big fan of peaking into someone's journal. I won't go so far as to break the lock to get it open, and I would never attempt to violate some password or other, but if you're going to wave it out there for me to look at, I'm definitely in.
September 10, 2023
Cal Thomas At His Best
I’ve always loved listening to and reading Cal Thomas because he uses what I was taught as a young kid…common sense. In the book of Proverbs 1:7, our CREATOR says through King Solomon that “the beginning of wisdom is the fear of GOD and fools despise wisdom and discipline”. In my younger years I was one of the liberals that Cal talks about until I found the TRUE and LIVING GOD, through HIS SON…JESUS CHRIST. You want wisdom, you want truth, you want inner peace in a fallen world going through chaos. Seek the TRUTH, JESUS CHRIST and you’ll find wisdom and will understand the world we’re living in! That’s why Cal does an excellent job representing the world we live in.
I’ve always loved listening to and reading Cal Thomas because he uses what I was taught as a young kid…common sense. In the book of Proverbs 1:7, our CREATOR says through King Solomon that “the beginning of wisdom is the fear of GOD and fools despise wisdom and discipline”. In my younger years I was one of the liberals that Cal talks about until I found the TRUE and LIVING GOD, through HIS SON…JESUS CHRIST. You want wisdom, you want truth, you want inner peace in a fallen world going through chaos. Seek the TRUTH, JESUS CHRIST and you’ll find wisdom and will understand the world we’re living in! That’s why Cal does an excellent job representing the world we live in.
May 27, 2024
Cal Thomas assembled an interesting synopsis of the years 1984 to 2022 from his perspective. He has been close enough to politics to provide excellent commentary and also focused enough to not get swept into the debris field, instead making sure that the focus ultimately is on our Creator and Lord. Each year takes into account some of the most memorable headlines, many of which impact the direction of this country. He astutely mentions the many campaign issues that have been brought up for decades: gun control laws, the top 1%, paying your fair share, etc. and the reality of pouring huge amounts of money at education for no positive direct result, having a permanent underclass that is rarely provided true opportunities to move up, etc.
October 25, 2023
It’s stupid as fuck
I’ve never seen so many braindead caveman takes in a row in my life.
That a syndicated journalist uses findlaw.com instead of black’s law dictionary to back up his claims about anything involving law is astounding.
The book has zero notes, zero bibliography…
It’s culturally chauvinistic, white supremacist hogwash couched in American Protestant evangelism.
For all his assertions he doesn’t even quote the scripture he paraphrases.
I can’t wait to see if anyone hops on to defend this steamer, but before you come at me
He names bob dole as the nominee for the republicans in 1992…
that just isn’t true
The guy is a dumpster fire
I’ve never seen so many braindead caveman takes in a row in my life.
That a syndicated journalist uses findlaw.com instead of black’s law dictionary to back up his claims about anything involving law is astounding.
The book has zero notes, zero bibliography…
It’s culturally chauvinistic, white supremacist hogwash couched in American Protestant evangelism.
For all his assertions he doesn’t even quote the scripture he paraphrases.
I can’t wait to see if anyone hops on to defend this steamer, but before you come at me
He names bob dole as the nominee for the republicans in 1992…
that just isn’t true
The guy is a dumpster fire
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 11, 2025
Each chapter features a year from 1984 through 2022 and commentary on the news and trends that characterized it. It was interesting to review history I lived through and learn of some I was not aware of. I agreed with many of Cal's conservative viewpoints, assessments, and conclusions. BUT
What I disliked: His long, convoluted sentences. His sarcasm. His oversimplification of situations and solutions. His lack of source notes and possibly more factual errors than the few I spotted. His anti-gay and anti-science positions (e.g.climate-change denial) and Biblical literalism. His negativity and repetitive opponent-bashing. I was tired of the book long before the end.
What I disliked: His long, convoluted sentences. His sarcasm. His oversimplification of situations and solutions. His lack of source notes and possibly more factual errors than the few I spotted. His anti-gay and anti-science positions (e.g.climate-change denial) and Biblical literalism. His negativity and repetitive opponent-bashing. I was tired of the book long before the end.
September 3, 2025
I thoroughly enjoyed going back in time with our nationally syndicated columnist whom I have admired and read for years. Each year starting in 2024 highlights the top events including Cal's take on the events and people, then and now. His tongue-in-cheek and dry humor work even today as he continues to express his well-thought-out opinion through his columns. A few photographs are included as well. It is appropriate that in the epilogue he writes: "In 1984, when the column started, I told God I would seek to honor Him with the gift He has given me." Cal, you have done well our friend!
September 2, 2023
This is an important work chronicling a lifetime of work from a conservative journalist who often stood alone in a liberal journalistic world. May it encourage a new crop of journalist to do actual, investigative journalism as contrasted with the political activism (thinly) disguising itself as journalism today. I especially appreciate the boldness and grace demonstrated by Cal as he formed wonderful friendships from those who disagreed with him.
September 4, 2025
Great review of the political and social happenings from 1984 to 2022 with Cal Thomas giving his thoughts on the events. Thoughtfully written along with Cal's humor makes this a good time of reminiscing. Well done Cal!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews