Jackhammered: A Congressman's Memoir of Big Time Politics, Blue Water Sailing and Believing

by Ed Bethune

Jackhammered is a story of hope and redemption, told with candor by a man who had a complicated childhood, joined the Marines when he was 18, became a special agent of the FBI, and then a prosecuting attorney. In 1978, against all odds, Ed Bethune won a seat in the United States House of Representatives. His story is unlike any memoir you have ever read because it tells of a young life nearly lost, a love found, and a lifelong struggle to wash away troubles by living out dreams of adventure. His successes--in politics, in the courtroom defending the poorest of the poor, and as a high profile ethics lawyer for Speaker Newt Gingrich and Majority Leader Tom DeLay--soothe his quest for identity. But it is not until he and his wife encounter a fearsome storm while trying to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a 31-foot sailboat that he solves the riddle that has haunted him all his life. For millions of young people, especially those who are dealing with shame or embarrassment of one kind or another, Jackhammered is a Godsend. The author tells of his childhood struggle with bedwetting. His story teaches us all to take heart and to live out our dreams … even those that may be a size too big.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir

452 pages, Paperback

First published October 28, 2011

Reviews

[Steve Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book very much. I am about 18 years younger than Ed and count Pocahontas, AR, the scene of much of the book, as my home town. In the early sixties, Ed's wife Lana was my 8th grade English teacher and we all liked her very much. I remember her talking about the integration of Little Rock Central. That made the national news and is mentioned in the book. Ed also spent some of his younger years in Little Rock and mentions Brooks Robinson and the Little Rock Doughboys baseball team. Brooks later became a Hall of Fame Baseball player for the Baltimore Orioles. All my life my Dad has enjoyed telling of the time in the late forties when the Doughboys came to Pocahontas and he hit a home run to beat the visitors. Only just recently one of my Dad's friends looked up some record some where that showed that Brooks was the Doughboy's third baseman in that game. I was amazed at how much Ed and Lana moved around and how they kept starting over. They had many wonderful experiences and met interesting and important people. His Mom was from the area around Pocahontas and Maynard, that is, northeast, AR. His Dad from southern Arkansas. He discussed the different traits that he inherited and life's lessons he learned from those distinctive families. Ed was both a small town and a city boy, learning lessons from both experiences and taking that to the rest of the world. He helped Arkansas modernize its justice system. He taught me about my home town and what it was like in the decade before I was born. I recommend the book to anyone.

[Brendan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was horrendous. I regret picking it up.

[Julie]

Chapters 45-48 are the most interesting part - when they are “jackhammered” by the sea.

[Richard Philbrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me a while to read this book. I was attracted to it at first by the cover, being a sailor, myself. I enjoyed Bethune's writing style about his childhood days,his family and his Marine Corps and FBI career. I had to put the book down several times when he got into the political parts of the book. He's a hard-bound Republican though he made several stands that were unpopular with the Party faithful. For instance he was a proponent of making Martin Luther King's birthday a national holiday. He's all for trickle-down economics which, to me, is nothing more than rich people pissing on Middle America's feet and telling them it's just raining. Bethune is also a big friend of, and defender of two of the biggest sleaze-balls in recent Congressional history - Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay. Bethune is also a born-again Christian and his rambling on about it had me skipping pages like stones in a pond until I got to the interesting parts again which were about he and his wife's sailing adventures which included having to be rescued by the Coast Guard off the coast of Nantucket in a raging storm. In some places it was a good read and in other places it really, really sucked as far as I'm concerned but I stuck it out to the end. Thankfully I got it as a free book on Amazon.com.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading about his childhood & his adventures with his wife. I love their attitude about money. Reading about his conversion was neat. A bit too much politics in the book but that was a big part of his life so it couldn't be avoided. Overall a good read. (and I love the cover)