Hard Left

by Tavis Smiley

Tavis Smiley, the left's hard-hitting  answer to talk radio conservatives, takes on the  political right and thrashes them at their own  game.

Picked by Time as one of  the fifty young leaders of the future, Tavis Smiley  has built a national reputation as a political  commentator with numerous appearances on "Good  Morning America," CNBC, BET, CNN and  "Geraldo"--which he recently co-hosted--as well  as his own highly popular radio commentary show,  "The Smiley Report."

In   Hard Left , he presents an impassioned  polemic that will shape the Democratic platform and  the political debate at the Summer 1996 Democratic  and Republican National  Conventions.

At last, those on the left have a fast-talking  champion with fresh ideas to counter the outrageous  barbs of conservatives like Newt Gingrich and Rush  Limbaugh, who have cowed Capitol Hill and  dominated talk radio. Smiley is particularly harsh on  Black conservatives like Ken Hamblin and Armstrong  Williams, who he feels have betrayed the Black  community. But Smiley isn't afraid to take on  traditional politics-as-usual liberals as well. Says Smiley,  it was the liberals' determined refusal to  acknowledge the flaws of social programs and policies,  from affirmative action to welfare, that gave  conservatives the opening they needed to rechart the  nation's course. Now, Smiley warns, that course has  taken America dangerously close to the rocky shoals  of the extreme  right.

Hard Left is a clarion call to liberal  politicians and leaders to take their heads out of  the sand, tear a page out of the conservative  playbook, and counter the conservative offensive by  tackling the political and racial issues that go to  the core of our society.

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Tavis Smiley is an American talk show host and author. Smiley was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, and grew up in Bunker Hill, Indiana. After attending Indiana University, he worked during the late 1980s as an aide to Tom Bradley, the mayor of Los Angeles.
Smiley became a radio commentator in 1991 and, starting in 1996, he hosted the talk show BET Talk (later renamed BET Tonight with Tavis Smiley) on Black Entertainment Television (BET). After Smiley sold an exclusive interview of Sara Jane Olson to ABC News in 2001, BET declined to renew his contract that year. Smiley then began hosting The Tavis Smiley Show on National Public Radio (NPR) (2002–04) and hosted Tavis Smiley on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) on weekdays and The Tavis Smiley Show on Public Radio International (PRI) from 2004 until 2017.
Smiley had an employment dispute with PBS in December 2017 which resulted in his suing PBS for wrongful termination. Smiley is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of SmileyAudioMedia, Inc. headquartered in Los Angeles. Since June 2021 he has served as Chief Visionary Officer for his radio station, KBLA Talk 1580.

Reviews

[Joe Henry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tavis speaks his mind…and it is of interest, even though it is a little dated at this point. As well as critiquing both the left and the right, he holds forth on topics such as talk radio, the notion of a “big tent” party, “blacklash” and affirmative action. He winds up by speaking to “black folks only” and then to “angry whites” (“Seven Things White Conservatives Should Know”) before pointing to what he sees as the battleground of the future and talking about the need for leadership.

[Eric Brasley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finally, I pulled this off my shelf. While I knew it would be somewhat dated -- pre-9/11, published in 1996 -- it was interesting to see many of the same themes and issues are still being addressed today. While terrorism has taken a bigger foothold in our nation's priorities, the same Right/Left finger-pointing and fear-mongering are still taking place. Smiley's insights are very light though and not very engaging. At 200 pages, it is a quick read with less analysis than some op-ed pieces.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Travis tells it like others fear to do.