PIECES OF EIGHT

by Sydney J. Harris

Brief essays discuss war, bigotry, crime, economics, homosexual rights, abortion, medicine, politics, religion, children, celebrities, sanity, marriage, envy, pride, leadership, and the arts

Paperback

First published September 28, 1982

Reviews

[Steve Fritts]

I knew Sydney Harris and found him to be a very thoughtful man who looked closely and wistfully at the human condition and believed, despite our failings, that there is hope for humanity if we search for the truth and, instead of using religion to divide people, we instead try to become the kind of people whom a kind and merciful God would believe in.

[Harley]

Great collection of Essays.

[Mike Bright]

Sydney J. Harris was my favorite newspaper columnist in my teens and twenties. This is a collection of his best pieces. I remember him as very insightful about the human condition and a speaker of sense in a sometimes non-sensical world. I hadn't read the book for almost 40 years, and I was concerned that my youthful enthusiasm would not match the cold, hard reality of my cynical older self.

I shouldn't have worried. Truth is consistently truth, and the human condition hasn't changed in the past decades. Harris's insights are as solid today as ever, even if a few of the topical references were a blast from the past. I don't always agree with Mr. Harris, but he always makes a solid case and forces me to think through the issues. He addresses a wide variety of areas with solid facts and logic. I won't another forty years before rereading this.