Who's Looking Out for You? by Bill O'Reilly (Author)

As he did in his bestselling books The O'Reilly Factor and The No Spin Zone, TV and radio host Bill O'Reilly again blasts a host of selfish and corrupt individuals and institutions for threatening the nation's well-being--no surprise there.

What is surprising is the personal tone of Who's Looking Out For You, which is as much self-help as social or political commentary. Is O'Reilly getting soft? Hardly. He still packs a punch, but this time he mixes tales of outrage with practical advice gleaned from his own experiences and mistakes.

The underlying theme of the book is trust. If you can identify and associate with those that deserve your trust, he argues, you will get along well in both your personal and professional life. Among those external forces undeserving of trust, according to O'Reilly, are the media (particularly harmful to children, he warns), the legal system, and the government: "Our federal government is not good at helping real people who have real problems, and it doesn't care about the money you give it as long as that revenue train keeps chugging along," he writes.

He also hammers the INS for their lax stance on illegal immigrants and the damage it has caused the country, irresponsible parents, secularists, network news executives, ideologues, and minority leaders who foster hatred in order to serve their own interests, to name just a few offenders.

Though some of his advice tends toward the obvious, it is hard to argue with his emphasis on self-reliance, especially at a time when the answer to the question posed in his title seems to be "just me." It's a good bet that many readers will also add Bill O'Reilly to this list. --Shawn Carkonen

The main thing that I do not understand from Bill O'Reilly's harshest critics is why they hate him so much. I admit that I read the transcripts of "The O'Reilly Factor" from the show's website rather than watch the program (because I don't have a television in my college dorm), which perhaps makes it easier to read when he occasionally gets angry and interrupts particular guests.

Also, he has very specific views on certain things which does make the person on the other side of the argument fight hard to make their views heard, which I feel makes for better debating. So these traits are irritating, at most. So what? Don't watch his show! Personally, and I think his book "Who's Looking Out For You" confirms this view of mine in a huge way, Bill O'Reilly's opinions, editorials, arguments, etc., are all genuinely based on his concern for the well-being good and hardworking people, and especially for children.

The title of "Who's Looking Out For You" is very descriptive of the actual content of the book. It is broken into very specific chapters in which O'Reilly addresses certain political and social insitutions, and he discusses whether or not those institutions are to be relied upon in a person's life. Some of topics include: politicians, the legal system, family, religion, and the media.

I think he is definitely correct on a lot of his views, and I also like the examples he presents to back up his claims. The most interesting section (and also the shortest) was his commentary on how the legal system in the United States is very corrupt. Essentially, the average American has to invest a heck of a lot of money to receive a decent defense in a court of law. Also, lawyers can get away with nearly any kind of lying, misleading, etc., as in the particular case he listed where the girl had been raped and killed by a defendant (I forget the name of the case).

The lawyers were planning a deal to earn the defendant a life sentence instead of the death penalty if he revealed the location that the girl's body was buried. O'Reilly was very angry about this because the lawyers had to have known the defendent was guilty of at least murdering and burying the girl, and yet they misled the witnesses and the judge to try and lead to a not-guilty verdict anyway (the lawyers were never punished by the California Bar).

The main section of the book that I disagree with is the section on religion. O'Reilly is very much against the rise in secularism in the United States, and views as the same kind of movement that has taken place in Europe. While I do believe that culture is degrading in some sense, I don't feel that a lack of religion is at all the problem.

I myself was raised by a non-practicing Muslim father and non-practicing Catholic mother, and while I do have my own spiritual beliefs I am by no means religious, and I'd like to think that I am a moral, responsible citizen. While I understand his point that perhaps the discipline found in private religious schools can be beneficiary in some ways, I can also understand why some people disagree using the Ten Commandments as the governmental moral guidelines. Okay, enough of my own opinion.

Basically, I absolutely disagree with anyone who says O'Reilly is a hardline conservative, or who says he is only concerned about himself or the rich, etc. Though I don't necessarily share nearly as many of his own views, I am more than willing to say the same thing about Michael Moore as I am about O'Reilly: the expressions of his opinion are done out of the genuine concern for the well-being of all people.

In conclusions, this is not among the very favorite books I've ever read, but it's message is very strong and useful. I recommend it to anyone willing to hear some criticism on all sides of the political spectrum. - unit_6er from Berkeley, CA