Mr. Brookhiser ... wow

I find myself questioning the point of the article by Richard Brookhiser from Boston.com more than the point he made to personally jab Hochschild. The article starts with the first page rambling enough to give the reader information about the book and then in the second to last paragraph, he explodes and everything he has build up about the book comes out in 50 words.

This style of writing I find highly ineffective. However, in looking past this and on to the point that he is attempting to make in this article I am also confronted with a conflict as I do feel that Hochschild takes every opportunity to jab at the Christian way of life. While I feel it is a good point to bring out that he is a biased author comparing his ideas and style to a color-blind art critic is a bit out there. It is a logical progression to make due to the style of the book as well as the constant talk of Christianity, however there are a variety of reason that this deliberate choice to bring religion into the writing was made. These reasons include but are not limited to: give the characters more depth, enhance the story line, provide insight into the time period.

A more purposeful attempt on Hochschild side would have to be made to convince myself as a reader of the book that he has a negative bias towards the religion. I agree that much of this book needs to be read subjectively, the reader needs to actively read between the words to find the books inner truth.