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From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

The junior senator from Arizona offers a critical (in both senses of the word) look at the Republican Party. Flake deems himself a true conservative, from the same soil as Barry Goldwater, who wrote his own manifesto titled Conscience of a Conservative. Flake is a Republican who believes that people should be free from government interference in their lives; that free trade is smart trade; and that there is no free lunch. But as much as this volume is paean to traditional conservatism, it is also a takedown of the Trump administration, which Flake believes embodies, in almost every possible way, the antithesis of conservative beliefs. Interspersed with a discussion of how conservatism lost its way, the senator goes through a litany of Trump's presidential actions that he (and, for that matter, Democrats) consider wrong-headed: the Muslim ban; the animus against Mexicans; the bombastic, often rude, speaking style. Flake wants decisions made on conservative principles, even as he acknowledges that President Trump is not a conservative. When it comes to solutions, the old adage easier said than done might also apply here. Though he states in a clear and forthright manner what is wrong with the current administration, news outlets report he has voted with it 95 percent of the time. Still, this makes for an enlightening read, well worth the time, and it is enhanced by the story of the Flake family history Mormons who settled Arizona. The price for all this honesty comes high. Trump supporter and billionaire Robert Mercer is pouring funds into a super-pac designed to bring down Flake.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2017 Booklist