About this item
ldquoA penetrating analysis of political extremism with a moving and at times hilarious account of growing up in one of the Christian rightrsquos most influential families Few writers command Frank Schaefferrsquos intimate understanding of right-wing radicalism and even fewer are able to share their insight as entertainingly and with as much moral weight as he has in Sex Mom and GodrdquomdashMax Blumenthal author ofRepublican GomorrahldquoMom was a much nicer person than her God There are many biblical regulations about everything from beard-trimming to menstruating Mom worked diligently to recast her personal-hygiene-obsessed God in the best lightrdquoAlternating between laugh-out-loud scenes from his childhood and acidic ruminations on the present state of an America he and his famous fundamentalist parents helped create bestselling author Frank Schaeffer asks what the Glenn Becks and the Rush Limbaughs and the paranoid fantasies of the ldquoright-wing echo chamberrdquo are really all about Herersquos a hint sex The unforgettable central character in Sex Mom and God is the authorrsquos far-from-prudish evangelical mother Edith who sweetly but bizarrely provides startling juxtapositions of the religious and the sensual thoughout Schaefferrsquos childhood She was says Frank Schaeffer ldquothe greatest illustration of the Divine beauty of Paradox Irsquove encountered hellip a fundamentalist living a double life as a lover of beauty who broke all her own judgmental rules in favor of creativityrdquo Charlotte Gordon the award-winning author of Mistress Bradstreet calls Sex Mom and God ldquoa tour de force Sarah Palin lsquoThe Familyrsquo Anne Hutchinson adultery abortion homophobia Uganda Ronald Reagan B B King Billy Graham Hugh Hefnermdashitrsquos all here This is the kind of book I did not want to endrdquo.
About the Author
New York Times best selling author of more than a dozen books Frank Schaeffer is a survivor of both polio and an evangelical/fundamentalist childhood, an acclaimed writer who overcame severe dyslexia, a home-schooled and self-taught documentary movie director, a feature film director and producer of four low budget Hollywood features Frank has described as "pretty terrible," and a best selling author of both fiction and nonfiction. Frank is the author of "And God Said, 'Billy!'" and many other books. Frank's three semi-biographical novels about growing up in a fundamentalist mission: "Portofino," "Zermatt" and "Saving Grandma" have a worldwide following and have been translated into nine languages. Jane Smiley writing in the Washington Post (7/10/11) says this of Frank's memoirs "Crazy For God" and "Sex, Mom and God": "[Schaeffer's] memoirs have a way of winning a reader's friendship...Schaeffer is a good memoirist, smart and often laugh-out-loud funny...Frank seems to have been born irreverent, but his memoirs have a serious purpose, and that is to expose the insanity and the corruption of what has become a powerful and frightening force in American politics... Frank has been straightforward and entertaining in his campaign to right the political wrongs he regrets committing in the 1970s and '80s...As someone who has made redemption his work, he has, in fact, shown amazing grace."
