I'm in the middle of reading Michael Medved's book "Right Turns" which is all about his transformation from a protest-leading liberal of the counterculture '60s to the defender of conservative values that he is today. Even though I am not nearly the extrovert Mr. Medved is, I really feel a strange sort of emotional kinship with him, both spiritually and politically.

A very thoughtful review in the NY Times can be found here - 'Right Turns': Culture Warrior

"The question, in its many variations a staple of Manhattan dinner parties, is invariably posed with bitter bewilderment: ''How could anyone with a shred of decency call himself a conservative?'' Alas, it is a question the book business has done a singularly poor job of answering. While publishers have fattened their bottom lines offering up red meat to true believers, the steady stream of invective from both left (''Liars!'') and right (''Traitors!'') has served only to widen the nation's yawning ideological divide.

This is what makes Michael Medved's provocative memoir, ''Right Turns: Unconventional Lessons from a Controversial Life,'' so welcome. There is certainly no question about where Medved stands: he is a leading cultural conservative with a nationally syndicated radio show; his book is blurbed by a who's who of right-wing conspirators (Rush Limbaugh, Laura Schlessinger, Bill Bennett and, yes, Ann Coulter). But its pages are mercifully free of pettiness and bile. To the contrary, what we get is precisely what many who find his ideas objectionable profess to seek: an explanation of how a complex and decent man -- a proudly Jewish, former liberal activist yet! -- came to embrace them."