Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

In three parts as indicated by the title, former White House speechwriter Noonan ( What I Saw at the Revolution ) recounts life as a single mother in New York City, reflects on the 1992 presidential campaign and records her quest for a deeper sense of Christian spirituality. Her style is diffuse and anecdotal, her colloquial, up-from-suburbia voice--the one behind Ronald Reagan's speeches--will be charming to her fans, perhaps maddening to her critics. Noonan discusses immigrants in the city, the false notion of parental ``quality time,'' the inefficiency of President Bush's White House, President Clinton's one-term future, learning how to pray, and her hope that religion and cultural renewal will help overcome the nation's fraying bonds. This book has gaps, both as autobiography (what about her hinted-at ex?) and policy analysis (her fantasy about saving the inner cities implies that tax breaks don't cost us anything), but Noonan provides a seductively easy read. Author tour. (June)