The one episode that will always sum up Chuck Colson for me is his plan to firebomb the Brookings Institution. Imagine: a Special Counsel to the President of the United States actually proposing to firebomb a centrist political think-tank.
When I think of "U.S. citizens who have performed exemplary deeds of service for the nation", Chuck Colson is not exactly the sort of person who leaps to mind. But then, when I think of "good judges of people's exemplary service", George W. Bush doesn't exactly leap to mind either.
This seems, perhaps, just a trifle incomplete. This biography ends in 1975. Surely, Chuck Colson has been up to something since then?
Well, just experiencing a genuine jailhouse conversion, and spending the rest of his life building an enormous prison ministry that has done amazing work on prisoner rehabilitation and prison reform. I don't share his faith, but I recognize that the guy has dedicated the larger portion of his life to helping the most reviled members of society.
This article available online at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2008/12/chuck-colson-should-there-be-second-acts-in-american-life/4454/
