Michael Savage Popular Books

Michael Savage Biography & Facts

Michael Alan Weiner (born March 31, 1942), known by his professional name Michael Savage, is an American right-wing author, political commentator, activist, and former radio host. Savage is best known as the host of The Savage Nation, a nationally syndicated talk show that aired on Talk Radio Network across the United States until 2021, and in 2009 was the second most listened-to radio talk show in the country with an audience of over 20 million listeners on 400 stations across the United States. From October 23, 2012, to January 1, 2021, Michael Savage had been syndicated by Cumulus Media and Westwood One. He holds master's degrees from the University of Hawaii in medical botany and medical anthropology, and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in nutritional ethnomedicine. As Michael Weiner, he has written books on nutrition, herbal medicine, and homeopathy; as Michael Savage, he has written several political books that have reached The New York Times Best Seller list. Savage has summarized his political philosophy in three words: borders, language, and culture. He has characterized his views as conservative nationalism, while critics have characterized them as "fostering extremism." He supports the English-only movement and argues that liberalism and progressivism are degrading American culture. Although his radio delivery is mainly characterized as politically themed, he also often covers topics such as medicine, nutrition, music, literature, history, theology, philosophy, sports, business, economics, and culture, and tells personal anecdotes. In 2009, Savage was placed on a list of people permanently banned from entering the United Kingdom by British Home Secretary for "seeking to provoke others to serious criminal acts and fostering hatred." Early life and education Savage was born Michael Alan Weiner in the Bronx, New York, one of three children of Benjamin Weiner, a Jewish immigrant from Russia. His mother, Rae, was from Montreal, Canada. He described his childhood as difficult, with a "gruff, profane" father who would frequently criticize and belittle him. His younger brother, Jerome, was born with developmental disabilities and was unable to hear or speak. Jerome died in 1969. His father, the owner of an antiques shop, died of a heart attack at age 57 in 1970, and his mother died in 2003. After graduating from Jamaica High School in 1958, Savage attended Queens College, where he earned a bachelor's degree in biology in 1963. After college, Savage taught high school for several years in New York City. His first marriage in 1964 to Carol Ely ended in divorce, and he remarried in 1967 after meeting his current wife, Janet. During this time, Savage also worked for famous psychedelic drug advocate Timothy Leary as keeper of the stone gatehouse on the Hitchcock Cattle Company estate in Millbrook, New York, to which Leary had been given access. Leary hired him to the post because Savage did not use LSD. Savage then studied at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, earning a Master of Science in botany in 1970 and a Master of Arts in anthropology in 1972. He obtained a PhD in 1978 from the University of California, Berkeley, in nutritional ethnomedicine. His thesis was titled Nutritional Ethnomedicine in Fiji. Shift in political opinions Savage introduced himself to certain writers in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco in the 1970s. He befriended and traveled with Beat poets Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Savage maintained a correspondence with Ginsberg consisting of ten letters and three postcards across four years, which is maintained with Ginsberg's papers at Stanford University. One letter asked for Ginsberg and Ferlinghetti to come do a poetry reading, so others could "hear and see and know why I adore your public image." Another acquaintance was poet and author Neeli Cherkovski, who says that Savage dreamed of becoming a stand-up comic in the mold of Lenny Bruce. Acquaintance Robert Cathcart says that by 1980, in his private conversations with Savage, he knew him to have conservative political views. Schwartz stated Savage became alienated from the North Beach scene in the early 1980s. Savage had intense arguments with his liberal friends. When asked about his shift in politics and other views, Savage replied, "I was once a child; I am now a man." Savage has cited many occurrences in his life that helped shape his conservative views. Savage states that his opinions on welfare were partly shaped by his first job out of college as a social worker. He described one incident in which his supervisor had him deliver a check to a welfare client to furnish their apartment, while his own apartment was furnished with cardboard boxes. Another turning point occurred for him as a writer of health and nutrition books in the 1980s, when he experienced what he saw as "political opposition" after making the suggestion that the closure of homosexual bathhouses might be necessary in response to the emerging HIV/AIDS epidemic. In 1994 his final health and nutrition manuscript, Immigrants and Epidemics, was rejected by publishers for being inflammatory. In 1996, Savage applied to become the Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. The university instead selected award-winning journalist and China scholar Orville Schell. Savage sued the university, contending discrimination for being conservative. Savage later dropped the lawsuit. Career as commentator Radio The rejection by publishers of his 1994 manuscript about illegal immigration and epidemics prompted Savage to record a demo tape with a mock radio talk show about the contents of the work. He mailed this tape to 250 radio stations in an attempt to change careers and become a radio talk show host. On March 21, 1994, Savage began his radio career on KGO (a San Francisco news/talk radio station) as a fill-in host for liberal Ray Taliaferro's overnight show and later as a weekend host. At the time, his slogan was "To the right of Rush and to the left of God." The show quickly became a local hit. Later in 1994, KGO parent company Capital Cities/ABC Inc. purchased the station KSFO and changed it to a conservative talk format. On January 2, 1995, the first day of KSFO's new format, Savage debuted as host of afternoon drive time show The Savage Nation. By 2000, Savage was the most popular afternoon drive host among all adults in San Francisco Arbitron ratings. In 1999, Talk Radio Network began syndicating part of The Savage Nation nationally. Starting September 21, 2000, The Savage Nation became an entirely national show distributed by TRN. In mid-2006, Savage had 8–10 million listeners per week, which made his show the third most widely heard broadcast in the United States at that time. Savage has described his listeners as "literate callers with intelligence, wit, and energy." He has described his show's production as one with a "... hard edge comb.... Discover the Michael Savage popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Michael Savage books.