Olasky's most famous book is
The Tragedy of American Compassion, which in 1995
Newt Gingrich distributed to incoming
Republican representatives of the
104th Congress. The book, an overview of poverty-fighting in America from colonial times to the 1990s, argues that private individuals and organizations, particularly
Christian churches, have a responsibility to care for the poor and contends that challenging personal and spiritual help, common until the 1930s, was more effective than the government
welfare programs of recent decades. Olasky argues that government programs are ineffective because they are disconnected from the poor, while private charity has the power to change lives because it allows for a personal connection between giver and recipient. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Olasky edited the 16-book
Turning Point: A Christian Worldview Declaration series with
Herbert Schlossberg, director of
Howard Ahmanson Jr.'s Fieldstead Institute, which privately funded the series. Ahmanson has funded four of Olasky's 28 books, and in 2006
Michelle Goldberg, author of the book
Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, placed Olasky in a crucial role in the
Christian reconstructionism movement. Olasky points out that in 2003 he published a book,
Standing for Christ in a Modern Babylon, that criticized reconstructionist ideas. Olasky has described himself as a Christian who believes in
God's sovereignty and man's liberty. Olasky argues in his 1996 book
Telling the Truth that God created the world, knows more about it than anyone else, and explains its nature in the Bible, so "biblical objectivity" accurately depicts the world as it is. In contrast, conventional journalistic objectivity shows blind materialism or a balancing of subjectivities. He has emphasized the Christian origins of freedom of the press and investigative journalism,
Jonah Goldberg, who took exception to Olasky's descriptions of both candidates, nonetheless recognized what Olasky was trying to say: The
Zeus reference seems to be derived from the ending of
Tom Wolfe's novel,
A Man in Full, in which two of the characters decide to convert to Zeus worship. And what Olasky meant by it was that McCain supporters generally, and Brooks specifically, are attracted to "Zeus-like strength" rather than Christ-like compassion. McCain is all about honor and duty, and Bush is about charity and love. Zeus versus Christ. There you have it. In her 2004 book
Bushwomen,
Laura Flanders writes, "Olasky is not a fan of high-achieving women. Women joining the workforce have had 'dire consequences for society,' he told a Christian magazine in 1998." Olasky later said in response to this book that he was praising the high achievements of women in major philanthropic organizations: "From my study of the history of poverty-fighting in America, I found that it was women who ran the charitable enterprises. Men were involved, but it was essentially women who had the time to volunteer." == Editing philosophy and practice ==