Thoughtful, timely reading, both intelligent and humane.
How capitalism has transformed modern giving into an act that erases rather than restores human dignity.
Philanthropy means “love of humanity,” writes journalist and academic Schiller. However, in our 21st-century Gilded Age, “charitable appeals are not about actual people.” Instead, they turn human beings “into ciphers, uncomplicated representations of desperation and vulnerability.” This approach stems from the early Christian view that philanthropy was a personal virtue, as opposed to the ancient world’s understanding of it as a civic responsibility. Schiller argues that contemporary philanthropic philosophies combine this early Christian idea with a capitalist ethos that judges the poor worthy of the basics for physical survival, but not necessarily of “a quality of life far beyond sustenance, into [opportunities] to excel, create.” Terms such as “social entrepreneurship” and “philanthrocapitalism,” embodied by in the charitable work of Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and other “self-important yet small-minded” business owners, frame giving as a form of investment. Schiller sees only a few exceptional philanthropists aware of social inequality, including MacKenzie Scott and LeBron James. However, even they are subject to the inexorable power of capitalism because their giving does not address the uneven power relations that give rise to structural inequality. The author wants to replace the utilitarian ethos underlying philanthropy with a more humanistic one, ideally in conjunction with a government committed to offering basic sustenance to all. Offering meaningful ways for everyone to give—as Joseph Pulitzer did in 1885 when he asked working-class New Yorkers to contribute to a Statue of Liberty pedestal fund—would also enhance public commitment to broader social well-being. Schiller presents a hopeful vision of philanthropy and society designed to enable all human beings to fully participate in all of life’s pleasures, including the uniquely human capacity for imagination, creativity, and cooperation.
Thoughtful, timely reading, both intelligent and humane.Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781685890223
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Melville House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
A dauntless, moving account of a kidnapping and the horrors that followed.
Enduring the unthinkable.
This memoir—the first by an Israeli taken captive by Hamas on October 7, 2023—chronicles the 491 days the author was held in Gaza. Confined to tunnels beneath war-ravaged streets, Sharabi was beaten, humiliated, and underfed. When he was finally released in February, he learned that Hamas had murdered his wife and two daughters. In the face of scarcely imaginable loss, Sharabi has crafted a potent record of his will to survive. The author’s ordeal began when Hamas fighters dragged him from his home, in a kibbutz near Gaza. Alongside others, he was held for months at a time in filthy subterranean spaces. He catalogs sensory assaults with novelistic specificity. Iron shackles grip his ankles. Broken toilets produce an “unbearable stink,” and “tiny white worms” swarm his toothbrush. He gets one meal a day, his “belly caving inward.” Desperate for more food, he stages a fainting episode, using a shaving razor to “slice a deep gash into my eyebrow.” Captors share their sweets while celebrating an Iranian missile attack on Israel. He and other hostages sneak fleeting pleasures, finding and downing an orange soda before a guard can seize it. Several times, Sharabi—51 when he was kidnapped—gives bracing pep talks to younger compatriots. The captives learn to control what they can, trading family stories and “lift[ing] water bottles like dumbbells.” Remarkably, there’s some levity. He and fellow hostages nickname one Hamas guard “the Triangle” because he’s shaped like a SpongeBob SquarePants character. The book’s closing scenes, in which Sharabi tries to console other hostages’ families while learning the worst about his own, are heartbreaking. His captors “are still human beings,” writes Sharabi, bravely modeling the forbearance that our leaders often lack.
A dauntless, moving account of a kidnapping and the horrors that followed.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780063489790
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Harper Influence/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
A powerful reiteration of principles—and some fresh ideas—from the longest-serving independent in congressional history.
Another chapter in a long fight against inequality.
Building on his Fighting Oligarchy tour, which this year drew 280,000 people to rallies in red and blue states, Sanders amplifies his enduring campaign for economic fairness. The Vermont senator offers well-timed advice for combating corruption and issues a robust plea for national soul-searching. His argument rests on alarming data on the widening wealth gap’s impact on democracy. Bolstered by a 2010 Supreme Court decision that removed campaign finance limits, “100 billionaire families spent $2.6 billion” on 2024 elections. Sanders focuses on the Trump administration and congressional Republicans, describing their enactment of the “Big Beautiful Bill,” with its $1 trillion in tax breaks for the richest Americans and big social safety net cuts, as the “largest transfer of wealth” in living memory. But as is his custom, he spreads the blame, dinging Democrats for courting wealthy donors while ignoring the “needs and suffering” of the working class. “Trump filled the political vacuum that the Democrats created,” he writes, a resonant diagnosis. Urging readers not to surrender to despair, Sanders offers numerous legislative proposals. These would empower labor unions, cut the workweek to 32 hours, regulate campaign spending, reduce gerrymandering, and automatically register 18-year-olds to vote. Grassroots supporters can help by running for local office, volunteering with a campaign, and asking educators how to help support public schools. Meanwhile, Sanders asks us “to question the fundamental moral values that underlie” a system that enables “the top 1 percent” to “own more wealth than the bottom 93 percent.” Though his prose sometimes reads like a transcribed speech with built-in applause lines, Sanders’ ideas are specific, clear, and commonsensical. And because it echoes previous statements, his call for collective introspection lands as genuine.
A powerful reiteration of principles—and some fresh ideas—from the longest-serving independent in congressional history.Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2025
ISBN: 9798217089161
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2025
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