Generously conceived, thoroughly researched, and guaranteed to please no one at the political extremes.
The executive Washington editor for the Wall Street Journal offers a recent history of the GOP and of Donald Trump.
Seib, who has an earlier work on the D.C. establishment, Pennsylvania Avenue: Profiles in Backroom Power (2008), looks favorably on Ronald Reagan and describes the forces that helped him achieve the presidency, which include the formation of the Heritage Foundation and the influences of Grover Norquist and Ayn Rand. The author praises Reagan for numerous accomplishments before moving on to the administration of his successor, George H.W. Bush. Seib sees both of these presidents as admirable men who did good deeds but had a few problems, not always of their own making. Next, the author charts the rise of Newt Gingrich, crediting his astute use and manipulation of media. Likewise, we see the emerging power of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and other conservative media commentators and outlets. The author also has numerous kind things to say about George W. Bush (“an instantly likable man with a quick mind and an air of self-assurance”), words that will no doubt surprise some readers. Seib calls the Iraq War a “misadventure” and argues that the primary problem for Bush regarding Hurricane Katrina was that “the optics were bad.” The author writes about the Barack Obama victories, charting the subsequent rise of the tea party, a force that made the GOP increasingly angry and populist. Although the author mentions race as a factor a few times, he does not pursue it thoroughly. The final chapters deal with the rise of Trump and the accommodations many in the GOP made. Seib also discusses those who abandoned him (George Will among them). The author chronicles Trump’s political and personal failures but recognizes that he has radically altered American politics.
Generously conceived, thoroughly researched, and guaranteed to please no one at the political extremes.Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-13515-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
A smart, rewarding consideration of football’s popularity—and eventual downfall.
A wide-ranging writer on his football fixation.
Is our biggest spectator sport “a practical means for understanding American life”? Klosterman thinks so, backing it up with funny, thought-provoking essays about TV coverage, ethical quandaries, and the rules themselves. Yet those who believe it’s a brutal relic of a less enlightened era need only wait, “because football is doomed.” Marshalling his customary blend of learned and low-culture references—Noam Chomsky, meet AC/DC—Klosterman offers an “expository obituary” of a game whose current “monocultural grip” will baffle future generations. He forecasts that economic and social forces—the NFL’s “cultivation of revenue,” changes in advertising, et al.—will end its cultural centrality. It’s hard to imagine a time when “football stops and no one cares,” but Klosterman cites an instructive precedent. Horse racing was broadly popular a century ago, when horses were more common in daily life. But that’s no longer true, and fandom has plummeted. With youth participation on a similar trajectory, Klosterman foresees a time when fewer people have a personal connection to football, rendering it a “niche” pursuit. Until then, the sport gives us much to consider, with Klosterman as our well-informed guide. Basketball is more “elegant,” but “football is the best television product ever,” its breaks between plays—“the intensity and the nothingness,” à la Sartre—provide thrills and space for reflection or conversation. For its part, the increasing “intellectual density” of the game, particularly for quarterbacks, mirrors a broader culture marked by an “ongoing escalation of corporate and technological control.” Klosterman also has compelling, counterintuitive takes on football gambling, GOAT debates, and how one major college football coach reminds him of “Laura Ingalls Wilder’s much‑loved Little House novels.” A beloved sport’s eventual death spiral has seldom been so entertaining.
A smart, rewarding consideration of football’s popularity—and eventual downfall.Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9780593490648
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Penguin Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 24, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2025
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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