An intensely useful guide to a vast program’s complexities.
A basic navigational manual for dealing with benefits for veterans of the U.S. armed forces.
Pike, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and a decorated combat veteran, opens his slim handbook by guessing that all of his readers found it by reading his memoir, A Soldier Against All Odds (2022). But this is an entirely independent work that seeks to demystify the intricacies of applying for and securing government benefits as a military veteran. After a few lines of autobiography and a brief overview of the history of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, he gets right down to business, starting by clarifying who qualifies for benefits and who doesn’t; for instance, he interestingly notes that those who have received “other than honorable” discharges can still get certain VA benefits. He covers three main pillars of the benefits system—pensions, health care, and education—and at every step, he clarifies the dictates of what he calls “the massive bureaucratic edifice” that governs these programs and apportions the VA’s $240 billion budget. Each of his book’s short sections includes a “Pro Tip” inset that adds extra advice, such as “Keep all your medical records and any paperwork related to health and medical issues for the entire time you are on active duty.” He likewise uses bullet points to clearly spell out the often-lengthy lists of qualifications for any given benefit. These are all features of Pike’s refreshingly straightforward approach, and readers facing the daunting complexities of VA rules and regulations will appreciate the author’s cheerful bluntness and repeated assurances that things aren’t as intimidating as they might at first seem. He covers an incredible amount of very specific material at a fast pace, but the work never feels rushed, and he always takes the straightforward tone of a veteran who’s dealt with all of this himself. Fellow veterans are sure to find the book invaluable.
An intensely useful guide to a vast program’s complexities.Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2023
ISBN: 9798988961017
Page Count: 78
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Nov. 29, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A hopeful civic sermon favoring inspiration over concrete prescriptions.
A New Jersey senator’s moral manifesto.
Booker situates his narrative in the wake of his 2025 record-breaking 25-hour stand on the Senate floor, an act of physical endurance and moral insistence that serves as its animating example. Though not framed as memoir, the episode implicitly positions Booker himself as a model of the virtues he argues are essential to democratic life. Organized around 10 qualities, including agency, vulnerability, truth, perseverance, and grace, the book advances a clear thesis. “In this book, I argue that many Americans who came before us, and many among us today, have consistently proven that virtues are practical: They expand our power, deepen our sense of belonging, and equip us to endure and ultimately prevail.” Booker illustrates this claim through figures such as the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis, whose willingness to endure sacrifice for principle anchors the book’s moral lineage, and Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, whose composure under public scrutiny is presented as an example of dignity as civic strength. These portraits reinforce Booker’s belief that character, sustained over time, can shape public life, even when political outcomes remain uncertain or incomplete. He supplements these examples with personal stories drawn from family, faith, and community, delivered with emotional conviction and a tone that remains affirming and carefully calibrated. Much of the narrative reads like an expansive commencement address, earnest and reassuring, offering moral affirmation at moments when readers might reasonably expect sharper confrontation. That rhetorical choice ultimately defines the book’s limits. Booker acknowledges political conflict and compromise, but rarely examines them in depth, and while urging leaders to take moral risks, he avoids sustained reflection on how some of his own political decisions have tested the virtues he promotes. The result is a principled but self-conscious work that affirms shared values while offering little guidance for navigating power and accountability.
A hopeful civic sermon favoring inspiration over concrete prescriptions.Pub Date: March 24, 2026
ISBN: 9781250436733
Page Count: 272
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: March 24, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2026
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
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