A thorough and concise look into the technologically saturated future.
A researcher assesses both the challenges and the potentially transformative power of global internet access.
As ubiquitous as the internet may seem, debut author Cashel observes, a considerable swath of the world—its poorest parts—remains without access to it, “locked out” of one of the most significant technological inventions of this era. But there are good reasons to believe that will change soon, in particular the plummeting costs associated with satellite technology, which effectively delivers faster and higher quality broadband service. In addition, major companies like Google and Facebook, with commercial interests in reaching more customers, are experimenting with new ways to supply the developing world with internet access. Facebook has been using drones as instruments of delivery, and Google has been harnessing balloons. Moreover, governmental institutions are making a contribution as well; in 2010, the United Nations established the Broadband Commission for Digital Development and considers the general adoption of broadband access central to the achievement of its other developmental goals for poorer nations. The author astutely raises an important question: How will the widespread promulgation of broadband—what Cashel calls the “Great Connecting”—affect otherwise disadvantaged populations? He provides a searching discussion of the many ways—financial, medical, political, and communicative, just to name a few—in which broadband will positively alter the socio-economic landscapes of the beneficiaries. In addition, the author assesses the challenges, particularly the use of the internet as a tool of extremist hate and political oppression. Finally, he presents a series of thoughtful solutions to these impediments and a kind of road map for governments and investors alike to accelerate the process and clear inevitable hurdles. Cashel is a researcher and visiting fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and so it is unsurprising his study is impressively exacting. At the same time, it’s an exceedingly practical work and draws heavily not only on theory and data, but also on the author’s travels to the developing world. Unfortunately, his optimism can be excessive; for example, especially after the last year of revelations about Facebook’s business, it is remarkable he can write: “The good news is that Facebook does have in its mission statement—and undoubtedly in its corporate DNA—the idea of making the world a better place.” Still, this remains an incisive tour of a complex set of issues.
A thorough and concise look into the technologically saturated future.Pub Date: June 11, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-63576-645-5
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Radius Book Group
Review Posted Online: June 6, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Though cheerleading occasionally grates, Plouffe offers good fodder for readers willing to put in the effort and follow his...
Barack Obama’s former campaign manager and senior adviser weighs in on what it will take to defeat Donald Trump and repair some of the damage caused by the previous election’s “historically disturbing and perhaps democracy-destroying outcome.”
Plouffe (The Audacity To Win: The Inside Story and Lessons of Barack Obama's Historic Victory, 2009) managed Obama’s successful campaigns in 2008 and 2012. His unsurprising goal in 2020 is to take down Trump, and he provides a detailed guide for every American to become involved beyond just voting. Where the author is not offering specific suggestions for individual involvement, he engages in optimistic encouragement to put readers in the mindset to entertain his suggestions. Plouffe wisely realizes that many potential readers feel beaten down by the relentlessness of Trump’s improper behavior and misguided policies, so there is plenty of motivational exhortation that highly motivated readers might find unnecessary. When he turns to voting statistics, he’s on solid ground. Plouffe expresses certainty that Trump will face opposition from at least 65 million voters in the 2020 election. One of the author’s goals is to increase that number to somewhere between 70 and 75 million, which would be enough to win not only the popular votes for the Democratic Party nominee, but also the Electoral College by a comfortable margin. Some of that increased number can be achieved by increasing the percentage of citizens who vote, with additional gains from voters who vote for the Democratic nominee rather than symbolically supporting a third-party candidate. Plouffe also feels optimistic about persuading Obama supporters who—perhaps surprisingly—voted for Trump in 2016. As for individual involvement prior to November, the author favors direct action. Door-to-door canvassing is his favorite method, but he offers alternatives for those who cannot or will not take their opinions to the streets, including campaigning via social media. And while the author would love to change the Electoral College, he wisely tells readers they must live with it again this time around.
Though cheerleading occasionally grates, Plouffe offers good fodder for readers willing to put in the effort and follow his advice.Pub Date: March 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-7949-3
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
Literature knows few champions as ardent and insightful—or as uncompromising—as Gornick, which is to readers’ good fortune.
Gornick’s (The Odd Woman and the City, 2016) ferocious but principled intelligence emanates from each of the essays in this distinctive collection.
Rereading texts, and comparing her most recent perceptions against those of the past, is the linchpin of the book, with the author revisiting such celebrated novels as D.H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers, Colette's The Vagabond, Marguerite Duras' The Lover, and Elizabeth Bowen's The House in Paris. Gornick also explores the history and changing face of Jewish American fiction as expressions of "the other." The author reads more deeply and keenly than most, with perceptions amplified by the perspective of her 84 years. Though she was an avatar of "personal journalism" and a former staff writer for the Village Voice—a publication that “had a muckraking bent which made its writers…sound as if they were routinely holding a gun to society’s head”—here, Gornick mostly subordinates her politics to the power of literature, to the books that have always been her intimates, old friends to whom she could turn time and again. "I read ever and only to feel the power of Life with a capital L," she writes; it shows. The author believes that for those willing to relinquish treasured but outmoded interpretations, rereading over a span of decades can be a journey, sometimes unsettling, toward richer meanings of books that are touchstones of one's life. As always, Gornick reveals as much about herself as about the writers whose works she explores; particularly arresting are her essays on Lawrence and on Natalia Ginzburg. Some may feel she has a tendency to overdramatize, but none will question her intellectual honesty. It is reflected throughout, perhaps nowhere so vividly as in a vignette involving a stay in Israel, where, try as she might, Gornick could not get past the "appalling tribalism of the culture.”
Literature knows few champions as ardent and insightful—or as uncompromising—as Gornick, which is to readers’ good fortune.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-374-28215-8
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Oct. 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
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