A thoughtful and morally driven work that urges readers to rethink both their politics and their roles in public life.
Elefante argues that democracies rise or fall on the moral formation of their citizens in this nonfiction work.
The author positions this book at the intersection of memoir, political theory, and spiritual inquiry. The work is prescriptive rather than descriptive—Elefante outlines the ways in which individual people must change in order for democratic systems to function. The autobiographical opening, detailing his turning to meditation in 2019, his reconciliation with Catholicism, and the personal crises that shaped his thinking, serves less as an illustrative narrative than as an assertion of moral credentials; Elefante presents lived experience as evidence that inner discipline can translate into outward civic responsibility. The author’s core argument is that systemic dysfunction reflects individual moral failure. Elefante resists the easy scapegoating of institutions, insisting that “we” create and sustain the very systems we critique. This insistence on personal accountability gives the work urgency, particularly in passages that challenge readers to move beyond passive dissatisfaction. The analysis occasionally simplifies complex structural issues, however, leaning heavily on personal transformation as a primary solution. The book is most successful in its articulation of “kindness” as a civic virtue. Elefante’s distinction between kindness and superficial civility is one of the text’s sharpest contributions, reframing political engagement as an active moral practice rather than a performative one. His emphasis on “mutual recognition” and his critique of ideological dehumanization cut through familiar partisan rhetoric with clarity and conviction. Stylistically, however, the work is uneven. The book’s installment structure and occasional digressions betray its origins as a series of blog posts, most notably a chapter composed almost entirely of quotations. Still, Elefante’s voice remains consistently direct and insistent throughout, carrying readers through denser conceptual passages. Ultimately, the book’s blend of Buddhist philosophy, Christian ethics, and civic theory coalesces into a coherent, if idealistic, vision of democratic life rooted in interdependence.
A thoughtful and morally driven work that urges readers to rethink both their politics and their roles in public life.Pub Date: May 5, 2026
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 214
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A philosophically rich critique of state violence and mass apathy.
An Egyptian Canadian journalist writes searchingly of this time of war.
“Rules, conventions, morals, reality itself: all exist so long as their existence is convenient to the preservation of power.” So writes El Akkad, who goes on to state that one of the demands of modern power is that those subject to it must imagine that some group of people somewhere are not fully human. El Akkad’s pointed example is Gaza, the current destruction of which, he writes, is causing millions of people around the world to examine the supposedly rules-governed, democratic West and declare, “I want nothing to do with this.” El Akkad, author of the novel American War (2017), discerns hypocrisy and racism in the West’s defense of Ukraine and what he views as indifference toward the Palestinian people. No stranger to war zones himself—El Akkad was a correspondent in Afghanistan and Iraq—he writes with grim matter-of-factness about murdered children, famine, and the deliberate targeting of civilians. With no love for Zionism lost, he offers an equally harsh critique of Hamas, yet another one of the “entities obsessed with violence as an ethos, brutal in their treatment of minority groups who in their view should not exist, and self-decreed to be the true protectors of an entire religion.” Taking a global view, El Akkad, who lives in the U.S., finds almost every government and society wanting, and not least those, he says, that turn away and pretend not to know, behavior that we’ve seen before and that, in the spirit of his title, will one day be explained away until, in the end, it comes down to “a quiet unheard reckoning in the winter of life between the one who said nothing, did nothing, and their own soul.”
A philosophically rich critique of state violence and mass apathy.Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780593804148
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
