by John Dickerson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 2, 2016
A politically astute, timely book that will also have great historical value for future campaigns.
The Face the Nation moderator eases our fears about the 2016 presidential campaigns by showing other historical horrors related to our highest office.
With a delightful conversational style featuring casual asides and plenty of incisive commentary, Dickerson (On Her Trail: My Mother, Nancy Dickerson, TV News’ First Woman Star, 2006) relates historical blunders and boondoggles concerning our “national conversation about what we believe, our national purpose, and how to keep ourselves on track.” The comparisons to our current state can’t be missed, as Dickerson references attempts to repair an American system operated as a republic by elites. He states that America was not created as a democracy. The Founding Fathers looked to check the popular will using the Electoral College, state election of senators, limited suffrage, and the nominating caucus. Across the years, candidates acting as people’s champions have tried to change that, with little success. Dickerson’s many years of experience covering politics informs his intriguing inside looks at how certain stories begin and how they grow. He says a story moves around the campaign trail with a new expletive added every third telling. Throughout the book, the parallels to today’s news are unavoidable. The fight to stop Barry Goldwater in 1964 featured George Romney, and the current #NeverTrump movement involves his son Mitt. What is most fascinating is how one moment can absolutely kill a campaign; witness “Dukakis in the tank,” Howard Dean’s scream, and Ed Muskie’s tears. Sometimes, a strange campaigning style can be a candidate’s best asset—e.g., middle America loved Harry Truman’s off-the cuff attitude and his whistle-stop tours. At the beginning of the book, the author includes a helpful “Timeline of U.S. Presidential Elections,” which lists election years, the winner, and other major candidates.
A politically astute, timely book that will also have great historical value for future campaigns.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4555-4048-8
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Twelve
Review Posted Online: July 10, 2016
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BOOK REVIEW
by Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 16, 2018
The value of this book is the context it provides, in a style aimed at a concerned citizenry rather than fellow academics,...
A provocative analysis of the parallels between Donald Trump’s ascent and the fall of other democracies.
Following the last presidential election, Levitsky (Transforming Labor-Based Parties in Latin America, 2003, etc.) and Ziblatt (Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy, 2017, etc.), both professors of government at Harvard, wrote an op-ed column titled, “Is Donald Trump a Threat to Democracy?” The answer here is a resounding yes, though, as in that column, the authors underscore their belief that the crisis extends well beyond the power won by an outsider whom they consider a demagogue and a liar. “Donald Trump may have accelerated the process, but he didn’t cause it,” they write of the politics-as-warfare mentality. “The weakening of our democratic norms is rooted in extreme partisan polarization—one that extends beyond policy differences into an existential conflict over race and culture.” The authors fault the Republican establishment for failing to stand up to Trump, even if that meant electing his opponent, and they seem almost wistfully nostalgic for the days when power brokers in smoke-filled rooms kept candidacies restricted to a club whose members knew how to play by the rules. Those supporting the candidacy of Bernie Sanders might take as much issue with their prescriptions as Trump followers will. However, the comparisons they draw to how democratic populism paved the way toward tyranny in Peru, Venezuela, Chile, and elsewhere are chilling. Among the warning signs they highlight are the Republican Senate’s refusal to consider Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee as well as Trump’s demonization of political opponents, minorities, and the media. As disturbing as they find the dismantling of Democratic safeguards, Levitsky and Ziblatt suggest that “a broad opposition coalition would have important benefits,” though such a coalition would strike some as a move to the center, a return to politics as usual, and even a pragmatic betrayal of principles.
The value of this book is the context it provides, in a style aimed at a concerned citizenry rather than fellow academics, rather than in the consensus it is not likely to build.Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-6293-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 12, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2017
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BOOK REVIEW
by Bari Weiss ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 10, 2019
A forceful, necessarily provocative call to action for the preservation and protection of American Jewish freedom.
Known for her often contentious perspectives, New York Times opinion writer Weiss battles societal Jewish intolerance through lucid prose and a linear playbook of remedies.
While she was vividly aware of anti-Semitism throughout her life, the reality of the problem hit home when an active shooter stormed a Pittsburgh synagogue where her family regularly met for morning services and where she became a bat mitzvah years earlier. The massacre that ensued there further spurred her outrage and passionate activism. She writes that European Jews face a three-pronged threat in contemporary society, where physical, moral, and political fears of mounting violence are putting their general safety in jeopardy. She believes that Americans live in an era when “the lunatic fringe has gone mainstream” and Jews have been forced to become “a people apart.” With palpable frustration, she adroitly assesses the origins of anti-Semitism and how its prevalence is increasing through more discreet portals such as internet self-radicalization. Furthermore, the erosion of civility and tolerance and the demonization of minorities continue via the “casual racism” of political figures like Donald Trump. Following densely political discourses on Zionism and radical Islam, the author offers a list of bullet-point solutions focused on using behavioral and personal action items—individual accountability, active involvement, building community, loving neighbors, etc.—to help stem the tide of anti-Semitism. Weiss sounds a clarion call to Jewish readers who share her growing angst as well as non-Jewish Americans who wish to arm themselves with the knowledge and intellectual tools to combat marginalization and defuse and disavow trends of dehumanizing behavior. “Call it out,” she writes. “Especially when it’s hard.” At the core of the text is the author’s concern for the health and safety of American citizens, and she encourages anyone “who loves freedom and seeks to protect it” to join with her in vigorous activism.
A forceful, necessarily provocative call to action for the preservation and protection of American Jewish freedom.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-593-13605-8
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 22, 2019
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