An important historical account of the Trump era from a wide range of perspectives that nonetheless coheres.
An example of the value of historical analyses of very recent events, this book gives us some historians’ first takes on the Trump presidency.
“The Trump presidency was not an aberration but the culmination of more than three decades in the GOP’s evolution,” writes editor Zelizer, encapsulating a primary theme. With all of the essayists supporting that claim, the book demonstrates unusual coherence as well as admirable clarity, and the individual essays cover a vast array of topics: the Republican and Democratic parties, right-wing media, truth and disinformation, White supremacy, Latinx issues, women’s issues, immigration, infrastructure, climate change, race, class, technology, international relations (both generally and specifically about China and the nations of the Middle East), the FBI, and Covid-19. It’s a testament to the overall quality that one wishes for even wider coverage—essays, say, on the psychopathology of politics and on political language. Yet despite such gaps, the book’s contents, just as historical writing should, supersede earlier on-the-spot journalistic reportage of the Trump administration. Each essay adds context and fresh perspective to the events of a precedent-shattering presidency as well as causal explanations of much of what occurred. Occasionally, the contributors repeat oft-quoted words and cite well-known episodes, and facts about many front-page figures and events fill its pages. But little of what they write fails to cast welcome light on how and why the U.S. entered a new political era in 2016. Zelizer himself offers an excellent concise history of the Republican Party’s recent history, and other essayists conform to his balanced, sober, scholarly approach, which will be demanding for general readers. What’s most commendable is that all of their arguments and extensive knowledge are advanced in nonpartisan, critically fair, and neutral form. Given the variety of subjects, the result is an authoritative multiauthored contemporary history. Contributors include Michael Kazin, Mae Ngai, James Mann, Nicole Hemmer, and Margaret O’Mara.
An important historical account of the Trump era from a wide range of perspectives that nonetheless coheres.Pub Date: March 29, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-691-22893-8
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Princeton Univ.
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2022
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
A determined if self-regarding portrait of a candidate striving to define herself and her campaign on her own terms.
An insider’s chronicle of a pivotal presidential campaign.
Several months into the mounting political upheaval of Donald Trump’s second term and following a wave of bestselling political exposés, most notably Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s Original Sin on Joe Biden’s health and late decision to step down, former Vice President Harris offers her own account of the consequential months surrounding Biden’s withdrawal and her swift campaign for the presidency. Structured as brief chapters with countdown headers from 107 days to Election Day, the book recounts the campaign’s daily rigors: vetting a running mate, navigating back-to-back rallies, preparing for the convention and the debate with Trump, and deflecting obstacles in the form of both Trump’s camp and Biden’s faltering team. Harris aims to set the record straight on issues that have remained hotly debated. While acknowledging Biden’s advancing decline, she also highlights his foreign-policy steadiness: “His years of experience in foreign policy clearly showed….He was always focused, always commander in chief in that room.” More blame is placed on his inner circle, especially Jill Biden, whom Harris faults for pushing him beyond his limits—“the people who knew him best, should have realized that any campaign was a bridge too far.” Throughout, she highlights her own qualifications and dismisses suggestions that an open contest might have better served the party: “If they thought I was down with a mini primary or some other half-baked procedure, I was quick to disabuse them.” Facing Trump’s increasingly unhinged behavior, Harris never openly doubts her ability to confront him. Yet she doesn’t fully persuade the reader that she had the capacity to counter his dominance, suggesting instead that her defeat stemmed from a lack of time—a theme underscored by the urgency of the book’s title. If not entirely sanguine about the future, she maintains a clear-eyed view of the damage already done: “Perhaps so much damage that we will have to re-create our government…something leaner, swifter, and much more efficient.”
A determined if self-regarding portrait of a candidate striving to define herself and her campaign on her own terms.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9781668211656
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
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