Inspiring for those who think politics is only for the rich and well connected.
Political analyst Jean-Pierre's enthusiastic first book documents her life in politics and offers advice and encouragement to those thinking of taking a similar path.
Born in Martinique, the author was raised by working-class Haitian immigrant parents in New York. Realizing that she wasn’t going to fulfill her parents' dream that she become a doctor, she was drawn to politics after getting a master’s degree in public administration from Columbia University. She was a regional director for the John Edwards campaign in 2004, served as Barack Obama's regional political director in the Office of Political Affairs, and is now the chief public affairs officer for MoveOn.org and a political analyst for MSNBC. Along the way, she documents some of the pressures of entering the political scene as a young, black, immigrant, lesbian woman. However, she doesn’t dwell on these pressures, mentioning only in passing her experience of childhood sexual abuse and a suicide attempt. Instead, she focuses on the lessons of hard work and determination that she learned from her family. A committed Democrat, she believes unequivocally that Donald Trump is “unfit to be president.” Throughout the narrative, the author leaps from topic to topic, following a vaguely chronological arc without lingering long or delving deep into any subject or period of her life for more than a few pages. The book will be most useful as a source of advice and encouragement for those who think they might be interested in political action but don't know where to start. Jean-Pierre offers strategies for networking, which she sees as the primary way to get ahead in the world of politics, and counsels pragmatism, patience, and frequent expression of gratitude. She also advocates for the role of local politics rather than “pulling up your roots, loading the van, and driving to Washington, to your state capital, or even to your county seat.”
Inspiring for those who think politics is only for the rich and well connected.Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-335-91783-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Hanover Square Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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