Just the thing for Biden haters and insurrectionists.
A preening, defiant memoir by a Trump stalwart.
While the flood of their memoirs shows no sign of letting up, even the most full-throated of Trump’s supporters allow that storming the Capitol was maybe not such a good idea. Not Pompeo, who mentions it only once, as “that January 6, the one the Left wants to exploit for political advantage.” The author doesn’t discuss the coup attempt or other inconvenient truths of Trump’s last days, but there’s plenty about Pompeo being exactly the right man for the right job—jobs, rather—that Trump offered him. Pompeo, top of his West Point class and fearless Kansas congressman, knew that his duty was to save the CIA, which “desperately needed good leadership” after John Brennan, “a total disaster.” By Pompeo’s account, it was he, as secretary of state, who made Iran blink, North Korea flinch, and Putin behave. (That Russia/Trump business? A hoax. The Hunter Biden laptop thing, however, is very real and very important.) According to the author’s account, he did all of this almost single-handedly, since supposed fellow traveler John Bolton, among others, “cared far more about taking credit and nurturing his ego than he did for executing the president’s directives….If everyone had behaved as selfishly as Bolton had, very little would ever have gotten accomplished.” Pompeo proves that one can be a dedicated Trumper and also endlessly self-serving. Granted, he does give a shoutout or two to others in the administration, mostly nameless, as when he writes, “In the end, our team left America more secure and more respected—even if not always more loved—in the world,” not like the present administration, which is to blame for all that’s wrong today—except maybe Covid-19, which came out of a Chinese lab. Pompeo also makes room to advocate for waterboarding.
Just the thing for Biden haters and insurrectionists.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9780063247444
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Broadside Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
SEEN & HEARD
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.
Words that made a nation.
Isaacson is known for expansive biographies of great thinkers (and Elon Musk), but here he pens a succinct, stimulating commentary on the Founding Fathers’ ode to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” His close reading of the Declaration of Independence’s second sentence, published to mark the 250th anniversary of the document’s adoption, doesn’t downplay its “moral contradiction.” Thomas Jefferson enslaved hundreds of people yet called slavery “a cruel war against human nature” in his first draft of the Declaration. All but 15 of the document’s 56 signers owned enslaved people. While the sentence in question asserted “all men are created equal” and possess “unalienable rights,” the Founders “consciously and intentionally” excluded women, Native Americans, and enslaved people. And yet the sentence is powerful, Isaacson writes, because it names a young nation’s “aspirations.” He mounts a solid defense of what ought to be shared goals, among them economic fairness, “moral compassion,” and a willingness to compromise. “Democracy depends on this,” he writes. Isaacson is excellent when explaining how Enlightenment intellectuals abroad influenced the founders. Benjamin Franklin, one of the Declaration’s “five-person drafting committee,” stayed in David Hume’s home for a month in the early 1770s, “discussing ideas of natural rights” with the Scottish philosopher. Also strong is Isaacson’s discussion of the “edits and tweaks” made to Jefferson’s draft. As recommended by Franklin and others, the changes were substantial, leaving Jefferson “distraught.” Franklin, who emerges as the book’s hero, helped establish municipal services, founded a library, and encouraged religious diversity—the kind of civic-mindedness that we could use more of today, Isaacson reminds us.
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2025
ISBN: 9781982181314
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
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