A thoughtful examination of a topic that affects the lives of millions of “loveless” Americans.
In this nonfiction book, a journalist investigates romantic strains in the Donald Trump era.
According to a 2018 statement posted on the popular dating site eHarmony, “Politics are on the minds of daters more than ever.” Indeed, to many adults looking for romance, writes Terry in this intriguing study of contemporary American life, “more than in any other political era, a vote for Trump told more about the person than their dating app profile would dare admit.” With an academic background in sociology, the author builds on his 2013 book, Marriage War, about America’s declining marriage rates, and offers readers an in-depth glimpse into the nation’s “Loveless Age,” when “singleton” has become a defining trait among late millennials and Generation Zers. In addition to dissecting the politically fraught terrain of dating in a time when Trumpian views continue to reverberate even after his presidency, the book analyzes myriad factors that complicate intimacy in the 21st century, from the “pornification of culture” to Covid-19 restrictions and social distancing. The volume is divided into three parts, with the first section showing how political divisions have taken a central role in stifling romance, from ending marriages to causing users to swipe left on Tinder based on a person’s politics. Part 2 delves into competing ideas among women, exploring those who adhere to “traditional femininity’s” goal of “marrying-up to a ‘good catch’ ” versus individuals who emphasize “boosting women’s opportunities in the modern workworld.” The book’s final section looks at the role of economic change when traditionally male jobs (such as trades or factory work) are in decline and women are emerging as the family breadwinners in a postindustrial economy. A common link across all sections is how Trump tapped into latent misogyny and patriarchal resentment against feminism to build his base as well as how nearly half of America’s White women “would choose to vote for an odious poster-boy of the patriarchy.” Though at times repetitive, the volume is written in an engaging style that blends an accessible narrative with solid, interdisciplinary research.
A thoughtful examination of a topic that affects the lives of millions of “loveless” Americans.Pub Date: July 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-66784-123-6
Page Count: 266
Publisher: BookBaby
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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 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
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