An important investigation into the radicalization of far-right American lawmakers.
An engrossing and disturbing examination of the conspiracy theories leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and the right-wing lawmakers who gleefully perpetuated them.
Journalist Draper has interviewed many of the protagonists floating the baseless theories that, as election-denier Marjorie Taylor Greene believes, “their once‐great country [is] under assault from within.” The author digs deep into the “big lie” and how conservative conspiracy theories took root and began to run rampant during the Obama administration—questioning the former president’s birthplace and demonizing Hillary Clinton—all in an effort to obstruct any Democratic progress in Congress. Draper considers many important strands in the story, including “enabler” Kevin McCarthy’s raw ambition and transactional relationships on Capitol Hill; how Greene tapped into the right-wing hysteria in her Georgia district and effectively rode former President Donald Trump’s coattails; and the vast network of absurd QAnon conspiracy theories: a pizza-parlor sex-trafficking operation, the importance of fighting against the work of George Soros, the idea of a complicit, “mockingbird” media, and the cheerleading role played by Alex Jones and InfoWars. As the author shows, Paul Gosar, a Republican congressman and dentist whose district in Arizona is one of the most conservative in America, became the first and most vociferous of the “Stop the Steal” election deniers, while Greene spent months vilifying Dr. Anthony Fauci and the Biden administration’s attempts to mitigate the disastrous effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Draper also explores Liz Cheney’s defiance of McCarthy and MAGA extremism, especially her view that the second impeachment trial represents a dangerous missed opportunity for Republicans to move past Trump once and for all. In a timely and politically astute narrative written before the midterm elections, Draper suggests that voters have grown tired of the “arc of the crazy”—a view borne out by the election results.
An important investigation into the radicalization of far-right American lawmakers.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 9780593300145
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Penguin Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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