A sound, if eclectic, take on America’s sociopolitical woes.
A solutions-oriented book offers a critique of the 21st-century’s political status quo.
It’s not difficult to “find imperfections in all walks of American life,” Zecola notes in the first line of his work, “from its rules, to its leaders, to its economic policies and so forth.” Divided into six parts that examine the disconcertingly imperfect state of America’s rules, leadership, policies, markets, industry, and future, the volume paints a bleak picture. Though the six elements analyzed are different, they are all interconnected in the author’s convincing account because their problems stem from an anti-democratic “unbalance” in American politics. The constitutional allotment of influence, for instance, gives small, mostly White and rural states “the power to block the will of the majority of the people.” Similarly, the book contends that Evangelicals, a demographic minority, have “orchestrated a jury-rigged Supreme Court that has eliminated 50 years of women’s rights, restricted gun control, and restricted measures to curb pollution.” And while offering well-reasoned solutions to a myriad of issues, including providing career advice to the unemployed and those entering the workforce, the work presents an ultimate solution that boils down to the need for a renewed democratic ethos whereby “voters become engaged” and retake control of the mechanisms of government. Although the volume’s idealistic final answer may come off as Pollyannaish, its critiques are grounded in a dishearteningly realistic approach. Many of its sharpest barbs are reserved for the religious right (whose “anti-abortion viewpoint is based upon nothing more than a misunderstanding of the reproduction process”) and Donald Trump (who “turned lying into an art form”). But this is not simply a partisan polemic. Democrats, for instance, are criticized for their “out-of-control” spending as well as their general apathy toward protecting democratic norms from conservative incursions. At 153 pages, the book offers a concise critique of the existing state of America with a well-informed, accessible writing style reflecting Zecola’s background as a successful entrepreneur, corporate executive, and government official. But the volume’s lack of citations may disappoint readers looking for a more scholarly approach.
A sound, if eclectic, take on America’s sociopolitical woes.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 153
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Jan. 10, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A powerful reiteration of principles—and some fresh ideas—from the longest-serving independent in congressional history.
Another chapter in a long fight against inequality.
Building on his Fighting Oligarchy tour, which this year drew 280,000 people to rallies in red and blue states, Sanders amplifies his enduring campaign for economic fairness. The Vermont senator offers well-timed advice for combating corruption and issues a robust plea for national soul-searching. His argument rests on alarming data on the widening wealth gap’s impact on democracy. Bolstered by a 2010 Supreme Court decision that removed campaign finance limits, “100 billionaire families spent $2.6 billion” on 2024 elections. Sanders focuses on the Trump administration and congressional Republicans, describing their enactment of the “Big Beautiful Bill,” with its $1 trillion in tax breaks for the richest Americans and big social safety net cuts, as the “largest transfer of wealth” in living memory. But as is his custom, he spreads the blame, dinging Democrats for courting wealthy donors while ignoring the “needs and suffering” of the working class. “Trump filled the political vacuum that the Democrats created,” he writes, a resonant diagnosis. Urging readers not to surrender to despair, Sanders offers numerous legislative proposals. These would empower labor unions, cut the workweek to 32 hours, regulate campaign spending, reduce gerrymandering, and automatically register 18-year-olds to vote. Grassroots supporters can help by running for local office, volunteering with a campaign, and asking educators how to help support public schools. Meanwhile, Sanders asks us “to question the fundamental moral values that underlie” a system that enables “the top 1 percent” to “own more wealth than the bottom 93 percent.” Though his prose sometimes reads like a transcribed speech with built-in applause lines, Sanders’ ideas are specific, clear, and commonsensical. And because it echoes previous statements, his call for collective introspection lands as genuine.
A powerful reiteration of principles—and some fresh ideas—from the longest-serving independent in congressional history.Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2025
ISBN: 9798217089161
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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