A convincingly argued, well-researched critique of the American Left by a fellow progressive.
Neill challenges fellow liberals to rethink their approach to Trump supporters in this third nonfiction work in a series.
“I do believe Donald Trump spreads misogyny and hate,” the author writes in this book’s introduction, adding that he also believes the president to be “cruel, solipsistic, and amoral.” With that said, the author isn’t trying to persuade readers to share his view of President Trump, but rather to ask fellow progressives to examine how their own actions may have driven nominally apolitical or moderate voters towards Trump as a candidate. Central to the book’s argument is that Trump supporters have legitimate grievances against the establishment, and to reduce their support to raw “racism, sexism, and xenophobia” is an attempt to “gaslight them.” Drawing on the antiracist work of activist Ibram X. Kendi and others, Neill emphasizes that “shaming others is not a tool for social justice,” and instead calls on his colleagues on the Left to apply their core values of compassion and understanding to those with different political beliefs. Sweeping claims that Trump supporters are ignorant or morally deficient, he says, are counterproductive to a winning electoral strategy, which he argues should reach out to people who feel marginalized, rather than further alienate them. By abandoning disillusioned men, he asserts, the Left created a vacuum that was filled by promoters of toxic masculinity. This is the latest work in a multibook series on systemic racism, whose previous volumes tackled structural racism head-on from the perspective of “a well-meaning-but imperfect-ally.” Neill, a past recipient of the Martin Luther King Jr. Torch of Peace Award, has a solid theoretical foundation in critical race theory and antiracist literature, and he backs his argument with a network of scholarly citations. He’s also the author of more than a dozen SF and fantasy novels, and he balances his academic bona fides (which include a master’s degree in public health from Emory University) with an engaging, well-argued, and accessible writing style, accompanied by personal anecdotes, textbox vignettes, and Spooner’s pen-and-ink illustrations.
A convincingly argued, well-researched critique of the American Left by a fellow progressive.Pub Date: March 14, 2025
ISBN: 9798313818528
Page Count: 240
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A dauntless, moving account of a kidnapping and the horrors that followed.
Enduring the unthinkable.
This memoir—the first by an Israeli taken captive by Hamas on October 7, 2023—chronicles the 491 days the author was held in Gaza. Confined to tunnels beneath war-ravaged streets, Sharabi was beaten, humiliated, and underfed. When he was finally released in February, he learned that Hamas had murdered his wife and two daughters. In the face of scarcely imaginable loss, Sharabi has crafted a potent record of his will to survive. The author’s ordeal began when Hamas fighters dragged him from his home, in a kibbutz near Gaza. Alongside others, he was held for months at a time in filthy subterranean spaces. He catalogs sensory assaults with novelistic specificity. Iron shackles grip his ankles. Broken toilets produce an “unbearable stink,” and “tiny white worms” swarm his toothbrush. He gets one meal a day, his “belly caving inward.” Desperate for more food, he stages a fainting episode, using a shaving razor to “slice a deep gash into my eyebrow.” Captors share their sweets while celebrating an Iranian missile attack on Israel. He and other hostages sneak fleeting pleasures, finding and downing an orange soda before a guard can seize it. Several times, Sharabi—51 when he was kidnapped—gives bracing pep talks to younger compatriots. The captives learn to control what they can, trading family stories and “lift[ing] water bottles like dumbbells.” Remarkably, there’s some levity. He and fellow hostages nickname one Hamas guard “the Triangle” because he’s shaped like a SpongeBob SquarePants character. The book’s closing scenes, in which Sharabi tries to console other hostages’ families while learning the worst about his own, are heartbreaking. His captors “are still human beings,” writes Sharabi, bravely modeling the forbearance that our leaders often lack.
A dauntless, moving account of a kidnapping and the horrors that followed.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780063489790
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Harper Influence/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
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
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