A concise and incisive look at a democracy in peril.
A former professor of public policy analyzes the roots and underlying structural causes of the 2021 insurrection.
Accounts of the January 6th assault on the U.S. Capitol have tended toward insider narratives that focus on “rumor and gossip” rather than on the many different causes that worked together to instigate the event. Short carefully examines “two long-term processes that unfolded over decades and two shorter-term events that came into full force in 2020.” Long before Trump became president, the public was losing trust in government. Short offers the example of the eternal clash between states’ rights and federal supremacy, a contest that took its bloodiest form in the Civil War. Amid this ongoing battle, the author points to what he calls “a mounting democratic deficit,” which stems from issues such as a political system flooded by too much money and the engineering of specific political outcomes through gerrymandering. Political polarization, along with widening ideological rifts (fueled by an increase in conspiracy thinking) that transformed America into a flawed democracy, came to a head in early 2020 by the pandemic and the policing crisis. Trump’s blatant mishandling of the pandemic called his leadership competence into question. Yet when seething racial tensions in New York, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and elsewhere boiled over into violent protests, Trump seized on the moment to pose as a “strong figure in a time of disorder” by contemplating the use of federal troops to quell the chaos. Short argues that it was not a stretch for Trump to go from that extreme to the even greater one of calling for military intervention in the face of election results unfavorable to him. This highly readable study will appeal to anyone seeking to make sense of the uprising that forever changed modern American politics.
A concise and incisive look at a democracy in peril.Pub Date: March 14, 2024
ISBN: 9781789148411
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Reaktion Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
Maher calls out idiocy wherever he sees it, with a comedic delivery that veers between a stiletto and a sledgehammer.
The comedian argues that the arts of moderation and common sense must be reinvigorated.
Some people are born snarky, some become snarky, and some have snarkiness thrust upon them. Judging from this book, Maher—host of HBO’s Real Time program and author of The New New Rules and When You Ride Alone, You Ride With bin Laden—is all three. As a comedian, he has a great deal of leeway to make fun of people in politics, and he often delivers hilarious swipes with a deadpan face. The author describes himself as a traditional liberal, with a disdain for Republicans (especially the MAGA variety) and a belief in free speech and personal freedom. He claims that he has stayed much the same for more than 20 years, while the left, he argues, has marched toward intolerance. He sees an addiction to extremism on both sides of the aisle, which fosters the belief that anyone who disagrees with you must be an enemy to be destroyed. However, Maher has always displayed his own streaks of extremism, and his scorched-earth takedowns eventually become problematic. The author has something nasty to say about everyone, it seems, and the sarcastic tone starts after more than 300 pages. As has been the case throughout his career, Maher is best taken in small doses. The book is worth reading for the author’s often spot-on skewering of inept politicians and celebrities, but it might be advisable to occasionally dip into it rather than read the whole thing in one sitting. Some parts of the text are hilarious, but others are merely insulting. Maher is undeniably talented, but some restraint would have produced a better book.
Maher calls out idiocy wherever he sees it, with a comedic delivery that veers between a stiletto and a sledgehammer.Pub Date: May 21, 2024
ISBN: 9781668051351
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change.
Artist and activist Vaid-Menon demonstrates how the normativity of the gender binary represses creativity and inflicts physical and emotional violence.
The author, whose parents emigrated from India, writes about how enforcement of the gender binary begins before birth and affects people in all stages of life, with people of color being especially vulnerable due to Western conceptions of gender as binary. Gender assignments create a narrative for how a person should behave, what they are allowed to like or wear, and how they express themself. Punishment of nonconformity leads to an inseparable link between gender and shame. Vaid-Menon challenges familiar arguments against gender nonconformity, breaking them down into four categories—dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope (fear of the consequences of acceptance). Headers in bold font create an accessible navigation experience from one analysis to the next. The prose maintains a conversational tone that feels as intimate and vulnerable as talking with a best friend. At the same time, the author's turns of phrase in moments of deep insight ring with precision and poetry. In one reflection, they write, “the most lethal part of the human body is not the fist; it is the eye. What people see and how people see it has everything to do with power.” While this short essay speaks honestly of pain and injustice, it concludes with encouragement and an invitation into a future that celebrates transformation.
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change. (writing prompt) (Nonfiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09465-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
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