An optimistic, if not particularly novel, conservative assessment of contemporary America.
McConkey, a Republican congressional candidate, presents his vision for American renewal in this nonfiction work.
“We are failing tomorrow’s future leaders,” the author declares in the opening lines to this debut book. Despite this ominous assertion, the author is generally positive in his faith in the American people and in the efficacy of his proposed solutions. The book’s central “blueprint” embodies the titular maxim to “be the weight behind the spear,” a practice McConkey hopes that Americans “can and should do to help our country be a better place.” Per the analogy, a spear is “just a useless, pointy stick without the training, teamwork, and ‘weight’ behind it.” A renewed emphasis on “family values, integrity, leadership, and accountability,” the author suggests, offers the promise of a new dynamism to help propel the American spear into the future. According to the author, an emergency physician and current commander of the 459th Aeromedical Staging Squadron at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, an energized American public offers citizens a better livelihood and is essential to the country’s geopolitical competition against “cohesive and determined” rivals in Russia and China. On its surface, the book offers a nonpartisan appeal to American unity, with no recent presidential candidate or political party referred to by name. It is, however, a deeply political book, especially given the author’s current campaign as a Republican candidate for a North Carolina congressional seat. Most of the book’s stances echo conservative talking points regarding issues such as securing the southern border and opposition to hypothetical Covid-19 vaccine mandates. One chapter-length critique of socialism focuses on government overreach by “Bernie” and “Elizabeth” (not-so-thinly veiled references to Democratic Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren). Eschewing the firebrand rhetoric and conspiracy-laden fearmongering of right-wing populists, the book instead reflects a quaint brand of conservatism reminiscent of the Reagan era in is patriotic view of America’s history and future. While some liberal readers may welcome this appeal as a more level-headed approach, many will still be irked by the book’s failure to engage with cultural issues, from abortion and gender-affirming care to systemic racism and inequality.
An optimistic, if not particularly novel, conservative assessment of contemporary America.Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2023
ISBN: 9798988172208
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Wisdom House Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A football star’s bracing account of his battle for racial equality—and how powerful forces arrayed against him.
A principled athlete strives for social justice.
Kaepernick forthrightly details the activism that earned him global renown but cost him his NFL career. In 2016, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback “was filled with disgust” after police shootings of fellow Black men in several American cities. Before a preseason game, he made a spontaneous decision: “It hit me in that moment that I should find a seat” during the national anthem. He did the same at two more games before reporters noticed. Kaepernick will forever be associated with “taking a knee” during the anthem, but he credits Eric Reid—a teammate who agreed with Kaepernick’s message—for suggesting that they kneel together during subsequent anthems. The protest changed everything for Kaepernick. President Trump vilified him. Kaepernick and his wife received death threats. And though he’d taken the 49ers to a Super Bowl, no teams would sign him. He will likely make news for his take on Jay-Z, whose lucrative partnership with the NFL was criticized as an attempt to launder the league’s reputation. Visiting Africa, where Kaepernick learns about “African leaders who willingly sold their own people to the enslavers,” he “couldn’t help but to think about Jay-Z and the NFL.” In opening chapters, Kaepernick recalls suffering traumatic racial abuse as a child. Being in “white spaces”—he was adopted by white parents—placed him “under a microscope every minute of every day.” He isn’t always nuanced, depicting some people he disagrees with as cartoonishly clueless. But his writing about how college and pro teams “lied” to him about injuries underlines his “feeling of being a disposable commodity.” A decade has passed since Kaepernick played in the NFL, but he stays fit in case “a team needing a QB” calls.
A football star’s bracing account of his battle for racial equality—and how powerful forces arrayed against him.Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2026
ISBN: 9781538777879
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Legacy Lit/Hachette
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
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