If “Let’s go, Brandon” is your idea of elevated political discourse, then this is your book.
A conservative commentator lays into the current president with a familiar litany of complaints.
Strassel, author of The Intimidation Game: How the Left Is Silencing Free Speech, juxtaposes Jimmy Carter and Joe Biden, linking the two on the undeniably problematic issues of inflation and energy as well as foreign policy. According to the author, it was all Carter’s fault that the mullahs held the embassy staff in Tehran for so long (never mind the Reagan team’s back-channel deal to delay their release until after the election), just as “Biden’s reckless withdrawal from Afghanistan embarrassed our allies, abandoned Afghanis, and made the U.S. look weak” (never mind that Trump’s team negotiated that retreat). Furthermore, Biden exaggerated in the midterms when he “crisscrossed the country recalling the January 6 riot and insisting ‘democracy’ was on the ballot.” Strassel excoriates the supposedly radical-left administration now in the White House, contrasting Biden with the more centrist Carter crowd and drubbing both by comparison with her apparent hero, Ronald Reagan, who “didn’t lead with cultural issues.” It’s a relief when Strassel eventually finishes wailing away on liberals and gets to work on her own team, allowing that the midterm election didn’t quite work out the way the GOP wanted because voters preferred Democrats to “disfavored Republicans [who] had something in common: strong ties to Trump.” The author spends much of the latter part of the book conjuring up notions of a big-tent Republicanism that eschews Proud Boys–like militancy, at least in public, and instead urges that “if politicians want to see a change in the culture, they could start by acting like grown-ups.” Perhaps, for starters, by not insisting that “many of Biden’s people…were picked because they checked an identity-politics box.”
If “Let’s go, Brandon” is your idea of elevated political discourse, then this is your book.Pub Date: July 18, 2023
ISBN: 9781538756218
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Twelve
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
An engrossing and ominous chronicle, told by a master of the form.
Documenting perilous times.
In his most recent behind-the-scenes account of political power and how it is wielded, Woodward synthesizes several narrative strands, from the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel to the 2024 presidential campaign. Woodward’s clear, gripping storytelling benefits from his legendary access to prominent figures and a structure of propulsive chapters. The run-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is tense (if occasionally repetitive), as a cast of geopolitical insiders try to divine Vladimir Putin’s intent: “Doubt among allies, the public and among Ukrainians meant valuable time and space for Putin to maneuver.” Against this backdrop, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham implores Donald Trump to run again, notwithstanding the former president’s denial of his 2020 defeat. This provides unwelcome distraction for President Biden, portrayed as a thoughtful, compassionate lifetime politico who could not outrace time, as demonstrated in the June 2024 debate. Throughout, Trump’s prevarications and his supporters’ cynicism provide an unsettling counterpoint to warnings provided by everyone from former Joint Chief of Staff Mark Milley to Vice President Kamala Harris, who calls a second Trump term a likely “death knell for American democracy.” The author’s ambitious scope shows him at the top of his capabilities. He concludes with these unsettling words: “Based on my reporting, Trump’s language and conduct has at times presented risks to national security—both during his presidency and afterward.”
An engrossing and ominous chronicle, told by a master of the form.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781668052273
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
IN THE NEWS
PERSPECTIVES
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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