Would-be political staffers will find valuable pointers of both the inspirational and cover-your-ass varieties.
A longtime political operative recounts the thrills and spills of electoral politics.
Early on, Smith recounts a phone call in which an adviser to Andrew Cuomo told him to cut out his feeble protestations concerning inappropriate behavior toward female staffers: “Don’t bullshit yourself or us.” It took Smith a few years to find the gumption to tell off senior politicos, but she evolved, even ifshe had a perhaps inappropriate (in the view of the New York tabloids, anyway) relationship with Cuomo’s political nemesis, Eliot Spitzer. The author is clearly not fond of Cuomo (“America’s governor was quickly turning into America’s asshole”), nor Bill De Blasio, who taught her “an important lesson in the hardest way possible: nothing, not even burning ambition, could justify working for a politician with no integrity.” On the positive front, Smith evinces respect for Barack Obama. One memorable anecdote involves the Obama campaign war room going into crisis mode when a Democratic governor questioned Mitt Romney’s religion, a forbidden tactic that, Smith writes, “could backfire and transform the wooden, unlikable Romney into a victim and a sympathetic figure.” High on the list of the bad and ugly is Donald Trump, and Smith, generally a competent but not compelling writer, paints a portrait of former boss Pete Buttigieg as his polar opposite, a good man of deep integrity and intelligence, if also given to “ill-fitting suits.” The author’s character studies of politicians in action seldom go deep, but what counts is that action indeed. Smith offers capable descriptions of how retail politics works as well as all that goes along with it, such as dressing for success and handling the press—as when she threatened a reporter that she’d “shove [his] balls down his throat” if he burned her on an off-the-record comment.
Would-be political staffers will find valuable pointers of both the inspirational and cover-your-ass varieties.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-308439-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
For Howard Zinn, long-time civil rights and anti-war activist, history and ideology have a lot in common. Since he thinks that everything is in someone's interest, the historian—Zinn posits—has to figure out whose interests he or she is defining/defending/reconstructing (hence one of his previous books, The Politics of History). Zinn has no doubts about where he stands in this "people's history": "it is a history disrespectful of governments and respectful of people's movements of resistance." So what we get here, instead of the usual survey of wars, presidents, and institutions, is a survey of the usual rebellions, strikes, and protest movements. Zinn starts out by depicting the arrival of Columbus in North America from the standpoint of the Indians (which amounts to their standpoint as constructed from the observations of the Europeans); and, after easily establishing the cultural disharmony that ensued, he goes on to the importation of slaves into the colonies. Add the laborers and indentured servants that followed, plus women and later immigrants, and you have Zinn's amorphous constituency. To hear Zinn tell it, all anyone did in America at any time was to oppress or be oppressed; and so he obscures as much as his hated mainstream historical foes do—only in Zinn's case there is that absurd presumption that virtually everything that came to pass was the work of ruling-class planning: this amounts to one great indictment for conspiracy. Despite surface similarities, this is not a social history, since we get no sense of the fabric of life. Instead of negating the one-sided histories he detests, Zinn has merely reversed the image; the distortion remains.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1979
ISBN: 0061965588
Page Count: 772
Publisher: Harper & Row
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1979
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A slick, vacuous glimpse into the former first lady’s White House years.
A carefully curated personal portrait.
First ladies’ roles have evolved significantly in recent decades. Their memoirs typically reflect a spectrum of ambition and interests, offering insights into their values and personal lives. Melania Trump, however, stands out as exceptionally private and elusive. Her ultra-lean account attempts to shed light on her public duties, initiatives, and causes as first lady, and it defends certain actions like her controversial “I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO U?” jacket. The statement was directed at the media, not the border situation, she claims. Yet the book provides scant detail about her personal orbit or day-to-day interactions. The memoir opens with her well-known Slovenian origin story, successful modeling career, and whirlwind romance with Donald Trump, culminating in their 2005 marriage, followed by a snapshot of Election Day 2016: “Each time we were together that day, I was impressed by his calm.…This man is remarkably confident under pressure.” Once in the White House, Melania Trump describes her functions and numerous public events at home and abroad, which she asserts were more accomplished than media representations suggested. However, she rarely shares any personal interactions beyond close family ties, notably her affection for her son, Barron, and her sister, Ines. And of course she lavishes praise on her husband. Minimal anecdotes about White House or cabinet staff are included, and she carefully defuses her rumored tensions with Trump’s adult children, blandly stating, “While we may share the same last name, each of us is distinct with our own aspirations and paths to follow.” Although Melania’s desire to support causes related to children’s and women’s welfare feels authentic, the overall tenor of her memoir seems aimed at painting a glimmering portrait of her husband and her role, likely with an eye toward the forthcoming election.
A slick, vacuous glimpse into the former first lady’s White House years.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2024
ISBN: 9781510782693
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
PERSPECTIVES
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