A well-thought-through program for building personal greatness, but you have to work for it.
A former Navy SEAL leader discusses approaches to improving one’s life by taking an active role in it.
Hayes opens in Fallujah, recounting a tense situation in which he had to make a split-second decision about whether or not to shoot a civilian reaching inside his robe for something. Was he hiding a gun or a detonator? No, an ID card. The decision, by the author’s slogan-rich narrative, is “take action, or don’t.” That action comes in many forms: As Hayes notes, he tells his daughter every morning not to have a good day but to “ ‘make it’ a great day. ‘Have’ is passive, implying that the world will simply happen around her.” Those without a determined mindset need not apply: “The greatest trajectory to excellence is trying really hard things….You need to maintain the mindset every day that even the most excellent person can never decide that he or she is excellent enough.” Doing so involves constant striving and developing something beyond the ordinary shallow motivations that get us through our days—the desire for fame, money, and so forth, rather than taking the robust leadership stance of “align[ing] passions to larger causes.” A leader who does so and inspires others all around to do better, constantly, can be a world-changer. Hayes is earnest, inclines to repeated keywords (“Excellence. Agility. Meaning.”), and doesn’t seem to have much of a sense of humor. But there’s no question but that his blend of cheerleading and suck-it-up exhortation will produce results in readers who take his advice seriously to remake themselves in an unending search for self-improvement. The author offers valuable lessons for motivated readers, but there is also considerable overlap with the work of fellow Navy SEAL Jocko Willink.
A well-thought-through program for building personal greatness, but you have to work for it.Pub Date: Feb. 9, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-75337-3
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2021
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 blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.
Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
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