GO HOME FOR DINNER

The former vice president embarks on a Christian-focused look at family.

In this preachy little treatise, Pence, writing with his daughter, Bond, describes how “the fate of nations, including this one, ultimately comes down to the strength of the family.” This isn’t a book about politics, though there are a few wan mentions; nor is it about Pence’s time in office, although he does allow that some of his friends warned him that signing on as Trump’s running mate “would be the end of my career.” The only words about Jan. 6, 2021, come from Bond, who writes that when she commented that the invasion was “unforgivable,” she was quickly upbraided by her mother, who threw out a Bible verse about God alone having the power of forgiveness (never mind the gallows out on the lawn). God comes in for the lion’s share of the credit, to be sure, whether placing the idea that Pence should go into politics after his stint as a conservative radio host—here, the author praises another paragon of godly virtue, Rush Limbaugh—or affording the Pence family a good model for their daily devotions, of which, yes, going home for dinner is a central tenet. Apart from the usual obeisance, Pence spends much of the text discussing how bad things are in comparison with the good old days inside his head, which would seem to be the 1950s, a time when “Americans used to have more respect for our nation’s history, for the people who sacrificed to make this country the beacon of freedom that it is today…. As the saying goes, those who forget history are destined to repeat it. We can acknowledge the injustices of the past and still be grateful to the people who brought forth the nation.”

A pious exercise in preaching to the choir.