Accessible primer on the roots of today’s pro-billionaire pseudo-populism.
Brisk polemic exposing the 40-year conservative campaign against the social contract.
Progressive radio host and self-identified “Boomer” Hartmann takes aim at the “Reagan Revolution,” arguing that since the 1980s, gains in the stability and social infrastructure around a growing middle class were intentionally reversed. He notes sharp distinctions between his own working-class upbringing and the paucity of opportunities facing young people today, directly due to Republican gaming of the system. He argues, “They’ve been trying to undo or reverse FDR’s New Deal ever since it was put into place in the 1930s,” while tartly predicting that younger generations are finally “waking up from the fog of BS Republicans have been crop-dusting over us since 1981.” Such occasional venting comes linked to facts: “When Reagan came into office, for example, a bit over 60 percent of all income in the United States went to middle class families; by 2020 that number had collapsed to 42 percent. Meanwhile, the income of the top 10 percent of Americans went from 29 percent in 1981 to over 50 percent today.” Punchy chapters move through subtopics including the rise of student debt, the affordable housing crisis, Americans’ medical debt burden, and more—establishing for each a narrative of fundamental protections being rolled away following the 1980s. Current activism leads to a guardedly optimistic conclusion: “The zoomers may be able to lead a rebirth of the American Dream—if enough of us from all generations get involved.” Hartmann marshals evidence well to support his sometimes heated assertions and concludes each chapter with progressive proposals to address the damage he charts, always emphasizing, “It’s going to take major and radical action to stop and then reverse the Reagan Revolution.”
Accessible primer on the roots of today’s pro-billionaire pseudo-populism.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2024
ISBN: 9781523007288
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2024
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorker staff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
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