New books are rolling off the press at a dizzying clip. In this book list edition I am including a few older books along with some new ones that tie things together. I really love the “ah ha” moments that occur when facts from one book line up to fit with a puzzle piece found in another.
“The Dark Side” by Jane Mayer. This is the well regarded author of “Dark Money” that I introduced last month. As I said before all of her books are worth reading. This one focuses on the Bush administration and how terrorism has shaped our country and challenged some of our basic moral beliefs. There are in depth looks at individuals in the Bush administration and the controversial policies that they enacted.
“Devil’s Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump and the Storming of the Presidency” by Joshua Green
Warning! This book may disturb your sleep but that may not be a problem as once you start you will probably read into the wee hours of the morning anyway. If you have read “Dark Money” you will recognize some of the questionable characters that come up in these pages. It is well written and hard to put down and very unsettling.
“One Nation After Trump: A Guide for the Perplexed, the Disillusioned, the Desperate and the Not Yet Deported” by E.J. Dionne, Jr., Norman J. Ornstein, Thomas E. Mann
How can you not crack a book with that title! The basic premise is that politics should be about solving problems and resolving disputes not aggravating divisions and exploiting different groups of Americans for political gain. The first half of the book analyzes the problems arising from the Trump administration’s policies and the second half discusses how we take government back and how we build a better version. There are many good ideas put forth in this book for making things better. The authors really want to challenge us to work on a positive change and not fall back into the usual political dialog of just attacking the other side. This is a book a person probably ought to have in their own library to go back to again and again. I appreciated the positive tone in which it is written. We can do this. The authors are three renowned political historians and political scientists.
“The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule” by Thomas Frank This is an older book published in 2008 and written in response to the actions of the Bush administration. I learned a lot about Conservatives in these pages and I wonder what the author thinks now, considering our political position today. Things that he warned of in this book and his previous one titled “What’s The Matter With Kansas?” are now being played out in our government today. This book is a match up with “Devil’s Bargain” and “The Dark Side” as far as putting some puzzle pieces together. The author does a good job of explaining how Washington itself and the politicians who work there have evolved from the post depression days of the 1930’s and how the Conservatives ingenious plan has driven the country to the right since then.
Until next time,
Sue
