Dwight

A great read encompassing a clear eyed, plausible sourced narrative.

Revisado: 03-14-25

Clear eyed cataloging of the best and worst of key African-American political figures from the earliest days of the republic to the present day. Cane describes the consequences of persistent grifting, exhaustively, in painstaking detail. The implications are inescapable for the African-American community, and beyond to our entire democratic society.

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Exceptionally worthwhile read

Revisado: 08-07-24

The author’s skill as a teacher is plainly evident throughout. She offers intricate, detailed information in a way that is consistently accessible.
Her coverage of the subject matter is exhaustive and, at the same time, candid about the limits of present scientific knowledge. She draws on a vast store of scientific and historic knowledge, while weaving in her personal experience with remarkable balance.
This is an exceptionally fine piece of writing.

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Towering Patriotic Example

Revisado: 09-29-23

It's hard to express adequately the gratitude I feel for this extraordinary young person. It began just over a year ago when she bravely stepped forward to transform the work of the January 6 committee, adding breathtaking gravity to their effort to examine and repair the damage inflicted on our precious, imperfect and fragile democratic republic by, not only the singular malign executive, whose name I deliberately omit, but also by so many more misguided individuals whose pitiful moral impotence threaten the fabric of its very existence.
Learning the back story of where she came from, what she has had to endure, and who she is at her core has been transformative for me personally. I was very near her age fifty years ago, witnessing the Watergate crisis through the media of that time, and wondering at the courage and dramatic impact of an obscure executive branch operative, named Alexander Butterfield. The warm personal connection between these two American heroes becomes one of the most inspiring narratives of our shared history. We all owe both of these two more than we can ever repay.
The deep reverence in which I hold the Constitution of the USA entitles me to recognize its deep flaws with love. Article II, which creates the presidency, was a known “problem child” to many of the founders, particularly Franklin who foresaw the potential for sudden, drastic risk. The Butterfields and Hutchinsons are the rare, highly principled, isolated individuals who have to shore up these inherent defects to save our country, at tremendous personal cost. The arrogance at the top and the toxic sycophancy of their mindless, fault-ridden enablers are the viral carriers of destruction.
I want to acknowledge my personal transformation in the form of an entirely unexpected renewal of guarded hope for the Republican party, for which I have long held unequivocal contempt. I don’t expect to embrace the political values of Ms. Hutchinson and Mr. Butterfield, nor those of Liz Cheney or Adam Kinzinger. But I clearly profess complete solidarity with their fundamental sense of the bedrock principles of American democracy. Political disagreement must never, ever compromise those. The thoughtful Ms. Cassidy Hutchinson describes herself as moderate, or moderate Republican. Starting now, I intend to be more moderate in my own political thinking, following her shining example. We fight with each other too much. Let’s stop.

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Unique and Worthwhile Perspective

Revisado: 02-16-23

This book includes some remarkable characteristics. Meticulous historical detail weaves a compelling narrative that carefully marks a straight line from dispossession of native people a generation before the Civil War, immediately followed by slavery as an integral part of the cotton economy, to the century of Reconstruction, Jim Crow and determined resistance to civil rights and racial equity that persists to the present. In a remarkably dispassionate unpacking of unapologetic white supremacy, there is virtually no hyperbole of grievance and outrage for its own sake. That is left to the reader. At times, the experience becomes boundless and nearly inexpressible. To perpetrators, the callous exercise of power and privilege is no more than the exercise of sacred, personal liberty with no regard for the consequences to those of lesser empowerment. One might hope that this illumination could inspire change in those who most need to change. At the same time, however, the history imparts that such hopes have frequently arisen before, only to face nearly total disappointment. Brave agents of change have achieved considerable success. The road ahead remains very long.

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Extraordinary condensation of truth

Revisado: 04-29-22

This book is as much as or more relevant in 2022 than it was 38 years ago. Across thousands of years of human history, in diverse, repetitive, historical examples, Barbara Tuchman distills an elegantly simple description of the intrinsic self-destructive core of concentrated, great power. The ultimate tragedy is how we, the governed, let it continue because we are so feebly inept at checking this massively destructive phenomenon with our halting, tenuous efforts to sustain representative democracy, by whatever label, so plainly the only solution with the faintest hope of success. Yes, I mean the system Churchill called the worst except for all the others. So we are the ones to blame because we keep falling for the same lies and let brutal destruction destroy our children.

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Beautiful, haunting simplicity and power

Revisado: 12-01-21

This work rises fully to the artistry of the historic personage whose immortal name never quite appears and whose identity is ephemerally obscured, disclaimed as coincidental. And all that only enhances the way his unmistakable presence decorates a nuanced, deeply engaging portrait of his mate, their relationship, family and tragic narrative. Riding the momentum of this centuries long contribution to literary evolution, the author attains to the dimensionality he himself might employ If he were still creating today. The meticulous choice of wording inconspicuously inter-weaves a sublime texture of simple beauty. The brilliant skill of the audible narrator elevates that part from an audible rendering to something akin to a musical feast.

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Challenging expectation

Revisado: 11-04-21

This telling of a story that is far from new brings a 21st century perspective to the assorted accounts from three intervening centuries. It informs almost as much about those as it illuminates the real historical figures behind the Fess Parker images to which we are far more accustomed.

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Exceptionally worthwhile reading

Revisado: 08-21-20

I have read so many of the Trump books. Individually they are worthwhile, but collectively they tend to become repetitive. This book is an outstanding exception. It explains so much of the baffling catastrophe from the vantage point of an eyewitness, who is also a professional, well-versed in clinical psychology. I think every voter is seriously obligated to evaluate this stark pathology that is the “elephant in the room.“

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Vital Discomfort

Revisado: 08-13-20

This extraordinary book discomforts me, much as the voice of James Baldwin discomforted me 50 years ago. This discomfort is also crucial to my progress as a privileged, white man in freeing myself from all the toxic comfort and toxic fear infused by "the lie."

Aren't we white people the only ones to fix "the white problem," replacing all our falsehood and denial with the awful beauty of the truth, however uncomfortable? How could the truth of the last 401 years not be unbearably painful? However, unbearable recognition can no longer be an excuse for any trace of denial, especially in proportion to the suffering of countless souls who had to bear all the injustice directly and still do. We owe this justice to our children. I know my own want it, as I do.

Because of, among other things, the transcendent vision of Dr. Martin Luther King, the artistic brilliance of James Baldwin, the lifelong courage of John Lewis, the compelling sight of the callous murder of George Floyd and the alchemy of scholarship and passion in the beautiful work of Dr. Eddie S. Glaude Jr. in "Begin Again," we can see the way more clearly and begin again, NOW!

Thank you for teaching me, Professor Glaude, what I could only learn this way. Please keep teaching me more.

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Monumental achievement in service to the true American dream

Revisado: 05-28-19

I know no other book that is more crucial reading for anyone who truly loves the stated principles of American democracy. Be prepared for the profound irony that the ultimate survival, and latent potential of these enduring principles may well depend on clear eyed acceptance of the truth of their compromise and even profound betrayal by the so-called heroes of traditional US history. In the preamble to the US Constitution, the phrase “… in order to form a more perfect union,“ recognizes the persistent reality of imperfection. If this fragile device is to remain viable, it is essential for us people, of, by, and for, it has been formed, to understand fully those imperfections, past and present. Then, we can put those heroes in their proper place in the story of both sincere and insincere attempts to nurture this grand experiment. We, the people with unknown names, bear the ultimate responsibility to sustain it or let it expire.

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