The Coddling of the American Mind (Greg Lukianoff, Jonathan Haidt)

 

This book started from an article published in The Atlantic.  It makes for a great audio book. I quite enjoyed it. They have a website: www.thecoddling.com 

They talk a lot about cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which is great. Cognitive distortions are something we should all review, often, I think! 

I've often looked for something to read about how to discuss tricky topics like politics and religion. In this book, I realized that actually, there aren't any tricks. It just needs to be happen. We need to be able to hear and discuss things we disagree about.

This book discusses and emphases three important quotes:

• Prepare the child for the road, not the road for the child. (unknown) 
• ....in other words, helicopter parenting is not healthy. 
• Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own thoughts unguarded. But once mastered, no one can help you as much, not even your father or your mother (Budda)
• The line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn)
• ...in other words, no one is simply evil, everyone has good ideas

Goodreads says:

Something is going wrong on many college campuses in the last few years. Rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide are rising. Speakers are shouted down. Students and professors say they are walking on eggshells and afraid to speak honestly. How did this happen?

First Amendment expert Greg Lukianoff and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt show how the new problems on campus have their origins in three terrible ideas that have become increasingly woven into American childhood and what doesn’t kill you makes you weaker; always trust your feelings; and life is a battle between good people and evil people. These three Great Untruths are incompatible with basic psychological principles, as well as ancient wisdom from many cultures. They interfere with healthy development. Anyone who embraces these untruths—and the resulting culture of safetyism—is less likely to become an autonomous adult able to navigate the bumpy road of life.

Lukianoff and Haidt investigate the many social trends that have intersected to produce these untruths. They situate the conflicts on campus in the context of America’s rapidly rising political polarization, including a rise in hate crimes and off-campus provocation. They explore changes in childhood including the rise of fearful parenting, the decline of unsupervised play, and the new world of social media that has engulfed teenagers in the last decade.


This is a book for anyone who is confused by what is happening on college campuses today, or has children, or is concerned about the growing inability of Americans to live, work, and cooperate across party lines.

https://youtu.be/IUePfXsuHLE?si=aBrJ8rSd7vhhhtEA 

Why Fascists Fear Teacher (Randi Weingarten)

 

Bottom line: Fascists don't want people to read or learn
Trump: Fascist
Alberta is headed that way too.
Well worth the read!

Goodreads says:

America’s most influential teacher’s union leader tells the anti-fascist history of public education, warning that American teachers today are under a new fascist assault--from book bans to culture wars and organized groups of “concerned” parents dictating what can be taught.

In 1940, as Hitler was gaining power and territory across Europe, a Nazi puppet government was put in power in Norway.  Teachers were among the first to publicly resist their rule—and they were winning. Frustrated that their attempts to recruit teachers into the party failed, the Nazis barged into Norway’s schools, beating teachers and students. When they still refused to submit, the Nazis closed the schools.  But the teachers figured out how to teach in private.  Increasingly incensed, the fascist government sent 1,300 teachers to concentration camps and 500 others to forced labor camps.  Even there, teachers kept teaching--and students kept learning how to think for themselves.  

As the head of one of the largest teacher’s union in the country, Randi Weingarten sees firsthand how today’s teachers are guarding American democracy against the threat of fascism. Drawing on history and decades of experience in the American public school system, she argues that teaching students to think critically is the key to defeating would-be dictators. She encourages teachers to continue promoting difference and healthy debate in their classrooms, and warns against censorship and complacency, looking to history to warn us all about what can happen if we devalue teachers and public schools.

Part history and part call to arms, Why Fascists Fear Teachers is a manifesto for American teachers from the author that Trump-appointed former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo once called “the most dangerous person in the world.” This deeply researched, urgent book from teachers’ greatest champion is necessary reading for our times.

The Siren's Call (Chris Hayes)

 

This was kind of an adult version of The Anxious Generation (Jonathan Haidt) only, not so much anxiety....but the root of it all is the same...everything fighting for our attention.

In This Age of Information, attention is what everyone is fighting for. We need to be wise about what we give our attention to. He says instead of the information age, we should call it the attention age.  Ironically, I had a hard time following all the time I listened (he's REALLY thorough) but he does make some good points and interesting connections through history. His recommendation is to be really vigilant about how we spend our time and attention - more reading, more walking, more quiet! 

Five key take aways:

1. The Attention Economy Thrives on Distraction and Outrage – The stuff that makes people explode is what gets shared and therefore the majority of our focus. 

2. Our Ability to Focus Has Diminished – Shorter articles, shorter videos, shorter speeches. We have really lost our ability for deep thought, deep reading and deep conversation.

3. Toxic Attention-Seeking Behaviors Dominate Public Discourse – Meaning conversation is thwarted by trolls, conspiracy theories and whataboutism. People like Donald Trump have mastered the art of attracting attention at any cost, using positive or negative outrage to stay in the public consciousness.

4. Attention is Both Exploited and Inherently Human – Businesses are set up to make money off of our focus. Since humans seem to naturally seek attention for validation and connection. Social media exploits this. It makes us think we have connections - but truthfully, it's a shallow and unsatisfying connection and actually is just increasing loneliness and isolation.

5. Fixing this can be done on an individual level but may also require a social shirt – We can make changes in our own life like choosing to read print newspapers or using "dumb phones" as well as spending more time reading and discussing. We may also need systemic changes, like government regulation on social media and other platforms.

Goodreads says:

An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller

From the New York Times bestselling author and MSNBC and podcast host, a powerful wide-angle reckoning with how the assault from attention capitalism on our minds and our hearts has reordered our politics and the very fabric of our society

“An ambitious analysis of how the trivial amusements offered by online life have degraded not only our selves but also our politics.” —New York Times

“Brilliant book… Reading it has made me change the way I work and think.”—Rachel Maddow

We all feel it—the distraction, the loss of focus, the addictive focus on the wrong things for too long. We bump into the zombies on their phones in the street, and sometimes they’re us. We stare in pity at the four people at the table in the restaurant, all on their phones, and then we feel the buzz in our pocket. Something has changed for most of human history, the boundary between public and private has been clear, at least in theory. Now, as Chris Hayes writes, “With the help of a few tech firms, we basically tore it down in about a decade.” Hayes argues that we are in the midst of an epoch-defining transition whose only parallel is what happened to labor in the nineteenth attention has become a commodified resource extracted from us, and from which we are increasingly alienated. The Sirens’ Call is the big-picture vision we urgently need to offer clarity and guidance.

Because there is a breaking point. Sirens are designed to compel us, and now they are going off in our bedrooms and kitchens at all hours of the day and night, doing the bidding of vast empires, the most valuable companies in history, built on harvesting human attention. As Hayes writes, “Now our deepest neurological structures, human evolutionary inheritances, and social impulses are in a habitat designed to prey upon, to cultivate, distort, or destroy that which most fundamentally makes us human.” The Sirens’ Call is the book that snaps everything into a single holistic framework so that we can wrest back control of our lives, our politics, and our future.

True or False (Cindy L. Otis)

 

This was a really timely read with an election going on in Canada right now. It was fascinating to read about how far back people have been sharing fake news. The first part of the book is a history and the rest is tips on how to not be tricked.

Before you share something on social media:

1. Read the whole article! Don't get sucked in by click bait headlines.

2. Even once you've read the article, don't go with your gut. Your gut isn't always the most reliable source because all of our personal biases are at play. Also, don't dismiss something as fake news simply because you don't agree with it. 

3. Check the URL for the article and check the domain name carefully. 

.com are for business. Are they trying to sell you something

.edu Students can use this as well as education organizaitons

.gov is usually a government organization

.org are usually non-profit, however, anyone can buy a .org domain

.biz, .info. .net .xyz etc These are for sites that don't fit somewhere else. Most legitimate news outlets would not use these kinds of domains

4. Check the date! Sometimes fake news starts with someone recycling old news.

5. Investigate the source. Where is this news coming from? Is it written by a journalist or a news organization? A company pushing a product? Or an individual? Most legitimate websites have an 'about us' section to tell you about the people in their organization.

6. Do an internet search on the sources background. If you cannot find anything about the source, be skeptical.

7. Sometimes fake news quotes people that don't actually exist. Google experts they quote.

8. Spelling mistakes are a big sign you have stumbled on fake news or a personal blog/website. Reputable outlets have multiple layers of editors

9. See if other news outlets are reporting on it. Sometimes fake news outlets have more than one website and will publish something across all their websites. Check outlets you're familiar with and are legit.

10. Identify who is telling the story and why. You should be able to click on the author's name and what else they have written. Is this someone who has an expertise on the topic discussed in the article?

11. Check the sources used. If there are not sources listed, be leery. If sources are anonymous, legitimate outlets will explain why they're anonymous.

12. Check out hyperlinks to other articles.

13. Ask yourself if there is more to the story. Fake news writers often copy parts of an article. If important context is missing, it is likely fake. 

14. Fake news often makes up quotes and attributes them to real people or copies quotes that they've previously said and they take it out of context to fit what they want to say.

15. Go to fact checking websites that debunk hoaxes and conspiracies. 

Goodreads says:

"If I could pick one book to hand to every teen—and adult—on earth, this is the one. True or False is accessible, thorough, and searingly honest, and we desperately needed it." —Becky Albertalli, author of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

"Though billed for young adults, this is a book that every adult should read." --The Washington Post

A former CIA analyst unveils the true history of fake news and gives readers tips on how to avoid falling victim to it in this highly designed informative YA nonfiction title.

"Fake news" is a term you've probably heard a lot in the last few years, but it's not a new phenomenon. From the ancient Egyptians to the French Revolution to Jack the Ripper and the founding fathers, fake news has been around as long as human civilization. But that doesn't mean that we should just give up on the idea of finding the truth.

In True or False, former CIA analyst Cindy Otis will take readers through the history and impact of misinformation over the centuries, sharing stories from the past and insights that readers today can gain from them. Then, she shares lessons learned in over a decade working for the CIA, including actionable tips on how to spot fake news, how to make sense of the information we receive each day, and, perhaps most importantly, how to understand and see past our own information biases, so that we can think critically about important issues and put events happening around us into context.

True or False includes a wealth of photo illustrations, informative inserts, and sidebars containing interesting facts and trivia sure to engage readers in critical thinking and analysis.

Attack From Within (Barbara McQuade)

 

This book was very American based, but many of the suggestions apply to Canada too. The problem definitely isn't unique to the USA. Since I live in Alberta where the current provincial politicians in charge seem to want to align themselves with the direction the current Republican government is moving and that is something I really don't want. Elbows up!

• Create laws that require social media platforms to disallow false claims.
• Fund local news coverage.
• Extend the equal time rule to all news outlets...all candidates get equal time. Prevent broadcast media from showing one campaign over another.
• The Fairness Doctrine has been removed from American media. Restore this law.
• To reclaim audiences lost to social media, networks should focus on analysis rather than reporting.
• Voluntary code of ethics for social media - remove false claims, remove bots, etc. This could be done with good algorithms!
• Reduce disinformation from the demand side....this could be a big part of public education. Train students to recognize fake news and online conspiracy. Media literacy is becoming more and more important. Verify news stories from multiple news providers. Teach them to fact check School children and adults need this.
• Public service campaigns to persuade people to use diligence when amplifying messages. This reminded me of The Dignity Index that has been created.
• Increase face to face discussions in real public squares. Seclusion makes matters worse.
• Vote and be an informed voter.
  
• Install rank choice voting....this prevents two popular candidates from splitting the vote and having a less popular candidate come up through the middle.
• Prosecute people who threaten and harass public servants.
• Hate crime laws must be enforced vigorously. 
• Speak up when people post threats.
• Combat corruption. No one is above the law. 

Goodreads (as well as the Amazon website since it was clear Goodreads was missing some of the summary) says:

An urgent, comprehensive explanation of the ways disinformation is impacting democracy, and practical solutions that can be pursued to strengthen the public, media, and truth-based politics. The book includes:

• The authoritarian playbook: a brief history of disinformation from Mussolini and Hitler to Bolsonaro and Trump, chronicles the ways in which authoritarians have used disinformation to seize and retain power.
• Disinformation tactics—like demonizing the other, seducing with nostalgia, silencing critics, muzzling the media, condemning the courts; stoking violence—and reasons why they work.
• An explanation of why America is particularly vulnerable to disinformation and how it exploits our First Amendment Freedoms, sparks threats and violence, and destabilizes social structures.
• Real, accessible solutions for countering disinformation and maintaining the rule of law such as making domestic terrorism a federal crime, increasing media literacy in schools, criminalizing doxxing, and much more.

American society is more polarized than ever before. We are strategically being pushed apart by disinformation—the deliberate spreading of lies disguised as truth—and it comes at us from all opportunists on the far right, Russian misinformed social media influencers, among others. It's endangering our democracy and causing havoc in our electoral system, schools, hospitals, workplaces, and in our Capitol. Advances in technology including rapid developments in artificial intelligence threaten to make the problems even worse by amplifying false claims and manufacturing credibility.

In Attack from Within, legal scholar and analyst Barbara McQuade, shows us how to identify the ways disinformation is seeping into all facets of our society and how we can fight against it. 


Disinformation is designed to evoke a strong emotional response to push us toward more extreme views, unable to find common ground with others. The false claims that led to the breathtaking attack on our Capitol in 2020 may have been only a dress rehearsal. Attack from Within shows us how to prevent it from happening again, thus preserving our country’s hard-won democracy.

Kenneyism (Jeremy Appel)

 

I've never been a big fan of Jason Kenney. Jeremy Appel REALLY isn't a fan of Jason Kenney. He actually makes him seem dangerous. Sometimes I had to roll my eyes at the hate-on he had for Jason Kenney. For example, in the chapter on immigration, I at first thought there was nothing wrong with Jason Kenney's policies...only let people who have skills in industries we need apply for immigration status. However, as he goes on to explain the underlying policies Kenney put in place, I was rather horrified. I also think he totally got it wrong with education, specifically with charter schools. It drives me crazy how so many news outlets go to the SOS (Save our Schools) organization to get comments about the problems with charter schools. They spew misinformation and fear. 

I have to say, Jason Kenney is a bit of a mystery. He claims to be a loyalist to the crown and a hard-core Catholic....but he sure has harsh policies for the citizens....which doesn't seem congruent.

Goodreads says:

The harsh moralistic worldview of Jason Kenney has spurred right-wing populism to the mainstream in Canadian politics, but he unleashed forces he couldn’t control.

From Jason Kenney’s days as an anti-abortion activist at the University of San Francisco, and through his years as a Canadian Taxpayers Federation lobbyist, Reform MP, top cabinet minister in the Harper government, and Alberta premier, he has been single-mindedly driven to bring his harsh moralistic worldview into the mainstream.

Kenney took on the old guard of Canada’s liberal consensus and won, playing a key role in shifting the country’s political discussion to the right. But the very right-wing populist forces Kenney cultivated would come back to haunt him.

Jeremy Appel has observed Alberta politics and reported on various aspects of Kenney’s agenda since 2017, when Kenney made his way across the province in his big blue pickup truck to rile up aggrieved conservatives. Kenneyism examines Kenney's political beliefs, his rise through federal political ranks, and his ultimate resignation from the leadership of the United Conservative Party.

The Kingdom, The Power and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism (Tim Alberta)

 

I have to admit, I have been bewildered at what the attraction towards Donald Trump is the religious right is in the USA. Sadly, this is even an issue in my church, which is not in the category of the churches the author talks about. However, it seems like many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have drank the same Kool-Aid.

This is a fascinating (and heart breaking) commentary on the issue. The author is a great person to comment on it - the son of a preacher and a journalist himself. His stories are unbelievable. It seems that the love of power and money has gotten in the way of evangelizing. They love the USA more than they love Jesus. Trump capitalizes on the feeling of losing power perfectly. It speaks to their gut and is fed by their biblical illiteracy. It's sad and I hope it ends after the election in 2024, but given the mess much of the churches are in according to this author, it's doubtful it ends there. Owning the Libs appears to be more important than following Jesus.

Goodreads says:

Instant New York Times Bestseller

One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of the Year

An Economist and Air Mail Best Book of the Year

"Brave and absorbing." -- New York Times

“Alberta is not just a thorough and responsible reporter but a vibrant writer, capable of rendering a farcical scene in vivid hues.” -- Washington Post

“An astonishingly clear-eyed look at a murky movement.” -- Los Angeles Times

Evangelical Christians are perhaps the most polarizing—and least understood—people living in America today. In his seminal new book, The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, journalist Tim Alberta, himself a practicing Christian and the son of an evangelical pastor, paints an expansive and profoundly troubling portrait of the American evangelical movement. Through the eyes of televangelists and small-town preachers, celebrity revivalists and everyday churchgoers, Alberta tells the story of a faith cheapened by ephemeral fear, a promise corrupted by partisan subterfuge, and a reputation stained by perpetual scandal.

For millions of conservative Christians, America is their kingdom—a land set apart, a nation uniquely blessed, a people in special covenant with God. This love of country, however, has given way to right-wing nationalist fervor, a reckless blood-and-soil idolatry that trivializes the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Alberta retraces the arc of the modern evangelical movement, placing political and cultural inflection points in the context of church teachings and traditions, explaining how Donald Trump's presidency and the COVID-19 pandemic only accelerated historical trends that long pointed toward disaster. Reporting from half-empty sanctuaries and standing-room-only convention halls across the country, the author documents a growing fracture inside American Christianity and journeys with readers through this strange new environment in which loving your enemies is "woke" and owning the libs is the answer to WWJD.

Accessing the highest echelons of the American evangelical movement, Alberta investigates the ways in which conservative Christians have pursued, exercised, and often abused power in the name of securing this earthly kingdom. He highlights the battles evangelicals are fighting—and the weapons of their warfare—to demonstrate the disconnect from Contra the dictates of the New Testament, today's believers are struggling mightily against flesh and blood, eyes fixed on the here and now, desperate for a power that is frivolous and fleeting. Lingering at the intersection of real cultural displacement and perceived religious persecution, Alberta portrays a rapidly secularizing America that has come to distrust the evangelical church, and weaves together present-day narratives of individual pastors and their churches as they confront the twin challenges of lost status and diminished standing.

Sifting through the wreckage—pastors broken, congregations battered, believers losing their religion because of sex scandals and political schemes—Alberta If the American evangelical movement has ceased to glorify God, what is its purpose?

How Civil Wars Start (Barbara F Walter)

 

American politics isn't in such a good place right now and Canadians love to follow American thought. This book certainly gave me reason to pause and think about politics in our world today. This should be required reading for everyone....especially if you want to be an informed voter.   

Using information civil wars that have occurred in many countries, she makes a strong argument for everyone to sit up and pay attention to this issue. 

Goodreads says:

Civil wars are the biggest danger to world peace today - this book shows us why they happen, and how to avoid them.

Most of us don't know it, but we are living in the world's greatest era of civil wars. While violence has declined worldwide, civil wars have increased. This is a new phenomenon. With the exception of a handful of cases - the American and English civil wars, the French Revolution - historically it has been rare for people to organise and fight their governments.

This has changed. Since 1946, over 250 armed conflicts have broken out around the world, a number that continues to rise. Major civil wars are now being fought in countries including Iraq, Syria and Libya. Smaller civil wars are being fought in Ukraine, India, and Malaysia. Even countries we thought could never experience another civil war - such as the USA, Sweden and Ireland - are showing signs of unrest.

In How Civil Wars Start, acclaimed expert Barbara F. Walter, who has advised on political violence everywhere from the CIA to the U.S. Senate to the United Nations, explains the rise of civil war and the conditions that create it. As democracies across the world backslide and citizens become more polarised, civil wars will become even more widespread and last longer than they have in the past. This urgent and important book shows us a path back toward peace.

State of Terror (Hillary Rodham Clinton and Louise Penny)

 

I don't usually read books like this but I saw a few interviews with Hillary Clinton and Louise Penny and so I was curious. I found the huge number of characters in the book tricky to follow but once I wrote down the names and could refer back to my list, I was able to follow the story a little better. This story isn't just politics and terrorists. It's also about friendship and family. When you get someone like Ellen as secretary of state, along comes her best friend and her children as well. That is often the case with women and I think it's a good thing. I also learned a bunch of titles in politics that I wasn't previously familiar with (FSO and HLI in particular!)

I was surprised when I would bring up this book with other people, how many people are Louise Penny fans. I just might have to read some more of her books!

Characters:
President Williams
Ellen Sue Adams (Secretary of State)
Scott Cargill - police (dies in Ch 19)
Aram Wani - bomber? (dies in Ch 19)
Aram Wani's wife/child
Anahita - FSO (Foreign Secret Operative) In a relationship with Ellen's son, GIL
Tim T Beacham
Dahirs - Anahita's parents
Zarahara Ahmadi - informant?
Bad Kotzting - Anahita waiting for his msg
Basher Shah - physicist released from prison by previous president
Gil - Ellen's son, Bashir Shah planned for him to be killed on bus, full anme: Gilgamesh
Dr Ahmadi - physicist
Betsy - Ellen's BFF, counselor, is followed
General Whitehead - chair of Joint Chiefs
Dunn - previous president (quite Trumpish!)
Katherine - Ellen's daughter, reporter
Quinn - Ellen's deceased husband
Boynton - works for Ellen
Barb Stenhauser President's Chief of Staff
Pete Hamilton - Dunn's former Press Secretary
President Nasseri - Iran
Akbar - picks up Gil in Pakiston
Grand Ayatollah Khosravi - Supreme leader of Iran, direct descendant of Muhammad
Denise Phelan - Genearl Whitehead's aide de camp
Hamza - helped Gil escape years ago
Mrs Whitehead - professor Martha Tierney, English Literature prof at Georgetown, Donne scholar

FSO = Foreign Service Officer

Goodreads says:

From the #1 bestselling authors Hillary Clinton and Louise Penny comes a novel of unsurpassed thrills and incomparable insider expertise—State of Terror.

State of Terror follows a novice Secretary of State who has joined the administration of her rival, a president inaugurated after four years of American leadership that shrank from the world stage. A series of terrorist attacks throws the global order into disarray, and the secretary is tasked with assembling a team to unravel the deadly conspiracy, a scheme carefully designed to take advantage of an American government dangerously out of touch and out of power in the places where it counts the most.

This high-stakes thriller of international intrigue features behind-the-scenes global drama informed by details only an insider could know.

The Reckoning (Mary Trump)

 

This is a book that makes you sit back and think. While Donald Trump is a big player in the story, it isn't really about him. It's about American racism. It looks at the big picture, rather than the close day by stories we see on the news. It's well re-searched (100 books/articles are listed in the references section in case you are looking for a bit more reading on the topic) and well-written.

She says that Donald is someone with a gaping wound where his soul should be (p. 87). Because of that, the whole world has been affected.

The first chapter of this book is a brutal look at the history of racism in the US. It surmises that racism is the basis of the problem. It starts off with a terrible story about a community that lynched a man who had killed his owner. They didn't just hang this man though. They hunted him and his wife down for hours, finally capturing him, and then tore his body apart, first his fingers, then his ears, then his legs and arms and threw the bits to the crowd as souvenirs. I think her purpose starting off with this terrible story is to shock the reader. It works. Later in the chapter, she quotes a man named Ezra Klein in 2017: "I actually think the great evil of American slavery wasn't involuntary servitude and forced labor. The true evil of American slavery was the narrative we created to justify it. They made up this ideology of white supremacy that cannot be reconciled with our Constitution, that cannot be reconciled with a commitment to fair and just treatment of all people. They made it up so they could feel comfortable."

In the chapter on covid, I never did get an answer to my question though about why he was so afraid to admit the dangers of the pandemic, of wearing masks and especially the importance of getting vaccinated, especially since he was. She talks about the terrorist attacks of September 11 and how it created a great moment of unity around the world. Covid killed more people each and every day than the September 11 attacks and yet it has become one of the most divisive tragedies in American history. It's bizarre and I don't understand why he'd be so reticent to show integrity on this issue.

So what's the answer? The racism must be addressed. It can't be swept under the carpet. It can no longer be ignored. Dismissing the pain of this racism only postpones the freedom from it. She further hypothesizes that we are in the midst of a mental health crises and we still treat it as an after thought or a moral failing. "The impact of COVID on our nation's psychological and emotional well-being underscores how dangerous it is to keep making that mistake." (p. 165) The other important issue is connection with each other.

The epilogue begins by discussing the Derek Chauvin verdict. Great quote: What this say to me is that in order to get a nominal degree of justice in this country, that a Black man has to be murdered, on air, viewed by the entire world. There would have to be a year's worth of protests, and a phalanx of other white police officers to tell one white officer he was wrong, in order to get on scintilla of justice." (Jason Johnson, a political scientist and commentator)

"In this country, American means white. Everybody else has to hyphenate." - Toni Morrison

Until that changes, sadly, the problem will persist.

Goodreads says:

The instant New York Times and USA Today bestseller

America is suffering from PTSD—The Reckoning diagnoses its core causes and helps us begin the healing process.

For four years, Donald J. Trump inflicted an onslaught of overlapping and interconnected traumas upon the American people, targeting anyone he perceived as being an “other” or an enemy. Women were discounted and derided, the sick were dismissed as weak and unworthy of help, immigrants and minorities were demonized and discriminated against, and money was elevated above all else. In short, he transformed our country into a macro version of his malignantly dysfunctional family.

How can we make sense of the degree to which our institutions and leaders have let us down? How can we negotiate a world in which all sense of safety and justice seems to have been destroyed? How can we—as individuals and as a nation—confront, process, and overcome this loss of trust and the ways we have been forever altered by chaos, division, and cruelty? And when the dust finally settles, how can we begin to heal, in the midst of ongoing health and economic crises and the greatest political divide since the Civil War?

Mary L. Trump is uniquely positioned to answer these difficult questions. She holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology specializing in trauma, has herself been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, and happens to be Donald J. Trump’s only niece. In The Reckoning, she applies her unique expertise to the task of helping us confront an all-encompassing trauma, one that has taken an immense toll on our nation’s health and well-being.

A new leader alone cannot fix us. Donald J. Trump is only the latest symptom of a disease that has existed within the body politic since America’s inception—from the original sin of slavery through our unceasing, organized commitment to inequality. Our failure to acknowledge this, let alone root it out, has allowed it to metastasize. Now, we are confronted with the limits of our own agency on a daily basis. Whether it manifests itself in rising levels of rage and hatred, or hopelessness and apathy, the unspeakable stress of living in a country we no longer recognize has affected all of us for a long time, in ways we may not fully understand. An enormous amount of healing must be done to rebuild our lives, our faith in leadership, and our hope for this nation. It starts with The Reckoning.

Who Is Kamala Harris (Kirsten Anderson)

 

This is a quick read and seems like a good summary of Kamala Harris' life so far. It ends with her becoming vice-president, of course. There will be some who won't like their kids to read it because of partison politics - but it can't be denied, this is a lady who has accomplished some great things. 

Goodreads says:

The inspiring story of Vice President Kamala Harris told in the new Who HQ Now format for trending topics.

On November 7, 2020, Kamala Harris, a senator from California, became the first woman and the first African-American and South Asian-American person to be elected to the vice presidency. While her nomination for this position was not unexpected, her rise to national prominence was one filled with unexpected turns and obstacles. After failing her first bar exam to become a lawyer, she tried again and passed. From there, she quickly rose through the legal ranks, serving as district attorney of San Francisco, then California's attorney general, and soon, senator. As a politician, Kamala Harris has been a vocal champion of progressive reforms and women's rights. This exciting story details the defining moments of what led to her nomination and all the monumental ones since that have shaped her career and the future of America.

Fear (Bob Woodward)

 

Bob Woodward is a renound reporter who has interviewed presidents and other politicians for generations and so I trust his work. That was the only reason I picked up this book. It wasn't because I want to relive all the crazy stories of the Trump presidency. He reveals that Trump wasn't qualified when he ran for president and he didn't do anything to improve his qualifications. The number of times people would ask him why he had a certain view and he'd answer, "I just do" despite all evidence pointing in the exact opposite direction. People around him did dances of secrecy and trickery to swipe papers off his desk that he wanted to sign. He'd forget about it for a while like a child playing peek-a-boo. Staff openly talked about how to protect the country from him. I was kind of hoping to get some insight into why people voted for him and continue to support him. The only thing I can come up with after reading this book is that they believed his lies that he said again and again despite all evidence to the contrary. It's astounding. This presidency will not spawn inter-generational respect. It will provide for some very entertaining history class lessons in the future. Kids will shake their heads and wonder what the hell was wrong with their parents and grandparents.

Goodreads says:

With authoritative reporting honed through eight presidencies from Nixon to Obama, author Bob Woodward reveals in unprecedented detail the harrowing life inside President Donald Trump’s White House and precisely how he makes decisions on major foreign and domestic policies. Woodward draws from hundreds of hours of interviews with firsthand sources, meeting notes, personal diaries, files and documents. The focus is on the explosive debates and the decision-making in the Oval Office, the Situation Room, Air Force One and the White House residence.

Fear is the most intimate portrait of a sitting president ever published during the president’s first years in office.

The Art Of Her Deal (Mary Jordan)

 

I am not sure if this is an authorized biography or not. The author did interview Melania Trump, so maybe it is. It is an interesting and quick read. Bottom line: Melania is focused and shrewd and knows how to get what she wants. She is not a victim at all. No more need for #freeMelania. She has a marriaged that is arranged just the way she wants it. 

When I read Michelle Obama's book I was struck by how they are just really good people. With this book, I'm struck by how calculating and laser focused the Trump's are on getting what they want. Ugh.

Too Much And Never Enough (Mary Trump)

 

I don't know if those who are Trump fans would ever read this. It explains a lot though. An interesting perspective from a disfavored part of the Trump family. 

He needs psychological help. It's not totally his fault. It's generational. The USA will suffer because of him.

Goodreads says:

In this revelatory, authoritative portrait of Donald J. Trump and the toxic family that made him, Mary L. Trump, a trained clinical psychologist and Donald’s only niece, shines a bright light on the dark history of their family in order to explain how her uncle became the man who now threatens the world’s health, economic security, and social fabric.

Mary Trump spent much of her childhood in her grandparents’ large, imposing house in the heart of Queens, where Donald and his four siblings grew up. She describes a nightmare of traumas, destructive relationships, and a tragic combination of neglect and abuse. She explains how specific events and general family patterns created the damaged man who currently occupies the Oval Office, including the strange and harmful relationship between Fred Trump and his two oldest sons, Fred Jr. and Donald.

A first-hand witness to countless holiday meals and family interactions, Mary brings an incisive wit and unexpected humor to sometimes grim, often confounding family events. She recounts in unsparing detail everything from her uncle Donald’s place in the family spotlight and Ivana’s penchant for re-gifting to her grandmother’s frequent injuries and illnesses and the appalling way Donald, Fred Trump’s favorite son, dismissed and derided him when he began to succumb to Alzheimer’s.

Numerous pundits, armchair psychologists, and journalists have sought to parse Donald J. Trump’s lethal flaws. Mary L. Trump has the education, insight, and intimate familiarity needed to reveal what makes Donald, and the rest of her clan, tick. She alone can recount this fascinating, unnerving saga, not just because of her insider’s perspective but also because she is the only Trump willing to tell the truth about one of the world’s most powerful and dysfunctional families. 

Becoming (Michelle Obama)

 

My big take away from this book is that Michelle Obama is really a good person who works hard to become the best person she can be. She's someone I'd want to have in my life. Imagine if she was part of our Mastermind Group?  Bottom line: She is smart and fun and someone who makes me want to be a better person.

On Goodreads I often read the people who give a book just one star. Not surprisingly, most of them are people who can't get past the politics. They are determined to not like anyone who isn't part of their party. 

Some quotes:

p. 75 On finding your place amongst people: 

It's hard to put into words what sometimes you pick up in the ether, the quiet, cruel nuances of not belonging - the subtle cues that tell you to not risk anything, to find your people and just stay put.

p. 81 On accepting differences:

...thanks to Suzanne [her friend at University that was opposite of her in so many ways, yet they had a great friendship], I am still coexisting with that guy to this day. This is what a control freak learns inside the compressed otherworld of college, maybe above all else: there are simply other ways of being.

p. 283 On being married to a leader:

There is no handbook for the incoming First Ladies of the United States. It's not technically a job, nor is it an official government title. It comes with no salary and no spelled out est of obligations. It's a strange kind of sidecar to the presidency, a seat that by the time I came to it had already been occupied by more than forty-three different women, each of whom had done it in her own way.

[It's just like women in the church! So many roles with no handbook]

p. 407 On the decline of civility since Donald Trump came on the scene:

Since childhood, I'd believed it was important to speak out against bullies while also not stooping to their level. And to be clear, we were now up against a bully, a man who among other things, demeaned minorities and expressed contempt for prisoners of war, challenging the dignity of our country with practically his every utterance. I wanted American to understand that words matter - that the hateful language they heard coming from their TVs did not reflect the true spirit of our country and that we could vote against it. It was dignity I wanted to make an appeal for - the idea that as a nation we might hold on to the core thing that had sustained my family, going back generations. Dignity had always gotten us through. It was a choice, and not always the easy one, but the people I respected most i life made it again and again, every single day. There was a motto Barrack and I tried to live by, and I offered it that night from the stage: When they go low, we go high.

p. 408 On reporting on Trump's Access Hollywood tape reporting:

In the end, the standards of decency were simply lowered in order to make room for the candidate's voice.

p. 411 On the 2016 election:

In the end,Hillary Clinton won nearly three million more votes than her opponent, but Trump had captured the Electoral College thanks to fewer than 80,000 votes spread across Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. I am not a political person, so I'm not going to attempt to offer an analysis of the results. I won't try to speculate about who was responsible or what was unfair. I just wish more people had turned out to vote. And I will always wonder about what led many women, in particular, to reject an exceptionally qualified female candidate and instead choose a misogynist as their president. But the result was now ours to live with.

p. 414 On her goals as First Lady:
....we'd focused ourselves on doing more than trending for a few hours on Twitter. And we had results. 45 million kids were eating healthier breakfasts and lunches; 11 million tsudents were getting 60 minutes of physical activity every day through our Let's Move! Active Schools program. Children overall were eating more whole grains and produce. The era of supersized fast food was coming to a close.

[I wonder how Melania feels about her Be Better campaign...considering her husband's tweets and name-calling]

Goodreads says:

In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America—the first African American to serve in that role—she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare.

In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same.

White Bird (RJ Palacio)

Sometimes, when looking at all the follow up books after Wonder, I snubbed them. Too much of a good thing? This one is definitely worth the time. I loved the story. It's a great twist that Julian was named after someone so brave and kind. I hope he lives up to his name!


Goodreads says:

In Auggie & Me, which expands on characters in Wonder, readers were introduced to Julian's grandmother, Grandmère. Palacio makes her graphic novel debut with Grandmère's story as a young Jewish girl hidden away by a family in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. Her experience demonstrates the power of kindness to change hearts, build bridges, and even save lives.

Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis: The Untold Story (Barbara Leaming)

I've said before, I am a fan of royalty. The Kennedy family has always fit in that category in my mind. I really knew nothing about Jacqueline Kennedy though until I read this. I'm sure there are many other books that would maintain the fairy tale imagine. This isn't one of those. I enjoyed reading about her upbringing, her debutante life and coming out, her relationships and desire to be with someone who wasn't boring and predictable (until she married someone who wasn't boring and predictable, that is).

I was surprised at this book - but also touched. Trauma changes you. It talks about the trauma Jackie Kennedy experienced and how it changed her. PTSD wasn't something talked about back then - but it's clear she had it. Some people wanted her to not respond how she did - but it changed it and there was no ignoring the trauma. That seemed to be the focus of this book. It would be interesting to read other books to get another perspective on her life.

I was also sad to hear what a unfaithful husband she had. So much of married life back then in those circles seemed to be about convenience. Their marriage certainly seemed to be one of those. However, there had to be some love. She wouldn't have been as traumatized if she hadn't loved him.

Goodreads says:

Barbara Leaming's extraordinary and deeply sensitive biography is the first book to document Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' brutal, lonely and valiant thirty-one year struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that followed JFK's assassination.

Here is the woman as she has never been seen before. In heartrending detail, we witness a struggle that unfolded at times before our own eyes, but which we failed to understand.

Leaming's biography also makes clear the pattern of Jackie's life as a whole. We see how a spirited young woman's rejection of a predictable life led her to John F. Kennedy and the White House, how she sought to reconcile the conflicts of her marriage and the role she was to play, and how the trauma of her husband's murder which left her soaked in his blood and brains led her to seek a very different kind of life from the one she'd previously sought.

A life story that has been scrutinized countless times, seen here for the first time as the serious and important story that it is. A story for our times at a moment when we as a nation need more than ever to understand the impact of trauma.

In a Sunburned Country (Bill Bryson)

Before this, I didn't know about Bill Bryson. When I was carrying this book around people would comment, "Oh! I love Bill Bryson. Have you ever read...."

I definitely have some more reading to do.

I really didn't know anything about Australia before this. His book was a great way to learn about Australia. I learned that you could die there. They have some seriously unique animals and plants and a lot of danger. I think I'll stick to the coastal areas, if I go there. Although, the lure of undiscovered gems and minerals in the wide open outback is a bit of a temptation!

I really enjoyed his humour. I found myself chuckling often. I read this while hanging out in the lodge on our school's ski days and my friends around me would often ask what I was chuckling about. We enjoyed it together. I was glad I had those two days to sit and read. I wouldn't want to spread this one out over too many more days...it could take forever to read this one, if you let that happen. Instead, I totally immersed myself. It isn't that long, but the font is quite small....very dense!

It is interesting to me that so many countries have a part of their history where they were abusive to the indigenous people that were there when they arrived. There doesn't seem to be much shame in that on the part of Australians though. I found that quite curious.

I did find him a little more verbose than necessary. He does like to go on and on and on. Mavericks was the same way. (I never did finish that one...it's more of a long term project type book) It had a lot of great information, but there was just so much of it! I wondered if more people would read these kinds of books if only they were a little more succinct. He also likes to use crazy words. At first I'd look them up. Then I just started making a list to look up later. Most of the time I discovered that there was usually a word that would be just as effective that he could have used.

Goodreads summary:

Every time Bill Bryson walks out the door, memorable travel literature threatens to break out. His previous excursion along the Appalachian Trail resulted in the sublime national bestseller A Walk in the Woods. In A Sunburned Country is his report on what he found in an entirely different place: Australia, the country that doubles as a continent, and a place with the friendliest inhabitants, the hottest, driest weather, and the most peculiar and lethal wildlife to be found on the planet. The result is a deliciously funny, fact-filled, and adventurous performance by a writer who combines humor, wonder, and unflagging curiousity.

Despite the fact that Australia harbors more things that can kill you in extremely nasty ways than anywhere else, including sharks, crocodiles, snakes, even riptides and deserts, Bill Bryson adores the place, and he takes his readers on a rollicking ride far beyond that beaten tourist path. Wherever he goes he finds Australians who are cheerful, extroverted, and unfailingly obliging, and these beaming products of land with clean, safe cities, cold beer, and constant sunshine fill the pages of this wonderful book. Australia is an immense and fortunate land, and it has found in Bill Bryson its perfect guide.