Our Time Is Now by Stacey Abrams

Our Time Is Now: Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America by Stacey Abrams
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book has my highest recommendation. Even with as much as I read about democracy and politics I still found this book to be highly educational and motivational. It should be required high school/college reading especially with our democracy in increasing danger. The two main topics are fair elections and the importance of a complete and accurate census. That sounds a bit dry, but Abrams makes the topics come alive with her passion and knowledge.

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“Voting is a constitutional right in the United States, a right that has been reiterated three separate times via constitutional amendment.”

“Voter suppression works its might by first tripping and causing to stumble the unwanted voter, then by convincing those who see the obstacle course to forfeit the race without even starting to run.”
― Stacey Abrams

Lead from the Outside by Stacey Abrams

Lead from the Outside: How to Build Your Future and Make Real Change by Stacey Abrams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is really good. Much like Stacey Abrams is a jack-of-all-trades this book cannot be fit into one neat category: it's part political memoir, of course, part self-help business book, part antiracism book, part you-should-just-read-it-okay? As I learned more and more about Abrams I was reminded of Benjamin Franklin. She's a renaissance woman! We're too often discouraged from this wide approach to knowledge and career to the detriment of current society, I think.

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“Never tell yourself no. Let someone else do it.”

“What’s not right is giving credence to bad actions, and thereby becoming complicit.”

Too Much and Never Enough by Mary L. Trump

Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man by Mary L. Trump
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is mostly about the Trump family more than Donald Trump specifically. Definitely interesting and terribly sad- mostly for all the people the Trump family ripped off. Of course, saddest of all is the 160,000 dead Americans and counting.

The final section where she opines on the Trump presidency is skippable, as it just an obvious statement of what a complete failure and human tragedy his presidency has been.

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White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo

White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read a lot about racism (and sexism) and I still think this book provided me with something valuable. It's a different framework from which to view the problems we face and how to best conduct yourself when opposing racism. I'm still trying to process how this works with (or sometimes contradicts?) the type anti-racism espoused by Ibram X. Kendi.

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The Problem with Everything by Meghan Daum

The Problem with Everything: My Journey Through the New Culture Wars by Meghan Daum
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

She's a great writer, and though I definitely don't agree with everything she writes, I share many of the same frustrations. I am also a Generation X feminist, and I struggle with a lot of the changes that are taking place, both good and bad. When I was in my 20s, I was not yet familiar with serious feminist thought and writing, or for that matter, serious thought and writing about racism and economics which both inform my current understanding of feminism. I also hadn't experienced more of the snags women face as they grow older in our society so my experience was also only partially informative. But I also remember thinking what a dinosaur my fairly young mother could be at times, so I'm concerned about turning into a dinosaur as well.

This is the sort of book we should all be discussing at a book club. It presents a real challenge to both our ingrained and developing views.

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I Think You're Wrong (But I'm Listening) by Sarah Stewart Holland

I Think You're Wrong (But I'm Listening): A Guide to Grace-Filled Political Conversations by Sarah Stewart Holland
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Somewhat interesting, but not terribly deep. Worth considering some of the cooperative spirit discussed in this book and I'm interested in listening to the podcast, "Pantsuit Politics." I recommend "The Righteous Mind" by Jonathan Haidt which is also about understanding the other side of the political aisle but with scientific research.

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Fight like a Mother by Shannon Watts

Fight like a Mother: How a Grassroots Movement Took on the Gun Lobby and Why Women Will Change the World by Shannon Watts
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

More than a book about gun policy! It's a book about activism, feminism, intersectionality, and generally making the world a better place. Strongly recommend this book!

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The War on Normal People by Andrew Yang

The War on Normal People: The Truth About America's Disappearing Jobs and Why Universal Basic Income Is Our Future by Andrew Yang
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm a supporter of Warren, but I thought there were a lot of important arguments and ideas in this book about the current state of our economy, and the direction it's taking. I have a hard time taking Yang seriously as a candidate because of his lack of government experience and his performance during the Democratic Debates, but this is probably the third-best book by a Democratic Candidate for the 2020 election. So far, I've read at least one book by each of the 10 candidates that qualified for the third debate (and some of the dropouts) except Beto. I guess that's next.

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The Senator Next Door by Amy Klobuchar

The Senator Next Door: A Memoir from the Heartland by Amy Klobuchar
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Klobuchar is clearly a good person, but wow, I was deeply unimpressed by this book. Nearly 3/4th is just memoir, which speaks of the excessive self-importance shared by candidates like Hickenlooper.

Additionally, I don’t think Klobuchar is part of the modern Democratic Party. There are too many urgent issues in this era, many of them caused by the far right, and it’s my opinion that centrists such as Klobuchar or Biden properly belong in a third party. The Republicans won’t have them, and neither should Democrats.

She seems to lack large vision and is mired in accomplishing little fixes. It wasn’t even clear if she failed to cover her policy in this book or if she’s completely lacking policy. I know she’s “tough on crime” and that she thinks we can’t be isolationists. Other than that, I don’t know too much about her policies after one of the lengthiest candidate’s books. Well, maybe it just felt like the lengthiest.

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The Land of Flickering Lights by Michael Bennet

The Land of Flickering Lights: Restoring America in an Age of Broken Politics by Michael Bennet
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Bennett was hardly on my radar for the presidential candidates for the 2020 election but he has my attention now. I appreciate that he’s both reasonable and angry though possibly that’s the prerogative of white men running and not for the other candidates as much. This is a policy book more than a memoir which is the kind I find most useful going into the primaries. I recommend it to both Democrats trying to pick their candidates and Republicans trying to figure out why Democrats are Democrats. (Still voting Warren but Bennett is a solid candidate.)

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An Unlikely Journey by Julian Castro

An Unlikely Journey: Waking Up from My American Dream by Julian Castro
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is entirely a memoir and has no policy whatsoever. As a memoir, it’s cute, but it entirely skips his winning election for Mayor, and his time as Mayor, which is the period of time he is best known for. Additionally, that period of time is the time when he started developing a relationship with President Obama which ultimately led to his position on the cabinet for HUD.

I was pleasantly surprised by the HUD program to help homeless veterans pay for housing that was able to give vouchers to every homeless veteran that qualified and wanted help. Impressive work.

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United by Cory Booker

United: Thoughts on Finding Common Ground and Advancing the Common Good by Cory Booker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Cory Booker isn’t my favorite candidate for the Democratic nomination but I was pleasantly surprised by his memoir. After reading this, he’s moved way up my rankings. The memoir dealt with some but not all of my policy concerns: poverty and the prison-industrial complex. He only briefly touched on environmental issues. I would have preferred a more comprehensive explanation of his policy perspectives.

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The Opposite of Woe by John Hickenlooper

The Opposite of Woe: My Life in Beer and Politics by John Hickenlooper
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

First of all, this book is too long, so right off the bat, you get the impression that Hickenlooper thinks too much of his importance. I read short books and super long books, but I can forgive a lot of writing gaffes if you manage not to waste my time. On the flip side, if your book is a tome, I expect you to provide Anna Karenina-levels of spiritual fulfillment. Don't get me wrong, I also thought Bill Clinton's My Life and Ron Chernow's Grant were too long at twice the length and twice the political importance of this.

Why is it so long? The first 60% of the book focuses on Hickenlooper's early foibles and every woman he ever dated. Some of this background is important so that we can see why he became the type of leader he became, but certainly, not most of it. In defense of this section though, Hickenlooper can be very very funny.

The remaining 40% is the important part, but by that time I'd lost a lot of interest and focus. Considering that Hickenlooper is running for President just 3 years after the publication of this book, there was a noticeable lack of overall policy. Rather, he recounted his process and decisions along the way. While I appreciate that his process is facts-based, as that seems to be lacking in governance these days (though especially in Republican governance), quite often, his fact-gathering was insufficiently comprehensive. Other times he emphasized public opinion over fact-gathering, making for somewhat inconsistent results. For example, I thought his explanation and support for fracking seemed to be lacking in any views inconsistent with the limited facts he'd gathered as an insider in the industry. Okay, he drank some fracking fluid that a government agency said was technically safe for drinking, congratulations. But just off the top of my head, here are some things he failed to investigate or mention: 1) how comprehensive are these government requirements when corporations and conservatives constantly lobby to loosen or remove envirnmental regulations? 2) safe for whom? testing on pregnant women and children is not allowed and at best are a guess. I didn't even take a single Tylenol when I was pregnant, do you honestly think pregnant women drinking fracking fluid is safe when it's not even tested? But this is just one example of his lack of rigorous thinking which stood out mainly because of his constant self-congratulation on his rigorous thinking. Don't get me wrong, he's still 100% better than Trump for the leader of the free world, but that appears to be true also of most people I know.

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Off the Sidelines by Kirsten Gillibrand

Off the Sidelines: Raise Your Voice, Change the World by Kirsten Gillibrand
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this because Gillibrand is one of the 2020 Presidential candidates. Unfortunately, this isn’t a policy book; it’s part memoir and part resume of her legislative pursuits on behalf of New York. That said, I think it’s difficult to be a woman/mother in my age-group and not be delighted by Gillibrand’s personality. She’s funny and very relatable and to the extent that she mentions her current policies, which is not very much, I’m in agreement with her positions.

On the other hand, she tried to address one of my central concerns about her, her House gun record, but I don’t think she did so persuasively enough.

She’s not my preferred candidate, and she’s not currently polling well. Nonetheless, if by some miracle she became the Democratic nominee, I’d be pleased to vote for her.

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Promises to Keep by Joe Biden

Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics by Joe Biden
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Presumably, Biden wrote this in preparation for his 2008 Presidential run. I'm not sure if my perspective would have been different if I read then, but it falls flat in 2019. Part of this is due to his candor, which I appreciate, but even so. He doesn't seem like warm and charming "Uncle Joe," but rather a kind of arrogant, aggressively ambitious person who ran for President in 1988, even when, back then, he had no particular reason to run other than he wanted to President.

His politics are disturbingly centrist, or rather conservative by today's standards. I was horrified by his explanation of voting against bussing in 1974, and then - writing in 2007- he was more concerned that a bunch of Connecticut suburbanites had mistakenly thought he voted for bussing than being concerned that the rest of us might more accurately think he was a civil-rights-crushing Senator. Indeed, he expressed a lot of sympathy for people that repressed civil rights. Well, here in 2019, where we are witnessing a resurgence of racist language and legislation, these views seem gross and irresponsible at best.

He also largely underplayed his pretty well-documented plagiarism in law school and on the 1987 campaign trail. He was either sloppy and lazy in his youth, or quite straight-forwardly dishonest, and neither is good. Obviously, that part is 30 years in the past, and he's potentially changed quite a bit since then, but also, maybe he hasn't?

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Shortest Way Home by Pete Buttigieg

Shortest Way Home: One Mayor's Challenge and a Model for America's Future by Pete Buttigieg
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Pretty interesting and different. Though it’s definitely political in nature it falls more on the memoir side. For example, Buttigieg spends half a chapter discussing his piano playing, and nowhere does he discuss his potential domestic and foreign policy given that he’s running for President. It’s political but not full of policy. And I get it, he’s a former consultant that probably intends to let case studies and science run his policies but I’m left filling in the blanks myself and I worry I’ll just fill them with what I would like instead of what Buttigieg actually intends. Still, an interesting memoir by an intelligent person that is well-worth reading.

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Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution by Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution by Bernie Sanders
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I thought this would be a how-to of grassroots politics, but it's a summary of Sander's economic policies. If you read his 2016 book, as I did, there is nothing new here for you. However, the 2016 book was way too long, this one is extremely short. It could function basically as a pamphlet-plus for the primaries in Iowa and New Hampshire. I'd recommend this book mostly if you think that Sanders is not a viable candidate for President, or if you think that people that support him are extreme in some way. Don't blame me if this book converts you and you turn into a Bernie Bro. Okay, fine, blame me.

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Our Revolution by Bernie Sanders

Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In by Bernie Sanders
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Part 1 of this book is a rehash of Sander's 2016 presidential run and Part 2 is his beliefs and policies on a number of issues. Part 1 is not so good, and the book overall is probably too long, but Part 2 makes the whole endeavor worthwhile for me.

I've been a big Warren fan for a long time, I really want a female president, I was so annoyed at Sanders in the 2016 election, and I was doubly annoyed when he announced his 2020 run. But, oh boy, do I love this entire policy section. He goes issue by issue, campaign finance reform, banking reform, health care, higher education, the environment, racism, immigration, the economy and government programs, and more, and for each issue, he calls it as he sees it, even when it makes Democrats look bad. And I've been watching C-Span since the 1990s, I know this is who Bernie Sanders really is and always has been. The rest of the left is just starting to catch up to him.

I haven't necessarily switched my allegiance to Sanders, rather just put him up there tied with Warren for now. Warren's policies and Sander's policies are not that dissimilar, so for me, it will really come down to how the early stages of the primaries go.

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Leadership In Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Leadership In Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a very enjoyable read about Lincoln, the two Roosevelts, and Johnson. I'm not sure if I learned specific things about leadership, but I loved reading about how these Presidents fought for the rights of the poor and minorities.

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The Truths We Hold by Kamala Harris

The Truths We Hold: An American Journey by Kamala Harris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a hard book to rate or review because the substance is great, but I really think the order of the topics hurts her case. Like some of the other Election 2020 memoirs that are coming out the substance is more policy than a memoir. I'm generally a fan of that concept as I want to know what the candidates stand for, but that generally makes for bad memoirs.

But okay, if we're going to learn about what Kamala stands for, do we want to start for criminal justice reform? I don't think that's the winning focus for 2020, but because she was faking the memoir style, she started with her career expertise. The beginning felt extremely weak and boring and that was unideal. She should have started with economics and global warming probably in terms of election importance and actual importance. I almost quit reading the book before she hit her stride. I'm glad I didn't though because towards the end I felt a lot more persuaded by her thinking.

I particularly like how she talks about data collection in developing solutions in public policy. Some years ago I read the Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo book, Poor Economics, about this very topic, and I found it to be a complete game-changer in the way I think about policy data.

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