An engaging, if narrow, history of reform.
A veteran activist uses history as a road map to a more progressive future in this collection of profiles.
As a self-proclaimed history buff who grew up in a devoutly Christian home, Kennard recognizes the disconnect between the lessons he learned in Sunday school (“honesty, justice…moderation, working in harmony with others”) and the contrasting set of behaviors exerted by humanity’s most influential leaders. Now, at over 80 years old, the lifelong environmentalist, whose activism helped lead to the formation of Earth Day in 1970, believes that Machiavelli had the right strategy. Those who want change should avoid “moralizing claptrap” and embrace “benevolent trickery.” In a world controlled by “greedy and corrupt oligarchs” and “faux populist zealots,” the answer to progressive reforms is not to hopelessly “bang on democracy’s front door, demanding to be let in,” but to “sneak in through the back door.” To this end, the book, which features photographs from various sources, examines people in history who changed the world through counterintuitive methods. For example, while White abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison alienated potential allies by burning copies of the Constitution, Black activist Frederick Douglass turned the anti-slavery movement upside down by using that very document, written by slave owners, as the center of his case for emancipation. Profiling over 30 individuals, from Julius Caesar and Cicero of ancient Rome to Ellen DeGeneres and Greta Thunberg of today, the work convincingly demonstrates that lasting, effective change often comes from unexpected places. It was, after all, a Southerner, Lyndon B. Johnson, who signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and a man whose career was built on anti-Communist hysteria, Richard Nixon, who normalized relations with China. There are many intriguing lessons to be learned here, including how Dwight Eisenhower used “mumbling” to conceal his intellect so that political rivals continually underestimated him. But some stories oversimplify complex histories. Benjamin Franklin, for instance, is credited with winning over the French by enthralling aristocrats with a coonskin cap, a clothing choice that “made the success of the American Revolution possible.” Moreover, a focus on “great” leaders obscures the role of grassroots movements in shaping history.
An engaging, if narrow, history of reform. (author bio, acknowledgements)Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2020
ISBN: 979-8-66-661641-3
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Dec. 8, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A determined if self-regarding portrait of a candidate striving to define herself and her campaign on her own terms.
An insider’s chronicle of a pivotal presidential campaign.
Several months into the mounting political upheaval of Donald Trump’s second term and following a wave of bestselling political exposés, most notably Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s Original Sin on Joe Biden’s health and late decision to step down, former Vice President Harris offers her own account of the consequential months surrounding Biden’s withdrawal and her swift campaign for the presidency. Structured as brief chapters with countdown headers from 107 days to Election Day, the book recounts the campaign’s daily rigors: vetting a running mate, navigating back-to-back rallies, preparing for the convention and the debate with Trump, and deflecting obstacles in the form of both Trump’s camp and Biden’s faltering team. Harris aims to set the record straight on issues that have remained hotly debated. While acknowledging Biden’s advancing decline, she also highlights his foreign-policy steadiness: “His years of experience in foreign policy clearly showed….He was always focused, always commander in chief in that room.” More blame is placed on his inner circle, especially Jill Biden, whom Harris faults for pushing him beyond his limits—“the people who knew him best, should have realized that any campaign was a bridge too far.” Throughout, she highlights her own qualifications and dismisses suggestions that an open contest might have better served the party: “If they thought I was down with a mini primary or some other half-baked procedure, I was quick to disabuse them.” Facing Trump’s increasingly unhinged behavior, Harris never openly doubts her ability to confront him. Yet she doesn’t fully persuade the reader that she had the capacity to counter his dominance, suggesting instead that her defeat stemmed from a lack of time—a theme underscored by the urgency of the book’s title. If not entirely sanguine about the future, she maintains a clear-eyed view of the damage already done: “Perhaps so much damage that we will have to re-create our government…something leaner, swifter, and much more efficient.”
A determined if self-regarding portrait of a candidate striving to define herself and her campaign on her own terms.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9781668211656
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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 Yorkerstaff 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
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