Book Review: The Nineties-A Book by Chuck Klosterman

Between the falling of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the falling of the World Trade Center in 2001 was a decade called the 1990s. The nineties gave the United States its first Baby Boomer President, Bill Clinton, and we saw the rise of the internet. Generation X was finally noticed (the oldest already in their twenties) with the advent of Grunge and a little sitcom called “Friends.” Princess Diana died in a horrific car crash in a Paris tunnel, and OJ Simpson went from football hero to a accused murderous villain. We gossiped about Kato Kaelin, Lorena Bobbit, and Monica Lewinsky. We began the nineties completely unaware of email and ended it checking our AOL email accounts for messages from our families and friends.

The nineties seem so long ago, and at the same time, it seems so recent. Has it really been nearly thirty years since Kurt Cobain left this mortal coil? I feel like I just heard the news of his suicide. Apparently, I’m not the only one who feels like this. Writer Chuck Klosterman also has thoughts about the nineties. And he discusses this decade in his book The Nineties.

In essays both short and long, Klosterman examines the politics, media, sports, and pop culture that shaped the nineties. He examines the scientific developments that gave us the aforementioned internet to the cloning, including Dolly the sheep. He examines major political events like Clarence Thomas Supreme Court hearings and Anita Hill, Bill Clinton’s election ,and a certain political disrupter named Ross Perot, and South Africa electing Nelson Mandela after he had been a political prisoner.

Klosterman speaks of tragedies like the Oklahoma City bombing of the Murrah Federal Building and the Columbine High School shooting in Colorado, which we are still talking about today. But he also writes about things that I had forgotten like the cult Heaven’s Gate mass suicide and the simulated Earth Biosphere 2.

Being a Generation X-er himself, Klosterman (born in 1972), can’t help but write about the insurgence of Generation X. Caught between the more attention grabbing Baby Boomers and the Millennials, Generation X had a brief moment in the spotlight. Douglas Coupland’s novel Generation X was a best-seller. Grunge music and the Seattle scene took over music. Countless movies like “Reality Bites” and “Singles” examined the ennui and struggles of the MTV generation, And speaking of MTV, it was still showing music videos, but reality TV had taken hold with a new show called “The Real World.” Now, thirty years later MTV shows nothing but reality television shows. My younger self would have been so pissed if MTV was broadcasting “Teen Mom” back in 1990.

Where was I? Yes, Generation X and pop culture. We made Thursdays “must-see TV” on NBC with shows like “Friends” and “Seinfeld.” Streaming was more than a decade away, and cable was just starting to make quality television programs (“The Sopranos” and “Sex and the City”), so network television still ruled our viewing habits. Today, “Friends” and “Seinfeld” would be streamed on Netflix or Max, and nudity and cursing would be involved. So instead of Ross from “Friends” saying to Rachel, “We were on a break!” he’d probably say, “We were on a fucking break!” and Rachel would probably be topless.

I really enjoyed reading The Nineties. Klosterman covered so many topics (his take on the Billy Ray Cyrus cheeseball hit “Achy Breaky Heart” cracked me up, and remember a clear cola called Crystal Pepsi?), and he must of had fun walking down memory lane and researching all the people, places, and things that made the nineties the nineties. Those of us who remember this decade will read this book with a sense of both happy and sad nostalgia. And younger generations will get primer on what old people are talking about when they talk about the nineties.

Book Review: Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond

Matthew Desmond, whose Pulitzer Prize winning book Evicted I reviewed several years ago, is back with another must-read book, Poverty, By America. And though it clocks in at a brief 189 pages, this book is a gut punch. Poverty, By America is eye-opening and will make you think.

Poverty, by America has several short, but impactful chapters focusing on topics like why poverty has such a grip on so many people in the United States. When it comes to the United States, money is spent on programs and benefits for people who are struggling. But for the most part, those programs and benefits are just a mere bandage on the problem. Much of our issues with poverty also have to do with low and stagnant wages. A lack of collective bargaining power when it comes to employees dealing with their employers. Plus, because employees pay so little (just look at Wal-Mart), many of these employees rely on government benefits leaving corporations off the hook.

Furthermore, there is so much bias towards those mired in poverty. “What did they do to end up that way?” and “Do these poor people deserve our help?” are questions people often have when it comes to America’s poor people. There are so many hoops poor people have to jump through just to receive a smidge of help. On the other hand, wealthy people aren’t asked to prove their moral worth when it comes to their riches. Also, crimes committed by the wealthy often get a slap on the wrist, and the wealthy have money to hire the best lawyers and suck up to the right politicians. The poor don’t have those advantages.

Desmond goes into great depth focusing on the policies and structures that exploit the poor, and yes, even those who consider themselves middle class. Interestingly enough, a lot of policies enacted in the wake of Covid helped alleviate poverty, yet sadly, these policies were allowed to expire. For readers looking for facts, analysis, and data to back up Desmond’s claims, believe me, he has them in spades.

But all doesn’t have to be doom and gloom. Desmond also provides doable solutions including various reforms. However, these reforms may have naysayers, but Desmond is quick to point out how we all suffer from the poverty of others, and looking into these issues and making an attempt to alleviate poverty can benefit all of us. Of course, it will take a lot to convince others of these things. As Desmond claims, “Poverty will be abolished in America when a mass movement demands it.”

Poverty, By America is a small book that packs a powerful punch. It is one that should be read, truly studied and understood, and maybe, but maybe, enough people will be convinced that poverty affects us all, not just those on the bottom rung.

Book Review: Bootstrapped-Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream by Alissa Quart

One of my favorite TikTok accounts is a man whose account has a running theme that “self-made is a toxic myth.” He focuses mostly on singers and musicians who come from wealth and privilege (Taylor Swift and The Strokes come to mind), and how that wealth and privilege helped them gain a foothold in the cutthroat and highly competitive music industry. He doesn’t deny their talent and work ethic. But he realizes having parents with money, connections, and advantages helped these singers and musicians attain success. Even artists who weren’t flush with cash and connections benefitted from a supportive community like the iconic band Nirvana.

What am I getting at? Well, in other words, nobody is totally self-made, American rugged individualism is total bupkis, and we all benefit from having a sense of community, support, and a safety net.

And this idea of being self-made and picking oneself up by one’s bootstraps is thoroughly investigated in Alissa Quart’s eye-opening and impactful book Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream.

The idea of American idea of being self-made. Quart gives us examples of hyper individualism and total self-efficiency naming people like Laura Ingalls Wilder for creating “A pioneer-Western-self-creation-fantasy,” the Horatio Alger stories, and the likes of Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Ayn Rand.

Interestingly enough, if you dig deeper into those people you will find out many of them benefitted from the government and the largesse of other people. Pioneer families like the Ingalls benefitted from 1862’s Homestead Act, which gave 160 acres of land to citizens that they could nurture and live on. Emerson grew up with considerable wealth and Thoreau often depended on the generosity of others. And though Rand thought of Social Security as some type of welfare (even though we pay into our entire working lives), she had no qualms about taking Social Security in her latter years.

However, those truths are often buried under a load of myth, and I must admit it did open my eyes quite a bit. We all benefit from a collective of some type of community both public and private. The trick now is to get Americans to understand how we benefit from a sense of a supportive society for all of its citizens. And Quart gives us examples of people who are trying to do things that help others thrive.

One such group of people are the Patriotic Millionaires. Patriotic Millionaires actually want to be taxed more (yes, these people exist). And they want their taxes to go to things that actually benefit all Americans, not just themselves.

Quart also mentions various grassroots organizing that is occurring all through out the United States that benefit communities and individuals. But she also mentions we shouldn’t live in world where people have to rely on GoFundMe to pay for their cancer treatments or go through countless hoops just to get food stamps. Quart also talks of how the Covid 19 pandemic really made us look at ourselves as a sense of community in such a critical time. It was a time where we relied so much on essential workers like those in healthcare or those working at the grocery stores, as delivery drivers, and teachers educating our children through Zoom. But sadly, there were also vile people flipping out when they were asked to wear a mask while shopping at Wal-Mart.

Bootstrapped is a book that focuses on a very fraught concept and is one that should inspire conversation and perhaps some change in this idea that relying on others is a bad thing. As Prince one sang, “Dearly beloved. We are gathered here today, to get through this thing called ‘life’.”

Book Review: Profiles in Ignorance-How America’s Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber by Andy Borowitz

It seems to me, that when it comes to politics, especially for the current state of the GOP, ignorance isn’t a hindrance. Currently, Lauren Boebert, who dropped out of high school and kept flunking her GED tests, is a member of Congress. To me, this is a tragedy. But apparently her constituents in Colorado are perfectly fine with having a willfully ignorant moron representing them. Boebert is now in her second term in Congress.

Yes, the embrace of idiocy makes me want to throw things. And it turns out accepting stupidity in our politicians isn’t exactly a new thing for the GOP. It’s been going on for decades. And political satirist, Andy Borowitz, takes on this phenomenon is his book Profiles in Ignorance: How America’s Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber.

According to Borowitz there are three stages of ignorance-ridicule, acceptance, and finally, celebration.

In ridicule Borowitz discusses how an affable but dim B-list actor named Ronald Reagan because President for two terms, and how so many of his shitty policies are still having a negative impact on the United States today. Even Reagan’s speech writer called him a “barren terrain.” And remember when Dan Quayle misspelled potato? What did we do? We mocked and laughed, and thought things can’t get worse than Dan Quayle misspelling potato. But I digress.

The next stage is acceptance, where many people accepted good old boy President like George W. Bush even though he didn’t have much going on upstairs because he was the type of guy you could have a beer with. Why would we want an egghead who cares about the planet and shit like Al Gore? And who cares if Sarah Palin meandered through five different colleges and thought Africa was a country. She’s a folksy hockey mom, you betcha!

Now we’re at the most dangerous phase, the celebration phase of ignorance in politics. Our country barely survived the Trump as President, and now he’s the leading GOP candidate for the 2024 Presidential election. Several smooth brains who are also liars, uneducated, do-nothing howler monkeys like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and George Santos are in Congress. And even politicians who are relatively smart and highly-educated like Senator Ted Cruz and Governor of Florida and GOP Presidential candidate, Ron DeSantis are dumbing themselves down to appeal to voters. I don’t know about you, but I want my representatives in politics from President to my state Senator to be smart and to be willing to show it.

Of course, Republican politicians aren’t the only ones who act stupidly. Former mayor of Washington D.C., the late Marion Barry was caught smoking crack and it was filmed. And former president, Bill Clinton, had an affair with Monica Lewinsky, lied about, and got impeached. But for the most part, it’s the Republican party that has been acting like idiots and even reveling in it.

Is there hope for us who are disgusted by the embrace of idiocy in our political sphere? In the final chapter, “Conclusion: Democracy’s Braking System,” Borowitz gives us some ideas on how to fix this. Sure, we can vote, stay informed, and donate to various campaigns of candidates who aren’t mentally deficient. But Borowitz behooves the reader to get involved in the grass roots level of politics. And there are quite a few examples of how we can do this, which he lays out in book. And because so many of my readers are total braniacs, I’m sure they can figure out what they can do to insure the stupid people don’t totally screw things up…forever.

Book Review: Sisters in Hate-American Women on the Front Lines of White Nationalism by Seward Darby

Sometimes I read books that totally piss me off. Not necessarily because they are horribly written; many times they are very well-written. I read books that piss me off because I yearn to understand people whose mindset is beyond retched. These people are equal opportunity bigots. They hate people of color, Jews, Muslims, recent immigrants, the gay community and transgendered people. Many of them are quite misogynist even though they may be women themselves. Seyward Darby examines these women in her book Sisters in Hate: American Women on the Front Lines of White Nationalism.

Many men are at the helm of white nationalism, whether it’s the KKK, American Neo-Nazis, and any other hate groups throughout the United States. Men men like Nick Fuentes, Gavin McInnes, and Richard Spencer are currently the faces of white nationalism. Though many women in this movement sit on the sidelines and support the men, many women are become fully entrenched in white nationalism, and have made a name for themselves via their blogs, radio programs, articles and books, podcasts, and their social media.

In Sisters in Hate, Darby interviewed three women over several years, Corinna Olsen, Ayla Stewart, and Lana Lokteff. All of these women were born in 1979. And they all came to white nationalism in various ways, much of it having to do with 9/11.

Darby first profiles Corinna Olsen. Corinna life has been all over the place. She has worked as an embalmer and in violent porn. She was really into body building and even took steroids. Everything she did she did full gusto. That includes white nationalism. She got fully entrenched while living in the Pacific Northwest. Doing a radio show, which was hugely popular among racists and neo-Nazis. For her to get entrenched in this lifestyle, all she did was do some research on Google to hone her beliefs without using any critical thinking skills it takes to weed out the the dreck that shows up on the Internet. Interesting enough, Corrina left white nationalism and is now a devout Muslim.

Looks can be deceiving. Ayla Stewart has a cute dimpled face and wears dresses and head scarves. Her social media feeds show her doing domestic tasks with a sweet smile and her six children in the background. But don’t be fooled. Ayla is very proud to be a white nationalist, leaving an early life when she considered herself a feminist. Ayla promotes a traditional lifestyle, but it goes way beyond being a content SAHM. Ayla promotes strict gender rules and is intent on outbreeding people of color and non-Christians with her “White Baby Challenge,” encouraging white people to have many children.

Lana Lokteff’s parents escaped Communist Russia, and Lana was born in the United States. She married Henrik Palmgren who is at the helm of the white nationalist media company Red Ice where Lana hosts a radio show called “Radio 3 Fourteen.” She used to speak about the paranormal and conspiracy theories, but soon shifted to promoting white nationalism and the alt-right. She used to have a YouTube channel until she was banned several years ago. She has denied the Holocaust and Native American Genocide. And she admits her presence as a woman has gotten more women involved with white nationalism.

Though I was thrilled Corrina got out, and I wish her well, I was completely sickened by Ayla and Lana. Their all-consuming hatred of anyone different made me so angry. And sadly, Ayla and Lana are not alone. Women in white nationalism can be find all over America. And the internet has only increased their visibility, especially considering so many of them have a long reach though various media.

But visibility is one way we can confront these women and their vicious personal views and combat them. Reading Sister’s in Hate is just one way good people can face the feminine face of white nationalism, and save the United States before it’s to late. When you know better, you do better.

Book Review: I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman by Nora Ephron

It was such a loss when Nora Ephron died in 2012. Ms. Ephron is mostly known for writing movie scripts for films like Silkwood and the rom com classic, When Harry Met Sally. She was also a director who directed films like You’ve Got Mail and Julie and Julia. Ephron also wrote the novel Heartburn, which was closely based on her messed up marriage to journalist Carl Bernstein and was later made into a movie starring Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep.

But before all that, Ephron was a journalist and she wrote several books filled with essay about the female condition. Her essay, “A Few Words About Breasts” is iconic.

In 2006, Ephron published I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman.” In this book, Ephron opines about entering her dotage and all that getting older entails.

In the opening essay, the same as the title of the book, Ephron is not happy about her neck. A woman can get a face lift and use fancy creams costing 150 bucks. But your wrinkly, spotted neck is going to give away your age, sweetie. Sure, you can complain about your neck. But you can also cover it up with a turtleneck sweater or a pretty scarf.

Ephron continues this theme in her essay “Maintenance.” She muses about all the products we use in order to maintain glossy hair, smooth skin, and a taut body. We need day cream and we need night cream. And don’t forget about eye cream. A long time there was just shampoo. Now my bathroom contains shampoo and conditioner for color treated hair, a deep conditioner, and a color enhancer for my dyed red hair.

Ephron tells us about her time working as an intern in the Kennedy White House. No, she didn’t have an affair with him. He barely noticed her. Ephron is also candid when discussing marriage and the varied stages on parenthood. Ephron talks about finding the perfect apartment and finding the perfect strudel in New York City.

But my one favorite essays in I Feel Bad About My Neck is “Rapture.” No, this isn’t the type of rapture Evangelical Christians warn us about. Ephron was Jewish. I was raised Catholic. We don’t do the rapture. No, instead, Ephron talks about the rapture of reading and finding a treasured book. Being such a great writer, I’m not surprised Ephron was a voracious reader. In “Rapture” talks about her favorite books from childhood onto her adult life.

I Feel About My Neck is a charming, intimate, and quick read. If you are a fan of relatable essays and funny ladies, you should probably pick up I Feel Bad About My Neck. Though unfortunately, Nora Ephron is no longer with us, she had left us a legacy of books and films to treasure.

Book Review: The Light We Carry-Overcoming in Uncertain Times by Michelle Obama

Let’s face it. We live in a very complex and trying time. We’re dealing with political upheaval, hatred and bigotry of all kinds, corporate malfeasance, and environmental degradation. Inflation is out of control and a recession looms on the horizon. And we can’t forget how Covid completely upended our lives.

With all of this, we can safely assess there are no easy solutions, are there? But we can gather various tools, to help us face these challenges. And this tool kit, among other things, is what former First Lady, Michelle Obama, covers in her latest book, The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times.

In The Light We Carry, Obama covers some familiar territory to readers of her memoir, Becoming. Obama talks about growing up on the southside of Chicago by two very loving parents who had high standards for her and her brother, Craig. She talks about the challenges she faced in the educational and professional realms. Obama talks about meeting and marrying a certain fellow named Barack Obama and raising two daughters, Malia and Sasha. And of course, she talks about living in the White House during President Obama’s two terms.

Obama fully admits things weren’t always rosy. She had fertility issues. There were difficult moments in her marriage. And we can’t forget all of the horrific racism and sexism she faced as the first black First Lady of the United States (and no doubt, before that).

But Obama remained steadfast and strong. She never sunk the level of the bigots who tried to degrade her. “When they go low, we go high” wasn’t just a line from her speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. It’s clearly her mantra and a way of life.

But back to the idea of a tool kit. In times of trouble, we all need to utilize our took kit. Our tool kit is filled with various strategies we can rely on to help us navigate the choppy waters of uncertain times.

Like many of us, Obama was thrown for a loop during the pandemic. She admits she dealt with low-grade depression. One saving grace was taking up a new hobby. In Obama’s case, it was knitting. Undoubtedly, the act of knitting was very soothing (the click clack of needles can be very Zen like). Knitting made Obama feels as she had some semblance of control when everything seemed so out of whack.

Obama also has praise for another thing in her tool kit, something she calls her “kitchen table.” Her kitchen table includes close friends and mentors who offer support. She also goes into great length talking about her wonderful mother, Marian Robinson. Mrs. Robinsons’ “Don’t make a fuss over me” attitude while living in the White House is positively charming.

Obama understands we are riddled with anxiety and feel helpless. She wants us to remember we all have a light within that needs to shine. We need to offer kindness not only to others, but to ourselves as well. Using a tool kit can help us access that kindness.

Part memoir, part self-help, The Light We Carry is written with warmth and candor. It will likely inspire conversation. Some of Obama’s ideas and musings may sound like clichés. But these clichés are tried and true, and serve us well. And Obama offers plenty of resources regarding mental health and accessing affordable therapy.

Reading The Light We Carry made me think about my own tool kit that has helped me in the past few years. There is my family and friends, and my church community. There is my favorite coffeehouse, Rochambo, which a visit frequently. I have so many books to read and this blog. Last year I joined a gym. My workouts are a form of therapy. And recently I got back into crafting, making soap and jewelry.

The Light We Carry is like hanging out with a dear friend, a friend who is kind, supportive, empathetic, and says, “You are stronger than you realize.

Book Review: Not Your Father’s America-An Adventure Raising Triplets in a Country Being Changed by Greed by Cort Casady

Being a woman without children, I can only imagine what it’s like to raise one child. But what about raising three children, and not three children born consecutively, but all at once. Yes. TRIPLETS! Raising triplets is a huge undertaking, one that TV writer Cort Casady along with his wife Barbara are quite familiar with. They raised three triplet boys, Jackson, Carter, and Braeden, and Casady documents the raising of his three boys in his memoir Not Your Father’s America: An Adventure Raising Triplets in a Country Being Changed by Greed.

Cort and Barbara met, fell in love, and got married. They knew they truly wanted children, but the process of getting pregnant wasn’t exactly easy (though initially, I’m sure they had fun trying-wink). Having difficulties, Cort and Casady resorted to IVF and other fertility treatments, which I am now very familiar with.

However, there was heartbreak in conceiving a child. They lost a baby early on, and were devastated? We’re Cort and Barbara never going to have children? But soon Barbara was pregnant with triplets, which truly threw them for a loop. There was talk of elimination of one or two of the embryos, but Cort and Barbara decided to keep all of them. Knowing being a woman of a certain age (Cort and Barbara became parents when most of their peers were sending their oldest to college), Barbara to extra care of herself and her pregnancy.

The Casady boys were born in January of 1995. Being multiples, they were underweight and had some health issues that needed to be attended to. But soon Carter, Jackson, and Braeden were safely home with their parents. And that’s when the fun, and a lot of hard work began. Fortunately, Cort and Barbara had a lot of help from family, friends, and several nannies, though it did take time to get the nanny situation figured out. It truly does take a village to raise a child, or in this case, three children.

Cort lovingly records Carter, Jackson, and Braeden’s development and progress from babyhood through childhood onto the teen years and then young adulthood and college. No small detail escapes Cort. And to think about it no details are small. It’s a major accomplishment to learn how to walk, go to school the first time, travel to a new place, and figure out one’s place in the world. And what I appreciate it, is how Cort and Barbara encourage their boys to be unique individuals with their own separate ideas, talents, and skills. Often parents think their children should be carbon copies of each other, especially those who are multiples. Cort and Barb don’t do that.

But Cort does so much more than cover his son’s growing up. He also covers the major events that have occurred during their lives (and ours), and how it has affected so many people. Though very young when September 11th happened (the triplets were in first grade), the boys knew something very bad had happened. How do you explain this horrific act of terror to children when adults could barely explain it to themselves?

Cort also discusses corporate malfeasance and greed. Remember Enron? And then there was the fall of financial institutions thought too big to fail and a recession that hurt countless Americans. Sadly, it seems corporate malfeasance and greed is built into the fabric of our society.

Cort doesn’t pretend to have all the answers, and he knows politics and social issues are very thorny topics. But I do appreciate how he is concerned about various issues that have harmed everything from our political landscape to our environment to the world of finance and business.

But ultimately, Not Your Father’s America is one father’s love letter to his boys. At times it may seem Cort is bragging, but Cort has a lot to brag about. Carter, Jackson, and Braeden have grown up to be wonderful young men. In a world where we hear about so much abuse parents do to their children, it’s lovely to come across a father who not only loves his sons, he also likes them a whole lot, too.

Book Review: Race and Reckoning-From Founding Fathers to Today’s Disruptors by Ellis Cose

In a time where people are freaking out over CRT being taught in grade schools (it’s not), hate crimes against people of color are too numerous, and Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida wants to cut AP African American Studies from high schools because he doesn’t think it has any educational value, Ellis Cose’s book Race and Reckoning: From Founding Fathers to Today’s Disrupters is a very needed and important book.

Race and Reckoning takes a very comprehensive look at the entities and actions and how they affected various races and America as a whole. Ellis muses on slavery, the New Deal, Jim Crow, the Covid Pandemic. He talks about the seminal labor and decisive resolutions that resulted in inequity, disinformation, and other problematic outcomes even in the modern age. And this labor and resolutions didn’t just affect people who were around when they were implemented. They have affected generations after.

Race and Reckoning examines America’s history, slavery, bigotry and exclusion of Asians, the removal of Indigenous people from their native lands and so much more. And America has prospered in the wake of this bigotry take advantage of the work of people seen as “lesser.” Even after people proved themselves and served their country, they still faced discrimination. African American soldiers and veterans were denied benefits that went to their white peers. Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps during World War II. And we can’t forget how Black people were denied the right to vote in the days of Jim Crow.

Now in 2023, there are people who think racism is no longer a problem. We’re living in a post-racial world. After all, Barack Obama was President for 12 years. Vice President, Kamala Harris, is both Black and Asian. Certainly, she’s in a position of power. We have many more people of color who are successful and in notable positions in everything-politics, media, business, sports, and entertainment.

But to anyone who has been paying attention, we are not living in a post-racial world here in the United States. Racism is still so much a vile problem we are still dealing with. And Race and Reckoning explains this is a way that is both thought-provoking and maddening.

I got quite the education reading Race and Reckoning. This book filled in so many gaps that were lacking in my formal schooling. I recall learning about the Civil War, but truly learning about the horrors of slavery were barely mentioned. Instead, our class watched “Gone With the Wind.” Sure, that movie is a classic, but it’s hardly an honest depiction of slavery during the those times. I never learned about internment camps during World War II or the removal of the Indigenous people. I’m angry that my schooling was so lacking, but I’m very grateful for Ellis Cose’s Race and Reckoning. This book may not be on Ron DeSantis’ reading list, but it should be on yours.

Book Review: American Psychosis-A Historical Investigation of How the Republican Party Went Crazy by David Corn

Years ago, when I was in college, I took a political science class. In this class, we learned about Robert “Fighting Bob” La Follette, who was a member of the United States Congress, a Wisconsin Governor, and later a member of the United States Senate. Fighting Bob fought for worker’s rights and against both corporate and political corruption. He was pretty much the Bernie Sanders of his day. And he was a Republican.

Okay, have you picked yourself up off the floor? I have to admit, I, along with my classmates, was pretty shocked to find this out. Our professor saw our faces, and said, “Well, the Republican party has changed quite a bit since then.”

Has it ever. The Republican Party is far different than when Abraham Lincoln was our first Republican president in the 1860s and when Fighting Bob was around. And David Corn explains how the GOP changed in his riveting and very thorough book, American Psychosis: A Historical Investigation of How the Republican Party Went Crazy.

American Psychosis begins with the 1964 Republican National Convention at Cow Palace in San Francisco. Barry Goldwater was the the presumptive Republican nominee and quite far right wing, especially at a time when many Republicans were quite moderate, even some were liberal. Goldwater’s extreme views would take over the GOP, and in just over a half a century, would end up with Trump’s horrifying presidency and the attack on the Capitol, January 6th, 2021.

From that introduction, Corn goes into painstaking detail of how we ended up with the tea party, MAGA, and other miscreants of today’s Republican party. He begins by telling the reader about the Republican party’s humble roots when Abraham Lincoln was President and the Union was victorious in the Civil War. But it wasn’t long before the Republican Party shifted and went off the rails, embracing bigotry, corporate interests, and the Red Scare of Joe McCarthy. The United States saw the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, McCarthyism, the John Birch Society, the extreme Religious Right, Reaganomics with trickle down economics, right wing media like Fox News, the Tea Party, and the Trump presidency.

American Psychosis is filled with names, dates, places, and information on how the GOP sunk so low. The Republican Party has not shied away from embracing fanaticism, tribalism, bigotry, anti-intellectualism, and paranoia to gather followers, garner votes, seize power, which has ended up brutalizing American citizens and people throughout the world. To this day, I can’t think of any Republican policies that have positively affected me.

This books is so detailed covering the likes of Joe McCarthy, Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, and now the Trump. At times I thought I would have to set up a spread sheet to keep up with all the GOP miscreants named in American Psychosis. Though I do hope the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Jerry Falwell, and Phyllis Schlafly are each roasting on a spit in hell.

I’ll be the first to admit the Democratic Party has its faults; but it hasn’t become so completely off the rails like today’s GOP. There is no Democratic version of Marjorie Taylor Greene or the newly elected George Santos. Corn doesn’t really offer any solutions for the Republican Party to get back on track. That’s not his responsibility. But it is high time Republicans take a good look in the mirror and realize they might not have much of a party in a few years. American Psychosis is a book that should be read by every American who gives a crap about our country.