One night on Twitter, comedian Michael Ian Black invites political pundit Meghan McCain on a month long excursion around America to discuss politics with fellow Americans. He is a liberal; she is the daughter of one of the most famous Republicans today. There is a lot of “what did we get ourselves into…” throughout America, You Sexy Bitch and their mission statement wasn’t clearly defined. Yes, the talked to people throughout America about politics but the mostly drank a lot and saw tourist attractions. The […]
Real Life Role Models
A historical look at the relationship between the notorious RGB and Sandra Day O’Connor? Yes please. I’d been looking forward to this one ever since I heard the premise and it didn’t disappoint. Hirshman delves into the childhoods and legal careers of these groundbreaking women and leaves the reader with a concrete impression of them as real people with strengths and flaws. I never realized just how different Ginsberg and O’Connor are from each other. O’Connor was one of Reagan’s few palatable options for Supreme […]
Perfect for family fights about politics.
As someone who has lived a good bit of her life in the Southern United States, I realized early on that I’m a bit of an outlier in my political leanings. Though I proudly claim to be a Democratic Socialist, I quite often get pushback from even my more progressive friends as to what that means. When I saw Answering Back by David Coates in my local used book store, I snatched it up, in hopes it would help me to be more clear about my […]
Since I may (or may not!) work in politics, politically-related biographies are of great interest to me. It can be fun to pull back the curtain and see how administrations or offices are really run, or try and get an insider’s perspective on major events. (Both Bill Clinton’s My Life and George W. Bush’s Decision Points are great. I recommend the audiobook version of My Life since President Clinton himself reads it.) Former White House Press Secretary Dana Perino recently wrote And the Good News […]
I tried something new.
I feel like there are two types of people in the world: people who have read Atlas Shrugged, and people who would rather be eaten alive by maggots than read Atlas Shrugged. I’m joking, slightly, of course, but I was possibly the last indifferent person on earth to read it. To be clear, upfront: I have neither the intention, nor the energy, to pick apart and debate Rand’s actual objectivist philosophy within the scope of this review. (To poke the bear slightly, Mallory Ortberg sums […]
A mammoth account of India’s story over the last 50 years!
Forty-sixth book reviewed as part of the 130 Challenge. The history of India in the last 50 years is something that we don’t get to read about. Indians love to live in their past; reminiscing about the glory days of the ancient civilizations that thrived on the sub-continent. We love to boast about how three of the world’s major religions started in here and that at least one, found a major foothold. We are a civilization that accepted foreigners with open arms and our hospitality […]