Some Books and Thoughts

I am still processing the conventions of the Democrats and the Republicans. Aside from saying that the Republicans spent four days spouting lies and hate, I don’t have anything to add to the gallons of ink (metaphorically) that have been spilled in documenting and commenting upon these two events. I continue to work at writing letters for VoteForward and postcards for MomsRising in the hope that I can aid the voter turnout in November -- and remove the stain of Donald Trump from the presidency. 


In the meantime, here are a few books I have recently finished that I think are worth the read. 1877: America’s Year of Living Violently by Michael A. Bellesiles is the story of a forgotten chapter in American history. The election of 1876 was the most contentious in American history (and may be surpassed in 2020); it was accompanied by the worst depression in American history before the 1930s, the horrific inequality of the Gilded Age, severe labor strife with a nationwide strike, and the end of Reconstruction with the rise of Jim Crow throughout the American South. I found the parallels to 2020 somewhat chilling, minus Donald Trump and minus a pandemic. I think it is helpful in understanding where our country is today and perhaps some comfort that we have been in bad straits before.


Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy is a journalistic exploration of how opioid addiction slammed Appalachia in Western Virginia and eastern Tennessee. As a physician, I felt ill because the addiction to narcotics, specifically the opiates and opioids, has come almost always via a medical path. You also begin to understand better the people who, without hope, have turned to a demagogue in the White House in the false hope that he will make them heard, respected, and understood. We humans seem to be great at making messes and lousy at cleaning them up, let alone preventing them in the first place.


Finally, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man by Mary Trump. While meant to showcase Donald Trump, her uncle, Ms. Trump’s book shines a light even more strongly on her grandfather, Fred Trump. The Trump family is what you would expect from observing the 45th president: dysfunctional to the max, lacking empathy, totally transactional. Donald Trump continues to seethe about this and other books that showcase his total failure as a human being, let alone as President of the United States. 


These three books will help you better understand the mess we are in today and why four more years of Donald Trump may be the end of the American experiment in democracy.

 

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