Category Archives: Non-Fiction

08.26.26
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HOW THE DEMOCRATS SCREWED BERNIE/Tad Devine

Democratic Political Strategist, Tad Devine was the chief senior advisor to the Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign. His book, How The Democrats Screwed Bernie, is not an apology for a defeat but rather an inside look at exactly how the Sanders effort unfolded and then folded.

There are two narratives here. First is the story of an incredible successful grass roots campaign that came within inches of delivering the 2016 presidential nomination to Sanders. The book is eye opening into the intricacies of a grassroots political organization and resulting hugely successful campaign. It is also a very close look at Bernie himself and his wife Jane and their hands on political savvy. The book answers the question as to why Bernie never gets off message.

The second narrative is how the Democratic National Committee and the party establishment worked tirelessly from within to defeat Bernie. At first the establishment looked at Bernie as pesky fly. By the time that he was attracting crowds of upwards of 25,000 and polling showed his strength in Iowa, they panicked. Despite rules requiring neutrality during a party primary, the DNC threw the entire weight of its financial resources and organization behind Hillary Clinton. They went as far as to make access to common voter information unavailable to the Sanders Campaign. Wasserman Schultz was eventually fired as DNC Chair over the egregious breech of protocol.

Finally, Devine, admittedly at the risk of sour grapes, makes a convincing case that Bernie Sanders would have been the better candidate and very likely beat Donald Trump in the general election.

Much water under the dam. ( Excuse te cliche but seems apprioriate)

08.19.26
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REGIME CHANGE/INSIDE THE IMPERIAL PRESIDENCY OF DONALD TRUMP

Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, both White House Correspondents for The New York Times have collaborated on an astoundingly insightful and spotlight perspective of the first year of the Second Trump Administration. This latest book for Haberman is yet another example of her journalistic skill and of her contacts within The Beltway and the Trump inner circle. Her reporting is enhanced with the collaboration of Swan making REGIME CHANGE a must read for those interested in a deep dive into Trump and his cadre of sycophants in the second term.

Don’t look for sensationalism in these pages as that is not the style of either journalist. Rather you will discover an in depth look at Trump’s knee jerk decision making process and how he has surrounded himself with cabinet members and staff who have little individual decision making power. Unlike the first Trump administration, there are no advisors either able or willing to challenge his gut decisions. Thus the book title, REGIME CHANGE, refers to a second term with no guard rails in place in the Oval Office the Situation Room and elsewhere.The authors detail an administration focused on retribution, personal enrichment and the enhancement of his personal legacy. The book’s final chapter title is telling: PLUNDER.

Haberman and Swan have uncovered the decision making process on every major deliberation. They place the reader in the room and the reporting resonates with shocking truthfulness about immigration, Ice, Iran, Ukraine, Cabinet Officers, and military strikes.

It is somewhat unusual for a work of non-fiction to include an Epilogue but REGIME CHANGE includes one to give the reader a glimpse of an interview with the authors giving Trump the chance to respond to the book, that he had not read. The meeting dissolved into a typical Trump screed. They illegally indicted me, they impeached me, they did everything-they shot me, I guess you could say: But I won the election in a landslide, nobody else could have done it, he added. And there’s only one thing you can say about me that anybody believes, and you know what that is. Essentially I won every-f______ing time, he said.

And of course when the interview was over, one final Trump salvo for Haberman. I’m tired of winning and winning and winning and just getting bad f_______ing press. It’s about time you tell the truth. Okay?

There will be another Haberman-Swan collaboration for sure.

See gordonsgoodreads for our view of Haberman’s previous Trump book, CONFIDENCE MAN, THE MAKING OF DONALD TRUMP AND THE BREAKING OF AMERICA.

08.08.26
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Common Sense/Thomas Paine

If there is a perfect.time to read or re-read Thomas Paine’s Common Sense it is now during the 250th Anniversary of America. A perfect companion to Danielle Allen’s RADICAL DUKE or any of the many other books outlined here on the subject of the American Revolution. The 250 year-old publication is not only relevant history but speaks to many issues of the modern day.

Thomas Paine, born in Britain a Philadelphia immigrant and a changemaker in America.

07.29.26
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RADICAL DUKE/DANIELLE ALLEN-An American Revolutionary archive from the British side of the pond!

If you thought the American Revolution occured in a vacuum you will be enlightened by Danielle Allen’s extraordinary research and writing in her new book RADICAL DUKE How One Aristocrat-and the American Revolution Transformed Britain.

RADICAL DUKE reveals the never before told story of Charles Lennox the progressive Third Duke of Richmond. At the very time the seeds of revolution were propagating in America, upon the instigation of the Duke of Richmond, a revolution was underway in Britain. Similar issues prevailed: Taxation without representation, sole power held by the monarchy of King George. Between 1767 and 1782 Richmond led the opposition to the Crown and yes was an ardent outspoken critic of the folly of the King’s military pursuit against the independence of the American Colonies. No ,Thomas Paine of Common Sense fame did not learn his craft in America but rather the famous pamphleteer was discovered and nurtured by none other than the Duke of Richmond.

At Richmond’s urging Paine wrote newspaper essays in London to try and force a change of course by the British Government following Parliament’s Coercive Acts and the Boston Port Act. It was not until 1774 that Paine crossed the ocean and took his pen to America where the revolutionary Common Sense was published.

Allen’s book is a vital companion read for any student of the American Revolution. It uncovers the Monarch’s rigid views and the folly of Lord North, the House of Commons and House of Lords.

Meet the Duke of Richmond a heretofore unknown voice in an unlikely place in support of American Independence. Allen makes him an unforgettable part of the American story and equally important changes in the the future for the British Monarchy.

This marvelous previously undiscovered history unfolds magnificently within Allen’s narrative. Hundreds of hours of research over ten years become a gripping, eye opening and enjoyable read. It falls into my category of a work of non-fiction where because of Allen’s exhaustive research every single word counts.

A most worthwhile deep dive into the American Revolution and the workings of the British Monarchy.

05.19.26
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THE GREATEST SENTENCE EVER WRITTEN

Walter Isaacson is not known for single sentences or even paragraphs for that matter. He is also not known for a book of only sixty=seven pages, including the complete Declaration of Independence. The books title, The Greatest Sentence Ever Written, is an important personal insight into the meaning and application of the declaration’s historic words.

We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and endowed by their cretor with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

These self-evident truths laid down by the founders (not Jefferson alone) became the foundation that bound together a diverse group of pilgrims and immigrants into one nation.

I had the privilege of meeting and listening to Walter Isaacson at a lecture held at the Athenaeum in Boston discuss where America is today in comparison to this lofty composition of two hundred and fifty years ago.

Isaacson makes clear thatof these truths, all men are created equal was not self-evident. Of the fifty six signers of the declaration, forty one owned slaves and all thirteen colonies permitted slavery. All Men excluded all women and at that time what remained of the coastal Native Americans.

What Isaacson described on that Sunday afternoon was a document that was conceived by the founders as aspirational but admittedly not for practical application at that time. But like the eminent founder Benjamin Franklin, Isaacson believes that the hope of the document was to bind disparate interests together for the common good. He writes, Their goal on contentious issues was not to triumph, but to find the right balance. Isaacson adds, An art that has been lost today.

And so how has this Greatest Sentence Ever Written, this aspirational document evolved? Sadly the hope of binding the nation together has not materialized in the twenty first century. Isaacson sights gross income inequality, the lack of opportunity for all, the bifurcation of the media into opposing political camps, advanced technology that was supposed to connect us has in fact added to the nation’s divisiveness.He raises serious questions of exactly what America will look like going forward. Can the nation find common ground?

Fittingly, Isaacson one again draws upon Franklin, Compromisers may not make great heros, Franklin liked to say, but they do make great democracies.

Isaacson adds, That’s the ideal of common ground and the American Dream that our founders fought for 250 years ago. And that’s what we must continue to fight for today so that we can preserve, for ourselves and our posterity, the rights and aspirations that we all share, including to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Am important read, especially during this 250th anniversary year.

02.18.26
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250TH ANNIVERSARY/ IMPORTANT GOOD READS

Page through gordonsgoodreads.com and find numerous titles relevant to the founding of America including books on the Revolutionary War, the founding fathers and the Constitutional Conventions. There are three titles among many others that I have found most enlightening.

Two of these titles highlight the contributions of individuals whose participation have in some quarters been more obscure. John Hancock is of course contemporarily most famous for his signature! However, John Hancock by historian Willard Randall reveals the enormous contributions of this founding father leading up to the Revolution, during the war and his participation in the great debate creating the Constitution. It is an eye-opening read. Samuel Adams by historian Stacy Schiff is another revealing biography. in which she places this Adams ( second cousin of John Adams) in his rightful place in history. Separation from the British Empire by a united American Colonies may never have happened without the efforts of Samuel Adams, the first of the pamphleteers! A firebrand indeed.

In my view, Rick Atkins ranks alongside Ken Burns in depth understanding of America’s march toward independence. Two books by Atkins, The British are Coming, and Fate of The Day are first rate historical works. A third volume of the trilogy is due later this year.

There are many other titles worthy of your time, many of which are reviewed at gordonsgoodreads.com including Joseph Ellis’ new volume The GREAT CONTRADICTION, The TRAGIC SIDE of the AMERICAN FOUNDING.

Eye opening! Search gordonsgoodreads.com for more on this subject.

02.17.26
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THE GREAT CONTRADICTION/JOSEPH ELLIS

The sub title of Joseph J. Ellis‘ latest book is most descriptive of this work of non-fiction: THE TRAGIC SIDE of the AMERICAN FOUNDING.

During this current period when America Celebrates the 250th Anniversary of independence historian Ellis uncovers the deeply flawed creation on the US Constitution and the inability of the founding fathers to deal with the new nations greatest issues, slavery and the displacement of its Native Americans.

Ellis spares no detail in the conflicts and flaws among the founding fathers. He writes: This, then, is a story about failure. Next to the failure to end slavery, or at least put it on the road to extinction, the inability to reach a just accommodation with the Native Americans was the greatest failure of the revolutionary generation.

This is the story of how and why the founders failed in these two critical areas and how these unresolved critical matters have negatively resonated throughout the nation’s history. Fans of Thomas Jefferson will not be pleased Ellis’ through examination of his duplicity and hypocrisy in both the areas of slavery and Native American dispossession.

Ellis’s ending paragraph is emphatic. As for Jefferson, he will forever be remembered for his iconic eloquence in the Declaration of Independence, but his failure to live up to his own words ended in tragedy for him. his black and white families, and decades of decline for the Commonwealth he so loved.

You will meet many other historic figures in THE GREAT CONTRADICTION : George Washington, of course. Henry Knox and his role in support of Native Americans, Alexander McGillivray the consequential Creek Indian Chief and of course Madison and Monroe.

Enlightening

is an understatement!

02.10.26
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THE INDIFFERENT STARS ABOVE/DONNER PARTY

Manifest Destiny. A new life in the great unknown expanse of the American West. Hearts and minds full of anticipation as the Donner Party left Saint Louis, Missouri in 1846. All ages, senior citizens to newborns, on board covered wagons filled with life’s possessions, pulled by teams of oxen. After a perilous journey the promised land beckoned.

Daniel James Brown tells the story of the Donner Party in a page turning narrative THE INDIFFERENT STARS ABOVE. The heavens looked down upon the greatest human tragedy of the pioneering westward movement. Meet Lansford Hastings a swashbuckling promotor who had a plan to divert the pioneers from heading to Oregon on the more established Oregon Trail to take the now infamous Hastings Cutoff to a promised land in Northern California. The Donner party after successfully traversing hundreds of miles from St. Louis made the fatal mistake of believing Hastings’s far fetched promises and took the Hastings Cutoff.

The result is a harrowing true story of a fight for survival under the most dreadful circumstances in the snow bound Sierra Nevada Mountains. Eighty seven souls left St Louis and less than half survived. How they survived is at the heart of Brown’s research and storytelling. The word pictures are unimaginable.

Daniel James Brown is also the author of The Boys in the Boat, a far more uplifting story. He also wrote of another tragedy, The Great Hinkley Firestorm of 1894.

12.29.25
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FREEDOM SHIP/MARCUS REDIKER

Much has been written about the Underground Railroad, the incredible network that led many in bondage in the south to freedom in the northern free states. FREEDON SHIP by Marcus Rediker tells of a different story of a route to freedom.

FREEDOM SHIP reveals how crew members, dock workers and even some merchant ship operators collaborated to board and hide salves on merchant ships plying the US Atlantic Coast from South Carolina to Boston. This is the very metrhod taken by Frederick Douglass in his espape from Baltimore.

Thousands of slaves embarked on the treacherous journey over land and local waterways to reach local Atlantic harbors and with stealth find friendlies who would hide them aboard a ship heading north. It was a risky business, so much so that in South Carolina laws were past that crews of merchant ships from the North would be impounded while in the local harbor to prevent them from assisting runaways. Many merchant crews were made up of free blacks from the northern states.

The high risk did not end upon boarding and setting sail. Slave catchers awaited incoming ships from the south at harbors in New York, Boston and New Bedford. However. abolitionists successfully set up dozens of safe houses for escaped slaves, providing food, clothing and in some cases help in moving north to Canada. Some successfully blended into northern society. Others who landed in New Bedford signed up as crew on whaling ships to avoid capture.

A fascinating story of teamwork among like minds that for some successfully thwarted the Fugitive Slave Act and the brutal slave culture.

10.09.25
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THE IDEA OF AMERICA/DARREN WALKER

I have not read a more incisive overview of inequality in all of its forms than in Darren Walker’s THE IDEA OF AMERICA.

The book is a series of speeches and essays written and delivered by Walker during his tenure as president of the Ford Foundation. It is the embodiment of his work in transforming the foundation’s mission from grant making to addressing the issues of inequality and social justice in America.

In many ways THE IDEA OF AMERICA is a history lesson based upon the premise that the founding father’s, however flawed, enshrined a fluid document of promise and hope for democracy’s future. That even, “All men are created equal,” allowed for a promise for a better future, even though codified by all white men over half of which were slaveholders and all women were excluded. Of the founders Walker adds, “They initiated a grand, complicated experiment in self-government. It led to abolition and suffrage and worker’s rights and women’s rights-however slowly, however unevenly.”

The book is not an optimistic treatise. Many thoughts are foreboding. Walker sees an America diminished by division in a climate worsening daily. ” As certain democratic norms fall away it becomes harder to motivate oneself to act. We get exhausted by, even acclimated to, the daily onslaught.”

Walker is cautious about America’s future. ” In the not-too-distant past the American people would turn to their elected leader’s the president- for guidance and moral clarity. Today, in a vacuum of such moral leadership, fear temps many Americans to hunker down , protect themselves and their interests and withdraw for the purposes of safety and self-preservation .”

Walter Isaacson casts an optimistic note in his praise for THE IDEA OF AMERICA. “Darren Walker summons us, on the 250th anniversary of our founding, to remember our higher calling.”

I commend to you this very important read on the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding.

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