And it shows: She goes out of her way to ignore the assassination of one president, James Garfield, without a mention, even though it rubs up against one of the great concepts now being dismantled by 45, civil service reform--and the creation of the Deep State, the embodiment of what, until he took over, kept the necessarily enormous government of our enormous democracy functioning and relatively competent--and covers that of another, William McKinley, with a single phrase of one sentence. She does the Kennedy assassination with a particular emphasis upon the NRA's reaction: to try to prevent the proliferation of automatic weapons, at least in 1963. Only Lincoln's murder, with its thunderous impact upon Reconstruction, is given the kind of attention it deserves.
But she does, in kind of an ongoing, gee-whiz way, also enlighten us with the origins of such things as the idea behind the Secret Service protection of the president, a 'wire service,' the Associated Press, the real name of the Freedman's Bureau, the creation of IBM, the founding of the PTA, the establishment of the League of Women Voters, the idea behind Time magazine, the origin of the word "broadcasting," and, in a detailed telling, the origins of political consulting and polling, both of which, she says, have driven our politics right into the ground.
These things are not vital to the story, but quirkiness that keeps the narrative going. Oddly, though decidedly a liberal but not an uncritical one--she's rather scathing to liberals for their smug abandonment of activism at the end--she pays little attention to the Indian Wars of the post-Civil War era, focusing more on their result, the cultural destruction of indigenous peoples. She would rather focus upon the Trail of Tears, and Andrew Jackson's defiance of the Supreme Court. She certainly discusses the formation of the Constitution, but does not include it in the text or an appendix. Though she does mention that John Brown befriended Frederick Douglass and tried to enlist his active support for his famous but disastrous raid at Harpers' Ferry in 1859 (Douglass took in Brown as a friend and guest but refused active participation, as noted in David Blight's exhaustive biography of Douglass), she does not add that Douglass had to flee for his life for a while before Virginia broke away from the Union in 1861; not satisfied with active sedition, Virginia wanted Douglass' hide as well. And though John Quincy Adams was thoroughly defeated in his attempt at a second term by Andrew Jackson, who never forgave Adams for his "corrupt bargain" with Henry Clay to win the presidential runoff vote in the House of Representatives in 1824 (note: don't count 45 out even if he gets beat in November; he can win one more term and you know he's ornery enough if he survives his own poisoning with hydroxycloroquine, if indeed he did so, which I personally doubt), he was greatly respected as an abolitionist, and his funeral in 1848 was very well-attended.
These Truths is far more about the sweeping ideas and the institutions that gave them life. To her credit, she writes simply, in a way that anyone who paid attention in high school and isn't intimidated by the 789-page length. I recall looking up just one word, "capacious," and, if I had paused for a moment, I would have figured out the definition in context anyhow, having capacity. Other histories aren't so kind: The Glory and the Dream, William Manchester's brilliant, enormous opus about America from 1932-72, requires a dictionary close by when he jumps out at you with a word nobody's heard of, except perhaps on the SATs.
Yet, These Truths borrows from one of the Founding Fathers, Hamilton, to develop and maintain a focus through a single question that he posed as the basis for The Federalist Papers: can a people govern themselves through reason? She does not exactly answer that, but she does hint that at this point, a changing of course is necessary, and our generation blew its opportunity to do so. If we have brought on such a ghastly phenomenon as 45, we have some work to do. I'm glad that she noted that the best Obama could do, beyond health care, is prevent the republic from going bankrupt. Besides that, his presidency will be known for being largely symbolic and like a gerbil in a cage, since the Republicans were so good at blocking everything else.
She seems to agree with something I've concluded long ago: That our generation, the baby boomers, blew the country we were handed. Our parents wanted us not to suffer from the same problems that they did: a depression and world war. We dodged both and were handed affluence and opportunities galore. And what did we do with it? Founder in gluttonous self-absorption. Conservatives, with their enormous wealth and now law and courts to protect it, are just as guilty as liberals, who rested on their laurels after Brown v. Board and Roe v. Wade, both attacked and diminished almost as they were declared.
We forgot where we came from and that it isn't automatic. The ultimate example of that is now president. We got what we deserved. And now depression's right around the corner, brought to you by neglect at the highest levels.
So she leaves us with 45's election and what it means: That our information-twisted-and-challenged culture, filled with "truthiness," is now fighting itself in ways that seem stuck and immutable. Two narratives have emerged, one less able to be sifted and blended in with the other as we go. We have two nations now, as John Edwards said: but wherever he is, he didn't mean what's happened. One rich, one poor, is what he meant, even more because of Republican meddling in the tax structure, and that's still true. But that's been disguised and smoothed over for now. We are going backwards, as Lepore says, with a narrative that seems to be satisfactory for disturbingly many.
In less than six months, we will decide what to do with that. I wonder whether a new history of the country will have to be written then, or if anybody's proud enough of the result to go to the trouble. As it is, this book is filled with thoughtful reflections and ruminations. As history, it is oddly superficial in terms of facts, but thorough in terms of meaning, another balancing act between facts and truth. It's easy to read yet dense. But it's worth your while.
Be well. Be careful. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
These things are not vital to the story, but quirkiness that keeps the narrative going. Oddly, though decidedly a liberal but not an uncritical one--she's rather scathing to liberals for their smug abandonment of activism at the end--she pays little attention to the Indian Wars of the post-Civil War era, focusing more on their result, the cultural destruction of indigenous peoples. She would rather focus upon the Trail of Tears, and Andrew Jackson's defiance of the Supreme Court. She certainly discusses the formation of the Constitution, but does not include it in the text or an appendix. Though she does mention that John Brown befriended Frederick Douglass and tried to enlist his active support for his famous but disastrous raid at Harpers' Ferry in 1859 (Douglass took in Brown as a friend and guest but refused active participation, as noted in David Blight's exhaustive biography of Douglass), she does not add that Douglass had to flee for his life for a while before Virginia broke away from the Union in 1861; not satisfied with active sedition, Virginia wanted Douglass' hide as well. And though John Quincy Adams was thoroughly defeated in his attempt at a second term by Andrew Jackson, who never forgave Adams for his "corrupt bargain" with Henry Clay to win the presidential runoff vote in the House of Representatives in 1824 (note: don't count 45 out even if he gets beat in November; he can win one more term and you know he's ornery enough if he survives his own poisoning with hydroxycloroquine, if indeed he did so, which I personally doubt), he was greatly respected as an abolitionist, and his funeral in 1848 was very well-attended.
These Truths is far more about the sweeping ideas and the institutions that gave them life. To her credit, she writes simply, in a way that anyone who paid attention in high school and isn't intimidated by the 789-page length. I recall looking up just one word, "capacious," and, if I had paused for a moment, I would have figured out the definition in context anyhow, having capacity. Other histories aren't so kind: The Glory and the Dream, William Manchester's brilliant, enormous opus about America from 1932-72, requires a dictionary close by when he jumps out at you with a word nobody's heard of, except perhaps on the SATs.
Yet, These Truths borrows from one of the Founding Fathers, Hamilton, to develop and maintain a focus through a single question that he posed as the basis for The Federalist Papers: can a people govern themselves through reason? She does not exactly answer that, but she does hint that at this point, a changing of course is necessary, and our generation blew its opportunity to do so. If we have brought on such a ghastly phenomenon as 45, we have some work to do. I'm glad that she noted that the best Obama could do, beyond health care, is prevent the republic from going bankrupt. Besides that, his presidency will be known for being largely symbolic and like a gerbil in a cage, since the Republicans were so good at blocking everything else.
She seems to agree with something I've concluded long ago: That our generation, the baby boomers, blew the country we were handed. Our parents wanted us not to suffer from the same problems that they did: a depression and world war. We dodged both and were handed affluence and opportunities galore. And what did we do with it? Founder in gluttonous self-absorption. Conservatives, with their enormous wealth and now law and courts to protect it, are just as guilty as liberals, who rested on their laurels after Brown v. Board and Roe v. Wade, both attacked and diminished almost as they were declared.
We forgot where we came from and that it isn't automatic. The ultimate example of that is now president. We got what we deserved. And now depression's right around the corner, brought to you by neglect at the highest levels.
So she leaves us with 45's election and what it means: That our information-twisted-and-challenged culture, filled with "truthiness," is now fighting itself in ways that seem stuck and immutable. Two narratives have emerged, one less able to be sifted and blended in with the other as we go. We have two nations now, as John Edwards said: but wherever he is, he didn't mean what's happened. One rich, one poor, is what he meant, even more because of Republican meddling in the tax structure, and that's still true. But that's been disguised and smoothed over for now. We are going backwards, as Lepore says, with a narrative that seems to be satisfactory for disturbingly many.
In less than six months, we will decide what to do with that. I wonder whether a new history of the country will have to be written then, or if anybody's proud enough of the result to go to the trouble. As it is, this book is filled with thoughtful reflections and ruminations. As history, it is oddly superficial in terms of facts, but thorough in terms of meaning, another balancing act between facts and truth. It's easy to read yet dense. But it's worth your while.
Be well. Be careful. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
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