Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
tense
slow-paced
fast-paced
reflective
sad
medium-paced
An important, if poorly timed, retrospective on understanding what went wrong over the past 10 years in American democracy. The information presented was eye-opening, especially when thinking back to what we were told by the media and what they withheld during the 2024 election cycle.
That said, I think it was poorly written. There is one chapter about 2023 that is about 70 pages long, compared to the typical chapter length of around 15-20 pages. This chapter is split into short stories, around 1-2 pages each, and I believe it's supposed to be in chronological order. However, it isn't really. It splits stories up (the Hur report, for example) and really interrupts the pacing and attention for the reader. It also seems to jump around within 2023 and while it is chronological for the most part, there are details out of place and that was confusing.
There are paragraphs and passages that are clumsy. There are very many anonymous sources that are referred to by "the first top democrat" and "the second top democrat" which is clunky to read and I think would have been easier to read had they been given aliases, such as names of birds (Mr. Bluejay, Ms. Cardinal) to distinguish between sources. Once I noticed this, it stuck out to me each subsequent time it happened.
Although it is somewhat conventional, they continue to refer to people with only their last names, even when they haven't been referenced in several pages. Multiple times I found myself paging backwards to remind myself who I was reading about, and I think that could have been handled better.
Anyway, it was an important read and an exercise in turning a critical eye to one's own party, but I wish that it was written better.
That said, I think it was poorly written. There is one chapter about 2023 that is about 70 pages long, compared to the typical chapter length of around 15-20 pages. This chapter is split into short stories, around 1-2 pages each, and I believe it's supposed to be in chronological order. However, it isn't really. It splits stories up (the Hur report, for example) and really interrupts the pacing and attention for the reader. It also seems to jump around within 2023 and while it is chronological for the most part, there are details out of place and that was confusing.
There are paragraphs and passages that are clumsy. There are very many anonymous sources that are referred to by "the first top democrat" and "the second top democrat" which is clunky to read and I think would have been easier to read had they been given aliases, such as names of birds (Mr. Bluejay, Ms. Cardinal) to distinguish between sources. Once I noticed this, it stuck out to me each subsequent time it happened.
Although it is somewhat conventional, they continue to refer to people with only their last names, even when they haven't been referenced in several pages. Multiple times I found myself paging backwards to remind myself who I was reading about, and I think that could have been handled better.
Anyway, it was an important read and an exercise in turning a critical eye to one's own party, but I wish that it was written better.
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
A vengeful rewrite of history masquerading as journalism. This book is more fiction than fact, more ego than ethics, and fails every test of credibility.
informative
sad
fast-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
informative
reflective
tense
informative
reflective
slow-paced
This book was somehow more painful to get through than the 2024 election itself. 2 stars because it was not completely unbearable but definitely not enjoyable. I will give Tapper and Thompson credit for exposing how deep the “cover-up” went, but I found a lot of this to be repetitive. Didn’t make me as angry as I thought it would.
informative
fast-paced