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2.71 AVERAGE
2.71 AVERAGE
A long slog through a less than riveting read. What little new or surprising information Bolton had to share wasn't worth the time spent listening to his pompous know-it-all warhawk pontificating.
I quit this book about a third of the way in because I couldn't stand the author's pomposity.
Here’s the book in a nutshell:
1. Here’s the dumb thing Trump did.
2. Here’s the wise advice I gave him.
3. Here’s the stupid thing Trump said.
4. Here’s why I was right.
5. Trump is dumb.
6. Repeat in chapters organized by country.
1. Here’s the dumb thing Trump did.
2. Here’s the wise advice I gave him.
3. Here’s the stupid thing Trump said.
4. Here’s why I was right.
5. Trump is dumb.
6. Repeat in chapters organized by country.
from a purely aesthetic standpoint, this book is written poorly: it's filled with badly placed sarcasm and dripping in hubris that can only belong to a self-important man who's never learned to say sorry. perhaps this attempt at humor is bolton's way of appearing human to the average american reader. but to me, it comes off as arrogant and even tone-deaf to the current public anger at him for not having testified when he very well should have.
i can tell that bolton thinks of himself as an intelligent, courageous, patriotic scholar who's willing to do whatever it takes to help get the nation back on what he believes to be the right track. in fact, much of the political reasoning that he divulges to the reader comes off as logically sound. but we are forced to reconcile his voice with the reality that he joined the trump administration over a year into trump's tenure, after a whole slew of hirings and firings as well as months of mumblings of presidential political incompetence and stubbornness. one needs to have a certain amount of arrogance to believe that he can walk into the oval office after a full year of chaos and truly believe that he can single-handedly turn the administration around. and then, we must further accept the fact that bolton chose not to share any of this information in the congressional hearings but instead to wait to publish it all in a memoir post-mortem—and, why? is this what a brave patriot does?
granted, this book does reveal important information not previously seen about the trump presidency. but don't be fooled—this does not justify buying the book. i recommend reading it for free or reading an online summary. financial patronage of information that should have been disseminated for free is a mistake that we can all avoid.
i can tell that bolton thinks of himself as an intelligent, courageous, patriotic scholar who's willing to do whatever it takes to help get the nation back on what he believes to be the right track. in fact, much of the political reasoning that he divulges to the reader comes off as logically sound. but we are forced to reconcile his voice with the reality that he joined the trump administration over a year into trump's tenure, after a whole slew of hirings and firings as well as months of mumblings of presidential political incompetence and stubbornness. one needs to have a certain amount of arrogance to believe that he can walk into the oval office after a full year of chaos and truly believe that he can single-handedly turn the administration around. and then, we must further accept the fact that bolton chose not to share any of this information in the congressional hearings but instead to wait to publish it all in a memoir post-mortem—and, why? is this what a brave patriot does?
granted, this book does reveal important information not previously seen about the trump presidency. but don't be fooled—this does not justify buying the book. i recommend reading it for free or reading an online summary. financial patronage of information that should have been disseminated for free is a mistake that we can all avoid.
Bolton, John R. The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir. Simon & Schuster, 2020.
John Bolton’s The Room Where It Happened has received quite a few well-deserved negative reviews, but not all of them are fair. Some of them seem to be the sorts of assessment one could write of Bolton’s personality and policy preferences without looking into this book at all. The book has many faults that have nothing to do with whether Bolton is right or wrong in his approach to foreign policy. The question on everyone’s mind when the book was announced was what Bolton would have said if he had testified in Trump’s impeachment trial. Bolton says nothing about it, except that he does not think his testimony would have changed the outcome. He offers no clarity on the quid pro quo question. Did Bolton resign over Ukraine? It was one reason among many, he says. About the other reasons he leaves us guessing. Nor does he offer any insight into Trump’s bromance with Putin, except to say he never asked about it because he feared that the answer would not be one that he could live with. You would think a security adviser would need to know, whatever the answer. Bolton does do a good job of detailing the inconsistent, self-interested vacillation of Trump’s decision-making and the chaos of White House operations. Sadly, he offers little analysis of its motives or development. My own view is that it exists because Trump hires aides who are true believers or simple sycophants, or people like himself who use the government to pursue their own personal or policy interests, Bolton among them. Bolton does have a policy agenda that not all of his colleagues share. He does make a convincing case that Trump was not up to the task of negotiating with the leaders of North Korea and China, but I am not sure that Bolton or Pompeo would have done a better job on their own. Finally, one must note that the book is poorly written. It reads like a rushed job. It needs a rewrite to add necessary explanations, eliminate distracting detail, and add clarity and precision to its thesis, assuming that there is one. There is not much light in this picture of the room where it happened.
John Bolton’s The Room Where It Happened has received quite a few well-deserved negative reviews, but not all of them are fair. Some of them seem to be the sorts of assessment one could write of Bolton’s personality and policy preferences without looking into this book at all. The book has many faults that have nothing to do with whether Bolton is right or wrong in his approach to foreign policy. The question on everyone’s mind when the book was announced was what Bolton would have said if he had testified in Trump’s impeachment trial. Bolton says nothing about it, except that he does not think his testimony would have changed the outcome. He offers no clarity on the quid pro quo question. Did Bolton resign over Ukraine? It was one reason among many, he says. About the other reasons he leaves us guessing. Nor does he offer any insight into Trump’s bromance with Putin, except to say he never asked about it because he feared that the answer would not be one that he could live with. You would think a security adviser would need to know, whatever the answer. Bolton does do a good job of detailing the inconsistent, self-interested vacillation of Trump’s decision-making and the chaos of White House operations. Sadly, he offers little analysis of its motives or development. My own view is that it exists because Trump hires aides who are true believers or simple sycophants, or people like himself who use the government to pursue their own personal or policy interests, Bolton among them. Bolton does have a policy agenda that not all of his colleagues share. He does make a convincing case that Trump was not up to the task of negotiating with the leaders of North Korea and China, but I am not sure that Bolton or Pompeo would have done a better job on their own. Finally, one must note that the book is poorly written. It reads like a rushed job. It needs a rewrite to add necessary explanations, eliminate distracting detail, and add clarity and precision to its thesis, assuming that there is one. There is not much light in this picture of the room where it happened.
As other reviewers have said this book is an uncomfortably similar to a former Hitler official releasing a tell-all memoir trying to justify his participation in a corrupt, and criminal regime. Sure, there is some interesting information here but broadly all it does is make clearer two facts. One, that trump leads by whim and personal feelings rather than national interest and two, that he is surrounded by yes men who don’t have the courage or humanity to see their complicity for what it is. Any sane American already knows these things.
Also: don’t buy this book. Get it from the library like I did (or for free online) if you really do want to read it. Bolton doesn’t deserve anything for his complicity.
Also: don’t buy this book. Get it from the library like I did (or for free online) if you really do want to read it. Bolton doesn’t deserve anything for his complicity.
The Room Where It Happened by John Bolton doesn't have anything I felt was so explosive. In many ways, it confirmed what I had long felt about Trump-he is impulsive, uneducated in foreign affairs, and approaches everything like a business deal. However, the book was a fascinating look into what happens in the day to day of foreign policy-and the number of near misses in terms of bad ideas.
Bolton is a republican and his views on foreign policy reflect that. He is critical of President Obama's policies. I expected all that. However, Bolton is able to show us that even working for a Republican president didn't mean they had similar ideologies. In numerous events, Bolton details how quickly Trump would waffle from one plan to another based on who he had last spoken to. Its obvious that he is very fickle and most of his staff was never sure of what a plan might be by the time its implemented. While this didn't surprise me, it is shocking to read how frequently these changes occurred and that the happened with countries that are very dangerous (North Korea).
Bolton also highlights Trump's lack of knowledge. Making fun of a president's intelligence isn't anything new (I mean, how many cracks were there about Bush 43?) but Bolton gives specific examples of when Trump questioned things like geography. Bolton's stories reminded me a great deal of when Trump asked if scientists were looking into a way to use disinfectants and sunlight in the body. He shows a lack of understanding that, for a president, is dangerous. Again, based solely on Trumps questions about disinfectants and sunlight, this didn't surprise me, but I was struck at how dangerous this could be.
The most interesting things in the story to me were all the exchanges with foreign governments. The reader does get a blow by blow of interactions with North Korea, Iraq, Venezuela, and China. I didn't think I would be interested in this, but I found it compelling. To see all the small interactions that are never published by the press made me realize how important the role of the president and his cabinet are to national security. Obviously, these interactions show Trump's lack of understanding but also his lack of action. As a nation, we are lucky that he tended to chose inaction because the outcome could have easily been war. However, you also see how many times Trump had a chance to take a stand against totalitarian regimes and didn't. We as a nation could have taken a stand and helped people under these terrible rulers, but instead, Trump worried if the leaders would not like him. Its like having one of the most powerful nations in the world run by a middle schooler-impulsive, overly concerned with popularity, dishonest when its self serving, and lacking basic knowledge of the world. As a middle school teacher, I deal with this every day. I am even more concerned that our country is being run by a person who still acts like my students.
Whether or not you are a supporter or opponent of the president, this book should be on your TBR simply to learn more about the ins and outs of how our country interacts with other countries. Bolton points out parallel scenarios in other presidencies and how they transpired so you understand that these events aren't unique to Trump's presidency. What is unique is Trump's actions. The Room Where It Happened has made me want to listen to other books by former cabinet members from other presidents-I was surprised at how much the behind the scenes look interested me. I think reading memoirs by former cabinet members who had a pleasant experience would be interesting as well just to have a deeper understanding of how government works. Lots of what Trump does will further anger those who already see the flaws in him; I still think the story is important because it includes the stuff we didn't already know. If politics makes you ragey, skip this. Just know that it confirms what you already feel and go read something that won't make your blood pressure rise!
I listened to the audio of this book and the narrator did a great job. This story translates well to audio and fans of podcasts will enjoy the audio version. The book has a sort of political podcast vibe anyway, so listening to it was much like listening to a podcast about politics.
The Room Where It Happened
Considering all the hype the book got due to the White House’s objections, I thought this book would be better. Was there a lot of stuff that as I read, I was appalled the President of the United States said or did? Yes. But can I remember any details to recount those things now? No.
Honestly, not as explosive or revealing as I would have hoped. And not like anything in there that shocked me about Trump.
It was also soooooo slow and hard to get through. I kept wanting to give up but I was already so far into it that I figured I would push forward. Waste of time.
Honestly, not as explosive or revealing as I would have hoped. And not like anything in there that shocked me about Trump.
It was also soooooo slow and hard to get through. I kept wanting to give up but I was already so far into it that I figured I would push forward. Waste of time.
slow-paced
I’ll be sure to come back to rate and review this just as soon as I strip off my hazmat suit and finish my silkwood shower.