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caffeinated_gills's review against another edition
2.5
It was fine. More diatribe than educational. Misleading comments throughout, but some interesting information throughout. It'd be worth reading if it was the length of maybe a novella and the author had a few fact checkers.
unsecuredstation's review against another edition
5.0
This is a phenomenal work by a diligent and careful investigator. Such an important eye opener. Highly recommended!
monsieur_tunin's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
pearseanderson's review against another edition
3.0
A fine primer, though the structure and call to direct action confused and frustrated me. This book dealt with a lot of good topics, but didn't feel revolutionary, and I came away unsure why it was awarded so much praise as a top audiobook of the year. By no means a bad read! Just, not my thing, really.
miguelf's review against another edition
4.0
Sarah Chayes is a familiar voice for those weaned on NPR – she moved to Afghanistan shortly after the US invasion in the early 2000’s to assist in that country's rebuilding. She presents a very wide ranging rumination on the topic of Corruption obviously having observed quite a bit of it in first hand from our ill-formed foray into South Asia. She goes back in history and works her way back to the US about ¼ way into the book. She uses the metaphor of a Hydra to describe how the tentacles of corruption weave their way into the fabric of society and how this has waxed and waned in the US over the past 200 or so years. Overall it’s quite convincing for no other reason that one doesn’t need to be convinced of her assumption – she also doesn’t lay the blame on any one political party or ideology (the Clintons, Blair, and Schroeder all representing the left-of-center of their respective parties all are called out for justifiably withering criticism). In the last part she proposes several approaches to solve this, none without merit but some more worthy than others. Overall decent overview on this topic.
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