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Tim Alberta's American Carnage is a comprehensive and sober review of U.S. presidency's recent political history, focusing primarily on the factors, largely in right-wing politics, that contributed to the ascendance of Donald Trump. Alberta's analysis is from a mostly center-right perspective but is ostensibly hostile to President Trump. He invests significant portions of the book in a sympathetic reiteration of criticisms of Trump commonly voiced by left-wing commentators, politicians, and activists. He also spends a great deal of time explicitly criticizing elements of the Christian Right and former TEA Party Republicans (i.e. conservative activists and deficit hawks) for essentially striking a Faustian bargain with Trump for political power.
Although Alberta's analysis seems to be largely motivated by personal disgust with Trump's uncouth manners and reckless rhetoric as well as sympathy with "Never Trump" political efforts on the Right, Alberta is relatively fair in his analysis, especially concerning Trump's strengths and weaknesses as a politician and the contemporary state of conservative politics. Alberta is somewhat unfair in his critique of the Right's embrace of political expediency (i.e. electing Trump) in an era where they are under assault by much of the media, Democrats, and left-wing movements. Moreover, Alberta errs most egregiously in his neglect of the crucial role that radical and socially deleterious left-wing movements and politicians played in the rise of Trump. This is not to say that he does not touch on of these factors at all, but he does mistakenly gloss over them, giving them only brief play during the discussions of the 2016 election and in the book's epilogue.
Alberta's book benefits from the interest inherent to the topic of his work. Trump is a figure that commands attention, and this will keep many readers turning the pages. However, much of the content and analysis presented will appear familiar, if not remedial, to most individuals who have actively followed national U.S. politics. There is definitely some interesting insider information gathered from sources in Republican politics with which Alberta has clearly established rapport (e.g. John Boehner, Paul Ryan, Jeff Flake, etc).
Overall, American Carnage is one of the more reasonable and detailed reviews of contemporary U.S. presidential politics available and is worth the read, especially if you're not necessarily someone who has followed contemporary politics closely.
Although Alberta's analysis seems to be largely motivated by personal disgust with Trump's uncouth manners and reckless rhetoric as well as sympathy with "Never Trump" political efforts on the Right, Alberta is relatively fair in his analysis, especially concerning Trump's strengths and weaknesses as a politician and the contemporary state of conservative politics. Alberta is somewhat unfair in his critique of the Right's embrace of political expediency (i.e. electing Trump) in an era where they are under assault by much of the media, Democrats, and left-wing movements. Moreover, Alberta errs most egregiously in his neglect of the crucial role that radical and socially deleterious left-wing movements and politicians played in the rise of Trump. This is not to say that he does not touch on of these factors at all, but he does mistakenly gloss over them, giving them only brief play during the discussions of the 2016 election and in the book's epilogue.
Alberta's book benefits from the interest inherent to the topic of his work. Trump is a figure that commands attention, and this will keep many readers turning the pages. However, much of the content and analysis presented will appear familiar, if not remedial, to most individuals who have actively followed national U.S. politics. There is definitely some interesting insider information gathered from sources in Republican politics with which Alberta has clearly established rapport (e.g. John Boehner, Paul Ryan, Jeff Flake, etc).
Overall, American Carnage is one of the more reasonable and detailed reviews of contemporary U.S. presidential politics available and is worth the read, especially if you're not necessarily someone who has followed contemporary politics closely.