Politics - Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis

By Scott J. Pearson | October 11, 2021October 11, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

This book’s ironic title indicates the “average American’s” complacency towards political concerns – a theme as relevant today as it was during the Great Depression. This book, written at the height of the Depression in 1935, imagines what would happen if a populist/fascist won the presidential election of 1936. Fascism was already taking root in Italy and Germany, and it was on the rise in America (primarily through Senator Huey Long, as the afterword explains).…

The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels

By Scott J. Pearson | August 30, 2021August 30, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

Do you think America has never seen such polarizing times as ours today? Pulitizer Prize winner Jon Meacham stands ready to correct you and then to enlist you in the struggle for America to choose the better path. In this work, starting with Abraham Lincoln, he traces how historically Americans fought over choices that today might seem taken for granted – like women’s suffrage, lynchings, the right to vote, and trumped-up charges of political treason.…

Healthcare History Politics

The Hidden History of American Healthcare

By Scott J. Pearson | August 12, 2021August 12, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

In my early twenties, I decided to devote my life to bettering American healthcare. I gained exposure to the system as a medical student and still contribute professionally by bettering medical research through software development. My experiences show that many inefficiencies and much greed exist in the system. As Hartmann attests to in this book, so many people angle to profit off of citizens’ health needs. It’s sad, but the political will and personal wills…

Politics Science Society

Genomic Politics: How the Revolution in Genomic Science is Shaping American Society

By Scott J. Pearson | July 10, 2021July 10, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

Hochschild, an academic political scientist, has been closely following genomic research for the last decade. In this book, she presents a comprehensive summary of where the politics of genomics currently is in America and where we are going. She contends that genomics hasn’t split into traditional left-versus-right camps (yet) primarily because most people tend to be for curing difficult diseases. However, other camps are forming, and she accordingly divides public opinion into Enthusiasts, Hopefuls, Skeptics,…

Biography-Memoir Politics Society

Becoming by Michelle Obama

By Scott J. Pearson | February 4, 2021February 4, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

In this brilliantly deliberate memoir, Obama reflects on the journey that is her life. She shares how an educationally-driven, middle-class, African-American girl from the south-side of Chicago could become First Lady of the United States. With the highest decency, she shares how she raised two girls while in the public eye and how she joined with her husband in carrying a difficult nation. Through her words, she courageously fights for the soul of a country,…

Biography-Memoir History Politics

Leadership: In Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin

By Scott J. Pearson | December 26, 2020December 26, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

In this work, Goodwin charts the lives of four influential US Presidents – Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson. Having written leading biographies previously of each of these, she combines her insights to profile the character of leadership, at least in an American form. She distills prior deep study of these presidents into an interwoven narrative that highlights how their personal narratives enabled them to meet the challenges of their times…

Biography-Memoir History Politics

A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety

By Scott J. Pearson | August 10, 2019October 11, 2019 by Scott J. Pearson

Jimmy Carter, America’s 39th president, has been much maligned for being a weak president. Certainly, there are things he wishes that he could redo. Nonetheless, it is interesting to see in this memoir what positive things he did accomplish and how honest he is about the unresolved problems of our world. Carter has been called the most-successful ex-president our country has ever had. He founded the Carter Center at Emory University and has spend a…

Biography-Memoir Politics

Review: Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of Family and Culture in Crisis

By Scott J. Pearson | June 3, 2019June 1, 2019 by Scott J. Pearson

I’m often concerned that American culture is increasingly splitting into two groups that don’t interact much. Our politics and our regionalism tends to reinforce that. There are a few voices which seem to traverse the divide, and Vance’s is one of them. Specifically, he traverses the Appalachia/Rust-Belt divide with Northeastern elites. As such, he can speak to both audiences at the same time while enlightening us all about his experiences. Vance’s family life was incredibly…

Politics

If You Can Keep It: The Forgotten Promise of American Liberty

By Scott J. Pearson | August 4, 2018 by Scott J. Pearson

by Eric Metaxas(c) 2016. The title of this book is stolen from Benjamin Franklin when asked if we were founding a monarchy or a republic. With his classic quick wit, he responded, “A republic… if you can keep it.” This book, by a radio talk show host, comprises a series of lecture-type chapters that admonishes patriotism instead of carelessness towards America. It contains many anecdotes which are interesting, such as that of Nathan Hale’s, “I…

Politics

The Age of Reason

By Scott J. Pearson | June 9, 2018 by Scott J. Pearson

by Thomas PaineOriginally published 1794 in the setting of the French Revolution. Thomas Paine, the author of the famed Common Sense in 1776, extends his critique of Western culture from government to religion in this treatise. In it, he appeals for Deism based upon Nature instead of a religion based upon revelation. Like his contention that originally humans were free without a monarchy, he contends that humans originally had no Word of God and thus relied…