BOOK: The Reckoning: Our Nation’s Trauma and Finding a Way to Heal (Mary L. Trump, 2021)

In The Reckoning, former-President Trump’s niece, Mary L. Trump, looks at his Administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and his reaction to losing the 2020 Presidential Election. She considers the culturally-traumatic impact of this dark time upon the American nation, as well as how it fits into a wider national narrative that benefits the white privileged, and what precedents Trump set for future politicians in the process.

From hereon, to differentiate between the two Trumps, the following will be used: DJT for Donald J. Trump, MLT for Mary L. Trump.

• By drawing upon her own knowledge and experience of DJT, MLT explains why he responded in the ways that he did the COVID-19 and the 2020 Election results, giving us a better understanding of why he did so and how they fit into a wider history of behavioural patterns.
• This book is not so much a book about DJT as it is a book about the turbulent history of American race relations to precede his Presidency, and it is a very rushed history that frequently lacks nuance or detail and makes very sweeping statements.
• Both the historical aspects and the sociological writings on contemporary America feature generalisations and half-truths that are not backed up by documented examples or statistics. MLT’s bibliography is huge, and one cannot help but feel that she cherry-picked elements of facts to support her writings but deliberately left out the majority of the detail.
• Despite acknowledging that there are many reasons why people may have voted Republican (in 2016 and/or 2020), MLT makes very generalising condemnations of Republican voters, as though all of them support the far-right ideologies that became increasingly apparent during that era.
• Towards the end of the book, MLT makes very generalising statements about what it means to be a black person in contemporary America – something that a white person should never do unless they are quoting African-Americans verbatim.

SUMMARY: When writing on and applying psychology, Mary L. Trump’s expertise in that field comes through, but most of this book is an exercise in history and sociology – neither of which is a subject-area that she is suited to or an expert in, which most of the prose makes very apparent.

VERDICT: MISS

BOOK: The Presidents: 250 Years of American Political Leadership (Iain Dale, 2021)

The Presidents: 250 Years of American Political Leadership is a collection of contributed chapters, edited by Iain Dale. Each chapter concerns a different President of the United States – from George Washington to Joe Biden. The chapters are essentially mini-biographies, with the primary focus being of their respective subject-matters’ tenures in quite possibly the most powerful political position in the world, as well as their subsequent legacies.

• A brief prologue provides a fascinatingly detailed yet concise explanation for what led to the office of President being established.
• The authors take balanced approaches to their subject-matters, providing overviews of their Presidencies and the achievements (or lack of) therein (including shedding light on lesser known ones). They also consider how history has remembered them, what the general perceptions of them and, rather than outright agreeing or disagreeing, discuss why they are remembered that way and raise possible counter-arguments.
• Each mini-biography is clearly well researched as the authors provide insights into the Presidents’ characters, eccentricities and little ticks (both those that won people over and those that alienated), and each also details the subject-matters’ youth and earlier political career, providing a concise consideration of what led to them getting to the Oval Office; and also briefly discusses their lives after leaving office, providing points on how the role impacted them subsequently.
• Each passionately-written chapter provides a concisely-detailed and very interesting overview of a President, meaning that (regardless of your politics) you come to see why the authors find them fascinating.
• Occasionally it feels like the contributing authors’ are trying too hard to be impartial and objective in their writing, and one cannot help but wish they would be a little more willing to express their subjective opinion in addition to balanced considerations.

VERDICT: MUST