The New York Times Book Review gives us a review and sneak
preview of Pete Buttigieg’s “Trust: America’s Best Chance”.
The review describes the pressure Pete felt writing the
book, right after he dropped out of the race on March 2, the day before I was
to work the Virginia primary, just as the pandemic was about to explode in the
United States. And the book is already a "best seller".
A quick look at the prologue shows that Pete looks at
decades of history as defined by critical events: 9/11, the 2008 financial collapse, Obama’s
presidency and an unequal recovery, Trump’s election based on resentment, and
now the pandemic. But he doesn’t mention
the pandemic until talking about the wave of protests stemming from historically
systemic racism.
His first chapter starts out by talking about unit cohesion
in his own stint in the military. This
sounds like it will be interesting reading for me. I could compare this to my own experience
writing “Do Ask Do Tell” in 1995-1997.
But I was not a recognized celebrity.
This gives me cause to ponder. I
have to read Zakaria and Feiler. I never became a best seller, although I believe that I did become a hidden influencer, and that itself is controversial.
The new book is relatively short (224 pages), from
Liveright.
In 2019 Pete authored “Shortest Way Home”, from the same
published, longer, about the rebuilding of South Bend.
Picture: Wikipedia, Performing Arts Center in South Bend. I wonder how it will recover from the pandemic. Embedded picture, click for attribution. I don't recall being in South Bend; I have been in Fort Wayne (and spend a summer in Indianapolis in my first job in 1970).
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