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jen_forbus's review
informative
5.0
Meticulously researched, fabulously delivered. Chandler’s humor helps to make the dark elements palatable. I had trouble putting this one down.
“Our moment demands a new patriotism; an ideal strong enough to hold the truth that no singular American success has happened without help and sweat from the greater whole; and that for each high-water triumph of collective sacrifice like June 6, there has also been a rock-bottom calamity of collective dysfunction like January 6.
Finally, we hav to invert the civic disparity that pushes us to ask too much of each other as individuals and too little of each other as citizens.”
“Our moment demands a new patriotism; an ideal strong enough to hold the truth that no singular American success has happened without help and sweat from the greater whole; and that for each high-water triumph of collective sacrifice like June 6, there has also been a rock-bottom calamity of collective dysfunction like January 6.
Finally, we hav to invert the civic disparity that pushes us to ask too much of each other as individuals and too little of each other as citizens.”
mkmatheson's review
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
“If working hard made you rich, donkeys would be covered in gold.”
Chandler’s exploration into American exceptionalism as a grift has a broad scope across history. Whether it’s the motived mythologizing of Columbus or America’s obstinance in mandating a living wage, Chandler makes a clear argument about the expectations-versus-reality of being the 99% (illustrated to great effect in the title, co-opting a Thomas Edison quote). But this isn’t a scathing book—nor “anti-American” as an earlier review called it; Chandler isn’t whining, he’s interrogating how the country can improve for the sake of *all* its citizens. Though the transitions between chapters feels a tad tangential, the sum of its parts results in an informative and comprehensive read.
Chandler’s exploration into American exceptionalism as a grift has a broad scope across history. Whether it’s the motived mythologizing of Columbus or America’s obstinance in mandating a living wage, Chandler makes a clear argument about the expectations-versus-reality of being the 99% (illustrated to great effect in the title, co-opting a Thomas Edison quote). But this isn’t a scathing book—nor “anti-American” as an earlier review called it; Chandler isn’t whining, he’s interrogating how the country can improve for the sake of *all* its citizens. Though the transitions between chapters feels a tad tangential, the sum of its parts results in an informative and comprehensive read.