Coming Up Short
A Memoir of My America
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- ¥2,000
発行者による作品情報
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From political economist, cabinet member, beloved professor, media presence, and bestselling author of Saving Capitalism and The Common Good, a deeply felt, compelling memoir of growing up in a baby-boom America that made progress in certain areas, fell short in so many important ways, and still has lots of work to do
"Important and galvanizing.” —Senator Bernie Sanders
"Essential reading for understanding this moment in American history.” —Molly Jong-Fast, New York Times bestselling author of How to Lose Your Mother
A thought-provoking, principled, clear-eyed chronicle of the culture, politics, and economic choices that have landed us where we are today—with irresponsible economic bullies and corporations with immense wealth and lobbying power on top, demagogues on the rise, and increasing inequality fueling anger and hatred across the country.
Nine months after World War II, Robert Reich was born into a united America with a bright future—which went unrealized for so many as big money took over our democracy. His encounter with school bullies on account of his height—4'11" as an adult—set him on a determined path to spend his life fighting American bullies of every sort. He recounts the death of a friend in the civil rights movement; his political coming of age witnessing the Berkeley free speech movement; working for Bobby Kennedy and Senator Eugene McCarthy; experiencing a country torn apart by the Vietnam War; meeting Hillary Rodham in college, Bill Clinton at Oxford, and Clarence Thomas at Yale Law. He details his friendship with John Kenneth Galbraith during his time teaching at Harvard, and subsequent friendships with Bernie Sanders and Ted Kennedy; and his efforts as labor secretary for Clinton and economic advisor to Barack Obama. Ultimately, Reich asks: What did his generation accomplish? Did they make America better, more inclusive, more tolerant? Did they strengthen democracy? Or did they come up short?
Reich hardly abandons us to despair over a doomed democracy. With characteristic spirit and humor, he lays out how we can reclaim a sense of community and a democratic capitalism based on the American ideals we still have the power to salvage.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this passionate political memoir, Reich (The Common Good), former U.S. secretary of labor under Bill Clinton, calls on Democrats to refocus on the working class. As a boy, Reich was bullied for his dwarfism by schoolmates who tried to dunk his head in a toilet; he frames his progressive politics as a stand against such tormenters. The worst bullies, Reich contends, are Wall Street financiers and the politicians who cater to them, and he castigates Democrats for aligning with wealthy donors at the expense of ordinary workers. He paints the Clinton administration as a milestone in that betrayal: despite the president's advocacy for unions and social spending, Reich argues, Clinton opted to appease Wall Street with spending cuts and trade deals like NAFTA. What follows is as much manifesto as memoir, with Reich's personal anecdotes setting up wonky digressions on CEO stock options and family leave. Along the way, he works in piquant sketches of political figures (Hillary Clinton's "hand was always the first in the air" at Yale, while "Bill was never in class"). Reich's arguments are convincing, though they're blinkered somewhat by his hand-waving invocation of "cultural populism" to explain critiques of the Democrats on immigration and other noneconomic issues. Still, this is a perceptive insider's account of Democratic disarray. Photos.
