Book Review: Donald T***p v. The United States

 

This is a book that covers the 2017-2021 presidential administration, with a heavy focus on the Russia investigation, both before the Special Counsel was appointed when the FBI was in charge of the investigation, and after. The book was written by Michael Schmidt, a columnist for the New York Times, who had many sources, named and unnamed, both inside the White House, the FBI, and (seemingly inside or around people on the inside of) the Muller team. The book basically spans the time period from before the 2016 election detailing the FBI investigations of both candidates, and how each was handled by the FBI director, and ends with a summary of the first impeachment proceedings.

The substantive portion of the book is 400 pages long, then there are several pages of notes. Schmidt details what was going on in the White House Counsel's office (former White House Counsel Don McGahn was one of his named sources) and seemed to have a lot of insight into what Mueller's team was doing. He goes into great detail about how the Orange Genital Wart was raging at everything, getting crazier as time went on, and refusing to listen to anyone who told him that he could not do the batshit crazy stuff he wanted to do. The end of the book really details how Bill Barr bailed Agent Orange out when the Mueller report was released, based in large part because Mueller refused to actually make any kind of recommendation on whether Little Donny Diapers should be charged with anything. Schmidt also paints Rod Rosenthien as a wimpy slimeball who basically changed his tune depending on who he was talking to.

The book has a lot of reporting that was bombshell news when it came out in 2020, but even now, a few years removed from the original publication there is still material in the book that did not get widely reported, so even if you are a consumer of reputable news, some of the material in the book may be unfamiliar to you. Of course, the MAGATs will scream fake news about everything, but Schmidt brings receipts to back up every assertion that he makes. It is definitely worth reading.

Book Review: Ordinary Heroes: A Memoir of 9/11

 

"Ordinary Heroes" is a memoir by FDNY Chief, Joseph Pfeifer, who was one of the first firefighters on the scene at the World Trade Center on 9/11, having watched American Airlines Flight 11 slam into the North Tower of the Trade Center from a few blocks away. And, Chief Pfeifer was, for a short time, the highest-ranking firefighter on the scene and started coordinating the rescue efforts. If you have watched the documentary "9/11" which was made by the French filmmakers, Jules and Gideon Naudet, and aired less than a year after the attacks, you will recognize Chief Pfeifer from that documentary.

The book is mostly centered around what happened on 9/11, and then the aftermath. Although, Pfeifer does quickly go over how he ended up joining the fire department, what it was like to work with his brother (who was one of the over 340 firefighters who died on 9/11 when the buildings collapsed), and what his life was like post-9/11.

There are a lot of interesting details in the book that, even if you have watched the documentary in which Chief Pfeifer was featured, you may not know. For example, he knew when he saw the plane hit the building that it was a terrorist attack and he ordered an evacuation of the South Tower almost immediately upon arriving at the Trade Center. Sadly, not only was that order never relayed to the people in the South Tower, an announcement was played in the South Tower telling people that the tower was secure and that they could stay at their desks, which resulted in many more people dying than would have, had Cheif Pfeifer's evacuation order been carried out. The book also details how the fire department was not patched into the police department's communications, which included information being relayed from the police helicopter circling the buildings, so Chief Pfeifer had no idea the South Tower collapsed, and the rapidly decaying condition of the North Tower was not relayed to him. So, while he did order an evacuation of the North Tower to the firefighters, he did not do so as a mayday call, which probably resulted in people moving faster to get out of the building. The last 1/3 (or so) of the book discusses Pfeifer's work post-9/11 working to make high-rise buildings more secure, and coordinating fire and police cooperation during high-scale emergencies. 

The book is relatively short, right around 300 pages, and reads very quickly. Chief Pfeifer gives a harrowing description of what he, and the others with him, experienced on 9/11 and conveys the pain of losing not only his literal brother but many of his firefighter family members as well. It is a great book that is definitely one of my must-reads.

Book Review: The Plot to Destroy Democracy: How Putin and His Spies Are Undermining America and Dismantling the West

 

The Plot to Destroy Democracy is a book written by former US Intelligence Officer, Malcolm Nance. The substantive portion of the book (if you have it in paperback) is about 300 pages, and the rest consists of endnotes and an index. 

The focus of the book is on Russia's efforts to undermine Western Democracy, even going back to when the Soviet Union was formed under Lenin, and continuing to the present day. Nance interspersed events that occurred leading up to and including the 2016 election cycle, arguing that Putin's cronies in Russia basically groomed the orange genital wart for a run for President, offering to do everything they could to help him win, which he knew about and absolutely accepted. The focus of the book was not so much what t***p and his dipshits were doing, but what the hackers in Russia were doing, not only interfering in the US elections but the shit they were doing to interfere in elections (and the political processes) in other countries as well. Specifically, while the various hacking groups were definitely trying to help t***p get elected, their main interest was sowing discord and distrust in the US political system among the American population.

The book is in part a history lesson and in part a warning. Nance was definitely one of those that seemed to think that Robert Mueller was going to swoop in and take t***p down (the book was written while the investigation was still ongoing), which, of course, is absolutely not what happened. But, Nance does a good job laying out what Russia was up to and what they would likely try as they got even bolder in subsequent elections. It is definitely worth reading.

Book Review: Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization

 

Starry Messenger is a book from 2022 written by Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. While the book does touch on science, that is not really the focus of the book. It is more of a book in which Tyson discusses topics like race, law, religion, philosophy, fame, beauty standards, technology, and death, all with a scientific bent. Basically, how the human experience has evolved over time, and how it may continue to evolve in the future. The title of the book is an English translation of the title of the treatise that Galileo Galilei wrote in 1610 in which Galileo published his astronomical observations. 

The book is essentially a short collection of Tyson's thoughts on a number of topics. Tyson admits that his politics and views on life in general lean left, but he also stressed the importance of talking with and learning about other points of view, providing his own perspective about dealing with people more conservative than he is when George W. Bush appointed him to two different commissions, one to study the future of the aerospace industry, and one about the implementation of US space exploration policy. 

The substantive portion of the book is just under 200 pages, and it reads very quickly. Most people can probably finish the book in a day or two, and if you are a fast reader, you can probably finish it in less than a day. While  I do not think the book is as good as some of Tyson's other books like Cosmic Queries and Death by Black Hole, it is worth reading, especially if you have listened to some of Tyson's interviews or listened to his podcast.

Book Review: The Man Who Warned America: The Life and Death of John O'Neill: The FBI's Embattled Counterterror Warrior

 

This is a biography of John O'Neill, who was basically the FBI's head of counterterrorism in the New York office until 2001, when he retired and went to work as the head of security at the World Trade Center, where he was about two weeks into the job when he was killed in the September 11th terrorist attacks.

The book details O'Neill's life from his time growing up in New Jersey, dreaming of becoming an FBI agent, to his death in 2001. The book shows him as a complicated figure who could be brash and overbearing at one moment and kind and generous the next. He would roll over people one second and seek their approval the next. The book does detail his messy personal life, dating (and making promises of marriage) to multiple women, while still being married to his first wife because of his Catholic faith. The book really focuses on how he was one of the first people to recognize and warn government officials of the threat of Al-Qaeda and worked to build a case against Osama Bin Ladin so the FBI could go into Afghanistan and grab him. It also detailed the way he butted heads with people in the FBI and how his penchant for bending the rules, and his personal life caused him to be passed over for promotions and ultimately forced out of the FBI. The book portrays O'Neill as really being married to his work, and being someone who rarely slept and was obsessive about getting everything perfect.

The book is a bit incomplete in that, while it does detail how O'Neill butted heads with the Ambassador of Yemen when investigating the bombing of the USS Cole, and his fights with FBI brass, it does not go into the infighting between O'Neil and the CIA agents in the "Bin Ladin Unit", and only touched on the refusal of the CIA to share information with the FBI (and pretty much specifically with O'Neill). The book also has a lot of inaccuracies about what happened on September 11th, such as misidentifying the pilot of Flight 11,  attributing the threats intended for the passengers of Flight 11 that were broadcast to Air Traffic Control as being made by the hijacker pilot of Flight 175, and getting some parts of the timeline wrong. The book was published in 2002, so certainly not all of the information that has been revealed since it was written was widely known when it was being written, but some of the mistakes could have been avoided with a little research and better editing. The does, however, provide some details about how O'Neill died that I have not seen widely reported.

Overall, the book is a good look at a man with a complex life.  The book is about 400 pages of substantive text, and then about 30 pages of notes. It is not an easy read, but it is not extremely difficult to get through either. People who read quickly should be able to get through it in a week or less, depending on how much time they have to read. I definitely recommend it.

Book Review: Proof of Collusion

 

The subject matter of the book is pretty clear from the title. In the book, author Seth Abramson, a former criminal attorney lays out the case that (and provides solid proof that) the former president, in the well-documented game of footsie that he played with Russia, starting long before he declared his candidacy for president and continuing to this day, was well aware of what Russia was up to during the 2016 election, and was more than willing to accept any help they gave him.

The book was written before the Mueller Report was written so Abramson was relying on the things that were already public before the Mueller investigation or had become public during the investigation, either because of the court cases that started springing up or the news reporting. The book lays out the orange genital wart's ties to Russia before he declared his candidacy for president when he was trying to get buildings built in Russia, to around the time when Paul Manafort was charged. Abramson rightly predicted that agent orange would be impeached, but he thought that he would be impeached because of the Mueller report, which of course he was not. And, he thought that there would be enough level-headed Republicans that would be willing to cut t***p loose, where, in reality, they would just toady up to him and lick his balls even more. Of course, Abramson could never have predicted that Mueller would punt on a determination of whether t***p should be charged or actually obstructed justice, and could not foresee that Bill Barr would swoop in and save t***p's ass because of it by totally misrepresenting the findings in the report before he released the redacted version.

Each chapter of the book contains a summary of the topics, then Abramson lays out the facts that were widely reported and then annotates the key factual points with even more detail. So, while the chapters can get quite long, there are a lot of natural stopping points. The substantive part of the book runs about 330 pages (if you get the hardcover version), and then there are over 100 pages of footnotes. So, for the Q nutjobs and MAGATs who will inevitably scream "fake news", he backs up pretty much every paragraph in the book with receipts. It is definitely worth reading. 

Book Review: The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation

 

The Betrayal of Anne Frank is the end result of an extensive investigation by a group of cold-case investigators who tried to determine who provided the tip to the police that led to the capture of Anne Frank, her family, and four other people who were hiding in an Annex to Otto Frank's (Anne's father) old business in Amsterdam in August of 1944. The book is in part a history lesson, detailing the experience of the Jews living in Amsterdam during World War II, and in part a detailing of the extensive investigation that the team of researchers undertook to figure out who tipped off the police that people were hiding in the building. While the author does not claim to provide an absolute answer, she does present a hypothesis based on the best available evidence (which included tracking down documents scattered throughout Europe, going through past interviews of the people with firsthand knowledge of the events, and interviewing as many living relatives of the people involved as possible).

The substantive part of the book is about 300 pages long, and then in the paperback version, there are a couple of epilogues, including one in which the author defends the work of the investigative team against the pushback against their conclusions and the criticism that the book received, especially in the Netherlands. Then there are several pages of footnotes. It is a very interesting read, and if you are into history, especially European history during World War II, this is definitely worth your time.

Book Review: The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe

 

The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe was a biography published in 2000 by Sarah Churchwell. She took a bit of a different track when writing the biography basically summarizing many of the various things that have been written and said about Monroe, both while she was alive and after her death, pointing out inconsistencies and contradictions, etc. Churchwell also summarizes many of the more popular books that have been written about Monroe over the years, going into detail about how those authors engaged in speculation, made things up, and either used very sketchy sources or essentially used themselves as a source (by citing to a different author whose work cites to their own work). Then, in the last chapter, Churchwell gives her take on who she thinks Monroe really was, and what she was like.

The book discusses Monroe's life, both things that were rumored and facts that were verified, from her childhood to her days of modeling, breaking into acting, and transforming herself into a Hollywood icon. Churchwell addresses the rumors of her sleeping around (including her alleged trysts with women), her mental state, her drug use, etc. Churchwell does a great job breaking down the various inconsistent reporting on Monroe's life (depending on who is telling the story she either had multiple abortions or none, she was either bisexual or homophobic, she was either stupid or brilliant, she was either naive or cunning, she either slept with Robert Kennedy or she didn't, she either could barely remember her lines or she purposely messed up to make a point when feuding with directors and producers) and explains what could things could be verified and what could not.

The book is just over 330 pages, but it reads fairly quickly. My only real issue with the book is that the print used is pretty small and light, especially for the notes that are at the bottom of some of the pages that flesh out detail from the text. That might slow people down a bit when reading, but if you are a fast reader you can get through it in 2-3 days pretty easily.     

Book Review: Compromised: Counterintelligence and the Threat of Donald J. T***p

 

This book is partly a memoir that spans the course of Peter Strzok's career as a counterintelligence officer for the FBI, but it is mostly focused on the investigations (which he led) before and after the 2016 election. The book is a moderate length, about 350 pages, but it is not what I consider a quick read because it can be a bit dry. 

Strzok was the lead investigator on both the Clinton email investigation and the investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election, which morphed into an investigation of the Orange Genital Wart's ties to Russia and that interference, and which then morphed into the Mueller investigation. Strozk was initially a member of the Mueller team but was kicked off when text messages between him and an FBI lawyer whom he was having an affair with showing potential bias against t***p were revealed. Strozk, for the most part, does not get into the lurid details of his personal life but explained what he meant in the most controversial messages, and rightly points out that if he wanted to hurt t**p's campaign he could have leaked the fact that the campaign was being investigated before the election (which he did not), and that actions he took in the Clinton email investigation probably hurt her campaign and helped t***p (which was not his intended effect, but the likely outcome). Of course, the pussy grabber has no qualms about referring to Strozk and "his lover" over and over again, as if he had not cheated on all of his wives, which Stozk rightly points out. 

A couple of the more interesting tidbits from the book is that while the FBI did refer to the Steele Dossier (which Strozk was not really a dossier, but a collection of reports) when obtaining their warrants during the Russia investigation, they did not rely on the information as they thought a lot of it was not well-sourced and could not be corroborated. But, they felt that it should be brought the to judge's attention and the purpose for which it was put together. Second, not only did agent orange become a target of the investigation, but the FBI also started an investigation into whether Jeff Sessions perjured himself during his confirmation hearings. Unfortunately, Strozk does not go into much detail about that, and it seems that the investigation just flamed out. 

This book is basically a way for Strozk to tell his side of the story and defend his actions and those of the FBI. He recites as many of the facts as he could at the time he wrote it, and did not hold back his opinions of the former president or the people around him. He also criticizes some of the decisions that were made by the FBI leadership but also details the process through which those decisions were made. It is definitely worth reading.

Tower Stories: An Oral History of 9/11

 

This is a group of stories collected by the author, Damon Dimarco who started collecting the stories within months of the 9/11 attacks. The book was originally published a few years after 9/11 and then updated for the 20th Anniversary to add a new forward by the former NY governor, George Pataki, and provide some updates on some of the people that he originally interviewed. 

The book exclusively details the experiences of people who were in or around the towers that day as well as people whose lives were affected in the aftermath, such as a woman who basically became the organizer who made sure workers at "the pile" were fed daily, got supplies, etc. The people whose stories are told in this book are generally not the more well-known people who have been interviewed many times, but that does not lessen the impact at all. The author does a very good job of conveying the emotion of the people who he interviewed, which was sometimes very raw, and did a good job of introducing who that person was and what they were like during the interview.

My only nitpicky point about the book is that it does contain a number of errors, mostly about the timing of events on 9/11, both in the timeline at the beginning of the book (e.g., saying that Flight 93 took off at 8:01 AM when it took off at 8:42 AM and that it crashed at 10:10 AM when it really crashed at 10:03 AM), and in the footnotes (e.g., in one he said the south tower was hit first by Flight 175). Even if these made it into the initial printing, they should have been corrected in the update. However, those do not really take away from the rest of the book, and since the point of the book is not to detail the overall events of the day, but to tell the stories of the people affected, it is still a five-star book in my mind. 

The book is fairly long, just under 500 pages, but it does read fairly quickly. Most of the stories span about 5 pages, give or take, but there are a couple longer ones that span about 20 pages, so there are a lot of natural stopping points. It is definitely one that I consider a must-read.

Book Review: Landslide: The Final Days of the t***p Presidency

 

Landslide is the third book written by Michael Wolff about the 2017-2021 presidential administration. The focus of this book is on the 2020 election and the aftermath, including the lead-up to January 6th, the former president leaving office, and the second impeachment. The book is just over 300 pages and reads fairly quickly. It can easily be finished in a couple of days if you are a fairly quick reader.

I would say that the book does not have any really salacious details of the kind that were in Wolff's prior books (e.g., Wolff's insinuation that t***p was having an affair with someone in his administration, or t***p's alleged bragging about someone in the administration giving him a blowjob), it was pretty much a straight retelling of what happened in that time period, with Wolff not holding back about the fact that he thinks t***p and many of the people around him (those who were telling him he won the election and it could definitely be overturned), were batshit crazy, and getting crazier with each passing day. For me, the best part of the book was the detail of the clusterfuck that was t***p's defense during the second impeachment and the team of dipshits (including a self-described wimp who did not want to talk in front of the Senate) who were defending him. Mainly, because nobody else was willing to do it. At the very end of the book, Wolff details meeting with t***p at the southern shithole (Mar-a-Lago) during which Wolff asked the Orange Genital Wart to name who exactly was behind the non-existent plot to steal the 2020 election, and of course, the dipshit could not do so, only saying it was not Biden, and the names would come out shortly. 

Overall, you have to know what you are getting with Wolff. He is not a journalist, so he has no qualms about inserting his personal opinions or putting in all the dirt he hears that nobody else would touch. As I said above, this book was mostly a retelling of the facts without much dirt, so in that way, it is closer in tone to many of the other books about the administration written by journalists who just provide facts and quote sources. But, Wolff is not shy about letting his personal feelings be known, so in that way, it is different than many of the other books. I would say most of the information in the book is fairly well-known, especially as of this writing, but it does have some fine details about events that have not been widely reported, which shows Wolff continued to have good access to people behind the scenes, even after writing two books excoriating that administration. So, if you liked Fire and Fury and Siege, this is worth reading.

Book Review: The Eleventh Day: The Full Story of 9/11

 

The Eleventh Day is a book that details pretty much all aspects of the September 11th terrorist attacks, from the leadup to the aftermath. The paperback version was put out about 10 years after the attacks, right around the time bin Laden was found and killed. The "main" portion of the book is 456 pages, 88 of which detail what happened on September 11th, the attacks, and the response by the first responders, the FAA, the military, and the politicians. Then, there are about 120 pages of endnotes, where the authors flesh out even more information. Much of the book details the lead-up to 9/11, including the rise to power of Osama bin Laden and his network and how the US government really failed to deal with him during both the Clinton and Bush administrations. It also detailed the backgrounds of the hijackers and how they got into the US and what they were doing in the months before the attack. Basically, it ties everything together about how 9/11 was planned and how it was carried out, and then goes into a lot of detail about how the US responded.

One big takeaway I got from the book is just how ill-prepared the US was for an attack like this despite the many warnings that were out there that something huge attack, including the possibility of using planes, was looming. And, just how easy it was for essentially, a group of idiots, many of whom should have been caught long before the attacks had the US intelligence agencies and law enforcement been working together. In fact, the CIA knew that at least two of the hijackers were in the US and did not tell the FBI until about two weeks before the attacks, long after the CIA no longer had any idea where they were. What was also interesting is that at almost all levels, al-Queda nearly bungled the entire thing, including bin Laden initially choosing people with high school educations to be pilots until it was made clear that they had no chance at ever learning how to fly a plane and were then relegated to being the muscle hijackers. Many of the hijackers could not speak English and even on 9/11 itself had no idea if they had plane tickets, screwed up the boarding process, and really should have been prevented from even boarding the airplanes. So, it really details the luck of the terrorist and the failures of our government.

In the sections on the aftermath, the book also tackles the various conspiracy theories, from things that amount to good questions but have relatively simple explanations, to the outright crazy things that some have come up with. They also provide great detail on how the Bush administration took their eye off the ball in going after the people who actually planned the attacks, and outright lied about Iraq playing some kind of role in 9/11 to justify the Iraq war.

My only complaint about the book is the endnotes. The text in the book does not have endnote numbers, and the notes themselves are categorized by chapter and the pages the material is referencing. But, if you really want to match portions up, you would have to flip back to the page in the book and then back to the endnotes. It would be very tedious. I think the authors would have been better to use footnotes and put the source material at the bottom of each page in the text. The book would really not have been much longer, and it would have been easier to go through the source material. That is what knocks it down a star for me.

Overall, the book is very well-written and extremely well-sourced. It has a lot of detail that even if you have watched many of the documentaries on 9/11 or read other books, including the very real possibility of a fifth plane that may have been targeted for hijacking that day that never got to take off. So, if you are looking for a book that really details how and why 9/11 happened, this is definitely worth reading.

Book Review: The Cell: Inside the 9/11 Plot, and Why the FBI and CIA Failed to Stop It

 

This is a book written by John Miller (who was an ABC News Correspondent), Michael Stone, and Chris Mitchell about the lead-up to the 9/11 attacks. Miller has a unique perspective for a couple of reasons. First, he interviewed Osama bin Laden in person when bin Laden declared war on America from a hovel in Afghanistan in the late 1990s. And, he was also good friends with FBI agent John O'Neil who was the head of the FBI's NY counterterrorism unit who was trying to hunt down members of Al Qaeda up until 2001 when he took a job as head of security at the World Trade Center and was on the job for two days when he was killed in the 9/11 attacks. 

The book really details the entire lead-up to 9/11 covering more than just the 9/11 plot and attacks, but went back to the late 1980s/early 1990s when terrorist cells in NY killed the Rabbi who was the head of the Jewish Defense League and carried out the original World Trade Center bombing back in 1993.  The book does quickly detail the events of 9/11 at the beginning of the book and then about halfway through profiles some of the hijackers and their movements before 9/11. The book does include a lot of detail about what the hijackers were doing in the US up to 9/11 including the fact that it did not seem like the plan was fully formed even very late into the operation because the leader Mohammed Atta, appeared to still be trying to get his hands on crop dusting planes as late as August, suggesting that they would crash planes filled with chemicals into targets, which would have caused far less damage than they ended up inflicting.

The big takeaway from the book, for me, was how the infighting and refusal to cooperate between the intelligence agencies (mostly the FBI and the CIA) led to vital pieces of information that could have resulted in the plot being disrupted, being missed, not shared, overlooked, etc. Blatant examples of this were the fact that the CIA knew that two of the hijackers were members of Al Qaeda and were in the US and did not tell the FBI until about two weeks before the attacks, and even though the terrorists were using their real names to make purchases, the FBI could not track them down, and the FBI leadership refusing to let local agents look at Zacharias Mussoui's computer despite ample evidence that he had ties to terrorists. There was no smoking gun that the authors could point to that suggested if it was discovered ahead of time absolutely would have led to the plot being foiled before the attacks, but that evidence trails could have been followed that might have prevented the attacks. 

Overall, the book is a very good read, and very well-sourced. While much of the information in the book is well known, especially to those who have read other books about 9/11 or watched some of the documentaries on the subject, it does have some details that I had not seen before and I have read many of the reputable books and watched almost all of the reputable documentaries on 9/11. It is definitely one of my must-reads.

Book Review: Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service

 

Zero Fail is a book detailing major events in the history of the Secret Service, focusing mainly on the years from 1961 to 2020. The book lays out the good, the bad, and the ugly (sometimes very ugly) of the Secret Service over the years, and how the protection of the Presidents changed over the years, mostly in response to the JFK assassination and the attempted assassination of Ford, Regan, and Presidential candidate George Wallace. And, the book sheds a lot of light (and provides a lot of behind-the-scenes detail) on events like "Hookergate" and the intrusions into the White House complex by fence jumpers that occurred in more recent years.

Leonnig, a Washington Post reporter, does briefly discuss the origins of the Secret Service but the book mainly focuses on events like the JFK assassination, the attempted assassination of Regan, dealing with JFK and Bill Clinton's womanizing, how Nixon wanted to use agents to spy on his rivals, and how it basically became a frat with agents boozing and fucking anything that moved during their later years, and how the culture within the Secret Service caused embarrassment (at the very least) or put the lives to their protectees in danger. Some of the more interesting details involved how the different Presidents and First Ladies reacted to the agents, and as a result who the agents liked (Regan and the Bushes) and who they disliked or hated (Hillary Clinton).

The book is just under 400 pages but is actually a very fast read. If you read fairly quickly, you can easily get through the book in a week or less. The chapters are all relatively short (20 pages or less) so it is something that is easy to read just before bed and still finish a chapter before you get too tired. It is a book that is part expose, part history lesson, and part political reporting. If you are a fan of history and/or politics it is definitely worth checking out. 

Book Review: Peril

 

This is a book that is co-written by journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. It is partly a follow-up to Woodward's two other books chronicling the 2017-2021 presidential administration, but mostly a book about the 2020 election, detailing Joe Biden's decision to run, his resurrection during the Democratic primary, how he dealt with the transition, and how he dealt with the first 100 days of his administration, with a large focus on the dealing needed to get the rescue plan passed. The book shifts between detailing what was going on with the Biden camp and with the former administration, and provides a lot of good insight into the shitstorm that t***p and his band of dipshits caused both before and after the January 6th riot, and just how pissed off everyone, including the military and the spineless Republicans like McCarthy and McConnell, were at t***p in private while still either refusing to truly condemn him (like Bitch McConnell) or licking his balls at Mara Largo (like Qevin McCarthy and Lindsay Graham). It really underscores how little respect anyone had for t***p, including some of the people in his inner circle, and that everyone, even the ball lickers, were telling t***p that he lost the election. 

For me, the best part of the book is the last third in which the authors really dispense with talking about t***p (mostly) and focuses on what had to be done to get the 1.9 trillion dollar rescue plan passed, particularly how to get Joe Manchin to go along with it since the Democrats could not afford to lose any votes in the 50/50 senate, as well as making decisions like whether to honor the deal between the former administration and the Taliban to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan. It was interesting to get insight into how Biden learned from his time as Vice President, and the mistakes that the Obama administration made in trying to deal with Republicans who were never going to deal in good faith with him, and Biden basically telling Republicans something along the lines of "I will listen to you, but this is what we are going to do whether you join us or not". This is definitely a must-read if you are into politics and/or current events.

Book Review: My 9/11-Through inflight Eyes

 

This short book (just under 100 pages) was written about the author's experience on 9/11/01 and how the terrorist attacks affected her in the days, months, and years after the attacks. The author was a member of the ground staff for United Airlines operating out of Newark New Jersey on 9/11. She coordinated the flight staff and helped the flight attendants to get checked in and ready for their flights. As a result, she was one of the last people to see the crew of United 93 before the flight took off.

The book is largely a collection of what look to be journal entries written over the course of about 8-9 years in which the author writes about her experiences. She does not focus much on 9/11 itself, although she does talk about seeing the flight crew as they checked in, and some of the calls she took from family members as well as discussing the calls that flight attendants made from the plane during the hijacking to report what was going on. Most of the book deals with the aftermath, and the author's struggles with PTSD, depression, and substance abuse, and the effect it had on her ability to work, her family, etc. 

As I said, the book is short and is a very quick read. I would not call it something that is easy to read, but it definitely details and exemplifies the toll that the events of 9/11 had on people who were not on the planes or in the buildings yet were deeply affected nevertheless. I would not say that the book is worth the price of the hardcover or paperback versions, but if you subscribe to audible or kindle unlimited (or something comparable in which the book is available) it is worth reading or listening to.

Book Review: Flight 93: The Story, the Aftermath, and the Legacy of American Courage on 9/11

 

This is a book that was written around the ten-year anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that is almost exclusively devoted to what happened on Flight 93 (which was the plane that crashed in rural Pennsylvania after the passengers and crew fought back), and the aftermath for the families and the nation as a whole. The author does detail some of the other events of the day, mostly the likely sequence of events that resulted in the other planes being hijacked and what targets they hit, but the focus of this book is mostly on Flight 93. 

The author interviewed many of the family members of the people on board the flight as well as the people who saw, heard, and/or felt the plane crash, and the responders (mostly the local coroner who became a rock for the families as he was trying to find and then identify remains) in his research. Even if you have watched many of the 9/11 documentaries and/or read the other books (even those devoted to Flight 93, specifically) there is probably material in this book that you have not heard. Both about the people on the plane (why they were traveling, etc.) and about the hijacker's movements before 9/11. There is also a lot of detail on the family member's fight to hear the cockpit voice recorder tape, and all the back-and-forth that they had to do with the FBI in order to be able to listen to it. The book is fairly short, just under 300 pages, and provides a lot of information, including endnotes that mostly cite to sources of information, but also occasionally provide additional detail. There are most definitely very sad parts, especially when he quotes family members, and especially those who got to talk to their loved ones before the fight for control of the plane began. It is definitely worth reading.

Book Review: Revenge

 

Revenge is essentially a follow-up to Cohen's first book, Disloyal. It expands somewhat on events he discussed in the prior book about why he ended up taking the plea deal, his testimony before Congress, and what happened to him after he was sent to prison. 

In his first book, Cohen gave up a lot of juicy tidbits about t***p and the inner workings of the t***p organization. There is a little bit of that in here (like reiterating that t***p hated Obama, but he hated him before the roasting Obama (and Seth Meyers) gave him at the White House Correspondent's dinner, mainly because he was jealous of Obama, but not as much of that as there was in the first book. This was likely due to the fact that Cohen was persona non-grata by the time he wrote this one. One interesting topic that he does get into, and even vindicates t***p a bit relates to the "Steele Dossier". Cohen asserts that almost everything, including the existence of the pee tape, in the Dossier was bullshit, and that everything Steele detailed about Cohen, which was really what the department of justice used to come after him in order to garner his help to take down t***p, was not true. Cohen excoriates the DOJ, many times naming names, by basically saying that they thought he knew more about what t***p was up to than he actually did, and when that became clear they charged him with bullshit charges and threatened to charge his wife for the tax crimes he was being charged with, which led Cohen to take the plea deal. And once he agreed to rat t***p out, t***p was more than happy to let the DOJ throw him in a hole. 

While in his previous book, Cohen went out of his way to say he did not hate t***p, that is totally out the window in this book. Early on he calls t***p a huge piece of shit and basically alleges that t***p ordered him sent back to prison after he was released early due to the Covid pandemic. Cohen does not spend the whole book bitching about his treatment but more exposing how the DOJ treats people that it is out to get and that if he, a rich, privileged white male, can get treated the way he did, anyone can. He also takes a victory lap when it comes to Michael Avenatti, whom he also calls a huge piece of shit, and relishes in Avenatti's downfall given all the crap Avenatti said about him on TV while pulling shit that would land Avenatti in prison. 

Overall, this book is a good follow-up to the first book. Cohen has to walk a fine line, admitting his faults and the fact that he was not a good guy, but trying to convince readers that he did not deserve what happened to him. And, of all of the "bad guys" that are trying to distance themselves from t***p, Cohen seems to be sincere in his mea-culpa and is genuinely trying to become a better person. He explains why, after getting jerked around at nearly all levels why he still cooperated and said he will continue to cooperate with any investigations of t***p. While I do not think this is necessarily a must-read, I think it is worth reading. 

Book Review: September 11: An Oral History

 

This is a collection of oral histories/narratives from people who lived through the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Some of the accounts were from people who were in the buildings at the time the planes hit, and others were by people who were nearby and caught up in the aftermath. Most of the stories in the book come from people who were in New York, either working in or doing something around the World Trade Center. Of the 247 pages of the book, about 200 of them are devoted to stories from people who were in NY. The last handful of stories are from people who were in the Pentagon when it was hit and their experience trying to get out or trying to get people to safety.

Some of the stories that are included in the book are fairly well-known, especially if you have watched the 9/11 documentaries, such as that of Brian Clark, who worked on the 84th floor of the South Tower and was one of just a handful of people who were above the point of impact who managed to make it down and out.  Other stories are probably not as widely known but are no less harrowing. The author also managed to interview some of the first responders, including an EMT who was performing triage on the injured people coming out of the towers who came across a woman who had either jumped or fallen from the North Tower, but who did not die instantly and was telling him that she was not dead, despite the lower-half of her body being destroyed, and witnesses such as a man who was working on the roof of a nearby building when Flight 11 flew so low overhead that he could see people sitting in their seats. There are also a handful of stories about close calls and near misses, such as a man who worked for Marsh Mclennan, which lost hundreds of employees who worked on the 100th floor of the North Tower, but a series of events that morning caused him to be a few minutes behind schedule so that he was only on the 79th floor, below the impact zone when the plane hit, or a man whose family was originally booked on Flight 11 to fly back to California, but changed to a later flight.

The book is not overly long, just under 250 pages. The stories are separated into different chapters. First, people who were in the North Tower are in one chapter, stories from people in the South Tower is another chapter, then there is a chapter about people who were outside the towers and witnessed the events, then a chapter for first responders, and then a chapter on the Pentagon. The author did not include any interviews with family members of the people on Flight 93. The stories in the book are very emotional, even twenty-plus years after the attacks. The descriptions of the devastation can get graphic, so be aware of that if you do decide to read this. The stories range in length from just over a page to 5-6 pages, depending on how much detail the particular person went into. It is a very emotional read, and you can tell that the experience for the people telling the stories was still very raw at the time they were talking to the author.  

 

Book Review: Disloyal: A Memoir

 

Disloyal is a must-read behind-the-curtain look at the orange genital wart and his company as seen through the eyes of his attorney/thug/executive vice president (which was really just a paper title), Michael Cohen. Cohen details how he ended up in the dipshit's orbit, discusses what he did in the company (or "for the boss"), and provides an insider's view of the things he saw and did. Most importantly, does not pretend to know things he was not privy to. Cohen does not portray himself as a hero in any way, shape, or form, which lends credibility to the claims he makes. 

The book talks about Cohen's early life in NY, his role as a hanger-on to anyone with power, criminal status or not, the life he had carved out for himself before he was pulled into the orbit of t***p, what he did for t***p, and how everything fell apart for him when the hammer of the DOJ came down on him, and how he was essentially left out to dry. Some of the interesting things from the book is how working for t***p, even before it was widely known what scum he actually was, drove a wedge between Cohen and his family. Cohen does a bit of a mea-culpa in the book saying he did things for t***p that he knows is wrong, and that he knew was wrong as he did them, but he was so enamored with proximity to power that he did not care, and totally ignored the fact that it was taking a toll on his family life, especially during the presidential campaign. 

Cohen describes his role as not just a fixer, cleaning up t***p's messes like hiding the fact that he fucked Stormy Daniels and had an ongoing affair with former Playmate, Karen McDougal, but he also played a much larger role in t***p's run for President than is widely known. While you do have to take what Cohen says with a bit of a grain of salt, because there was not ever much of a paper trail in t***pworld, he does admit that he did not know everything he was speculated to know and clearly states what he was and more importantly was not privy to and provides receipts in the form of email chains, including emails that were printed out that t***p clearly wrote notes on in sharpie, which lends credence to his allegations.

While Cohen does explain why he ultimately decided to cooperate with the DOJ and plead guilty to the crimes he was indicted for, (which according to Cohen was supposed to be three counts when he was offered the deal and then was bumped up to eight counts the day he was to plead), which was to save his wife from being charged with tax fraud as well, he never explains why he went all-in and called out t***p for being a racist, a xenophobe, and all of the things that he has said about him since he testified publically before Congress.

As I said above, you do have to take what Cohen says with a bit of a grain of salt, as he clearly has reason to be bitter with t***p. Cohen does admit that he was not a good guy in the story, which is clear when he admits to being more pissed off about t***p stiffing him on his year-end bonus after he covered up the Stormy Daniels story by paying her off with his own money than he was when t***p would say racist shit. He admits that he was working to get a t***p tower in Moscow built during the presidential run, but denies that he was ever meeting with the Russians to help them interfere in the 2016 election. He admits that everyone, including t***p, expected to lose the election and he 100% believes it was Comey's interference more than anything Russia was able to do that swung what was always going to be a close election t***p's way. He also fully admitted to being a member of t***p's cult long before the legions of MAGATs jumped on board, and provides a very prophetic warning that t***p would never willingly give up power if he lost the 2020 election, which, of course, we know was absolutely true. 

The book is 368 pages with an appendix that has images of various documents that runs another 60 pages, give or take. It can easily be read in a week or so, depending on how fast you read and how much time you have to read.