Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

For the price tag I was expecting a bigger book. I am not a fan of her politics but I wanted to know where she came from so I read the book. Several things stood out to me about it and not in a good way. She is someone who clearly has suffered a great deal, she explains a little about her family history and it's the sort of thing that would engender sympathy from anyone. She was also clearly bullied at school and cheated on by more than one boyfriend. Her personal history is littered with dysfunctional relationships and emotional pain. I can relate to that, so can most people. The part where she loses me is in her reactions to all this. There is a real selfishness about her - she mentions migrant detention at the border, but glosses over it as if it's unimportant - an afterthought to the main theme of her book - herself and her moral crusade. That part is grotesque and nauseating. She displays a real lack of empathy and insight, and an attitude of not really wanting to learn from her critics. Despite what anyone tells you it is possible to support the sacrifices made by those in uniform and support the movement for black lives at the same time. The two do not have to be mutually exclusive or at odds - rather it can be a bigger movement to respect the lives of people period. She clearly doesn't get that and is not interested in learning it. She also lacks insight into the bigger forces at work in the world - rather instead choosing to talk about personal responsibility ad nauseum instead of realizing that sometimes even that's not enough. When she described her father losing his job of 26 years to a younger individual who he had trained who was going to make less money than he was - she chose to focus on her father's determination to overcome that challenge (admirable) instead of bashing the corporate forces that treat human beings and their livelihoods like toilet paper. She says she is a voice for the voiceless, but repeatedly in her book she defends the rich and powerful and disparages the poor and downtrodden. She says she wants everyone to be successful because then less of her tax dollars will go to propping them up - but she's ok with those same tax dollars propping up a bloated military industrial complex. The contradictions are endless and I don't even think she sees them. In her book she makes me think that those who do not succeed despite their best efforts are simply losers who don't deserve to - she doesn't view life in any nuance or balance. She also mentions dealing with misogyny in the workplace, with one boss telling her that all women are idiots. Just that statement alone is abusive - and it and similar statements and behaviors described by her are apparently ok behind the scenes in conservative media - gross. She chooses to be a part of that media landscape and has dealt with abuse as a result - especially when she doesn't toe the party line regarding abortion. She fails to realize that in more left of center media she would not have been abused as much or censored as much. Her political views which she calls conservative are really conservative only because she says so. And the left she disparages so much is a boogey man she has invented. Nowhere in her book does she describe a knowledge of history and where the terms conservative and liberal come from and their historical evolution - she chooses instead to play for a team and insist the other team is wrong without actually knowing much about it. That is what makes her a propaganda artist instead of an actual journalist. What screams at me loud and clear after having read the book is that she is an individual desperate for admiration and money. She describes being the poor relation in her book and being looked down on, and now she wants to show everyone that she can be better than them. It's an insatiable quest for acceptance, financial success and admiration. Somewhere deep inside of her she wants to be loved and admired by those whose admiration she previously has failed to get. I can't help feeling after having read the book that she is a deeply dysfunctional individual and her screaming tirades are nothing more than a cry for help. I wish her well - but she doesn't come across particularly good in her book.