Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I had purchased this book because I had read a good review about it. I have a degree in military history and wrote my graduate theses on insurgency and counter-insurgency, so a commentary on the likely path a second American Civil War might take was interesting to me. The good news is that Steve is at least honest. He tells you right up front that he is a centrist Canadian which makes him pretty left for the US. He avers up front that he will try to be balanced, but he just can't maintain it. I think he makes a good faith effort to believe that the people who disagree with him politically aren't evil, but, in the end, he can't bring it off. He knows the deplorables are deplorable and that fact keeps slipping out. The first dispatch is about a sheriff in rural Arizona who reopens a bridge that the Feds have closed for repairs. A standoff develops when right wing militias from all 50 states (well, just one guy from Hawaii) descend to back up the sheriff's defiance of the Feds. The Feds send in the Army and Marines (why the Army AND the Marines?) and they blow the right-wingers apart with Apache helicopters. All to prevent the locals from using the bridge that has been condemned for repairs. Well, gee, how about if 'the General' (the military officer in charge of controlling the bridge) decided to just park two 60 ton M-1's to block one side of the bridge, and two more to block the other. Leave the 16 crewmen and a platoon of infantry to guard the tanks so no one messes with them, and, voila! no one uses the bridge and no one gets mown down by helicopters in a completely unbelievable encounter. The fact that I thought of that in about 10 seconds but Steve didn't tells me Steve probably enjoyed the idea of right wingers being mown down by Apache helicopters more than writing a credible narrative. In the second dispatch, we learn that the Secret Service is invincible and assassins don't have a prayer. It would be nice if that were true, but, rather than proving his point, Steve is more excited about maligning the people that disagree with him. The Supreme Court is staffed by a gang of 'political hacks' (we don't hear if Sotomajor, Kagan and Breyer are hacks too or just condemned to share a bench with the hacks). Kyle Rittenhouse is a murderous assassin wannabe.....who, coincidentally was acquitted of all charges by a jury of his peers after three days of deliberations. Rule one of writing about current events: make sure the criminal is actually found guilty before you call him a criminal; he just might sue you for libel. Or, save yourself the embarrassment and watch the videos rather than just believing whatever the NYT or WaPo tell you to believe. Steve then moves on to leftist hobby horse number three climate change. At this point, I had to give up. This book that was supposed to be about a civil war is nothing but Steve scolding right wingers about how awful a civil war is going to be if they don't straighten up and fly left (note: NOT fly right....). I never saw any civil war in this book. Maybe it came later. What a piece of garbage. Save your money and read The Next Civil War. It has its own issues, but it is at least about a civil war.