Last year, while listening to NPR in the middle of the primaries, there was a book review for Howard Fineman’s ‘The Thirteen American Arguments’. Since I heard about it I have wanted to read it. Sharon got it for my birthday and I have since been slowly working my through it and finished it this week. I thought I would write a little review.
About the Author: Howard Fineman is “Newsweek’s senior Washington correspondent and columnist” and shows up in all sorts of publications, new programs, etc. He’s been covering politics his whole career as a journalist and appears to have done a fair amount of research to produce this book.
The Book: Fineman makes the point that over the years he has reported on politics he has noticed a few underlying themes independent of time, people, and events. Basically, the challenges and opinions of today aren’t unique, but have been around for a long time and should continue in the future.
The arguments:
1. Who is a Person?
2. Who is an American?
3. The Role of faith
4. What can we know and say?
5. The limits of Individualism
6. Who judges the law?
7. Debt and the dollar
8. Local v. National authority
9. Presidential power
10. The terms of trade
11. War & Diplomacy
12. The Environment
13. A fair, “More Perfect” Union
It would be easy for him to take a side or be biased, but I felt he did a good job looking at both sides of each argument. I agree that it is important to understand the historical context of the complex conversations that are going on today. In history classes I never paid enough attention to current events, or class, to recognize the parallels and reoccurring themes. With all that said, I thought he should have explored the complex relationship between these arguments in greater detail. The relationships are only implied through the small overlaps of topics in the chapters.
A case in point: I was reading again today about the arrest of Mr. Gates, the Harvard professor who was arrested at his home a few weeks ago, and reflected on what argument really was behind that event. In reality, it is a combination of several of the arguments like, ‘what can we know and say’, ‘the limits of individualism’, ‘who judges the law’, and I would go as far to say, ‘who is an American’ (and what are their rights). I could probably come up with better examples, but you get the point. After reading the book I look at current events differently.
I tried to find the original NPR article I heard, but I couldn’t find it so I put a clip up of Mr. Fineman on Comedy Central’s ‘The Colbert Report’. Colbert gives him a hard time, but you get the idea of what the book is about.
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Howard Fineman | ||||
| ||||
