December 11, 2017
Almond (Against Football) delivers a worthwhile foray into understanding and responding to the Trump era from a liberal perspective. To this end, he examines misconceptions, or “bad stories,” he sees as contributing to the debasement of American civic discourse, such as “economic anguish fueled Trumpism” or “there is no such thing as fair and balanced.” What has “come apart” for Almond is a serious commitment to the work of a liberal democracy. Instead, he sees the right and left relegating politics to the realms of, respectively, horror film (in alarmist Fox News stories) and farce (on the Daily Show). A major touchstone for Almond’s analysis is Neil Postman’s 1985 book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, which now seems clairvoyant, he observes, about America’s “descent into triviality” via mass media. Taking storytelling as a basic human need, Almond’s commendable goal is to make room for the invention of better stories that draw on humanity’s finer instincts: generosity over greed, patience or curiosity over blind loyalty or rage. Notwithstanding the author’s own occasional one-sidedness, especially in too-pat psychologizing of Clinton opponents and Trump supporters, these essays unfold some timely insights and avenues into the despair stalking American public life.
Starred review from February 15, 2018
With the same biting wit that marks Almond's previous books of social criticism (Against Football, 2014), the accomplished fiction writer and journalist aims to decode the social conditions that landed Trump in the White House. This chronicle full of what Almond calls bad stories, a term that suggests a malignant motive as well as dubious content and damaging outcomes, covers a broad range of topics while walking the line between commentary and personal memoir. Almond recalls his early days as an overeager reporter who believed his pieces on social justice could change the world, only to learn that he could trust neither journalists nor readers to value compassion. His conflicted relationship with journalism shapes his opinions on the tribal nature of sports culture, Russia's involvement in the U.S. election, the effectiveness of pedaling conspiracy theories, and Trump's constant presence in the news. But despite Almond's unabashed liberal allegiance, he casts equal blame on both the left and the right, bitingly criticizing, for example, liberal comedians such as Jon Stewart and Bill Maher for making light of Trump while basking in their glowing reviews. Almond holds up literature as a guide through America's age-old moral dilemmas and finds hope for his country in family, forgiveness, and political resistance.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)