February 13, 2021 by Philip Lewenstein
Fascinating Books in 2020 Covered Variety of Topics
I read a variety of fascinating books in 2020 in several categories including sports, higher education, media, history, Trump, and fiction. It is difficult to select my top five, but here is an attempt.
In Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent, Isabel Wilkerson shows that beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful hierarchy of human division that influences people’s lives and behavior. This book was especially timely given the spotlight on social justice and racial equity.
Several books were published about Donald Trump, but in Too Much and Never Enough, Mary Trump, the former president’s niece and a clinical psychologist, offers insights into how a toxic family made him the world’s most dangerous man.
In A Promised Land, the first volume of his memoirs, Barack Obama reflects on his rise in politics and his decision-making process for key events in his first term as president.
The story of how former Twin Rod Carew overcame abuse, poverty, and racism to reach the majors and earn a spot in the hall of fame is highlighted in Rod Carew: One Tough Out: Fighting Off Life’s Curveballs.
In Fix What You Can: Schizophrenia and a Lawmaker’s Fight for Her Son, former Minnesota legislator Mindy Greiling, based on experience with her son’s schizoaffective disorder, describes the practical and heartbreaking challenges many families face in dealing with the mental-health system.
SPORTS
The Dynasty by Jeff Benedict (2020)—inside story of the New England Patriots, greatest sports dynasty of the 21st century, based on exclusive interviews with more than 200 insiders, and through the perceptions of three key characters—owner Robert Kraft, coach Bill Belichick, and quarterback Tom Brady.
Rod Carew: One Tough Out: Fighting Off Life’s Curveballs by Rod Carew and Jaimie Aron (2020)—reflection of Carew’s highlights, anecdotes, and friendships from his hall-of-fame career: describes abuse, poverty, and racism he overcame to reach the major leagues, the burying of his youngest daughter, and near-fatal bouts with heart disease.
Pre: The Story of America’s Greatest Running Legend, Steve Prefontaine by Tom Jordan (1977)—story of life and career of one of the most influential, accomplished runners of our time.
First Ladies of Running by Amby Burfoot (2016)—inspiring stories of female runners who refused to give up despite the cultural and sports barriers they faced, a tribute to the pioneers of women’s running.
Win at All Costs: Inside Nike Running and Its Culture of Deception by Matt Hart (2020)—story of Nike’s secret, elite running program, uncovering a win-at-all costs culture: describes investigation of Nike Oregon project led by legendary running coach Alberto Salazar and culture built around use of performance-enhancing drugs.
The Victory Machine: The Making and Unmaking of the Warriors Dynasty by Ethan Sherwood Strauss (2020)—expose of Golden State Warriors that reveals its culture, its financial ambitions and struggles, and the price that its players and managers have paid for their winning, from owner Joe Lacob’s unlikely acquisition of the team to Kevin Durant’s controversial departure.
Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty by Jeff Pearlman (2020)—story of the Lakers dynasty from 1996 through 2004 when Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal combined—and collided—to help bring the Lakers three straight championships and restore the franchise as a powerhouse.
The Back Roads to March: The Unsung, Unheralded, and Unknown Heroes of a College Basketball Season by John Feinstein (2020)—story of the author’s journey through a landscape of unsung, unpublicized, and often unknown heroes of Division I college hoops: focuses on small programs that no one expects to win, that have no chance of attracting the most coveted high-school recruits, and that rarely send their players to the NBA.
Miracle in Lake Placid: The Greatest Hockey Story Ever Told by John Gilbert (2019)—Forty years after the “Miracle on Ice” captivated the world, the Minnesota author examines the impact that the event had on the people who played and coached in it and how the game changed the trajectory of American hockey; based on Gilbert’s detailed record keeping, the book allows the reader to reexamine the upset win over the Soviets, why it still resonates today, and what it did to the lives of the players.
MEDIA
Up All Night: Ted Turner, CNN, and the Birth of 24-Hour News by Lisa Napoli (2020)—inside look at the founding of the upstart network, CNN, that set out to change the way news was delivered and consumed; mixing media history, a business-adventure story, and great characters, the book tells the story of a network that succeeded beyond the wildest imaginings of its charismatic and uncontrollable founder.
All About the Story: News, Power Politics, and the Washington Post by Leonard Downie Jr. (2020)—story of the author’s nearly 50 years at the Washington Post and the importance of getting the truth; from his start as an intern, Downie became a pioneering investigative reporter, news editor, foreign correspondent, and managing editor before succeeding the legendary Ben Bradlee as executive editor.
Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and Dangerous Distortion of Truth by Brian Stelter (2020)—untold story of the twisted relationship between Donald Trump and Fox News by CNN anchor and chief media correspondent.
Ghosting the News: Local Journalism and the Crisis of American Democracy by Margaret Sullivan (2020)—troubling story of how democracy suffers when local news dies; the author, a premier media critic, charts the damage and surveys a range of new efforts to keep local news alive—from nonprofit digital sites to an effort modeled on the Peace Corps; she sounds the alarm, alerting citizens to a growing crisis in local news that has already done serious damage.
Truth Counts: A Practical Guide for News Consumers, edited by Matt Mansfield and Ellen Shearer (2018)—anthology by several writers exploring ways of finding the truth amid deliberate falsehoods, propaganda, partisan rhetoric, and the nonstop cacophony enabled by technology and its sometimes harmful effects on how we see news.
HIGHER EDUCATION
The Merit Myth: How Our Colleges Favor the Rich and Divide America by Anthony P. Carnevale, Peter Schmidt, and Jeff Strohl (2020)—look at how colleges drive inequalities they are meant to remedy with a call to and a vision for change; authors argue that colleges are not the places of aspirations and equal opportunity they claim to be.
Who Gets in and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions by Jeffrey Selingo (2020)—findings from author’s year-long project embedding himself in three different admission offices—selective private university, leading liberal-arts college, and flagship public campus—as well as following select students and parents; dispels entrenched notions of how to compete and win at the admissions game and reveals that teenagers and parents have much to gain by broadening their notion of what qualifies as a “good college.”
Unacceptable: Privilege, Deceit, and the Making of the College Admissions Scandal by Melissa Korn and Jennifer Levitz (2020)—story of the college-admissions cheating scandal that broke March 12, 2019, sending shock waves through American schools and families; Wall Street Journal reporters, Korn and Levitz, trace the wiretapped calls, covert payments, and blatant deceit that brought the feds to Beverly Hills mansions and Upper East Side apartments.
TRUMP
Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man by Mary Trump (2020)—portrait of Donald Trump and toxic family that made him by his only niece, a trained clinical psychologist; she describes the dark history of the family to explain how her uncle became the man who now threatens the world’s health, economic security, and social fabric.
Rage by Bob Woodward (2020)—a vivid window into Donald Trump’s mind based on 17 on-the-record interviews over seven months, showing at key decision points how Trump’s response to crises of 2020 were rooted in instincts, habits, and style he developed during his first three years as president.
A Very Stable Genius by Philip Rucker and Carol Leonning (2020)—account of Donald Trump’s tenure in office to date, highlighting his patterns of behavior and that of his associates; the universal value of Trump is loyalty to self, not country, and decision- making driven by a reflective logic of self- preservation and self-aggrandizement.
Front Row at the Trump Show by Jonathan Karl (2020)—new reporting and insights by reporter who has known Trump for over 25 years, based on behind-the-scenes moments that define Trump’s presidency—a look at the president, the person, and those closest to him.
The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir by John Bolton (2020)—account of Trump administration by president’s national security advisor for 453 days; Bolton viewed a president for whom getting reelected was the only thing that mattered, even if it meant endangering and weakening the country, a president addicted to chaos, who embraced our enemies and spurned our friends.
FICTION
American Dirt by Jeannine Cummins (2019)—story of a woman and her eight-year-old son forced to flee their comfortable middle-class home in Acapulco, Mexico, and journey to the United States to escape the grasp of the head of a drug cartel after her husband’s tell-all profile of the drug lord is published.
The Cactus League by Emily Nemens (2020)—story of Jason Goodyear, star outfielder for the LA Lions, stationed with his team in the Arizona desert for spring training; Goodyear is coming apart at the seams as coaches, writers, wives, girlfriends, petty criminals, and diehard fans are eager to find out why—as they hide their own secrets.
28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand (2020)—an exploration of agony and romance of a one-weekend-per-year affair and dramatic ways this relationship complicates and enriches the lives of two lovers and lives of people they love.
Camino Winds by John Grisham (2020)—mystery and crime authors discover one of their colleagues has been murdered during a massive hurricane—the perfect crime scene; with officials preoccupied with the aftermath of the storm, the authors set out to solve the mystery themselves.
A Time for Mercy by John Grisham (2020)—Jack Brigance, hero of A Time to Kill, returns in a suspenseful novel in Clanton, Miss., in 1990; Brigance finds himself embroiled in a divisive trial when the court appoints him attorney for Drew Gamble, a timid, 16-year-old boy accused of murdering a local deputy.
The Last Trial by Scott Turow (2020)—legal thriller about a celebrated criminal defense lawyer and prosecution of his lifelong friend—a doctor accused of murder.
GENERAL NONFICTION
Race Against Time: A Reporter Reopens the Unsolved Murder Cases of the Civil Rights Era by Jerry Mitchell (2020)—story of investigative journalist’s pursuit over two decades of Klansmen responsible for some of the most notorious murders of the civil rights movement—the reopening of four of the most infamous killings decades after the fact.
In Hoffa’s Shadow: A Stepfather, a Disappearance in Detroit, and My Search for the Truth by Jack Goldsmith (2019)—story of how Goldsmith, an assistant attorney general in the George W. Bush administration, reunited with his stepfather, Chuckie O’Brien, whom he had disowned and set out to unravel one of the 20th century’s most persistent mysteries—the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa—and Chuckie’s role in it.
Mayday 1971: A White House at War, a Revolt in the Streets, and the Untold History of America’s Biggest Mass Arrest by Lawrence Roberts (2020)—drawing on dozens of interviews, unexplored archives, and newfound White House transcripts, Roberts recreates the largest act of civil disobedience in U.S. history in Richard Nixon’s Washington by tens of thousands anti-war protesters who sought to blockade the nation’s capital.
An American Summer: Love and Death in Chicago by Alex Kotlowitz (2020)—portrait of love and death in Chicago’s most turbulent neighborhoods: chronicles one summer in the city, focusing on individuals who have emerged from the gun violence that has killed and wounded tens of thousands.
Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn (2020)—addresses crisis in working-class Americans while focusing on solutions to mend a half-century of governmental failure: tells story, in part, through lives of people with whom Kristof grew up in rural Yamhill, Oregon, an area that prospered for much of the 20th century but has been devastated in the last few decades as blue-collar jobs disappeared.
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson (2020)—examines unspoken caste system that has shaped America and shown how our lives today are still defined by a hierarchy of human division; shows that beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people’s lives and behavior and the nation’s fate.
A Promised Land by Barack Obama (2020)—in first volume of his presidential memoirs, Obama tells story of his improbable odyssey from a young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world; he describes in detail both his political education and moments of the first term of his presidency—a time of transformation and turmoil; reflecting on his presidency, Obama offers an exploration of the awesome reach and limits of the presidency as well as insight into the dynamics of partisan policy and international diplomacy.
My Vanishing Country: A Memoir by Bakari Sellers (2020)—story illuminating lives of America’s forgotten black working-class men and women in the rural South, particularly South Carolina; part memoir, part historical and cultural analysis, the story highlights pride and pain that continues in one of the poorest states in the nation.
The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present by David Treuer (2019)—study of American Indians from 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee; shows that because their intense struggle to preserve their language, traditions, families, and existence, the Indians’ story is one of unprecedented resourcefulness and reinvention; tracing tribes’ distinctive cultures from first contact, Treuer explores how depredations of each era spawned new modes of survival.
Faster: How a Jewish Driver, an American Heiress, and Legendary Car Beat Hitler’s Best by Neal Bascom (2020)—story of triumph by an improbable team of upstarts over Hitler’s fearsome Silver Arrows during the golden age of racing.
Well Worth Saving: American Universities’ Life-and-Death Decisions on Refugees from Nazi Germany by Laurel Leff (2019)—harrowing account of consequential decisions American universities made about refugee scholars from Nazi-dominated Europe; Leff rescues from obscurity scholars who were deemed “not worth saving” and tells full story of the hiring decisions universities made during the Nazi era.
Citizen 865:The Hunt for Hitler’s Soldiers in America by Debbie Cenziper (2019)—story of a team of Nazi hunters in the U.S. Department of Justice as they raced against time to expose members of a brutal SS killing force who disappeared in America after World War II.
Blood and Oil: Mohammed bin Salman’s Ruthless Quest for Global Power by Bradley Hope and Justin Scheck (2020)—look at world’s most powerful ruling family reveals how rift within Saudi Arabian royalty produced Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a charismatic leader with a ruthless streak: shows how the precipitous rise of bin Salman coincided with the fraying of the simple bargain that had been at the heart of the U.S.-Saudi relationship over 80 years: oil for military protection.
MINNESOTA
Turnout: Making Minnesota the State That Votes by Joan Anderson Growe with Lori Sturdevant (2020)—former Minnesota Secretary of State Joan Growe recounts events that framed her life and changed the state’s voting practices/policies designed and implemented during her 24 years in office as one of the leading advocates for reliable and convenient elections; Growe worked with county officials to secure election-day voting as a Minnesota norm.
Fix What You Can: Schizophrenia and a Lawmaker’s Fight for Her Son by Mindy Greiling (2020)—based on experience with her son, who has a schizoaffective disorder, former Roseville legislator describes the challenges faced by many families from the practical (medication, compliance, housing, and employment) to the heartbreaking—suicide attempts, victimization, and illicit drugs: chronicles Greiling’s efforts to pass legislation in mental-health system including barriers to parental access to information and insufficient funding for care and research.
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