emilybriano's review against another edition
5.0
If you want a book that explains our country then look no further. It is hopeful but...dang.
macthebrazen's review
4.0
As you might expect, this book with lots of examples of policy and legal cases is pretty dense, but Brill does a great job of doing this in a readable narrative format where possible. I also appreciated that he did not try to scapegoat certain subgroups, but pointed to the more systemic issues. And he gives examples of people who are working to repair the system and how we might create bipartisan solutions for the future!
treehuggeranonymous's review
2.0
This book is a real mixed bag. There are parts that are interesting and well explained - parts where Brill seems to speak with authority. And then there are parts that are repetitive and drawn out. And then there was the part about education reform - Brill clearly has a weaker background on this topic.
It’s not a bad book, but it was a book that really dragged it parts and went on longer than it should.
It’s not a bad book, but it was a book that really dragged it parts and went on longer than it should.
curly_cat_lvr's review
5.0
What an utterly fascinating book. In my never-ending quest to figure out how the (F WORD) we ended up in this shitstorm of a situation in our country, I came across a review of Brill's book and went - huh that's fascinating.
I always assumed the country really started to fall apart in just the last 10 years with the split between the Right and Left being so clear. But man I was so wrong. Brill clearly lays the groundwork of the tailspin that is the American economy, government, healthcare, and systems - starting in the 1970s to present. I was amazed to see how he can pinpoint the true start of our tailspin as a country and society as we moved to a meritocracy instead of a democracy. I love how he really pinpoints it to the early 80s and 90s and law firms in NY upping the entry-level pay for first-year attorneys from the $30s to the $50s and then to the $90s. That this drove more people to the elite schools to get the bigger jobs at better firms fighting for "better" clients to bring in more $ and attorneys leaving the social sector and doing less pro bono work. How all of this created an unjust leadership class.
I thought OK wow that's it - but then he goes on and on. Moving from that to the change in politics, to the change in healthcare, to the change in our education systems, welfare systems, you name it.
And as gloom and doom as this book sounds, he finishes it by saying what we are doing right and what we need to be doing. His final thoughts are that the country will fix itself but its going to take a long time did give me a glimmer of hope.
There were certainly times when I thought OK this book is leaning super Right, or super Left, but really in the end, Brill wrote this with balance and fairness to all sides. It was so well done and painted an amazing picture of this country - what it was, why we're in this mess, and what we need to do to fix it.
Super book! Absolutely super book!
I always assumed the country really started to fall apart in just the last 10 years with the split between the Right and Left being so clear. But man I was so wrong. Brill clearly lays the groundwork of the tailspin that is the American economy, government, healthcare, and systems - starting in the 1970s to present. I was amazed to see how he can pinpoint the true start of our tailspin as a country and society as we moved to a meritocracy instead of a democracy. I love how he really pinpoints it to the early 80s and 90s and law firms in NY upping the entry-level pay for first-year attorneys from the $30s to the $50s and then to the $90s. That this drove more people to the elite schools to get the bigger jobs at better firms fighting for "better" clients to bring in more $ and attorneys leaving the social sector and doing less pro bono work. How all of this created an unjust leadership class.
I thought OK wow that's it - but then he goes on and on. Moving from that to the change in politics, to the change in healthcare, to the change in our education systems, welfare systems, you name it.
And as gloom and doom as this book sounds, he finishes it by saying what we are doing right and what we need to be doing. His final thoughts are that the country will fix itself but its going to take a long time did give me a glimmer of hope.
There were certainly times when I thought OK this book is leaning super Right, or super Left, but really in the end, Brill wrote this with balance and fairness to all sides. It was so well done and painted an amazing picture of this country - what it was, why we're in this mess, and what we need to do to fix it.
Super book! Absolutely super book!
chicagoliz's review against another edition
4.0
A very high 4 stars -- an excellent book that I do recommend everyone read. I didn't quite give it 5 stars because there were a few things that were included that I didn't necessarily think were as responsible for our downward spiral as some others (like cost overruns and the procurement process) and there were a few repetitive areas and false equivalencies that made me cringe. But, all in all a solid work by a highly intelligent, well informed author. I didn't love the wrap up, which feels overly optimistic, in a sense, to me -- he essentially says that things will indeed get so bad that a sufficient number of people will rise up and demand change. I guess I'm too cynical, because I think there are too many people who simply DGAF. But we shall see. I do hope that change is demanded.
One paragraph that I thought was a great synopsis of where we are now is this one:
The coming of the Trump administration featured the ultimate in moat fortification. As we have seen, Americans have been divided into two groups: the vast majority who count on government to provide of rate common good, and the minority who don't need the government for anything and even view the government as something they often need to be protected from. One of the most breathtaking outrages of the Trump residency is that those in the latter group were bought to Washington to run the government. As CEOs, financial engineers, lawyers and lobbyists, they had spent their lives building moats to shield themselves and their way of doing business from the country's instruments of accountability -- the courts; the tax code; laws promoting competitive, honest markets, clean air and water, and safe, fair workplaces; and the cabinet departments and regulatory agencies that are supposed to implement those laws. yet they are the people whom President Trump chose to set the policies, propose the was, staff those agencies, and sit on the courts. "Because of Trump's tweets, the crazy things he does, and the crises he ignites, we're not paying attention to what he's doing to the day-to-day functions of the country," Kelleher warned. "He has spread all these termites throughout the departments and agencies who are eating away at all aspects of our government , day and night. They don't believe in the laws they have sworn an oath to enforce."
One major thing this book cleared up for me was the distain for the so-called "elites." I've long been puzzled by the sudden (in my perception) turn against education - particularly our most revered and respected institutions of higher learning. I couldn't fathom how going to Harvard or Yale could be thought of as a bad thing -- as disdainful or some kind of evidence that one must be untrustworthy. Brill's discussion of the meritocracy (which always seemed to me was a good thing) and how certain people within it decided to keep the spoils for themselves made me understand this position, even if I still find it ridiculous. I also really enjoyed the discussions of people and institutions that really are making a difference and doing good work. Those examples do give me some hope for our society, despite how bleak it appears now.
One paragraph that I thought was a great synopsis of where we are now is this one:
The coming of the Trump administration featured the ultimate in moat fortification. As we have seen, Americans have been divided into two groups: the vast majority who count on government to provide of rate common good, and the minority who don't need the government for anything and even view the government as something they often need to be protected from. One of the most breathtaking outrages of the Trump residency is that those in the latter group were bought to Washington to run the government. As CEOs, financial engineers, lawyers and lobbyists, they had spent their lives building moats to shield themselves and their way of doing business from the country's instruments of accountability -- the courts; the tax code; laws promoting competitive, honest markets, clean air and water, and safe, fair workplaces; and the cabinet departments and regulatory agencies that are supposed to implement those laws. yet they are the people whom President Trump chose to set the policies, propose the was, staff those agencies, and sit on the courts. "Because of Trump's tweets, the crazy things he does, and the crises he ignites, we're not paying attention to what he's doing to the day-to-day functions of the country," Kelleher warned. "He has spread all these termites throughout the departments and agencies who are eating away at all aspects of our government , day and night. They don't believe in the laws they have sworn an oath to enforce."
One major thing this book cleared up for me was the distain for the so-called "elites." I've long been puzzled by the sudden (in my perception) turn against education - particularly our most revered and respected institutions of higher learning. I couldn't fathom how going to Harvard or Yale could be thought of as a bad thing -- as disdainful or some kind of evidence that one must be untrustworthy. Brill's discussion of the meritocracy (which always seemed to me was a good thing) and how certain people within it decided to keep the spoils for themselves made me understand this position, even if I still find it ridiculous. I also really enjoyed the discussions of people and institutions that really are making a difference and doing good work. Those examples do give me some hope for our society, despite how bleak it appears now.
jeffreybaird's review
3.0
If you haven’t read any books about the events leading up to the current challenges to our democracy, this is a decent overview. However, it’s been said better by other authors.
ericwelch's review
4.0
This book should have been titled "Be Careful What You Wish For; You May Get It," or perhaps "Unforeseen and Unintended Consequences."
He begins with a litany of problems facing the United States: income inequality, the highest poverty rate among the industrialized nations, a crumbling infrastructure, an attitude of American "exceptionalism"with a Congress that hasn't been able to pass a budget in decades, ("Like slacker schoolchildren unable to produce a book report on time, the country’s elected leaders have fallen back instead on an endless string of last-minute deadline extensions and piecemeal appropriations.") which is ruled by the more than twenty lobbyists for each Congressman. He then proceeds to zoom in on a variety of events and institutions he regards as the cause of these failures.
Just a couple of examples. He discusses the rise of meritocracy, the intent being to support and encourage those with brains and talent. What happened was those folks succeeded brilliantly, went to the best Ivy League schools (Brill is really big on mentioning where individuals graduated from and I was hard pressed to discover anyone he mentioned who had come from anywhere but an Ivy League school except perhaps Bernard Baruch in New York, a special case) but then created themselves into a protected class. Brill divides the world into two classes: the protected and the unprotected. The protected build walls around themselves and their money that make it virtually impossible for those not in the class to join it.
Another example is what he calls the "greening" of free speech. He cites Citizens United as a terrible decision because, in part, it emphasized the "personhood" of corporations. Yet, his informative history of free speech and corporations shows how critical that linkage is. Very much a progressive initiative, PACS were formed by unions first in 1943 as a way to support FDR's reelection. Through the 1950s and 1960s there was far more political money in union PACs than in business-oriented PACs. The New York Times case and the Virginia Pharmacy decision (ironically supported by Ralph Nader's Public Interest group as a way to make drug prices available on advertising and to create competition -- support they were to rue in when Citizens United came down)
A law review article by Martin Redish, a progressive Democrat, in 1982 * was an argument for why free speech should be applied to corporations. That view began to become more and more popular in legal circles culminating in Citizens United.
I happen to support that decision. What people often forget is that it was a case first, with a plaintiff who wanted to distribute a political movie and was told "no." During the oral arguments before the Supreme Court, which I listened to, I was absolutely horrified, as were most of the justices, by the response of the Deputy Solicitor General, who, when asked if the government could prevent the publication of a book that expressed political advocacy. That was a huge mistake.
Stewart's argument played into the hands of Ted Olson, counsel for Citizens United. By taking an extreme position that could be seen as akin to throwing someone in jail for writing a book, or book-banning, Stewart went way down the slippery slope, making it more likely that a majority on the Court (Alito, Roberts, Kennedy, Scalia, and Thomas) will want to say something about the Constitution, and not merely decide, as I've suggested, that the video-on-demand delivery of the anti-Clinton movie simply is not covered by the McCain-Feingold statute.**
While I occasionally disagreed with Brill's interpretations of several events, it's certainly a provocative book that does provide some interesting examples of positive solutions.
*https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/penn_law_review/vol130/iss3/2/
**https://www.americanbar.org/publications/preview_home/publiced_preview_QandACitizens/
He begins with a litany of problems facing the United States: income inequality, the highest poverty rate among the industrialized nations, a crumbling infrastructure, an attitude of American "exceptionalism"with a Congress that hasn't been able to pass a budget in decades, ("Like slacker schoolchildren unable to produce a book report on time, the country’s elected leaders have fallen back instead on an endless string of last-minute deadline extensions and piecemeal appropriations.") which is ruled by the more than twenty lobbyists for each Congressman. He then proceeds to zoom in on a variety of events and institutions he regards as the cause of these failures.
Just a couple of examples. He discusses the rise of meritocracy, the intent being to support and encourage those with brains and talent. What happened was those folks succeeded brilliantly, went to the best Ivy League schools (Brill is really big on mentioning where individuals graduated from and I was hard pressed to discover anyone he mentioned who had come from anywhere but an Ivy League school except perhaps Bernard Baruch in New York, a special case) but then created themselves into a protected class. Brill divides the world into two classes: the protected and the unprotected. The protected build walls around themselves and their money that make it virtually impossible for those not in the class to join it.
Another example is what he calls the "greening" of free speech. He cites Citizens United as a terrible decision because, in part, it emphasized the "personhood" of corporations. Yet, his informative history of free speech and corporations shows how critical that linkage is. Very much a progressive initiative, PACS were formed by unions first in 1943 as a way to support FDR's reelection. Through the 1950s and 1960s there was far more political money in union PACs than in business-oriented PACs. The New York Times case and the Virginia Pharmacy decision (ironically supported by Ralph Nader's Public Interest group as a way to make drug prices available on advertising and to create competition -- support they were to rue in when Citizens United came down)
A law review article by Martin Redish, a progressive Democrat, in 1982 * was an argument for why free speech should be applied to corporations. That view began to become more and more popular in legal circles culminating in Citizens United.
I happen to support that decision. What people often forget is that it was a case first, with a plaintiff who wanted to distribute a political movie and was told "no." During the oral arguments before the Supreme Court, which I listened to, I was absolutely horrified, as were most of the justices, by the response of the Deputy Solicitor General, who, when asked if the government could prevent the publication of a book that expressed political advocacy. That was a huge mistake.
Stewart's argument played into the hands of Ted Olson, counsel for Citizens United. By taking an extreme position that could be seen as akin to throwing someone in jail for writing a book, or book-banning, Stewart went way down the slippery slope, making it more likely that a majority on the Court (Alito, Roberts, Kennedy, Scalia, and Thomas) will want to say something about the Constitution, and not merely decide, as I've suggested, that the video-on-demand delivery of the anti-Clinton movie simply is not covered by the McCain-Feingold statute.**
While I occasionally disagreed with Brill's interpretations of several events, it's certainly a provocative book that does provide some interesting examples of positive solutions.
*https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/penn_law_review/vol130/iss3/2/
**https://www.americanbar.org/publications/preview_home/publiced_preview_QandACitizens/
mattmcgillvray's review against another edition
5.0
Buy this book. Read it. Let your friends borrow it.
pbokelly's review
4.0
Some related resources:
Extensive adaptation in Time:
http://time.com/5280446/baby-boomer-generation-america-steve-brill/
Author interview:
https://abovethelaw.com/2018/05/tailspin-an-interview-with-steven-brill-american-lawyer-founder-turned-bestselling-author/
Reviews:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/02/books/review/steven-brill-tailspin.html
https://www.salon.com/2018/05/27/americas-tailspin-and-the-rise-of-oligarchy-history-says-its-happened-before/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/how-america-became-a-divided-nation-of-the-protected-and-the-unprotected/2018/06/22/4723ccb6-5dfc-11e8-9ee3-49d6d4814c4c_story.html
Extensive adaptation in Time:
http://time.com/5280446/baby-boomer-generation-america-steve-brill/
Author interview:
https://abovethelaw.com/2018/05/tailspin-an-interview-with-steven-brill-american-lawyer-founder-turned-bestselling-author/
Reviews:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/02/books/review/steven-brill-tailspin.html
https://www.salon.com/2018/05/27/americas-tailspin-and-the-rise-of-oligarchy-history-says-its-happened-before/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/how-america-became-a-divided-nation-of-the-protected-and-the-unprotected/2018/06/22/4723ccb6-5dfc-11e8-9ee3-49d6d4814c4c_story.html
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