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A review by ryanpfw
The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations by John McCain, Mark Salter
5.0
I'd been meaning to read this book, but like others, I thought I had more time. I was on vacation sitting around a campfire when I heard the news that John McCain had passed and fortunately always bring a kindle to a campfire.
I have two other McCain books on my bookshelf, still unread, and for some reason I thought he was a more prolific author. Apparently these were his only three books, with this one intended to go into great detail on the 2008 election and subsequent foreign policy concerns. His last book was in 2002 and he had a lot to catch up on. During the writing process, he was diagnosed with cancer and it morphed into his farewell address. If you're looking for impressions of the book before you read it, I'll freely admit some seams were evident. He transitions from a raw discussion of mortality to airdropping you into the Iraq conflict, with facts and figures coming left and right. I didn't mind, and felt I did learn a lot. Just keep in mind this book was not merely intended to be about the end of his life. He had a lot he still needed to say.
Here's where I am after finishing. John McCain, until today, is the only person I've ever felt compelled to pull a Republican ballot for (exempting the time I voted for Rick Santorum against Mitt Romney in the hopes he'd lost his home state, which doesn't count), and while his campaign imploded and I'm glad he lost, and while there were days I hated him, we were stronger with him and I'm not sure who we are without him. He saw investment as necessary, that it's harder to take a leap of faith and build something than it is to tear someone else's work down. Life is complicated, but fighting for a better world is something you have to do every day. Barack Obama referenced in his eulogy of John McCain that he had wins and losses throughout his life, which is preferable to living a life with neither.
I'm coincidentally pulling another Republican ballot tomorrow, which if you know me is not common. I truly believe the world will be a better place on the day that we all listen to truths that we may not be comfortable hearing and compromising when it feels so much better to insist on everything, even if we get nothing. May John McCain continue to kick our asses from beyond the rim more and more in this direction.
I have two other McCain books on my bookshelf, still unread, and for some reason I thought he was a more prolific author. Apparently these were his only three books, with this one intended to go into great detail on the 2008 election and subsequent foreign policy concerns. His last book was in 2002 and he had a lot to catch up on. During the writing process, he was diagnosed with cancer and it morphed into his farewell address. If you're looking for impressions of the book before you read it, I'll freely admit some seams were evident. He transitions from a raw discussion of mortality to airdropping you into the Iraq conflict, with facts and figures coming left and right. I didn't mind, and felt I did learn a lot. Just keep in mind this book was not merely intended to be about the end of his life. He had a lot he still needed to say.
Here's where I am after finishing. John McCain, until today, is the only person I've ever felt compelled to pull a Republican ballot for (exempting the time I voted for Rick Santorum against Mitt Romney in the hopes he'd lost his home state, which doesn't count), and while his campaign imploded and I'm glad he lost, and while there were days I hated him, we were stronger with him and I'm not sure who we are without him. He saw investment as necessary, that it's harder to take a leap of faith and build something than it is to tear someone else's work down. Life is complicated, but fighting for a better world is something you have to do every day. Barack Obama referenced in his eulogy of John McCain that he had wins and losses throughout his life, which is preferable to living a life with neither.
I'm coincidentally pulling another Republican ballot tomorrow, which if you know me is not common. I truly believe the world will be a better place on the day that we all listen to truths that we may not be comfortable hearing and compromising when it feels so much better to insist on everything, even if we get nothing. May John McCain continue to kick our asses from beyond the rim more and more in this direction.