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American Bias 101
The book starts off well enough - even if the examination of early U.S. history is elementary at best. By the time the author begins 20th century politics, the facade crumbles. The author makes every effort to paint the Republicans as the bad guys; apparently the only bad guys. For example: "During the 1920s, the Republican Party increasingly shifted to the right as the party of big business." Republicans were never alone in this regard.
Another instance of bias is the authors carefully made distinction that it was "conservative Democrats" who got Nixon elected, because Nixon would help undo changes made by the Civil Rights Act. This is the only time the author uses the phraseology, as if to say these "conservative Democrats" weren't the real Democrats - while also completely glossing over any mention of the gross injustices the Democratic party committed against southern blacks in that era. No, instead of calling them Democrats, the author will only refer to them as "southerners."
There are a dozen examples of sleight of hand I could discuss, but my point is the author only ever brings attention to the hyper negative aspects of the Republican Party, like Iran-Contra, Watergate, Iraq, etc., but never gives the same level of scrutiny towards Democrats. Here's another gem: "Traditionally, Republicans had opposed foreign entanglements. This had begun to change when the party had strongly backed intervention in Vietnam." Absolutely no mention of the fact it was a Democratic administration that entered the war.
The book is titled American Government 101, but it completely fails to stay objective on the subject of partisan politics. This author also wrote a book called "Socialism 101," so that should dispel any doubts about my review of this book and of this authors obvious political persuasions.
March 2020 · Books · verified purchase