Where She Makes a Good Case

The Truths We Hold: An American Journey by Kamala Harris
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm rating this as a book. From that perspective, it's about a 3, IMO. Moderately entertaining. Competently written.

As an introduction to the person, as a textbook on the subject "Kamala Harris," I'd give this a higher score, a 4 or 5. Good information here, well presented. I found out things I didn't know, which was actually a disappointment. I wish her recent campaign had shown how she cared about some of the things she clearly really does care about. It feels like the message was narrowed down for party reasons, because I think the version of Kamala found in this book is better than the version presented on TV. (I thought she was okay there, but she's more focused here, more detailed, more personally invested. The version of her in the book might have done better in the election than the DNC-moderated version did.)

I'm not a consultant. I wasn't asked.

In a way, this is really more of a long speech than a book. It's breezy and anecdotal and focused on issues more than on biographical details, constantly making points to build an argument. That's a good idea in a speech meant to introduce yourself to voters, but it's still kinda weird in a book. The whole time I was reading it, I imagined her speaking from a lectern, reading this aloud. As a speech, though, it's pretty good.

In sum: I like the person, I rather like the speech, but I only kinda like the book.

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