When They Come for You, by David Kirby

Do you ever think the government has a little bit too much power?  Way too much power?  So does journalist David Kirby.  In When They Come for You: How Police and Government are Trampling Our Liberties--and How to Take Them Back.  Libertarians and readers of Reason magazine and similar publications have heard these stories, or stories much like them before.  Kirby gives example after example of government overreach.

Like much of libertarian thought, Kirby's discussions will hit hot buttons for people on the left and the right.  Both liberals and conservatives share a general bent toward freedom, albeit with gradations and occasional opposite positions.  But Kirby's examples mostly cross any party or ideological lines.  Is there a role for government in the protection of abused and neglected children?  Yes, but Kirby reveals patterns of abuse and anecdotes of tragic imposition in family life by policies and practices of child protective services.  Should police enforce drug trafficking prohibitions?  Yes, but Kirby again gives plenty of examples where police unjustly seize property and cash in traffic stops and bank seizures.  Many lives have been negatively impacted by the heavy hand of asset forfeiture.

Kirby gives lots and lots of reasons to get upset about government overreach.  It's upsetting and eye-opening to hear these stories.  He's not as strong on the subtitle; the "how to take your liberties back" portion isn't quite as strong.  Nevertheless, it's worth a read and will challenge any perception you have of the goodness of government.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Space Drifters: The Ghost Ship, by Paul Regnier

Hardly skipping a beat after the end of The Iron Gauntlet, Paul Regnier continues the adventures of Glint Starcrost in Space Drifters: The Ghost Ship.  I think this third book of the trilogy is even more packed with back-to-back death-defying escapes and adventures than the other two.  Out of series of frying pans, into a series of fires.  All the enemies Starcrost has made in the first two books keep coming after him, in addition to a new enemy, the nanobot cat captain of the ghost ship itself.

Rule number one of being captured by a ghost ship: don't steal one of the ghost ship's most valuable treasures as you make your escape.  Also rule number one of being a rogue space captain: if you find yourself on a ghost ship that possesses a valuable treasure that can save the world of your crew mate/ potential girlfriend (and princess of said world), then by all means, steal the valuable treasure as you make your escape.  Also rule number one, you better be ready, because the nanocat captain is going to come after you with all it's got.

This is not cerebral science fiction.  This is not Ph.D. in astrophysics science fiction.  This is cartoonish, seat-of-your-pants escapist, edge-of-your-seat adventure science fiction.  This has been a fast, fun trilogy to read. One can only hope that the adventures of Glint Starcross will continue.

Sutherland Springs, by Joe Holley

The mass shootings we read about with too much regularity are always shocking.  But few are more shocking than when a murderer attacks a house of worship, killing people gathered for worship and fellowship.  Joe Holley tells the tragic but hopeful story of such a shooting in a rural Texas community in Sutherland Springs: God, Guns, and Hope in a Texas Town.  Most of us still remember the tragic news in the Fall of 2017, dozens killed and injured by a madman with a gun during morning worship at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas.  Holley spent a year among the people of Sutherland Springs and came away with insights about faith and guns.

Holley went for a deep dive in the culture and history of Sutherland Springs and its people.  To be honest, it was more background and history than I wanted to knowt.  As a Texan, I enjoyed some of the Texas historical trivia regarding Sutherland Springs and the area.  But it really didn't add a lot to the meat of the book.  The chapters on the killer's history and mental illness, including his history of violence and domestic abuse, really get to the core of the issue.  His history, and the Air Force's failure to report him to other agencies on multiple occasions, are all you need to know about a possible prevention of this unspeakable act of violence.

Holley's description of the attack itself and the events surrounding it put the reader on the scene, taking a tragic headline and making it a real human tragedy.  Now I know these people and these families, and I have seen in detail what happened on that horrible day.  Again, it may be more than I wanted to know--details about the families and their histories--but Holley is committed to bringing them to life for the reader.

Holley seems to have a grudging respect for the Christian faith of the people of Sutherland Springs.  Even as he writes about their steadfastness and confidence in God in spite of the tragedy, I felt a subtext or tone of "can you believe these fundamentalist rubes?"  For the most part, he was fair and detached, but he found it hard to relate to their trust in God's sovereignty and their peaceful acceptance of God's will in the face of grief.

He was less charitable about their faith in guns.  He does not approve of their tendency, even after the shooting, to double down on the "good guy with a gun" theory of being ready with a loaded gun and willing to use it.  Holley concludes,

They bear living witness to their faith--in God, the Giver of life, and in guns, precision instruments of death. Two faiths irreconcilable, it seems to me.  With due respect to their awful experience on that Sunday morning in November, I would argue that we need them--this nation needs them--to take the side of life.  Without guns.

Sutherland Springs personalizes and chronicles a tragic event in Texas history.  Holley shows a lot of respect for the victims' stories, a grudging respect for their faith, and very little respect for their stance on gun ownership.  I wish he would have delved more into the mind and motivations of the killer; it felt like some of that was passed over too briefly.  But all in all, Sutherland Springs is sure to be the definitive story of this tragic day.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

The First, by Stanley Fish

Stanley Fish has taught long enough and published enough that his reputation is just about unassailable.  I won't say he doesn't care what people think about what he says, but in The First: How to Think About Hate Speech, Campus Speech, Religious Speech, Fake News, Post-Truth, and Donald Trump, Fish take positions that his colleagues in the academic community might look askance at.

For the rest of us nonacademics, Fish offers a perspective that forces us to stop and think, maybe nodding in agreement, or maybe saying, "Not so fast."  The concept of freedom of speech is much talked about, but often misunderstood.  Against popular perception, "absolutely free speech is the outlier case; constrained speech is the norm."  The settings in which we speak present necessary and proper constraint.  Further, the very "values free speech supports" sometimes require us to "curtail speech deemed to be subversive of those values."

In the university setting, Fish argues that "Freedom of speech is not an academic value; freedom of inquiry is, and freedom of inquiry requires the silencing of voices."  Universities have tied themselves in knots trying to be solicitous of every view, but the policing of speech frequently goes too far.  "Calling out micro-aggressions amounts to a game of 'Gotcha!'  There will always be something an instructor says that offends someone, and according to the logic of micro-aggressions, he or she deserves to be condemned for saying it."

Forgive me if I make Fish sound like a right-winger.  He's not; it's just that in the current environment of campus speech, the suppression of right-wing views gets the most press.  Neither is he a fan of Trump, but he recognizes the absurdity of the criticism of Trump supporters on campus.  Altogether, you won't find a defense of Trump and his policies here, but you will find a defense of speech about him.

The First is more philosophical and more dull than you would expect from the title, but less philosophical and less dull (that is, more accessible to the non-academic) than you would expect from the pedigree and profession of the author.  It's interesting, but not earth-shattering.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Good White Racist, by Kerry Connelly

If you are white, you are more than likely a racist.  If you object to this statement and declare you are not a racist, Kerry Connelly will vehemently insist you are wrong.  She fills her book Good White Racist? Confronting Your Role in Racial Injustice with plenty of anti-white accusations and finger-wagging.  What's that you say, you work with black people?  You have black neighbors?  Some of your best friends are black?  You married a black person?  You adopted a black child?  Don't kid yourself.  You. Are. A. Racist.  Maybe even a white supremacist.  You are "using people we say we care about as props to create a universe in which we are always good."

Anyone who is an actual racist won't give a flying flip about what Connelly has to say.  But anyone who has friends and family members from other races, and who really believes that racism is horrible, will be irritated and annoyed by Connelly's "arguments."  I think she's writing this book as a penance for her own past racism.

I want to give a couple of examples of the absurdity of this book.  These examples aren't necessarily the core of her argument, but illustrate her perspective.  First example: Connelly remotely interviewed a "queer latinx" writer for her podcast.  Even though the interview was not face-to-face, Connelly felt like they had a good rapport, and carried on a correspondence with her, with plans to get together at some point.  In an online exchange, she said, "one of these days, my friend, a meal together."  The writer was deeply offended that Connelly called her "friend" when they had never met face-to-face, because "as a latinx, I take friendship seriously," unlike "white folks [who] have a habit of assuming particular relationality when there has been no defining of relationality."   Now, I have lived among Hispanics, and have known them to be exceedingly friendly, welcoming, and dedicated to family and friends.  "Mi casa su casa" and all that.  I don't think this latinx writer rebuked Connelly's friendliness due to race, but due to the fact that she is thin-skinned, over-sensitive y groserx.  But to Connelly, she bows to accusations of racism because, well, she's a "good white racist."

Second example: For this one, I will quote her at length because I find it so ridiculous.  (She is favorably referencing work by another author.)

A white child would understand that the question "Is that where the scissors belong?" really means, "Put the scissors on the shelf," while a child who had not been raised with this type of coded language might receive the question as a literal one, with several possible answers.  His response would be considered cheeky at best; at worst, it would reinforce a "problem child" label.

To attribute such a miscommunication to racism seems racist in itself.  It reminds me of Joe Biden's gaffe: "Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids."  People like this attribute any behavioral or academic differences to race, rather than poverty, parents' education levels, home environment, or other non-racial factors.  I have known plenty of well-behaved, respectful students who understand the "codes" of the classroom perfectly, not because they are conforming to whiteness, but because their parents taught them manners, courtesy, and self-discipline.  Parents of any race can and do raise kids this way.

One stylistic point: Connelly has a potty mouth.  The book is full of casual swearing that takes away from her arguments, with a style and tone that makes social media interactions look scholarly.  She even draws attention to it at one point with that stupid old trick, "If you're more offended by my swearing than by the larger point I'm making, then, well, you're beyond help."  Yes, I agree, clergy accepting slave children as a tithe was horrible, much worse than using the F-word, but that doesn't mean I think it's constructive or acceptable to use the F-word to make a point about this or any other moral argument.

Writing Good White Racist? was probably a good exercise for Connelly.  I'm sure she feels better about herself for writing it.  But I think she missed the mark and will only annoy her intended audience.  Racism is bad.  So is this book.  I didn't need to read this book to know that racism is bad.  Neither do you.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Through the Eyes of Love, by Shawn Bolz

I want to hear from God and speak to people the way pastor Shawn Bolz does.  In Through the Eyes of Love: Encouraging Others Through Prophetic Revelation, Bolz tells story after story of personal encounters with God.  The topic is prophetic words, but Bolz takes the mystical element out of it.  This isn't magical mind reading, it's a matter of, as the title says, looking at people through eyes of love, and being willing to step out on faith to talk to people, even strangers, about life and about God.

Bolz packs the book with scripture and with real-life examples.  Prophecy isn't always telling someone's darkest secrets--although that does happen.  More often, it's simply telling someone that God loves her, or quoting a passage of scripture.  Sometimes that word or verse of scripture is exactly what God wants her to here, and you can be the vessel for conveying a message from God.  This takes some practice, and takes some boldness, but Bolz will inspire both in you.

One measure of whether I like this kind of book is whether it inspires me to spend more time reading and studying the Bible, and whether it inspires me to spend more time loving others.  One both counts, Through the Eyes of Love gets high marks.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!