Chris Tarr Head of Cataloging

Drift: the Unmooring of American Military Power by Rachel Maddow

Drift: the Unmooring of American Military Power

Rachel Maddow -- who does not have a huge crush on her? I don’t respond this way to everyone — she’s just so smart, and simultaneously so cute. Apparently she hates to write. Yet she is a good writer. She writes exactly the way she speaks, but what she has to say is actually easier to pay attention to in written form — it’s funny, but complex.

Her book, Drift, was almost too painful to read in parts. Remember when Reagan invaded Grenada, for no reason at all except to make himself (and the country) look warlike and powerful, and people bought it, and thought he did a great thing and they voted for him again? Anyway, a good argument about how this country has drifted into making war at the drop of a hat when it really should be a painful and difficult thing. She thinks it’s reversible. I’m not so sure.