It is important that we learn from our mistakes so we're not destined to repeat them. This book provided an interesting insight into past & present events that are shaping our world. For the past 1 & a half, we've all been stuck rehashing the 2020 election but we haven't moved much from it. This book offered some interesting insight that can hopeful help move the conversation forward. While I didn't agree with Barnett on every topic, I'm more open to the topics covered as a result of reading this book.

Taking Control – Humanity and America after Trump and the Pandemic

Writing from the UK, Anthony Barnett has created a well-timed post-pandemic analysis of American politics and democracy in general, from an unashamedly ‘progressive’ or left wing perspective, which I found to be very refreshing and hopeful.

It charts the rise of Trump and ‘trumpism’, the overall failures of neoliberalism, and the immense challenge that Biden now faces in creating a more just and equal America where wealth, opportunity, and the right to vote is more evenly spread between all.

‘Taking Control’ highlights COVID-19 as the catalyst for a ‘revolution’ and the almost ironic opportunity that the global pandemic has provided. It also talks, amongst many other aspects, of the influence that feminism has had over the past half-century; the impact of the more recent Black Lives Matter movement and the importance of time, or rather the lack of it, when it comes to the climate crisis.

This book is for anyone wanting to know how we got here and the choices that we have in the future, particularly if we work together.

‘Taking Control’ was an absolute joy to read. I particularly appreciated the references to other books and academic papers some of which are now on my ‘to be read’ list. It is a positive and insightful book and although I was often left thinking, ‘that would never happen’ but then I had to ask myself, ‘what if it did?’

Thank you to Repeater Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review ‘Taking Control’.