FEBRUARY 2023 - AudioFile
Anyone interested in the events of January 6, 2021, will find this audiobook riveting. Even for those who followed events of that day closely, this report will unveil details perhaps overlooked or unknown otherwise. The preface by Remnick will be found by some to be left leaning. But it will be difficult to argue against his conclusions, and he offers a forceful, but not overwrought, delivery. The other narrators each do a fine job sharing the findings and conclusions of the Select Committee members without trying to embellish or underplay what was a historic day in our nation’s history. There may be no more important listen regarding the fate of the nation’s democracy than this historical record. J.P.S. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
From the Publisher
"A must read for politics watchers…Remnick provides useful context, while committee member Jamie Raskin adds recommendations to the report, including direct election of presidents and abolition of the Electoral College in order to 'break out of the GOP’s matrix of democracy suppression.'"
–Kirkus Reviews
FEBRUARY 2023 - AudioFile
Anyone interested in the events of January 6, 2021, will find this audiobook riveting. Even for those who followed events of that day closely, this report will unveil details perhaps overlooked or unknown otherwise. The preface by Remnick will be found by some to be left leaning. But it will be difficult to argue against his conclusions, and he offers a forceful, but not overwrought, delivery. The other narrators each do a fine job sharing the findings and conclusions of the Select Committee members without trying to embellish or underplay what was a historic day in our nation’s history. There may be no more important listen regarding the fate of the nation’s democracy than this historical record. J.P.S. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2022-12-28
Thoughtfully prepared edition of the public-domain report issued by the U.S. House of Representatives.
In the eyes of the Jan. 6 Committee, the principal agent of the attempted coup was Donald Trump. Indeed, Trump incited insurrectionists well before his famous “will be wild” tweet, and he called those insurrectionists off, after what the committee deemed “187 minutes of dereliction,” only when “it was obvious that the riot would fail to stop the certification of the vote.” This exhaustive report, like its hearings, is structured thematically, with sections devoted to such issues as the insurrectionist groups whom Trump and his allies recruited, including the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, who invoked not just 1776, but also the Bolshevik storming of the Winter Palace. (“No historical event has been less American.”) Another section treats the bizarre legal theories advanced by John Eastman, who “concluded that President Trump could remain president if—and only if—Vice President Pence followed Eastman’s illegal advice and determined which electoral college ballots were ‘valid.’ ” Apart from punishment of the criminals, the committee recommends some actions that are likely to cause controversy (and which will doubtless be ignored by the Republican-majority House in January 2023—e.g., the call to monitor media companies (read Fox, OAN, et al.) whose programming has “had the effect of radicalizing their consumers, including by provoking people to attack their own country.” This edition, prepared in conjunction with the New Yorker, includes excellent commentary by David Remnick, who has long been reporting on related events. Sometimes snippy, as when he refers to the insurrectionists’ “cosplay battle gear,” Remnick provides useful context, while committee member Jamie Raskin adds recommendations to the report, including direct election of presidents and abolition of the Electoral College in order to “break out of the GOP’s matrix of democracy suppression.”
A must-read for politics-watchers.
