Reading Update

(8) The Thirteen American Arguments: Enduring Debates that Define and Inspire Our Country - Howard Fineman

This is one that I have some difficulty in reviewing.  The book takes the reader through thirteen issues that are debated heavily in our country.  Things like presidential powers, who is a person, war, etc.  The author tries to show both sides of each issue and why the debate is important.  He does this quite well I think.  The problem with the book is in some of the examples the author gives of each debate.  Throughout the book, he takes a person from one side of the issue and tells a story of how that person fits into the debate and I see that the journalistic ideal (he is a journalist by trade) of pure fact is set aside as he tries to get behind the man.  He speculates too much about peoples' motives for being involved in the debate, often with little evidence to back his claims.  I think the book is helpful in the identification of the issues we face, but I would only recommend it to those with a serious interest in these things who can discern when the author is presenting fact and when he is presenting opinion.