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sarakomo 's review for:
The Education of an Idealist: A Memoir
by Samantha Power
2020: This book was a completely random selection from the used bookstore where I volunteer, and it is a DELIGHT. I am so so pleased that I stumbled upon it, and even more pleased that I read it at the time I did.
I honestly am flabbergasted that I had never heard of Samantha Power before picking up this book, but she quickly became a new role model for me. Her strong advocacy for human rights across the world made her an ideal candidate for the US Ambassador to the UN, but I was most struck by her stories of attempting to balance her strong personal advocacy goals with the bureaucracy of the UN. Power returns again and again to the struggle in the question of how much good can one person do?
That isn't to say that she is without fault. As critical as she is of Obama's failure to act in some regions of the world, the book completely skips any of the domestic issues that followed Obama's first and second terms. I understand that not every detail of an administration can be included in one's memoir (and I certainly would have been bored if she had included them). To be fair, she was primarily concerned with international issues.
An insanely powerful writer (she won the Pulitzer for her FIRST BOOK when she was just 33!) and an incredibly focused activist, Power brings her reader with her on an incredible journey. I'd recommend this book to anyone who loves non-fiction, anyone who is interested in politics, anyone who wants a break from our current administration and would like to revisit the glory days of a competent president, and anyone who loves a strong woman in leadership.
The worst part of reading this book was when Power covered the Ebola epidemic and the US's response to it. Using italics, Power attempted to portray the vastness of the idea that 1.4 million people were infected with the virus, and how much America freaked the fuck out when 4 people in the US were diagnosed with it. It just doesn't play as intensely when we are setting new records for 80,000+ diagnosed in a single day in the US during the COVID-19 pandemic.
I honestly am flabbergasted that I had never heard of Samantha Power before picking up this book, but she quickly became a new role model for me. Her strong advocacy for human rights across the world made her an ideal candidate for the US Ambassador to the UN, but I was most struck by her stories of attempting to balance her strong personal advocacy goals with the bureaucracy of the UN. Power returns again and again to the struggle in the question of how much good can one person do?
That isn't to say that she is without fault. As critical as she is of Obama's failure to act in some regions of the world, the book completely skips any of the domestic issues that followed Obama's first and second terms. I understand that not every detail of an administration can be included in one's memoir (and I certainly would have been bored if she had included them). To be fair, she was primarily concerned with international issues.
An insanely powerful writer (she won the Pulitzer for her FIRST BOOK when she was just 33!) and an incredibly focused activist, Power brings her reader with her on an incredible journey. I'd recommend this book to anyone who loves non-fiction, anyone who is interested in politics, anyone who wants a break from our current administration and would like to revisit the glory days of a competent president, and anyone who loves a strong woman in leadership.
The worst part of reading this book was when Power covered the Ebola epidemic and the US's response to it. Using italics, Power attempted to portray the vastness of the idea that 1.4 million people were infected with the virus, and how much America freaked the fuck out when 4 people in the US were diagnosed with it. It just doesn't play as intensely when we are setting new records for 80,000+ diagnosed in a single day in the US during the COVID-19 pandemic.