Drift (2012) (edit title/settings)

• Rated 3 stars

“Rachel Maddow is without a doubt of the most intellectual, witty, and perceptive journalists of our time. This book was an interesting read, however, as the name implies, it does seem to "drift" from one subject to another. It is not so much a book about American foreign policy as it is a book about the Reagan Administration, the myriad failures of the Bush Presidency, and the danger of "moldy" nuclear weapons. It didn't really touch on what the book itself says to be about, which is a shame. Regardless: it was fun to read and enlightening at points.”

• Rated 4 stars

“Interesting history of recent use of presidential power to initiate military action. Lots of snark (which is good). Minimizes some aspects that I think are important, in particular elimination of draft and end of cold war. ”

• Rated 0 stars

“Rachel Maddow is a Rhodes Scholar who earned a doctor's degree in Politics from Oxford. She has been a long time advocate for those serving in the military and for veterans. In her early days in radio she always started with "News from Iraq and Afghanistan -- our country at war". This book is continuation of that committment. She is now the host of the Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC.”

• Rated 5 stars

“Very fascinating look into the back stories of our military industrial complex and our national penchant for stupid, short sighted, and perennial wars. The most disturbing and dangerous aspects I found to be the rise of non-military advisors to the commander-in-chief (think GWB's "outstanding" cadre of national security advisors) and the outsourcing of an incredible array of military activities to our "wonderful" for-profit corporations. ”

• Rated 3 stars

“I was expecting strident, Republican-bashing, conservative-thrashing, DoD-blasting comments on American military power. I got a pretty reasonable perspective on the natural tension between Presidential desires to exercise Commander-in-Chief power to use the military (often for political purposes) and Congressional desires to exercise Constitutional authority to declare war. There is nothing wrong with this tension. We just have to keep an eye on the checks and balances that are supposed to keep us on track as a nation. Thanks Rachel; you made me think.”

• Rated 0 stars

“Interesting book by the witty and insightful Rachel Maddow. She details the history over the past 50 years of the ever-increasing role that the executive branch of our government plays in the deployment of our military. Both Republican and Democratic presidents wield more authority in terms of war-making that the founding fathers had ever intended. America's nuclear deterrent is incredibly expensive, and not nearly as foolproof as one would presume it to be. Very informative and thought-provoking.”

• Rated 5 stars

“With great depth, with humor, and with tremendous enrgy, Rachel Maddow writes a very readable and engaging look at America's political shifts toward how we approach war.”

• Rated 4 stars

“Excellent”

• Rated 5 stars

“Isn’t it great when you come away from a painless read and you really feel like you’ve learned something too? That’s exactly the take away feeling I got from Rachel Maddow’s Drift.
Now it’s true that I unreservedly adore Rachel Maddow. I consider her to be “the Muhammad Ali of journalistic debate”. With that confession, with that instance of full disclosure, I write to sing the praises of what I believe is her first and only commercial publication.
Her trademark intellect is present in every line of reasoning; her devotion to serious research conveyed each evidentiary reference. This formidable intellectualism, however, is honeyed by the humorous stylings of her notorious geek chic. This is done, though, with a punctuation requisite of the seriousness of the subject. Basically, Maddow lays out an argument that the American government has fallen victim to the manipulative musings of the neo-cons and their proponents in certain presidential administrations as well as the bloated military-industrial complex that has, over a period of close to half-a-century, become its own Hobbesian leviathan. She dishes out the argument, which after one reads through it (he or she) must be convinced of its veracity, in a manner that causes the pages to pass through with ease. My only complaint stems selfishly from a feeling, as a reader, of wanting more upon the book’s conclusion. This, of course, would solely be for the sake enjoying that private with the queen of progressive journalism.
We are vaguely aware of how much work goes into writing a full-length commercial book, but we can still hope for more books from our beloved Rachel Maddow to come.
”

• Rated 5 stars

“It's refreshing to read a book by a political commentator which is based on logic and historical facts. If only all of our political knowledge came from these sources and not sources which thrive on Fear of The Other. ”