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Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America Audiobook
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#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From political economist, cabinet member, beloved professor, media presence, and bestselling author of Saving Capitalism and The Common Good, a deeply felt, compelling memoir of growing up in a baby-boom America that made progress in certain areas, fell short in so many important ways, and still has lots of work to do
"Important and galvanizing.” —Senator Bernie Sanders
"Essential reading for understanding this moment in American history.” —Molly Jong-Fast, New York Times bestselling author of How to Lose Your Mother
A thought-provoking, principled, clear-eyed chronicle of the culture, politics, and economic choices that have landed us where we are today—with irresponsible economic bullies and corporations with immense wealth and lobbying power on top, demagogues on the rise, and increasing inequality fueling anger and hatred across the country.
Nine months after World War II, Robert Reich was born into a united America with a bright future—which went unrealized for so many as big money took over our democracy. His encounter with school bullies on account of his height—4'11" as an adult—set him on a determined path to spend his life fighting American bullies of every sort. He recounts the death of a friend in the civil rights movement; his political coming of age witnessing the Berkeley free speech movement; working for Bobby Kennedy and Senator Eugene McCarthy; experiencing a country torn apart by the Vietnam War; meeting Hillary Rodham in college, Bill Clinton at Oxford, and Clarence Thomas at Yale Law. He details his friendship with John Kenneth Galbraith during his time teaching at Harvard, and subsequent friendships with Bernie Sanders and Ted Kennedy; and his efforts as labor secretary for Clinton and economic advisor to Barack Obama. Ultimately, Reich asks: What did his generation accomplish? Did they make America better, more inclusive, more tolerant? Did they strengthen democracy? Or did they come up short?
Reich hardly abandons us to despair over a doomed democracy. With characteristic spirit and humor, he lays out how we can reclaim a sense of community and a democratic capitalism based on the American ideals we still have the power to salvage.
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"Author is very experienced, knowledgeable and a great communicator"
— SField (5 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“Reich narrates his audiobook, so the emotions he expresses are genuine. Listeners will hear a bit of lilt in his intonation as he describes humorous incidents in his life…The use of recordings of public figures enhances the audio experience. Reich’s encounters and relationships with key late-twentieth-century and early-twenty-first-century figures are especially revealing and relevant to today’s listeners.”
— AudioFile -
“Both economic treatise and political reckoning, stemming from a deep love of country and commitment to progress, in pursuit of doing what’s right as opposed to what is popular or expedient…Clear-eyed and critical, Reich’s assessment of where America is headed is both sobering and, characteristically, hopeful.”
— Booklist (starred review) -
“A sharply pointed chronicle of a society that, Reich laments, gladly tolerates the strong brutalizing the weak.”
— Kirkus Reviews -
“Calls on Democrats to refocus on the working class…Along the way, he works in piquant sketches of political figures…A perceptive insider’s account of Democratic disarray.”
— Publishers Weekly
Awards
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A #1 New York Times Bestseller
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A #1 Amazon Bestseller in Economic Policy
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About Robert B. Reich
Robert B. Reich is the author of nineteen books, including the #1 New York Times bestseller Coming Up Short. He has served in three presidential administrations, Republican and Democrat, as Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton. His articles have appeared in the New Yorker, The Atlantic, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal. He is a columnist for Newsweek and the London Guardian and writes a daily newsletter at https://robertreich.substack.com/. He is co-creator of the award-winning film Inequality for All and the Netflix original Saving Capitalism, and co-founder of Inequality Media. He is a former Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley.