Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America by Robert B. Reich

Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America

by Robert B. Reich

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Memoir & BiographyPolitics & PowerSociety & Culture

Reich is still proud of family and medical leave and the expanded tax credits of the Clinton years. That said, his memoir is a reckoning with his generation, and he regrets not fighting harder as NAFTA, China's WTO entry and Wall Street deregulation sped up inequality.

Core ideas
  • Bullying as power: At 4 feet 11 inches he was bullied as a boy, and the Klan's 1964 murder of his protector, Michael Schwerner, made him see it as structural abuse of power.
  • How Democrats lost workers: Since Reagan the party failed to counter Wall Street's influence, leaving working-class voters open to demagoguery.
  • The unfinished job: The baby boomers didn't build a decent, sustainable and just society, and the work left is rebuilding community and a democratic capitalism.
Published2025
Pages416
ISBN9780593803288
ReadMar 2026

Connected to 5 other books

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