Medgar & Myrlie makes the New York Times February books preview!
Medgar and Myrlie makes the New York Times February book preview list!
New novels from Tommy Orange and Kristin Hannah; memoirs from Kara Swisher and Leslie Jamison; a biography of Medgar and Myrlie Evers — and more. Read the post here.
Medgar and Myrlie: Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America
Medgar and Myrlie Evers was the love story that awakened America to the civil rights struggle in Mississippi…
So excited to announce my new book project: Medgar and Myrlie, a civil rights love story and biography of Medgar Evers, who James Baldwin called one of the triumvirate of great American civil rights leaders alongside Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, and Myrlie Evers Williams, America's first national civil rights widow. The book officially drops on February 6, 2024 but is available for pre-order now! For more info and to keep track of book tour dates, visit: https://www.msnbc.com/medgar-and-myrlie
BUSTLE.com: 6 Books That Will Help You Understand The Trump Impeachment Trial
The Man Who Sold America is the new book by MSNBC anchor Joy-Ann Reid…
The U.S. House of Representatives ended 2019 with a bang when it impeached Donald J. Trump for abuse of power. Although the 45th President of the United States is unlikely to be removed from office through impeachment, the Senate trial may help prevent Trump's re-election in November.
Senate Republicans have also voiced their opposition to hearing witness testimony in the impeachment proceedings, but that hasn't stopped key witnesses from speaking out. Last week, The New York Times obtained a copy of The Room Where It Happened — the forthcoming book from former national security adviser John Bolton, out Mar. 17. The title of the book may have drawn attention for the way it has riled Hamilton fans, but Bolton's allegations that Trump tied Ukraine funds to the investigation of Hunter Biden will be even more difficult for the G.O.P. to ignore. Trump responded to the book on Twitter with what Vanity Fair characterized as "a blizzard of lies," and Bolton's lawyers have accused the White House of leaking the book — all of which just goes to show that we live in some very strange and quite uncertain times.
Trump getting removed from office might sound too good to be true, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't educate yourself about the ramifications of our current political moment. Here are six books you should read to understand the impeachment of the President:
DISSENT: The Obamanauts
Former Obama campaign staffers like Joy Reid making waves in media…
Obama: An Oral History 2009–2017
by Brian Abrams
Little A, 2018, 526 pp.
West Winging It: An Un-presidential Memoir
by Pat Cunnane
Gallery Books, 2018, 320 pp.
Finding My Voice: My Journey to the West Wing and the Path Forward
by Valerie Jarrett
Viking, 2019, 320 pp.
Who Thought This Was a Good Idea? And Other Questions You Should Have Answers to When You Work in the White House
by Alyssa Mastromonaco with Lauren Oyler
Twelve, 2017, 256 pp.
Yes We (Still) Can: Politics in the Age of Obama, Twitter, and Trump
by Dan Pfeiffer
Twelve, 2018, 304 pp.
The World as It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House
by Ben Rhodes
Random House, 2018, 480 pp.
We Are the Change We Seek: The Speeches of Barack Obama
ed. by E.J. Dionne Jr. and Joy-Ann Reid
Bloomsbury, 2017, 384 pp.
West Wingers: Stories from the Dream Chasers, Change Makers, and Hope Creators Inside the Obama White House
ed. by Gautam Raghavan
Penguin, 2018, 336 pp.
What is the defining achievement of Barack Obama? For a time, it seemed it would be his foreign policy: the Paris Agreement, diplomatic relations with Cuba, and getting Iran to give up its nuclear weapons program. When Trump got elected and those deals got undone, it seemed it would be the Affordable Care Act. But after plummeting for several years, the uninsured rate among adults has begun to creep back up. Obama did avert a second Great Depression, but history is not kind to averters: with time, what didn’t happen tends to get eclipsed by what did. And what did happen under Obama is a recovery that was slow and weak. Black homeownership rates, which took a major hit during the financial crisis, are the lowest they’ve ever been.
Maybe, then, Obama will be remembered for the fact of his election (though he and senior adviser Valerie Jarrett claim that getting a black man elected was nothing compared to getting the healthcare bill passed) and creating a brand of neoliberal multiculturalism for party elites to use and enjoy in years to come. Yet the defeat of Hillary Clinton in 2016 and the failure of Kamala Harris to dominate the 2020 campaign threaten that inheritance. So perhaps Obama’s most important legacy will be one of productive disappointment: energizing a multiracial coalition of young voters whose subsequent disaffections with Obamaism and inclinations toward socialism are today remaking the left.
Since the 2016 election, many members of the Obama administration have written their memoirs in the hope of defining that legacy. In addition, more than a hundred men and women who worked in and around the White House have given their reminiscences to Brian Abrams, who has composed a remarkably fluid oral history of the Obama years. We’ve not yet heard from the man himself. While it’s not unprecedented for the president’s men and women to get the first word, the effect of his silence and their volubility is to decenter a presidency that, more than most, was centered on one man and his words. Obama had an uncanny ability to make sense of his place in history, to narrate what it was that he was doing. His politics had its limits, but they were often, and often knowingly, self-imposed. No matter how circumscribed the view, Obama managed to conjure a sense of what lay beyond it. With one exception, none of his people has that sense of time or place. They’re bound by a perimeter that is not of their making and that lies beyond their ken.
Read more
Brookings: In the shadow of impeachment hearings, dueling visions for the nation
A year away from the 2020 election and in the shadow of impeachment hearings, a wide-ranging new survey from PRRI explores the profound cultural fissures in the country. With Americans deeply divided along political, racial, and religious lines, the survey shows how these factions are prioritizing different issues—from terrorism and immigration to health care and climate change. The survey measures Democratic presidential nominee preferences and the stability of President Trump’s base, including analysis of support for impeachment. This year’s survey, the 10th in the annual American Values Survey series, also highlights long-term trends in partisan and religious affiliation, and how these changes have produced two starkly contrasting visions for the nation.
On October 21, Governance Studies at Brookings and PRRI will host an event to release this year’s American Values Survey. A panel of experts will discuss the survey results and Americans’ views on a variety of political issues.
MSNBC Host and Author Joy-Ann Reid Responds to Trump’s Tweet About Her, Talks Trump-Ukraine Whistleblower Scandal and Book Signing Event
MSNBC host Joy-Ann Reid reacts to President Donald Trump's tweet attacking her (but spelling her name right) as she prepares for a book signing in Los Angeles... Watch here: https://ktla.com/2019/09/24/msnbc-host-and-author-joy-ann-reid-responds-to-trumps-tweet-about-her-talks-trump-ukraine-whistleblower-scandal-and-book-signing-event/
Trump Sneers About MSNBC Host and His Harsh Critic: ‘Who the Hell Is Joy-Ann Reid?’ (The Wrap)
‘Who the Hell Is Joy-Ann Reid???’: Trump’s Supposed Ignorance Leads to Barrage of Responses from Folks More Than Ready to Answer (Atlanta BlackStar)
VIDEO: Joy-Ann Reid Breaks Downs How Donald Trump Became 'The Man Who Sold America'
"Everything about him was a con, and we're still being conned."
In her new book, Joy-Ann Reid explains how Trump scammed his way into the White House and why the U.S. might be paying for that decision for years to come. (Interview with Terrell J. Starr of The Root)
Watch here.
Essence: Joy-Ann Reid, Richard Lawson, Yesha Callahan, and Dr. Walter Kimbrough took to the Essence Fest Power Stage to Discuss Ways Black Children Can Get Ahead.
In the United States, predominantly white school districts receive $23 billion more in funding than non-white schools, according to an EdBuild report. That financial disparity contributes greatly to the nation’s economic divide, leaving the Black community in search of educational opportunities that will help youth better compete with their White counterparts.
On Friday, actor Richard Lawson, MSNBC host Joy-Ann Reid and Dillard University’s Dr. Walter Kimbrough joined ESSENCE News and Politics Director, Yesha Callahan on stage at Essence Festival to discuss the disparities in more detail. Not surprising, HBCUs and community colleges were named as a possible way forward for the Black community.
“The reality is that if you looked at the amount of money that Black people pour into this system we would be the 15th largest country in the world. So that tells us that we have a buying power,” Lawson said of the economic wealth in Black communities. “So hopefully in some way, if there is some kind of think tank, some kind of group of educators and then venture capitalists who can direct the money that we make and power that we have towards Black children, a great difference can be made.”
For many Black students, wealth is a determining factor for attending an institution of higher learning. It’s why Joy-Ann Reid says that college can be “a complicated issue.” Though a four-year institution helps Black graduates get ahead in the workforce, student loans after a 12-year period prove that it can also contribute to our overall wealth. Kimbrough noted that White men pay off 44 percent of their college loan within the first 12 years of graduating. In that time, Black women’s loans have increased by 13 percent.
New York Times: New & Noteworthy, From R. Kelly to White House Corruption
DEEP RIVER, by Karl Marlantes. (Grove, $30.) Marlantes, best known for the immersive Vietnam War novel “Matterhorn,” here offers a historical family epic about Finnish brothers working as loggers in the Pacific Northwest and their labor organizer sister.
SLIME: How Algae Created Us, Plague Us, and Just Might Save Us, by Ruth Kassinger. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $26.) Algae are among the earth’s oldest life-forms, pervasive in everything from pond scum to crude oil. Kassinger explains their history and biology, and makes a persuasive case for their future importance.
THE MAN WHO SOLD AMERICA: Trump and the Unraveling of the American Story, by Joy-Ann Reid. (Morrow/HarperCollins, $27.99.) The political analyst and host of “AM Joy” on MSNBC argues that President Trump’s administration is characterized by grift and venality that demeans the office and diminishes America.
SOULLESS: The Case Against R. Kelly, by Jim DeRogatis. (Abrams, $26.) DeRogatis, a noted music journalist, broke the first stories accusing the R&B star R. Kelly of sexual abuse — two decades ago. This book tracks the case and asks why the culture was so slow to catch up.
NBCNews.com: Joy goes one-on-one with director Rob Reiner on Trump, Barr
Joy goes one-on-one with
MSNBC.com: How history will regard Cohen’s testimony on Trump
Donald Trump was lambasted by the president’s former attorney and fixer Michael Cohen in congressional testimony this past week, during which Cohen called Trump a racist and conman. Joy Reid is joined by historian Michael Beschloss to discuss. Read more
Contemptor.com: Filling In for Maddow, MSNBC's Joy Reid Leads All Cable in Total Viewership Friday Night
MSNBC was back on top in primetime Friday night, leading cable news in both total viewership and the key 25-54 demographic. With star Rachel Maddow taking the night off, Joy Reid filled in as guest host for The Rachel Maddow Show and turned in the most-watched cable program of the evening.
According to Nielsen, MSNBC averaged 2.553 million total viewers and 415,000 in the demo during the 8 PM to 11 PM primetime hours Friday night. Fox News placed second in both metrics, drawing 2.193 million viewers overall and 364,000 in the demographic. CNN captured a demo audience of 331,000 and 1.266 million total viewers.
BlackEnterprise.com: Joy Reid Is Taking MSNBC's TV Viewership To New Heights.
As a political analyst, author, and host, Joy Reid is known for asking the questions others shy away from and pushing people to tell the truth despite what side of the political spectrum they’re on. The Harvard graduate began her career in radio at Radio One and later transitioned into digital reporting for local and national outlets such as The Grio and the Miami Herald. In short, Reid is a Woman of Power.
And now, thanks to Reid and her team, in 2018, AM Joy scored their third straight year of growth on weekends. And the show became the No. 1 show in African American total viewers across all cable during the time period of Jan. 1 – Dec. 30, 2018.
Elle.com: Joy Reid Is Quietly, Steadily, Stealthily Changing the Game for Women on TV
A weekend-morning MSNBC show, lodged firmly in the posthangover, prebrunch hours, wouldn’t ordinarily be the stuff of trending topics. But the rules have changed since November 8, 2016. Now Reid’s show, AM Joy, regularly pulls in viewers, and 2017 marks the first time in 16 years that MSNBC beat out CNN in the Saturday-morning time slot. Twitter swells with real-time reactions from #Reiders, especially when Reid schools a guest in her trademark patient, no-nonsense fashion. (After Shonda Rhimes retweeted a clip of Reid calmly demolishing a guest who was spouting Clinton Foundation conspiracy theories—appending the comment “Just in case you’re wondering how to dismiss foolishness”—Reid confesses, “I died. Oh, I died!”) Given the cacophony of cable news, where the loudest panelist often wins, Reid’s approach has few antecedents on the right or the left, but perhaps that’s why she has so many newly minted fans: In a sensationalist climate, she refuses to let facts wriggle out of her grasp.Read more here.
Women's Wear Daily: At Work: MSNBC Host Joy Reid on Sprucing Up Her Look for TV
“When I first started as a contributor for MSNBC I was dressing casually,” explains the “AM Joy” host from her 30 Rockefeller Plaza office in New York. “My concept of dressing for TV meant putting on a blazer.”When Reid eventually launched her first show “The Reid Report” in 2014, NBC executives offered her help from stylist Mario Martinez, who gave the Harvard alum a style makeover. “I used to wear a lot of black, but the big change he helped me make is that I can wear color,” she explains. “That was a big discovery. Now I love to wear a lot of color and it doesn’t have to be about just a blazer. I can dress up in a cool, interesting, feminine way.” Read more here
Joy Reid to receive Women's Media Center Journalism award
The Women's Media Center is proud to announce our host and honorees for the 2016 Women's Media Awards, to be held on September 29, 2016, at Capitale in New York City.The event will be hosted for the first time by Sally Field, the two-time Academy Award-winning and multiple Emmy-winning star of "Hello, My Name is Doris," who will be returning to Broadway in March 2017 starring as Amanda in Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie." Gayle King, co-anchor of "CBS This Morning" and three-time Emmy winner, will give the opening remarks at the awards.The honorees will be:Samantha Bee, host of TBS' "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee"; longtime correspondent on "The Daily Show"; co-creator of the upcoming sitcom "The Detour"; and author, who will receive the Women's Media Center History Making Award.Salma Hayek Pinault, Academy Award, Golden Globe, SAG, and BAFTA nominated actor; Emmy-winning director; award-winning producer; co-founder of CHIME FOR CHANGE; and activist, who will receive the Women's Media Center Sisterhood is Global Award.Joy Reid, political analyst for MSNBC; host of "AM Joy"; and author, who will receive the Women's Media Center Carol Jenkins Visible and Powerful Media Award.Read more here.
My latest at The Daily Beast: Hillary Clinton - Our Modern-Day Lady Macbeth
And check out all of my Daily Beast columns here.
TNR photo/essay: Black Republicans at the RNC
To say that Donald Trump enjoys wide support among black voters, even those in his own party, would be an overstatement of truly Trumpian proportions. An estimated 18 black delegates attended the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this year—less than one percent of all RNC delegates, and only a third of the number who turned out to support Mitt Romney in 2012. Even among wealthy white scions, it seems, Trump has a race problem.The black delegates who showed up at the convention are acutely aware of their isolation, from both their own communities and their fellow Republicans. “I’m a unicorn,” laughs Henry Childs II, head of the Texas Federation of African American Republicans. Supporting the GOP, he says, has made him “the most hated man in America”—unappreciated by Republicans and held in suspicion by Democrats.So why do it? What drives these men and women to back a candidate who delights in playing the racial provocateur, who has campaigned with a rollicking mix of barking xenophobia and unabashed nativism surpassed only by George Wallace?Read and view the full piece here.