The Age Of Grievance by Frank Bruni

THE AGE OF GRIEVANCE by Frank Bruni is a new work of non-fiction which covers politics and of which his publisher says, “there’s a potentially devastating erosion of the civility, common ground, and compromise necessary for our democracy to survive. How did we get here?” Bruni points to numerous examples, some all the more relevant with the number of arrests in recent days on college campuses.  He does offer “The Antidote,” as his final chapter is titled: there, he describes humility, humility from political leaders, from journalists, from activists, and from ourselves.  Unfortunately, his text seems rather biased, condescending, even a bit whiny - all the things that he is urging readers to avoid. For example, he writes, “Not all grievances are created equal. … There is January 6, 2021, and there is everything else. Attempts by leaders on the right to minimize what happened that day and lump it together with protests on the left are as ludicrous as they are dangerous.” Despite the legitimacy of his point, it does not seem consistent with attempts to foster dialogue and toleration. Have a look and decide for yourself, but also spend some time with texts like The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee - a much more positive take on how we can come together. Bruni himself also provides an excellent list of roughly three dozen titles for “further reading.”