The Secret Lives of Citizens: Pursuing the Promise of American Life

I don't generally read political science or current events, but from the first sentence, I couldn't put this down. There are so many studies about why Americans choose to vote: This is the first book I've come across that explains it from the point of view of the citizen/voter. Even if Geoghegan isn't your average voter, he has talked to all sorts of citizens, in church, at Union meetings, at Harvard, in the ghetto, in bars (especially in bars) about the experience of being a citizen, trying to help, or trying to get help, from government. He writes with a particularly American voice that combines zeal with doubt, ambivalence with pig-headedness, and an ability to dream with total honesty. Geoghegan--who's book, "How to be for Labor When its Flat on its Back" is also great--has an amazing ear for voices, so this book is fall-off-your-chair funny in places, and devastating in others. It taught me a great deal about government--how it works, or doesn't work--and why I should care. Anyone with a sense of humor who cares about whether local politics are still functioning should enjoy reading this.

This book presents the author's evolution through government work and civic activism. It also presents a neat, personalized history of recent progressive politics. This mix of memoir and history has been criticized by some book reviews, but actually contributes to the effectiveness of the book. One can forgive the occasional self-absorption because the book has many useful insights and the author offers himself up as an example of someone who has the uncomfortable thoughts that bedevil many "progressives". A good read for people who are liberals, but not idiots.

Mr. Geoghegan has once again proved he is the spiritual heir of Bob LaFollette, FDR and the Great Society. His penetrating yet personal account of his struggle to understand the neo-conservative/post-liberal/deconstructionist world is moving, exhilirating and sad. He squirms at the notions of modern solutions to poverty, incarceration and civil action not by going throug the usual verbal hand-wringing, but by seeing for himself how the system is failing so many. This is a contemporary version of Orwell's "Down and Out in Paris and London," only set in Chicago and rooted in a troubling look at social justice. If you have any interest in the future of your role as a citizen and person of conscience, read this book.