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Books by and about 2020 presidential candidates
Crippled America,
by Donald J. Trump (2015)
Fire and Fury,
by Michael Wolff (2018)
Trump Revealed,
by Michael Kranish and Marc Fisher (2016)
The Making of Donald Trump,
by David Cay Johnston (2016)
Promise Me, Dad ,
by Joe Biden (2017)
The Book of Joe ,
by Jeff Wilser (2019; biography of Joe Biden)
The Truths We Hold,
by Kamala Harris (2019)
Smart on Crime,
by Kamala Harris (2010)
Guide to Political Revolution,
by Bernie Sanders (2017)
Where We Go From Here,
by Bernie Sanders (2018)
Our Revolution,
by Bernie Sanders (2016)
This Fight Is Our Fight,
by Elizabeth Warren (2017)
United,
by Cory Booker (2016)
Conscience of a Conservative,
by Jeff Flake (2017)
Two Paths,
by Gov. John Kasich (2017)
Every Other Monday,
by Rep. John Kasich (2010)
Courage is Contagious,
by John Kasich (1998)
Shortest Way Home,
by Pete Buttigieg (2019)
Becoming,
by Michelle Obama (2018)
Higher Loyalty,
by James Comey (2018)
The Making of Donald Trump,
by David Cay Johnston (2017)
Trump vs. Hillary On The Issues ,
by Jesse Gordon (2016)
Outsider in the White House,
by Bernie Sanders (2015)

Book Reviews

(from Amazon.com)

(click a book cover for a review or other books by or about the presidency from Amazon.com)

Healing America
How a Simple Practice Can Help Us Recapture the American Spirit

by Rep. Tim Ryan



(Click for Amazon book review)

Click here for 1 full quotes from Robert Reich in the book Healing America. Click here for 10 full quotes from Tim Ryan in the book Healing America.
OR click on an issue category below for a subset.

BOOK REVIEW by OnTheIssues.org:

Most fans of the Democratic presidential primary are aware that Marianne Williamson is a self-help author who qualified for the June and July debates. But there is ANOTHER self-help author who has also been in both debates -- Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan. This is his self-help book.

Ryan's book "Healing America" was originally titled "A Mindful Nation" when it was first written in 2012. Ryan revised and retitled the book in 2018 in preparation for the presidential race. Both versions are about "mindfulness," which means practicing mental discipline and intentional attentiveness. Ryan claims that "mindfulness practice" can improve our education system, our family life, our workplace stress, and just about everything else.

Ryan's describes the "peaceful revolution" like this: "Mindfulness is about finding ways to slow down and pay attention to the present moment" (Introduction, p. xxv). Ryan says he "wrote this book to promote the values of slowing down, taking care of ourselves, being kind, and helping each other" (p. xxvi). Ryan wrote this book while he was a member of Congress, so he makes political connections to mindfulness (which is what we excerpt), but the book is mostly about spreading the word about mindfulness practice.

The Table of Contents (p. ix) makes clear how Rep. Ryan connects his proselytization of mindfulness to politics:

  • Chapter 4: How Mindfulness Can Increase Our Children's Attention and Kindness
  • Chapter 5: How Mindfulness Can Improve Our Health and Our Health-Care System
  • Chapter 6: How Mindfulness Can Improve Performance and Build Resiliency for Our Military and First Responders
  • Chapter 7: How Mindfulness Can Help Us Rediscover Our Values and Reshape Our Economy
  • Chapter 8: How Mindfulness Can Help Us Help Ourselves and Our Country
Each chapter ends with a list of "What You Can Do." For example, at the end of the Health Care chapter, there's a list of how one might inform one's doctor about mindfulness, or write one's representatives about including mindfulness in healthcare, or ask one's employer to include mindfulness in the company insurance plan (p. 109). Every chapter has an analogous "What You Can Do" list applied to the topic of the chapter -- always about spreading the word about mindfulness.

Bottom line: Representative Tim Ryan cares about mindfulness. If you want to understand him as a candidate, this book is important to Ryan's character and to his life. Ryan has not raised the "mindfulness" issue in the presidential debates (nor much in his campaign at all). But we suspect if voters listen carefully in the autumn debates, which will allow more time for each candidate, they'll hear echoes of this book in Ryan's statements. We'll be listening!

-- Jesse Gordon, Aug. 2019

 OnTheIssues.org excerpts:  (click on issues for details)
Corporations
    1960S: CEOs earned 48X employees; now it's 325X.
    Families are underwater while global banks receive a bailout.
Crime
    No kid should worry his brother might be killed in school.
Drugs
    Mindfulness-based programs to prevent relapses.
Education
    Mindfulness reduces teacher burnout.
Energy & Oil
    We burned oil in 100 years that took a billion years to form.
Families & Children
    Mindfulness lets kids concentrate on regulating emotions.
Health Care
    Prevention makes us healthier at low cost.
Homeland Security
    Give our troops everything they need, including after return.
Principles & Values
    Mindfulness practices bring down our stress & anxiety levels.
Technology
    High-speed rail creates jobs in the new energy economy.


The above quotations are from Healing America
How a Simple Practice Can Help Us Recapture the American Spirit

by Rep. Tim Ryan
.

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Page last edited: Jan 03, 2020