Joe Biden: The Life, the Run, and What Matters Now

Joe Biden: The Life, the Run, and What Matters Now is a page turner, I finished it in 2 nights. It's a quick read because it is extremely well-written and because Joe Biden is such a compelling figure. I laughed out loud in parts, and I sobbed like a baby in others. Evan Osnos captures the real Joe Biden, flaws and all. I learned a lot in this book. I really got to know who Joe Biden is by reading this book, and I feel relieved that we will once again have a President who has compassion, competence and humility. Now that he's our President-elect, I think everyone should read it. You'll get a fair and balanced view of Joe and his family in this book. I am going to be giving it out as gifts to my best friend and my mom for Christmas. If you have friends who are interested in politics, then this would make a great holiday gift. My mom sent out over 100,000 texts for Biden, and I know she will love reading this book. If you worked for change in this election, put this book on your list. If you have a family member who is worried about a Biden presidency, give them this book to set their heart at ease. Some biographies are dry, but not this one. Evan Osnos paints a picture of Biden's life that's vivid, balanced and entertaining.

"It didn't start with Trump," Joe Biden said to author Evan Osnos, winner of the National Book Award in 2014. "I'm not even sure he understands it." What Biden was talking about was Trump's four-year assault on American democracy, a textbook case of how authoritarians dismantle free states from within, with the help of establishment politicians who fear the political tides have turned, irrevocably, against them. "I thought, Holy God, this guy is going to be so much worse than I thought he was going to be," Biden told Osnos, after watching Trump's first two years, time the Republican spent dividing Americans against each other, pulling the country out of trade and military pacts that expanded America's global interest, and turning the GOP into a big government, nationalist party that rejected traditional conservative values and replaced them with obedience to a man seemingly intent upon dismantling the system of checks and balances that kept the nation from descending into authoritarianism. To Biden, the choice to enter the race was made by Trump himself and the threat he posed to America's very political character. "In ways that nobody could have predicted, the 2020 campaign was shaping up as a referendum not only on Trump's moral fitness, but on the architecture of American power - a system that Biden had helped develop and refine over half a century in public life. As the race entered its final months, the narrow goal of replacing Trump no longer sufficed. Biden was awakening to the full scale of an emergency even larger than he had imagined." That emergency was, of course, what motivated more voters in American history to put Joe Biden in the White House, to end the years of darkness and threat brought about by Trump's ugly vision, of the nation beset by hidden enemies within and relentless and duplicitous ones without. "People say to me, 'Well, what are you going to do if you get elected?'" Biden said in the book. "It depends on what the hell I'm left with," he relied. "Not a joke. I'm not being a wise guy. Things could get a lot worse," Biden said. A concise and interesting read that shows America the true character and nature of the man inheriting the White House from Donald Trump, "Joe Biden: The Life, the Run, and What Matters Now," is an excellent introduction to what, hopefully, will be four years of American recovery and healing.

A priest is being summoned to deliver Joe Biden his late rites. This is how the book begins. If you would have told me I’d be reading a non-fiction book about a politician a year ago, I would have said you were crazy. This year has me gobbling up every non-fiction book I can get my hands on… and this is one I’m glad I got my hands on. Back in 2008 when Obama announced who would be his vice president, I was like umm.. who is THIS guy?! For someone who has had such a long political career, I had never even heard of him. Well, I think it’s safe to say, we have all heard of Joe Biden by now. It’s not a gushing portrayal of a perfect man. It’s a comprehensive look at a man who is flawed, who has suffered tremendous loss, who is fiercely loyal to family and friends, and who has had just as many successes as he has had failures. This book is perfect for people who aren’t big on heavy, wordy, snoozy non-fiction. However it is still a concise and thorough portrait of a fascinating life. It reads fast, and is easily digestible, but never skimps on the facts and details. If you want to really get to know our President-elect, what he has done throughout his career in politics, and also just WHO this man is… read this book. It’s extremely well-researched but also very entertaining. Definitely a must read.