On Who is Government? The Untold Story of Public Service by Michael Lewis
by Tara Shaw<\/p>\n
Hi, I\u2019m Tara Shaw from Minneapolis\u2014though I grew up in Kansas and have been a longtime HPPR listener.<\/p>\n
My summer reading recommendation is Who Is Government? by Michael Lewis\u2014and it\u2019s exactly the book we need right now.<\/p>\n
Now, you might be thinking: a book about government bureaucrats for summer reading? Hard pass. But let me make two arguments to change your mind.<\/p>\n
First, the author. You probably know Lewis from books\u2014or the movie versions\u2014of The Big Short, Moneyball, or The Fifth Risk, where he takes complex systems and makes them wildly readable. I\u2019ll read anything this man writes. His timing, topic selection, and storytelling instincts are impeccable.<\/p>\n
Second, this book could not be more timely. At a moment when government programs are being slashed, public servants are being mocked, and institutional trust is fraying, Lewis offers something rare: respect for competence. Not blind faith\u2014just deep attention to the people doing the work.<\/p>\n
The premise of Who is Government? is simple, but in Lewis\u2019s hands, it becomes a rich, moving portrait of commitment, grit, and institutional memory\u2014at a time when all of those are under threat.<\/p>\n
The chapters read like a mosaic. You meet a man overseeing our nuclear early warning system\u2014so humble and competent, I immediately wanted him in charge of everything. Another runs a national military cemetery with such quiet reverence, I genuinely teared up. Lewis assembled a diverse and genius range of authors like Dave Eggers, W. Kamau Bell, and the true American treasure, Sarah Vowell, each bringing their own distinctive voice to their profiles.<\/p>\n
To my surprise, one of my favorite chapters wasn\u2019t about a person, but a metric\u2014the Consumer Price Index. Author John Lanchester manages to make what should be dry economics feel urgent and profound. He tosses in a quote from Carl Sagan that was so prescient, it literally stopped me in my tracks mid-dog walk. I won\u2019t spoil it, but when you read it, you\u2019ll know.<\/p>\n
My favorite chapter, though, is by Casey Cep. She profiles Ronald Walters, who oversees a national military cemetery\u2014not Arlington, but a smaller one near St. Louis. He\u2019s not famous. He doesn\u2019t seek attention. But the reverence and precision with which he tends to every burial, every blade of grass, is staggering. He knows how to fold a flag properly. He knows when to stand still. And he understands that the families arriving aren\u2019t just grieving\u2014they\u2019re carrying legacy. That chapter reminded me that patriotism isn\u2019t loud. Sometimes, it\u2019s just a man in a windbreaker making sure a soldier\u2019s resting place stays immaculate.<\/p>\n
What makes this book powerful is that it doesn\u2019t preach\u2014it shows. It reminds us that government isn\u2019t a meme or a monolith. It\u2019s people. And cutting it down or mocking it\u2014like the Doge-era nihilism that\u2019s so in vogue\u2014isn\u2019t just cynical. It\u2019s dangerous.<\/p>\n
Who Is the Government? is a quietly radical book. It argues that good government is a public good worth defending. And believing in it\u2014and the people inside it\u2014isn\u2019t naive. It\u2019s necessary.<\/p>\n
This book was surprisingly moving and uplifting. It gave me so much hope in a time when hope feels scarce. I hope it does the same for you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Who is Government? The Untold Story of Public Service by Michael Lewisby Tara Shaw Hi, I\u2019m Tara…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3938],"tags":[3444,77,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-250505","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114822815783788908","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}