The Reckoning

 

I gave Mary Trump's latest, The Reckoning, only 3 stars on goodreads, but that's mostly because it wasn't the book I was hoping to read. I was looking forward to reading a guide on how to go about healing from all that we've dealt with the past however many years. It wasn't that. She talks about the trauma that COVID and her uncle's presidency added to many of us. But she doesn't tell us how to move forward.

Mary Trump does an excellent job outlining the traumas we have faced as a nation since our inception. Actually, it goes back even further than that. Back to us stealing our land from those who were here before us.

Our country has a less than glorious past. We as Americans, collectively, have considered our nation a great one. Our past, however, has so much that is not great. Events and believes that should bring us pause. That's what Trump's book guides readers through. I guess that's the reckoning. To acknowledge what has happened before, to make actual amends, rather than simply focusing on trying to move forward with blinders on.

One thing that I did while reading was look back on my 11 years of teaching fifth grade social studies. For 10 of those years, I covered Westward Expansion, the Civil War, and then Social Justice - as opposed to the Civil Rights Movement or social injustice. I was thankful for the freedom that I had while teaching those topics. I didn't try to indoctrinate students into holding my view. I encouraged questioning and analysis so my students could come to their own conclusions. It sounds like so much of what I covered - and how I covered it - would be off-limits right now. That made me incredibly sad. And grateful, in a sad way, that I'm no longer in the classroom.

Mary Trump is incredibly smart with an excellent way with language. This was an excellent history book and one that I would encourage anyone to read.