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An American Dreamer: Life in a Divided Country
An immersive account of a man navigating the startling changes underway in contemporary America, from the Pulitzer Prize and MacArthur Award–winning author of The Good Soldiers and Thank You for Your Service
“Finkel’s account is poetic, profound, and irresistibly page-turning.”—Geraldine Brooks, author of Horse
Brent Cummings, an Iraq war veteran, has come home feeling he survived one war only to find himself in the midst of another one. The country he loves and defended for twenty-eight years seems to be unraveling in front of his eyes. Raised to believe in a vision of America that values fairness, honesty, and respect for others, Cummings is increasingly engulfed by the fear and anger sweeping through his beloved country as he tries to hold on to hope for America’s future.
David Finkel, known for his unique, in-depth reporting, spent fourteen years immersed in Brent Cummings’s world to create this intimate, acutely observed, and beautifully written portrait of a man’s life, thoughts, and feelings as America becomes ever more divided. Cummings was one of the unforgettable figures in Finkel’s The Good Soldiers , a book about which The New York Times stated, “Finkel has made art out of a defining moment in history. You will be able to take this book down from the shelf years from now and This is what happened. This is what it felt like .”
In An American Dreamer, Finkel chronicles the everyday experiences of people, through moments of hope and despair, illuminating the struggles of many Americans today in a deeply fractured country at a time of crisis.
“Finkel’s account is poetic, profound, and irresistibly page-turning.”—Geraldine Brooks, author of Horse
Brent Cummings, an Iraq war veteran, has come home feeling he survived one war only to find himself in the midst of another one. The country he loves and defended for twenty-eight years seems to be unraveling in front of his eyes. Raised to believe in a vision of America that values fairness, honesty, and respect for others, Cummings is increasingly engulfed by the fear and anger sweeping through his beloved country as he tries to hold on to hope for America’s future.
David Finkel, known for his unique, in-depth reporting, spent fourteen years immersed in Brent Cummings’s world to create this intimate, acutely observed, and beautifully written portrait of a man’s life, thoughts, and feelings as America becomes ever more divided. Cummings was one of the unforgettable figures in Finkel’s The Good Soldiers , a book about which The New York Times stated, “Finkel has made art out of a defining moment in history. You will be able to take this book down from the shelf years from now and This is what happened. This is what it felt like .”
In An American Dreamer, Finkel chronicles the everyday experiences of people, through moments of hope and despair, illuminating the struggles of many Americans today in a deeply fractured country at a time of crisis.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published February 13, 2024
65 people are currently reading
2124 people want to read
About the author
David Finkel
19 books161 followersDavid Finkel is a staff writer for The Washington Post, and is also the leader of the Post’s national reporting team. He won the Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting in 2006 for a series of stories about U.S.-funded democracy efforts in Yemen. Finkel lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, with his wife and two daughters. Email him at davidfinkel@thegoodsoldiers.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
October 8, 2023
**I received an advance copy from Penguin Random House through Net Galley**
Books that purport to speak on life in a divided country should have something to say. An American Dreamer, written by a Pulitzer Prize winner and MacArthur genius, obstinately sits on the fence and refuses to make any insightful or compelling points. I find it particularly insidious when writers from major media institutions attempt American empire apologia, especially when they make their cases via the "Average Joe."
This book follows the rather dull life of Brent Cummings, a retired Army veteran with two key professional details: he served in Iraq during the height of the surge and worked in Jerusalem helping their apartheid regime train Palestinian Authority security forces in the West Bank. His experiences working in the military are revisited during periodic flashbacks. We get glimpses into his wife Laura's life as well, particularly as she assists an ailing mother and their mentally-disabled daughter Meredith. These brief portions of the book are treated as after-thoughts and limit our understanding of Laura.
Great pains are taken to paint the couple as regular, not-racist, middle-class white Americans. The couple, separately, encounter casually racist people (a repairman talking about Indians when discussing an off-kilter oven, a grocery store employee emphasizing the "white" in white American cheese while an Asian woman is in earshot.) Brent and Laura react in ways that indicate their discomfort with these microaggressions.
More notably, Brent teaches military science at the University of North Georgia and manages hundreds of ROTC students, primarily when they transgress. The beginning of the book mostly focuses on his job as he handles two separate incidents; one involves Dante, a Black cadet who took an unflattering picture of an army major in a public bathroom, and the other involves Jesse, a white cadet, who crashed his truck in a drunk driving incident, miraculously avoiding serious injury to himself and his girlfriend despite the truck flipping multiple times. Dante was at risk of being kicked out of the ROTC program and never being allowed to join the army. Jesse was likely to have the drunk driving charge reduced to reckless driving due to how polite and respectful he was to the responding officer. By the end of their separate sagas, Jesse, without actually knowing him, puts his arm around and comforts a crying Dante who believes his hope of being allowed into the military is quashed, as all the other passing cadets had just received their paperwork and went through their respective ceremonies. (At the 11th hour, Dante receives his contracting paperwork to enter the army.)
Throughout this entire ordeal, Brent clearly feels badly for Dante and wants to see him succeed. He recognizes that Dante is being treated differently because he is Black. The decision, ultimately, is not up to Brent. In Jesse, he sees a younger version of himself, identifying with his "knucklehead" behavior. Also present, however, is the added issue of the young man running a rifle club on campus whose insignia is a direct homage to the Confederate flag. Brent seeks to eliminate the use of their insignia on campus but ultimately fails at getting it completely removed from rifle club activities.
The reason why this book is such insidious propaganda is because the embrace between Dante and Jesse aims to assure us, the audience, that if these two young men of such different stock can get along, then this country can bridge its major divides. This ignores the fact that Jesse does not actually know Dante, and Dante does not know the man embracing him proudly wears a Confederate insignia on his uniform. In this moment, however, they are "brothers.”
Brent's time in Jerusalem provides more cover for noncommittal centrism by detailing his interactions with Tamara, a Palestinian woman co-worker who he drives to and from work --although not all of the way home, however, as oppressive security checkpoints prevent her from being dropped off at home by car. He also interacts with Rinat, an Israeli woman who shares concerns about neighborhood reports of rocks coming over the wall from the neighboring Palestinian village. Both women share with Brent that they feel hated because of their identities. The security wall separating Jerusalem and the West Bank gets he-said/she-said descriptors: Israel says it's necessary for security after the Second Intifada. Palestinians call it "a wall of segregation, of annexation, of apartheid." This entire chapter legitimizes colonization and imperialism while painting this as a conflict between two mutually-oppressed sides. Brent fears that, despite the cultural differences between living in Jerusalem and America, this division will come to the United States next. It is treated as a stunning revelation, as opposed to the half-baked understanding of a bureaucrat to empire.
The rest of the book finds Brent navigating the Trump years, as he and Laura are horrified by the results of the 2016 election and the subsequent months and years. Much space — too much space — is afforded to reprinting Trump's tweets. Brent's disgust with the man reflects the beliefs of many others — his nattering about the border wall, mocking the disabled and veterans who were captured —-and his stance finds himself on the opposing side of his neighbor, Michael, a disabled white man suffering from quadriplegia, who, as the book progresses, pledges an increasing fealty to Trump after casting an "anti-Hillary" vote in 2016. Brent and Mike go from having friendly neighborly chats to a major argument that causes a rift that is never fully healed.
Michael's perspective is another primary point-of-view we get in the book. A self-identified "far right conservative" who owns numerous guns, Michael's story mostly revolves around navigating the world as a disabled person and his relationship with his wife Ann, who was his nurse after the accident that led to his paralysis. His belief that the Democratic Party and Marxists are overtaking the country and ruining everything it stands for, falls neatly within today’s mainstream conservative orthodoxy. Michael's inclusion in the book is to make Brent look better. Brent has voted Republican his entire life but even he can understand the plight of a Black person (if that person is attempting to join the military) and that the rule of law is sacrosanct. Brent understands the severity of the coronavirus and although his wife expresses some trepidation that the George Floyd uprisings will spill over into their quiet suburb, they never at any point express disgust or hatred for the protesters. Michael begrudgingly wears a mask to vote because he doesn’t want to get kicked out of the poll site. MAGA conservatives would likely balk at this book and never finish it because of how much it criticizes Trump. This framing also accomplishes the task of painting Trump as a mistake, a hiccup in an otherwise long line of Constitution-respecting presidents.
The book culminates in the 2020 election and the January 2021 insurrection with Brent's PTSD-prompted night terrors now occurring in the daytime as he is overcome with panic once he leaves a shooting range. For a book that has "life in a divided country" in its title, it is shockingly shallow in its coverage of Americans' varied reactions to the George Floyd uprisings and the COVID-19 pandemic, two events that revealed the yawning chasms in American life. Brent's work with the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange program gives us the closest glimpse into the Floyd protests. The less said about this passage, where Brent defensively writes a letter in support of his organization's work training police in Israel and the States, the better. A petition circulates to terminate GILEE's contract with the university and a protest is held, on the grounds that they are assisting Palestinian apartheid and stamping out civil rights both at home and abroad. Brent sees the petition as a direct attack on himself and an accusation of racism.
I was left empty by book's end. I do not know what it is looking to accomplish. Myriad articles and cable news segments have been devoted to gauging the opinion of everymen in American diners over the years. Cutting insights are never gleaned from such pieces, yet the media keeps pumping them out. This book is an extra-long version of those segments. You can fool yourself into thinking you're reading fiction at times, as Finkel's prose does generally keep things moving, but this is unfortunately the only positive thing I can say about it. The pursuit of objectivity often comes at the expense of historical accuracy and a cogent analysis of power. We should always question why certain stories are chosen to be told and platformed by major publishers, particularly when the subjects are so unremarkable.
Books that purport to speak on life in a divided country should have something to say. An American Dreamer, written by a Pulitzer Prize winner and MacArthur genius, obstinately sits on the fence and refuses to make any insightful or compelling points. I find it particularly insidious when writers from major media institutions attempt American empire apologia, especially when they make their cases via the "Average Joe."
This book follows the rather dull life of Brent Cummings, a retired Army veteran with two key professional details: he served in Iraq during the height of the surge and worked in Jerusalem helping their apartheid regime train Palestinian Authority security forces in the West Bank. His experiences working in the military are revisited during periodic flashbacks. We get glimpses into his wife Laura's life as well, particularly as she assists an ailing mother and their mentally-disabled daughter Meredith. These brief portions of the book are treated as after-thoughts and limit our understanding of Laura.
Great pains are taken to paint the couple as regular, not-racist, middle-class white Americans. The couple, separately, encounter casually racist people (a repairman talking about Indians when discussing an off-kilter oven, a grocery store employee emphasizing the "white" in white American cheese while an Asian woman is in earshot.) Brent and Laura react in ways that indicate their discomfort with these microaggressions.
More notably, Brent teaches military science at the University of North Georgia and manages hundreds of ROTC students, primarily when they transgress. The beginning of the book mostly focuses on his job as he handles two separate incidents; one involves Dante, a Black cadet who took an unflattering picture of an army major in a public bathroom, and the other involves Jesse, a white cadet, who crashed his truck in a drunk driving incident, miraculously avoiding serious injury to himself and his girlfriend despite the truck flipping multiple times. Dante was at risk of being kicked out of the ROTC program and never being allowed to join the army. Jesse was likely to have the drunk driving charge reduced to reckless driving due to how polite and respectful he was to the responding officer. By the end of their separate sagas, Jesse, without actually knowing him, puts his arm around and comforts a crying Dante who believes his hope of being allowed into the military is quashed, as all the other passing cadets had just received their paperwork and went through their respective ceremonies. (At the 11th hour, Dante receives his contracting paperwork to enter the army.)
Throughout this entire ordeal, Brent clearly feels badly for Dante and wants to see him succeed. He recognizes that Dante is being treated differently because he is Black. The decision, ultimately, is not up to Brent. In Jesse, he sees a younger version of himself, identifying with his "knucklehead" behavior. Also present, however, is the added issue of the young man running a rifle club on campus whose insignia is a direct homage to the Confederate flag. Brent seeks to eliminate the use of their insignia on campus but ultimately fails at getting it completely removed from rifle club activities.
The reason why this book is such insidious propaganda is because the embrace between Dante and Jesse aims to assure us, the audience, that if these two young men of such different stock can get along, then this country can bridge its major divides. This ignores the fact that Jesse does not actually know Dante, and Dante does not know the man embracing him proudly wears a Confederate insignia on his uniform. In this moment, however, they are "brothers.”
Brent's time in Jerusalem provides more cover for noncommittal centrism by detailing his interactions with Tamara, a Palestinian woman co-worker who he drives to and from work --although not all of the way home, however, as oppressive security checkpoints prevent her from being dropped off at home by car. He also interacts with Rinat, an Israeli woman who shares concerns about neighborhood reports of rocks coming over the wall from the neighboring Palestinian village. Both women share with Brent that they feel hated because of their identities. The security wall separating Jerusalem and the West Bank gets he-said/she-said descriptors: Israel says it's necessary for security after the Second Intifada. Palestinians call it "a wall of segregation, of annexation, of apartheid." This entire chapter legitimizes colonization and imperialism while painting this as a conflict between two mutually-oppressed sides. Brent fears that, despite the cultural differences between living in Jerusalem and America, this division will come to the United States next. It is treated as a stunning revelation, as opposed to the half-baked understanding of a bureaucrat to empire.
The rest of the book finds Brent navigating the Trump years, as he and Laura are horrified by the results of the 2016 election and the subsequent months and years. Much space — too much space — is afforded to reprinting Trump's tweets. Brent's disgust with the man reflects the beliefs of many others — his nattering about the border wall, mocking the disabled and veterans who were captured —-and his stance finds himself on the opposing side of his neighbor, Michael, a disabled white man suffering from quadriplegia, who, as the book progresses, pledges an increasing fealty to Trump after casting an "anti-Hillary" vote in 2016. Brent and Mike go from having friendly neighborly chats to a major argument that causes a rift that is never fully healed.
Michael's perspective is another primary point-of-view we get in the book. A self-identified "far right conservative" who owns numerous guns, Michael's story mostly revolves around navigating the world as a disabled person and his relationship with his wife Ann, who was his nurse after the accident that led to his paralysis. His belief that the Democratic Party and Marxists are overtaking the country and ruining everything it stands for, falls neatly within today’s mainstream conservative orthodoxy. Michael's inclusion in the book is to make Brent look better. Brent has voted Republican his entire life but even he can understand the plight of a Black person (if that person is attempting to join the military) and that the rule of law is sacrosanct. Brent understands the severity of the coronavirus and although his wife expresses some trepidation that the George Floyd uprisings will spill over into their quiet suburb, they never at any point express disgust or hatred for the protesters. Michael begrudgingly wears a mask to vote because he doesn’t want to get kicked out of the poll site. MAGA conservatives would likely balk at this book and never finish it because of how much it criticizes Trump. This framing also accomplishes the task of painting Trump as a mistake, a hiccup in an otherwise long line of Constitution-respecting presidents.
The book culminates in the 2020 election and the January 2021 insurrection with Brent's PTSD-prompted night terrors now occurring in the daytime as he is overcome with panic once he leaves a shooting range. For a book that has "life in a divided country" in its title, it is shockingly shallow in its coverage of Americans' varied reactions to the George Floyd uprisings and the COVID-19 pandemic, two events that revealed the yawning chasms in American life. Brent's work with the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange program gives us the closest glimpse into the Floyd protests. The less said about this passage, where Brent defensively writes a letter in support of his organization's work training police in Israel and the States, the better. A petition circulates to terminate GILEE's contract with the university and a protest is held, on the grounds that they are assisting Palestinian apartheid and stamping out civil rights both at home and abroad. Brent sees the petition as a direct attack on himself and an accusation of racism.
I was left empty by book's end. I do not know what it is looking to accomplish. Myriad articles and cable news segments have been devoted to gauging the opinion of everymen in American diners over the years. Cutting insights are never gleaned from such pieces, yet the media keeps pumping them out. This book is an extra-long version of those segments. You can fool yourself into thinking you're reading fiction at times, as Finkel's prose does generally keep things moving, but this is unfortunately the only positive thing I can say about it. The pursuit of objectivity often comes at the expense of historical accuracy and a cogent analysis of power. We should always question why certain stories are chosen to be told and platformed by major publishers, particularly when the subjects are so unremarkable.
December 26, 2023
What were their sacrifices for? Was it all so someone could come along a decade later and get elected president and try to divide the United States into a broken country that would produce even more people ruined by war?
from An American Dreamer by David Finkel
Two doors down from us is a young family. We have been friendly with them ever since they moved in. We greet each other and stop to talk. The father plows our sidewalk when it snows and this fall I heard a racket and found him cleaning out our gutters.
In 2016 our political yard signs were not in sync. I worried it would ruin our friendship. I worry that in 2024 if they display Trump signs again, I won’t be able to feel the same way about them.
David Finkel spent years following the life of one man. A soldier with disturbing dreams. a family man and father who could count his blessings. A man who believed in the Constitution and was alarmed by what was happening in America. His neighbor is MAGA, a man with great challenges and a huge gun collection, as was his county and state.
These were his days now, the days of a moral man in the midst of a moment that felt immoral to him, a man who got into bed every night wondering in silence whether this would be another night for the dream.
from An American Dreamer: Life in a Divided Country by David Finkel
Cummings had put his life on the line for his country. He experienced the deaths of comrades at war. Unconcerned about politics, he did his duty. Now, nightmares regularly disturb his sleep. But the America of his ideals has been replaced by a country of hate.
When Finkel began recording the events in the book he had no idea of what was to come or that he would document four years of such important historical and legal importance.
Brent Cummings’ story will resonate with many who has struggled with the impact of America’s deep political division.
Thanks to the publisher for a free book.
from An American Dreamer by David Finkel
Two doors down from us is a young family. We have been friendly with them ever since they moved in. We greet each other and stop to talk. The father plows our sidewalk when it snows and this fall I heard a racket and found him cleaning out our gutters.
In 2016 our political yard signs were not in sync. I worried it would ruin our friendship. I worry that in 2024 if they display Trump signs again, I won’t be able to feel the same way about them.
David Finkel spent years following the life of one man. A soldier with disturbing dreams. a family man and father who could count his blessings. A man who believed in the Constitution and was alarmed by what was happening in America. His neighbor is MAGA, a man with great challenges and a huge gun collection, as was his county and state.
These were his days now, the days of a moral man in the midst of a moment that felt immoral to him, a man who got into bed every night wondering in silence whether this would be another night for the dream.
from An American Dreamer: Life in a Divided Country by David Finkel
Cummings had put his life on the line for his country. He experienced the deaths of comrades at war. Unconcerned about politics, he did his duty. Now, nightmares regularly disturb his sleep. But the America of his ideals has been replaced by a country of hate.
When Finkel began recording the events in the book he had no idea of what was to come or that he would document four years of such important historical and legal importance.
Brent Cummings’ story will resonate with many who has struggled with the impact of America’s deep political division.
Thanks to the publisher for a free book.
October 10, 2023
I read this book as a galley copy from Net Galley and penguin random house. Written by Pulitzer Prize winning Washington Post journalist, this is the story of Brent Cummings an Iraq war veteran living in suburban Georgia - Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene country- before the 2020 election. Every night he has vivid dreams - ptsd nightmares from his time in Iraq- as he settles into civilian life in a time of great division in America. Politically - historically - the American dream is no longer a given or optimistic. This is not a book I’d normally read - but it is gripping and tense. Finkel has a visceral style that grabs you by the throat as he explores all the players in Brent’s life - and the deteriorating political and cultural life in America as seen through its various lenses and characters. There’s Michael the quadriplegic neighbor and hard core Trump supporter and his hard working and cancer fighting wife Ann. There is Brent’s wife Laura who tries to keep afloat while dealing with Brent’s PTSD and autistic daughter Meredith. There’s Brent’s advisees in the local college ROTC program that he oversees. If anything this book is relentingly grim and dark - and real. Though the book does end on a glimmer of hope (a sliver) but purposely poised before the Jan 6 drama. The author obviously does not have a high opinion of Trump who is a catalyst for much of the landscape for Finkels dreamers - but he gives great insight into what pushes and holds his supporters. And what are the issues of his day. I suspect this could be an inflammatory and controversial book when published. Read it at your own risk - but if you do you will - like me - learn a lot and experience a particular bruta view of the current state of affairs in America.
May 28, 2024
3.5 rounded up.
Way way behind in my reviews, so: Brent Cummings, the subject of this book, is an honorable man, a man of principle, integrity, and generosity of spirit, an Iraq war veteran... trying to make his way in a world (ours) that is deeply divided, angry, distrustful, and (it seems) lacking in all those attributes. Finkel spent countless hours with Cummings to learn what he's experienced, what he thinks, what he believes. The result is an intimate portrait of a good man at odds with and shaken by what we've become as a country. Perhaps the best description of the book comes from this brief excerpt: "Cummings had put his life on the line for his country. He experienced the deaths of comrades at war. Unconcerned about politics, he did his duty. Now, nightmares regularly disturb his sleep. But the America of his ideals has been replaced by a country of hate."
I left the book with great admiration for Cummings and his family, wishing there were more people like him in America today. Or at least that more of them would make themselves known.
from An American Dreamer: Life in a Divided Country by David Finkel
Cummings had put his life on the line for his country. He experienced the deaths of comrades at war. Unconcerned about politics, he did his duty. Now, nightmares regularly disturb his sleep. But the America of his ideals has been replaced by a country of hate.
Way way behind in my reviews, so: Brent Cummings, the subject of this book, is an honorable man, a man of principle, integrity, and generosity of spirit, an Iraq war veteran... trying to make his way in a world (ours) that is deeply divided, angry, distrustful, and (it seems) lacking in all those attributes. Finkel spent countless hours with Cummings to learn what he's experienced, what he thinks, what he believes. The result is an intimate portrait of a good man at odds with and shaken by what we've become as a country. Perhaps the best description of the book comes from this brief excerpt: "Cummings had put his life on the line for his country. He experienced the deaths of comrades at war. Unconcerned about politics, he did his duty. Now, nightmares regularly disturb his sleep. But the America of his ideals has been replaced by a country of hate."
I left the book with great admiration for Cummings and his family, wishing there were more people like him in America today. Or at least that more of them would make themselves known.
from An American Dreamer: Life in a Divided Country by David Finkel
Cummings had put his life on the line for his country. He experienced the deaths of comrades at war. Unconcerned about politics, he did his duty. Now, nightmares regularly disturb his sleep. But the America of his ideals has been replaced by a country of hate.
April 10, 2024
Story of two Georgia neighbors, one a retired Army Colonel, and the other a wheelchair-bound quadriplegic. One a diehard Democrat, the other a diehard Republican. Interesting read of two totally different personalities, and how they came to their beliefs. But, so what? It didn't seem to relate to any larger struggle. I really didn't quite get whatever point Finkel was trying to make.
April 10, 2024
First, thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I did enjoy this book. It's a fairly easy read. But based on the description, I had higher hopes for it. As a patriotic American, I have been troubled and puzzled for years over the decisions and behavior of those who support Donald Trump and his minions. I was raised as a Baptist, so I know the teachings of the Bible. I was raised by parents who voted Republican--Goldwater Republicans, so I understand that brand of Conservatism, but this new group? Well, I have no idea what allows their thinking and actions. It seems anti-American to me although they have appropriated the word "Patriotic" so much that I almost didn't use it to describe myself for the current connotations it holds. Sorry, that's a long introduction to explaining my disappointment with this book, but it sits at the root of the problem for me.
I had never read Finkel's other books, so when I first met the soldier, Brent Cummings, I really expected to get a glimpse into why and how someone might be supportive of Trump. Finkel keeps hints of Cumming's leanings out of the early chapters,. It's impossible to tell what side he is on, so when it's revealed that Cummings, too, is puzzled by the support for the far Right, I was taken by surprise.
Then we meet the neighbor, Michael, who is disabled, which might lead one to believe he would resent Trump's belittling and mocking behavior toward the disabled, but he's a rabid supporter of all things Trump. We get a tiny glimpse into his life, but never enough to truly explain his logic in supporting the former President. At one point he falls back on the usual explanations and accusations. Refuting sources of the facts and stating, ""All politicians lie." In 2016, he had voted, not FOR Trump, but against Hillary, which is a whole other story I'd like to understand as well. But now he is a "hard-core conservative."
Bottom line for me is that if you, like me are seeking to understand the Far Right, this book will disappoint you. It's a worthy read, especially if you want to reinforce your own ideas. Cummings is admirable in so many ways! I totally understand him. If a Trump supporter happens to pick up this book, I don't think it will enlighten them about the Democratic ideals. I wish it could, but given the vitriolic climate of our country right now, I think they'd just dismiss it and see Cummings as a "dreamer" and a soft touch. I can practically hear them now, "If that cadet had been white, he'd have been booted out, not given multiple chances."
I did enjoy the book. It was not time wasted. I am glad to have "met" Cummings and his neighbor. I just didn't get the insights I was hoping for. However, I am adding Finkel's book "The Good Soldier" to my TBR list, though in hopes of understanding that war more clearly. I hope he doesn't disappoint me in that one.
I had never read Finkel's other books, so when I first met the soldier, Brent Cummings, I really expected to get a glimpse into why and how someone might be supportive of Trump. Finkel keeps hints of Cumming's leanings out of the early chapters,. It's impossible to tell what side he is on, so when it's revealed that Cummings, too, is puzzled by the support for the far Right, I was taken by surprise.
Then we meet the neighbor, Michael, who is disabled, which might lead one to believe he would resent Trump's belittling and mocking behavior toward the disabled, but he's a rabid supporter of all things Trump. We get a tiny glimpse into his life, but never enough to truly explain his logic in supporting the former President. At one point he falls back on the usual explanations and accusations. Refuting sources of the facts and stating, ""All politicians lie." In 2016, he had voted, not FOR Trump, but against Hillary, which is a whole other story I'd like to understand as well. But now he is a "hard-core conservative."
Bottom line for me is that if you, like me are seeking to understand the Far Right, this book will disappoint you. It's a worthy read, especially if you want to reinforce your own ideas. Cummings is admirable in so many ways! I totally understand him. If a Trump supporter happens to pick up this book, I don't think it will enlighten them about the Democratic ideals. I wish it could, but given the vitriolic climate of our country right now, I think they'd just dismiss it and see Cummings as a "dreamer" and a soft touch. I can practically hear them now, "If that cadet had been white, he'd have been booted out, not given multiple chances."
I did enjoy the book. It was not time wasted. I am glad to have "met" Cummings and his neighbor. I just didn't get the insights I was hoping for. However, I am adding Finkel's book "The Good Soldier" to my TBR list, though in hopes of understanding that war more clearly. I hope he doesn't disappoint me in that one.
March 13, 2024
Este libro se basa en entrevistas realizadas por el autor David Finkel a veteranos del ejército de Estados Unidos y a sus familiares.
La historia intenta mostrar un paralelismo ideológico que ha dividido Estados Unidos en los últimos años. Demócratas vs Republicanos, conservadores vs progresistas, derecha vs izquierda y sobretodo Trump vs Biden. Su moraleja es que a pesar de las diferencias la clave para reconstruir Estados Unidos debería ser que sus ciudadanos luchen por el bien común.
Aunque sea un libro de no ficción me gusta la manera del autor de unir las ideas y que todo fluya de manera natural. La historia se centra en el personaje de Brent Cummings. Un militar que estuvo en Irak y posteriormente en Israel. También conoceremos detalles de su familia. Brent enseña ciencia militar en la universidad y está a cargo de dos hombres, Dante un negro que toma una fotografía obscena de un superior (Teme ser expulsado del programa) y Jesse un blanco que por conducir borracho tiene un accidente grave junto a su novia, aunque finalmente ni él ni, su novia tienen heridas graves.
Se tocan muchos temas actuales como las elecciones, hay constantes flashbacks que confunden un poco la lectura. Otros de los temas que veremos son el racismo, discriminación, la supremacía blanca con elementos como la insignia confederada. Temas más actuales como el Black Live Matters, un movimiento que explotó con el asesinato de George Floyd, o el asalto al capitolio por los seguidores de Trump.
Quizás lo que no me convenció mucho fue el cierre de la historia. Al final por más objetivo que se quiera ser al narrar una historia real, siempre habrá un enfoque muy personal guiado por el propio escritor. A pesar de ser un libro muy corto es un poquito pesado.
La historia intenta mostrar un paralelismo ideológico que ha dividido Estados Unidos en los últimos años. Demócratas vs Republicanos, conservadores vs progresistas, derecha vs izquierda y sobretodo Trump vs Biden. Su moraleja es que a pesar de las diferencias la clave para reconstruir Estados Unidos debería ser que sus ciudadanos luchen por el bien común.
Aunque sea un libro de no ficción me gusta la manera del autor de unir las ideas y que todo fluya de manera natural. La historia se centra en el personaje de Brent Cummings. Un militar que estuvo en Irak y posteriormente en Israel. También conoceremos detalles de su familia. Brent enseña ciencia militar en la universidad y está a cargo de dos hombres, Dante un negro que toma una fotografía obscena de un superior (Teme ser expulsado del programa) y Jesse un blanco que por conducir borracho tiene un accidente grave junto a su novia, aunque finalmente ni él ni, su novia tienen heridas graves.
Se tocan muchos temas actuales como las elecciones, hay constantes flashbacks que confunden un poco la lectura. Otros de los temas que veremos son el racismo, discriminación, la supremacía blanca con elementos como la insignia confederada. Temas más actuales como el Black Live Matters, un movimiento que explotó con el asesinato de George Floyd, o el asalto al capitolio por los seguidores de Trump.
Quizás lo que no me convenció mucho fue el cierre de la historia. Al final por más objetivo que se quiera ser al narrar una historia real, siempre habrá un enfoque muy personal guiado por el propio escritor. A pesar de ser un libro muy corto es un poquito pesado.
August 6, 2024
I've been wanting to get more into our current state of affairs when it comes to how divided we are as a people, and this didn't hit the mark for me. Finkel basically reports on a few families in Georgia and how they either are repulsed by Trump or how and why it's difficult to make it in today's America. There's very little on "life in a divided country" and more "here's how tough it is to make a living in America".
March 13, 2024
Simply outstanding. David Finkel is one of the most beautiful writers I have ever read. This is an inspiring and moving story covering two neighboring families - and two totally different world views - a microcosm of the divide in our country - but done in a way that allows the humanity of both families to shine through. This book gives me hope for our country. Read it. Share it.
August 18, 2024
All along he had been thinking he had left war behind, but as he watched the mob swarming the Capital, it had a occurred to him that he had been naïve. Americans did understand violence, so he had been wrong about that. They were capable of rage, so he had been wrong about that too. And his war wasn’t over. It was just that it was here now not there, and the enemy was no longer them. It was becoming the American next-door.
August 2, 2024
A depressing story about a retired Army colonel and his wife wrestling with Trumpism in Georgia. There seems to be no moral to the story except that America is coming apart at the seams politically and culturally, and there is little we can do about it.
November 26, 2024
A sad look at real people in our badly divided country.
September 15, 2023
In American Dreamer, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Finkel explores the fractured terrain of our country through the eyes of an Iraq war veteran (who also appeared in Finkel's previous work, The Good Soldiers). The author immersed himself in Brett Cunningham's life from 2016 until 2021, ending up with a description of an interconnected group of people with varying political views and life circumstances.
Brett's PTSD and his horrific war experiences color his view of the world after his return. He is disturbed by the fact that he has come home from one fight only to experience another at home, and in his view, it's a fight that seems to be grounded in an enormous amount of privilege. Brett watches conservatives grow more conservative, and talk openly about fighting and violence, while living lives of relative ease compared to people in the Middle East. In one particularly poignant scene in Jerusalem, Brett talks with a Palestinian woman who must cross into Jerusalem at a checkpoint in the "security wall" erected by Israel which runs between Jerusalem and the West Bank. Brett compares this to the wall that Trump wants to build, and notes with sadness the dehumanization that occurs when people are forced to cross from the "wrong" side to the "right." Americans talk so easily about the wall, but when it involves real people in real circumstances, it's very different.
Since 2016, several major news outlets have published extended stories about America's political divide (sometimes derided as "speaking to white men in diners"). This story is different, partially because it follows its subjects over a period of several years and partially because the format allows Finkel to bring in many points of view and circumstances. I couldn't help but think that MAGA Republicans will probably not like this book, because Trump, through Brett's eyes, is not viewed sympathetically. However, I felt that Finkel treated the people and viewpoints in the book fairly and respectfully, I was frustrated that the book was so short; in under 200 pages it was necessary to give short shrift to some of people and circumstances, particularly Brett's family and the cadets under his care when he taught military science. At the end, I was left feeling a little depressed - there was no happy ending because there isn't a happy ending. But at least we can be glad that there are still people who dream.
Brett's PTSD and his horrific war experiences color his view of the world after his return. He is disturbed by the fact that he has come home from one fight only to experience another at home, and in his view, it's a fight that seems to be grounded in an enormous amount of privilege. Brett watches conservatives grow more conservative, and talk openly about fighting and violence, while living lives of relative ease compared to people in the Middle East. In one particularly poignant scene in Jerusalem, Brett talks with a Palestinian woman who must cross into Jerusalem at a checkpoint in the "security wall" erected by Israel which runs between Jerusalem and the West Bank. Brett compares this to the wall that Trump wants to build, and notes with sadness the dehumanization that occurs when people are forced to cross from the "wrong" side to the "right." Americans talk so easily about the wall, but when it involves real people in real circumstances, it's very different.
Since 2016, several major news outlets have published extended stories about America's political divide (sometimes derided as "speaking to white men in diners"). This story is different, partially because it follows its subjects over a period of several years and partially because the format allows Finkel to bring in many points of view and circumstances. I couldn't help but think that MAGA Republicans will probably not like this book, because Trump, through Brett's eyes, is not viewed sympathetically. However, I felt that Finkel treated the people and viewpoints in the book fairly and respectfully, I was frustrated that the book was so short; in under 200 pages it was necessary to give short shrift to some of people and circumstances, particularly Brett's family and the cadets under his care when he taught military science. At the end, I was left feeling a little depressed - there was no happy ending because there isn't a happy ending. But at least we can be glad that there are still people who dream.
October 21, 2023
At the very beginning of the book, the author explains what his book is about: being an American at a time when the country is very divided and, violence and hate seem to be the norm. As such, he follows the lives of an Army officer, Brent, his family, his next door neighbor, Michael, and a few other people whose lives were influenced by Brent. These are real people who allowed the author into their lives fron election day 2016 until election day 2020, although the past is dipped into.
There is no obvious point that Mr. Finkel comes to. The thoughts of a moral, non-racist, freedom loving, country loving, upright man, Brent, are brought to light. So are the thoughts of Michael. One leaning more liberal and the other conservative. Their backgrounds are explored as are their thoughts about their country and why they voted the way they did. It examines their fears about themselves and what direction they feel this country is going.
The book also brings to light something I haven't heard much about from mainstream media, and that is how angry and full of rage our citizens have become. It's everywhere, from protests and raging mobs to the cancel culture that permeates every aspect of our lives. There seems to be less and less respect for others points of view and the anger issue is explored in Brent's thoughts.
This book is not political, doesn't bash anything or anyone, has no point of view. It's just a story of a life or lives, and how their daily living is affected by politics and the bashings taking place in this country. It is extremely well written, a pleasure to read with the characters of the people really shining through. But, it left me feeling melancholy and wondering if and how our country can recover from all the rage and hatred that now seems to be the norm. Well worth reading. #GoodreadsGiveaway
There is no obvious point that Mr. Finkel comes to. The thoughts of a moral, non-racist, freedom loving, country loving, upright man, Brent, are brought to light. So are the thoughts of Michael. One leaning more liberal and the other conservative. Their backgrounds are explored as are their thoughts about their country and why they voted the way they did. It examines their fears about themselves and what direction they feel this country is going.
The book also brings to light something I haven't heard much about from mainstream media, and that is how angry and full of rage our citizens have become. It's everywhere, from protests and raging mobs to the cancel culture that permeates every aspect of our lives. There seems to be less and less respect for others points of view and the anger issue is explored in Brent's thoughts.
This book is not political, doesn't bash anything or anyone, has no point of view. It's just a story of a life or lives, and how their daily living is affected by politics and the bashings taking place in this country. It is extremely well written, a pleasure to read with the characters of the people really shining through. But, it left me feeling melancholy and wondering if and how our country can recover from all the rage and hatred that now seems to be the norm. Well worth reading. #GoodreadsGiveaway
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 23, 2024
I enjoyed reading this book-- the writing is, indeed, "poetic, profound, and irresistibly page-turning"-- but after finishing it I am left with this one resounding question: who was this book written for?
The title presents the idea that it'll humanize both "sides" of the 2020's political zeitgeist. It will provide an entry point for understanding both the left and right, at least that was what I was expecting and was excited for. But, when it comes down to it, the way these perspectives (Brent, Micheal, Laura, other side stories) are written together give the reader nothing more than surface-level depth on both political points of view. It's just a moderate take on both parties, and not a particularly new or fresh one.
Is this a book for moderates? If so, what does it hope to accomplish? It won't sway any far-right thinkers OR bring any compassion to leftists. It won't do anything for moderate dems, just validation for currently held beliefs, and it won't validate moderate republicans because they already feel shitty about their situation.
I think this was an excellent book about the moral dangers of war-- how it can cause so much lasting moral injury-- and how we should think about that before going into war and when thinking about those returning from it. It made me think of Dr. Paul Woodruff, and Socrates, and living a virtuous life.
If you think of this book less as a political encapsulation of the 2016-2020 election, and more of a story about lies we tell ourselves about what happens after war and how morally traumatizing war can be (and how that is just as important, if not more so, than physical harm) then it is a wonderful read! A 4/5 even!
The title presents the idea that it'll humanize both "sides" of the 2020's political zeitgeist. It will provide an entry point for understanding both the left and right, at least that was what I was expecting and was excited for. But, when it comes down to it, the way these perspectives (Brent, Micheal, Laura, other side stories) are written together give the reader nothing more than surface-level depth on both political points of view. It's just a moderate take on both parties, and not a particularly new or fresh one.
Is this a book for moderates? If so, what does it hope to accomplish? It won't sway any far-right thinkers OR bring any compassion to leftists. It won't do anything for moderate dems, just validation for currently held beliefs, and it won't validate moderate republicans because they already feel shitty about their situation.
I think this was an excellent book about the moral dangers of war-- how it can cause so much lasting moral injury-- and how we should think about that before going into war and when thinking about those returning from it. It made me think of Dr. Paul Woodruff, and Socrates, and living a virtuous life.
If you think of this book less as a political encapsulation of the 2016-2020 election, and more of a story about lies we tell ourselves about what happens after war and how morally traumatizing war can be (and how that is just as important, if not more so, than physical harm) then it is a wonderful read! A 4/5 even!
May 31, 2025
I enjoyed some of this book but wasn't awed by it. It's worth reading if you're like me and stuck on an endless train of wondering why Americans of all political stripes are equally convinced the country is doomed, yet disagree so vehemently on the reasons. But this is not one of the outstanding entries in that mini genre.
Other reviewers have pointed out that the author doesn't have a lot to say about why we're so divided or what to do about it. That's true. But it's also true that I've been reading books about this subject over and over for years, and the explanations are never satisfying. So to some extent I didn't mind just walking alongside Brent and his family for a while.
I will say that I may have a different read on this book, because we're post ‘24 election and I see what a nightmare we're beginning. Maybe a tone of resignation doesn't feel right in the face of a renewed cause for resistance. Not that it's the authors fault for writing when he did of course.
The writing here is good, especially for nonfiction. And the author well captures the sense of sadness that follows the realization that terrible things might be about to pass, and there's nothing you can do. He also conveys the self imposed silence that a person follows when they're in a minority opinion and fear backlash.
But did I learn anything?- not really. I'm not sure Brent or Michael did either, since they appear to have had only one or two political conversations before deciding they didn't want to make an enemy of their neighbor. Totally reasonable but it didn't make for the most compelling story.
2 / 5 stars.
Other reviewers have pointed out that the author doesn't have a lot to say about why we're so divided or what to do about it. That's true. But it's also true that I've been reading books about this subject over and over for years, and the explanations are never satisfying. So to some extent I didn't mind just walking alongside Brent and his family for a while.
I will say that I may have a different read on this book, because we're post ‘24 election and I see what a nightmare we're beginning. Maybe a tone of resignation doesn't feel right in the face of a renewed cause for resistance. Not that it's the authors fault for writing when he did of course.
The writing here is good, especially for nonfiction. And the author well captures the sense of sadness that follows the realization that terrible things might be about to pass, and there's nothing you can do. He also conveys the self imposed silence that a person follows when they're in a minority opinion and fear backlash.
But did I learn anything?- not really. I'm not sure Brent or Michael did either, since they appear to have had only one or two political conversations before deciding they didn't want to make an enemy of their neighbor. Totally reasonable but it didn't make for the most compelling story.
2 / 5 stars.
October 17, 2023
I received an advance review copy of American Dreamer, which I finished a few nights ago. So many of the people in the book are still rattling around in my head. Finkel tells their stories with such humanity. In this way the book often reminded me of some of my favorite Anne Tyler novels.
The main figure in the book is Brent Cummings, who appears in Finkel’s 2009 book about the Iraq War and the surge. This book is about America in the 2020s, not Iraq or war. But as I read it, I kept thinking back to the title of Finkel’s first book “The Good Soldiers.” More than anything, that’s my impression of Cummings. He’s “a good soldier.” He was that way in Iraq, in Jerusalem and in the way he treats his Trump-loving neighbor in Georgia. Cummings’ idealism, his frustrations, compassion, curiosity, and anger over what his country is becoming offer a fascinating view of America.
Unlike Finkel’s earlier books, “American Dreamer” doesn’t have big thundering moments. Its drama is quieter and more personal. I found myself slowing down as I read it, largely because I was enjoying the time I was spending with the characters. I didn’t want it to end. I also marveled at some of the sentences. In addition to being a tenacious reporter, Finkel’s writing is always a delight to read. His prose carries you along and feels effortless. If you find yourself wondering now or in 2024 how the country got into this mess and what it all means, American Dreamer is a great place to start looking for answers.
The main figure in the book is Brent Cummings, who appears in Finkel’s 2009 book about the Iraq War and the surge. This book is about America in the 2020s, not Iraq or war. But as I read it, I kept thinking back to the title of Finkel’s first book “The Good Soldiers.” More than anything, that’s my impression of Cummings. He’s “a good soldier.” He was that way in Iraq, in Jerusalem and in the way he treats his Trump-loving neighbor in Georgia. Cummings’ idealism, his frustrations, compassion, curiosity, and anger over what his country is becoming offer a fascinating view of America.
Unlike Finkel’s earlier books, “American Dreamer” doesn’t have big thundering moments. Its drama is quieter and more personal. I found myself slowing down as I read it, largely because I was enjoying the time I was spending with the characters. I didn’t want it to end. I also marveled at some of the sentences. In addition to being a tenacious reporter, Finkel’s writing is always a delight to read. His prose carries you along and feels effortless. If you find yourself wondering now or in 2024 how the country got into this mess and what it all means, American Dreamer is a great place to start looking for answers.
November 18, 2024
62%
The interesting part of this book comes from the fact that we are starting to talk more about the fact that a lot of Republicans are feeling anti-Trumpist. So what I've seen from most Republican voters is that they're not voting for Donald Trump but voting against the Democratic candidate. And this is not productive because there's always consequences for your actions. So you really need to think about, okay, let's not think about where the path is not going. There's tons of places that the path can not be going. It's much more valuable to think about the fact of where the path is going. That's why it's important to vote for cabinets that are representing what you want them to represent. This book does a fairly good job of representing what it's like to be an American and have a non-party affiliated mindset where you just work towards what you want, which is centrist ideology, which is my ideology as well. But it's just not that interesting. I mean, there's multiple perspectives here, which is nice. I got a little tizzed up on the fact where the parent was coaching the kid to be like, oh, my father is abusing me. He broke my hand. He hit me with a hammer. And that whole tenure plus battle for custody is very relatable. So I'm like, oh, my God, I absolutely abhor the legal system in many cases. It's just ineffective.
The interesting part of this book comes from the fact that we are starting to talk more about the fact that a lot of Republicans are feeling anti-Trumpist. So what I've seen from most Republican voters is that they're not voting for Donald Trump but voting against the Democratic candidate. And this is not productive because there's always consequences for your actions. So you really need to think about, okay, let's not think about where the path is not going. There's tons of places that the path can not be going. It's much more valuable to think about the fact of where the path is going. That's why it's important to vote for cabinets that are representing what you want them to represent. This book does a fairly good job of representing what it's like to be an American and have a non-party affiliated mindset where you just work towards what you want, which is centrist ideology, which is my ideology as well. But it's just not that interesting. I mean, there's multiple perspectives here, which is nice. I got a little tizzed up on the fact where the parent was coaching the kid to be like, oh, my father is abusing me. He broke my hand. He hit me with a hammer. And that whole tenure plus battle for custody is very relatable. So I'm like, oh, my God, I absolutely abhor the legal system in many cases. It's just ineffective.
October 22, 2023
I really liked An American Dreamer. From the foreword, I thought it would be a diverse array of perspectives on recent American politics. It is, but small scale and intimate, looking closely at two lives and how today’s political landscape impacts them. Despite the, oftentimes, heavy topic, it’s a fast read. I read this in one sitting.
Brent Cummings is a retired army officer who is shocked by the changing climate. As a white male, he is beginning to recognize his privilege and how the world is different for non-white Americans. You can feel Brent’s growing concern for what’s happening in his workplace, town, and America as a whole.
In contrast, Brent’s neighbor Michael is on the other side of the political spectrum. We don’t hear as much about Michael’s views, but they are clear. The reader watches how this difference in politics strains a warm relationship.
Overall, interesting, thought-provoking, and beautiful prose. Recommended. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
“Crushed, though, wasn’t the same as surprised, because if there was one fundamental difference between Dante and Brent, it was that Brent had been primed for success in his life and had suffered from his failures and that Dante had been primed for failure and suffered from his successes.”
Brent Cummings is a retired army officer who is shocked by the changing climate. As a white male, he is beginning to recognize his privilege and how the world is different for non-white Americans. You can feel Brent’s growing concern for what’s happening in his workplace, town, and America as a whole.
In contrast, Brent’s neighbor Michael is on the other side of the political spectrum. We don’t hear as much about Michael’s views, but they are clear. The reader watches how this difference in politics strains a warm relationship.
Overall, interesting, thought-provoking, and beautiful prose. Recommended. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
“Crushed, though, wasn’t the same as surprised, because if there was one fundamental difference between Dante and Brent, it was that Brent had been primed for success in his life and had suffered from his failures and that Dante had been primed for failure and suffered from his successes.”
September 18, 2023
I was interested in reading this book because the title caught my eye. America does feel very divided right now but instead of writing about it in broad terms, the author took the point of view of just a few individuals. The strength of this is to really get to know the individuals and take some time to explore how they came to have the political opinions they have. From this standpoint, this book is very satisfying. The strain between Brett, a war veteran, and his neighbor Michael, seems pretty much on point an example of the difficulties America is going through right now. I was glad the author took the time to spool out why Michael feels the way he does instead of leaving him as some sort of one-dimensional character.
So why just four stars and not five? I didn't care for the way the book was written, at times it seemed jumbled for reasons that didn't particularly make sense to me.
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This review is my honest opinion.
So why just four stars and not five? I didn't care for the way the book was written, at times it seemed jumbled for reasons that didn't particularly make sense to me.
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This review is my honest opinion.
March 15, 2024
An American Dreamer contrasts the lives of two neighbors with decidedly opposite political views. Brent Cummings is a retired U. S. Army Colonel and a Iraq War veteran who is what I would describe as a moderately liberal supporter of Joe Biden and is disgusted by the antics of Donald Trump who he views as an enemy of democracy and the Constitution who instills racism and rage in his followers in the guise of making America great again. His neighbor Mike is a quadriplegic as the result of fall who is in most respects a pleasant and friendly guy who happens to be an ardent Trump supporter. His big fear is that the Democrats will take away his guns plus he is a huge Hillary hater. The take away for me is Cummings' struggle to understand the fear and rage that has evolved in our country and how Donald Trump is able to have such a strong influence on a large part of our population, a question I find myself constantly wondering about. Trump lovers will not like this book at all, but could probably learn a few things and ask themselves questions about how much they care about their country.
February 1, 2024
Thanks first to PRHAudio for this complimentary Audiobook. This book hit really hard because it rang so true to what life was like from 2015 to now. Watching family and friends become divided by radical right wing politics and misinformation. Fearmongering controls many of my family and has them in the grip of a near dictator and now convicted rapist. This book follows several folks from Georgia and how they developed critical thinking or devolved into conspiracy. This book has a very narrow view of America but really its a prime example of what was happening all over the nation. Sad. Terrifying. True. This book should be read and hopefully will be read by everyone but I have a feeling it will be disregarded by a radical lost swath of people. And for nothing other than blind allegiance to a failed manipulative orange man.
June 10, 2024
Brent Cummings is retiring from a nearly 3-decade army infantry career and returning to civilian life. In this non-fiction account, David Finkel records the difficulties Cummings experiences adjusting to a changed America. He suffers from recurring nightmares related to his service in a war zone and also his suburban Georgia environment. Despite his long military career, Cummings is a slightly left of center moderate. He is a gun owner and hunter and also supports civil rights, the environment, and several other liberal causes. Candidate, and later President, Trump's Twitter feed depresses him and drives him up the wall (maybe time to shut down his Twittter account?). An encounter with his MAGA supporting next door neighbor illuminates the divide in the country and his neighborhood. Cummings represents the feelings and confusion many Americans experienced once today.
March 2, 2025
Simple in its writing and structure but not in intention.
David Finkel pains a portrait of America in the time before and after Donald Trump's first tenure as President from the perspective of an Iraq War veteran whose experiences with war, violence abroad and at home leave him questioning the values and state of a country that he has spent half of his life fighting for.
While it does feel a bit slight given Trump's current second tenure as the U.S. president and America's downfall as a democracy, it captures a difficult period of time c0mpellingly for anyone curious about sentiment in the U.S. during this period.
Worth reading, well balanced in terms of its viewpoints on America's identity and its place in the world and a relatively easy read too for those who like history but may not have the time to devote themselves to long books of multiple chapters.
David Finkel pains a portrait of America in the time before and after Donald Trump's first tenure as President from the perspective of an Iraq War veteran whose experiences with war, violence abroad and at home leave him questioning the values and state of a country that he has spent half of his life fighting for.
While it does feel a bit slight given Trump's current second tenure as the U.S. president and America's downfall as a democracy, it captures a difficult period of time c0mpellingly for anyone curious about sentiment in the U.S. during this period.
Worth reading, well balanced in terms of its viewpoints on America's identity and its place in the world and a relatively easy read too for those who like history but may not have the time to devote themselves to long books of multiple chapters.
September 16, 2023
An American Dreamer is the story of one man, Brent Cummings - - Iraqi War veteran, husband, father, suburban homeowner - - set against the backdrop of the Trump administration and the tensions springing from it. Cummings tries to be a good man in his public and private life, and Finkel shows him as he constantly inquires of himself what that means in today's world.
I found the narrative engaging as Cummings addresses his challenges - - among them, a neighbor who is firmly in the MAGA camp - - but in the end the book felt a little light. You won't find any startlingly new insights or powerful policy recommendations here, just an elegy of sorts for the America of endless opportunity and impartial justice we all once dreamed of.
I found the narrative engaging as Cummings addresses his challenges - - among them, a neighbor who is firmly in the MAGA camp - - but in the end the book felt a little light. You won't find any startlingly new insights or powerful policy recommendations here, just an elegy of sorts for the America of endless opportunity and impartial justice we all once dreamed of.
March 6, 2024
David Finkel is an outstanding writer and the amount of research that went into "An American Dreamer" is remarkable. However, while reading this book I repeatedly came back to the conclusion I wasn't learning anything new. Nearly everyone knows the emotional toll taken on all of our lives because of the deep divisions in America. This book was a reminder to me how deep those divisions have become and in that respecxt is very depressing. Perhaps as one reviewer noted someday we will take this book down from the shelve to remember what it was like to live in this period. Perhaps true, but in today's world it is not that much of a revelation. If you are at all depressed about the state of affairs in our nation, this is probably not the book for you.
April 19, 2024
Wow. I found this pretty depressing at first, then inspirational, and not just the former soldier’s experience, but that of his wife. She was pulled between caring for a disabled child and an aging mother, while her husband was deployed overseas. She heroically persevered. The former soldier’s upbringing and moral compass cause him to question what he was called upon to do and sacrifice in war, and he is disillusioned by the current political realities unfolding in America when he retires from the military. There is a lot to unpack in this book, but one thing I think it does is capture the voice of good, well-meaning people who are struggling to find political leaders who they can respect, trust to lead the country and be neither far left nor far right.
August 5, 2024
Enjoyed this book and hearing the main character’s perspective - an incredibly decent person.
Relatable when he talked about the devastation/shock at some of the divisiveness in the country these days. Also relatable when he talked about detesting the extremist views from both the right and the left. Quite literally jaw dropping sometimes to hear about the things people confidently spread without truly knowing facts.
A quote I liked: “Often, because it meant so much to him, Brent would think of the oath he took when he was sworn into the army and pledged that he would ‘support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.’” It was an oath of loyalty to a document, rather than a pledge of fealty to a person’
Relatable when he talked about the devastation/shock at some of the divisiveness in the country these days. Also relatable when he talked about detesting the extremist views from both the right and the left. Quite literally jaw dropping sometimes to hear about the things people confidently spread without truly knowing facts.
A quote I liked: “Often, because it meant so much to him, Brent would think of the oath he took when he was sworn into the army and pledged that he would ‘support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.’” It was an oath of loyalty to a document, rather than a pledge of fealty to a person’
August 11, 2024
The third installment in David Finkel's triology of books that follow American veterans of the Iraq war. This book is a short, piercing snapshot of America in the age of Trump, a nation of diverging realities. These two Americas are represented by two neighbors, an Iraq vet who despite conservative leanings cannot bring himself to vote for Trump, who is repulsed by the lies and egotism and bullying. His neighbor is a wheel-chair bound man who despises everything woke and commie, who sees Trump as a savior holding back the tide of liberalism that, in his mind, seeks to destroy Western civilization. We get to know them as people, their hopes and fears, their families and daily struggles, and through them get a glimpse of the larger picture.
This book was short, straightforward, descriptive, never preachy, and it felt like the Cliffnotes summary of the last eight years of our lives.
This book was short, straightforward, descriptive, never preachy, and it felt like the Cliffnotes summary of the last eight years of our lives.
March 16, 2024
An American Dreamer
By David Finkel
This is a nonfiction book which attempts to show, through the true stories of people interviewed, the political disaster this country is heading for once again. Although Mr. Finkel has written this book from a somewhat left-leaning bias, he has done a fair job of trying to explain why Americans of all political stripes feel as they feel – what has appealed to their biases and fears.
This is a tough period in our history – it may be a make or break moment for America. And put in the context of what is happening throughout the world, the choices we face are difficult. Let us hope that, whichever way we go forward, we end up in a better place.
By David Finkel
This is a nonfiction book which attempts to show, through the true stories of people interviewed, the political disaster this country is heading for once again. Although Mr. Finkel has written this book from a somewhat left-leaning bias, he has done a fair job of trying to explain why Americans of all political stripes feel as they feel – what has appealed to their biases and fears.
This is a tough period in our history – it may be a make or break moment for America. And put in the context of what is happening throughout the world, the choices we face are difficult. Let us hope that, whichever way we go forward, we end up in a better place.
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