Four Books For Your Consideration September 23, 2026September 22, 2026 1. This Is the Plan: How to End America’s Meltdown and Save Democracy, by Ben Wikler — a great read or, better still, listen. Perfect for the millions — young and old — who hate what’s going on but don’t think they can make a difference. They can! And if they’re a little bored or lonely or feeling unfulfilled, it could solve those problems, too. 2. How Russia Won, by David Korn: “The little-understood story of Putin’s secret campaign to subvert America.” Carl knows this is a hoax, like climate change and Covid and the “affordability” crisis — Trump has the concept of a plan for great health care, and that’s good enough for him. The Mueller Report was a witch hunt and a hoax and all those women who accused Trump of sexual harassment (and worse) were lying . . . so when Trump tells us that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was genius or that he’s not Putin’s puppet — that Hillary was Putin’s puppet — well, that’s good enough for MAGA and good enough, it seems, for Carl. If you can’t trust Donald Trump to tell the truth, whom can you trust? A compelling narrative with the verve and twists of a spy novel—yet it’s all true—How Russia Won chronicles a deeply disturbing reality: Putin has succeeded in his twilight war against the United States by helping to land in the White House an agent of chaos, disruption, and authoritarianism who has exacerbated divisions within the United States, undermined American democracy, created conflict within the Western alliance and throughout the world, and diminished Washington’s standing across the globe. It’s a chilling account of Trump’s strange relationship with Putin and how both have gotten away with this assault on the United States. Just last week . . . 3. The BreakUp by Kurt Andersen. I’m halfway through listening and, well, it’s great . . . imagining the country after it splits into two countries (80% of Utah, by territory, joins the Free American Republic but 80% of the people — city dwellers — choose to remain in the United States of America . . . and there’s a 180-year-old turtle whose memories we’ve been able to translate into English . . . ans so much more. 4. Good Morning Moon, wherein my friend of more than four decades, “the bestselling poet, novelist, and biographer” Brad Gooch, offers a “luminous memoir about the decision to start a family later in life” with his husband — no slouch in his own right — and the birth and raising of their two children. Quite a change of pace from the three above. A great listen.