Jason Kander

I am probably biased because I’m a big fan of Jason Kander. I’ve been following him since he first launched his podcast in 2016 and I remember vividly when he announced his PTSD. Since the. I’ve followed him and his wife on social media and I have developed total crushes on both of them. They are smart, interesting, people who seem to have similar interests to me and I just find them both charming.

I find Jason’s voice and tone to be very reassuring and he has been the person I have show more turned to when the political news seems overwhelming so it’s really jarring to read his book and learn that the face he puts forth to the world had been hiding a man suffering from PTSD, guilt, shame, anger, and worthlessness. You really can’t tell what a person’s truth is from what they are projecting to the world.

I think the book’s structure showing both his and his wife’s POV is excellent and gives a pretty complete picture of what was going on for them.

All in all despite the heavy subject matter it is an easy book to read and it’s threaded through with hope. I’m glad Jason is doing better, I’m pleased that he has found a job that he loves and and I’m glad he hasn’t shut the door on a political future because I think he could help lead us all to a better place. show less

When my Politically Progressive Introverts book club chose this book for November, I was not looking forward to reading it. I'm kind of tired of hearing what privileged white men have to say, you know? But, wow, Jason Kander really won me over. We're about the same age so his cadence, slang and references were right up my alley. I particularly enjoyed his hilarious footnotes. Kander is a democratic politician deep within a red state who won a state-wide election at quite a young age. He did show more it by really listening to and connecting with the voters, and though they didn't necessarily agree with him, they respected him and appreciated his willingness to listen to their experiences as well as stand up for and hold with his positions. Today's democrats should absolutely take a page from his book, particularly those condemned as 'elite' and 'out of touch'. Kander himself admits that the higher one goes in politics, the harder it is to remember what everyday people need, as his days and nights are spent garnering funds from wealthy donors whose desires are mostly at odds with his middle to lower middle class constituents. However, Kander proves that one can keep one's integrity in this game if one is willing to try hard enough. I'm super tired of white male politicians, but I would totally vote for this guy. My one complaint is that, at the end of the book Kander encourages readers to post about the book on social media, and promises to respond/retweet, and though I shared my Insta post on Twitter and Facebook, I've yet to hear from him. He's a busy guy, though, and I'm sure he has better things to do than toss me a like ;) show less

I’ve followed Jason Kander on social media for years now, probably since he decided to run for the Senate in 2016. I didn’t live in St. Louis by then but I had great memories of living in Missouri as well as visiting Kansas City, and I was quite excited to follow a progressive millennial politician from the very red state. The election night ended up being full of disappointments, including Kander’s loss but he is still contributing a lot to the country through his organizations Let show more America Vote and Veterans Community Project. I was actually very excited to read his book when it released last year but somehow lost sight of it among whatever was happening in my life then. I was recently watching a YouTube video of his and decided it was time I picked it up. I managed to get the audiobook which is even better because he narrates it himself and it was very fun experience.

This is not a typical memoir where we follow his life in a chronological order. This is more of a list of lessons he has learned in his life, that he thinks will be useful for other too - especially ones who are aspiring politicians or want to be a part of public service in whatever way they can. However, don’t mistake these life lessons to be told in any preachy manner because he is too cool for that. He lets us know through his self deprecating humor and signature bluntness how he arrived at those lessons, giving us anecdotes from his life in Afghanistan or the campaign trail or even his various interactions with politicians and voters. He really is very honest about whatever he wants to say, and it’s clearly obvious that this trait of his has gotten him into hot water quite a few times with other politicians across party lines. But I guess this is what makes him apart from everyone else - he is not here just to win elections, he is here because he believes in his convictions and works hard to ensure that he is helping people in whatever way he can.

I particularly enjoyed listening about some policy fights he had with republicans during his stint in the Missouri House of Representatives and as it’s Secretary of State. He is also not at all scared of naming and shaming people with whom he had these encounters, which I actually found a bit surprising but also refreshing. His anecdotes from Afghanistan are also quite funny in retrospect, but it’s a little hard to read about the kinda of scary situations the soldiers had to navigate, oftentimes without a lot of protection. And even though the book jumps timelines a lot of times, he narrates it all in such an engaging manner that I didn’t get bored for even a second. He even makes some situations feel very suspenseful and I was eagerly awaiting to know the outcome (like any fiction novel). I obviously can’t not mention that his pop culture references really show that he is a true blue millennial even though I didn’t get most of them. But he referenced particular scenes and dialogues from the tv show The West Wing and that brought a huge smile on my face.

On the whole, this was a very engaging memoir and I loved getting to know Kander better after just getting glimpses of him through twitter for years. If you like reading politician’s memoirs and would love to know more about a progressive politician who also happens to be the first millennial to ever win statewide office in the country, you should definitely pick this up. It’s full of hope and optimism and a sense of duty and I think you’ll really enjoy it. I would also highly recommend the audiobook because Jason’s narration is fun and honest and very engaging. And I’m very much looking forward to see what he does next in the political arena. show less

The author provides us with ten lessons on courage illustrated with stories from his life. These are great stories told from his time as a soldier in Afghanistan to his time as a politician to his present career working on making sure everyone votes. He speaks his mind, even when running for office, a welcome breath of fresh air as most politicians too often say only what they think people want to hear. He even describes some instances where people differed from his position but voted for show more him anyway doe to this honesty. I also love the fact that he has an F rating from the NRA. I am hoping he runs for office again because we can use more people like him in government. show less