It rose so quickly to take such a surprisingly tight grip upon the literary world that many people aren’t even aware that a brand new non-fiction genre was created within the last decade or so. Books written by (although most likely ghostwritten by a hired hand, actually) Presidential candidates and published either actually shortly before their announcement, during the campaign, or quickly after they were ultimately forced to drop out or went onto win. Barack Obama’s 2006 tome The Audacity of Hope may not necessarily have been the originator of this genre, but it does seem to have become the prototype for most that followed.
Just those candidates who sought Presidential nominations in either 2016 or 2020 who published memoirs in conjunction with that pursuit include Ben Carson, Marco Rubio and Mike Huckabee on the Republican side and Julia Castro, Bernie Sanders and Cory Booker. Across the board, they—and many others who have also published books—represent the fine art of if at first you don’t succeed, write about it. And then there’s Kamala Harris.
She breaks out of that enormous pack which also includes Pete Buttigieg (who seems like he may actually have written his own book) and Tulsi Gabbard (which seems almost certain to have done more harm than relative to any future Presidential aspirations) to step forward and take the state occupied by almost a few elite who (at the time of this writing) made it at least to the very last stage of the race when she was chosen to be Joe Biden’s running mate on the ticket.
Can a correlation be drawn from this? Does Harris’ book stand out from that Amy Klobuchar and Beto O’Rourke, two candidates who didn’t manage to make it nearly as far as Harris? Alas, no. If a correlation between a very well written and intellectually engaging book about the politics of running for President and success in that endeavor existed, it would be a no-brainer: Elizabeth Warren the winner by a first-round knockout. (To be fair, O’Rourke’s Dealing Death and Drugs is also well written, but really does not accurately belong alongside the others as examples of this genre.)
Here’s the deal: Bernie Sanders wrote a memoir of the 2016 intense fight for the Democratic nomination against Hilary Clinton that is every bit as engaging as listening to him speak. And for most of the books which fall into this genre, it is really his books Our Revolution and Where We Go From Here that have become the template for this kind of publication rather than Obama’s The Audacity of Hope. The worst thing an undecided reader can do is go through each of these books one after the other. If you think think all politicians are the same on the stump, wait until you read their books. This represents a failure not so much of ideas or content, but of imagination and structure.
The Truths We Hold is a perfect example. There is absolute nothing inherently wrong with the book on literary level. It is professionally written, easy to understand and does the real intended job at stake here: allowing these once and very likely future candidates to define themselves one-on-one with a reader without the intrusive annoyances of paid political opposition or grotesque snake-oil salesman incapable of recognizing a truth, much less conveying it. By the time the reader gets to the truly infectious spirit of Kamala captured in the series of candid images which close this volume, it is incredibly difficult to remain unimpressed by her achievements or genuinely moved by her take on the political positions she holds and the policies she pursues. Do not confuse this or any books within this genre with being a birth-to-yesterday biography. Lots of information is left out by Harris as it is left out by other candidates. The purpose is not to tell a life story, but to make the case that their particular, individual and precise life story is responsible for making them the public figure they are. It is propaganda, but in most cases it is only partially effective propaganda.
This applies to The Truths We Hold. These books can only be so effective as propaganda the whole point of propaganda is the message which means that truth must be sacrificed sometimes. But a memoir by a candidate cannot afford to a collection of falsehoods, lies and misconceptions. Or, at least, this used to apply to every candidate. It still does to most and will continue to for many. But the days when all candidates who write books like this are still too afraid to pursue propaganda at the expense of almost any truth is coming to an end. Fortunately, Kamala Harris’ entry into the game did mark that end.
