Michael Lewis
A set of essays that follows a Washington Post series highlighting individual civil servants in government. The idea is that the U.S. Government is so vast, that we can't really grasp what it does. So these essays each fixate on one hyper-narrow function, and bring it to life. Three of these were particularly interesting/effective for me in understanding government - an essay describing the work of an engineer working on coal mine safety, an essay highlighting the work of the office in charge of national cemeteries, and one illuminating the function of the National Archives. Each of these pulled one person and dug in, but it is amazing to think about the tens --> hundreds of colleagues and supporters in those offices that make the whole machine work. It really does make you appreciate the taxes you pay, and lament the dismantling for the sake of dismantling that we are currently seeing.
4 stars (out of 4)
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