This is Citizen Jack’s book, a masterful demonstration of a personal view turned sociopolitical gold.

It must be noted that Jack Hassard is very personal in his writing tone. He does not spare his emotional sentiments on the political activities not only in his adopted state of Georgia but the nation at large—and here, he takes no prisoners: He is forthright with his points and tells inconvenient and bitter truths that most of us wish we were as courageous enough to enunciate. It is here that, as an academic, he felt compelled to provide evidence to support them. This is where Hassard shines because even if the reader disagrees with his political views, they are obliged to consider his evidence and arrive at better conclusions than they otherwise would have, but not before they have been baptized into an elevated awareness of how the world works.

With the pen of a maestro, Hassard illustrates why average citizens need to be vigilant of governmental policies—not because it is politically advantageous to do so, but because it is our responsibility. 

By making his blog into a book, we can put the pieces together, event by event, amnesia attack after amnesia attack. At my section in the UN, our motto was “The Devil in the Details.” Hassard continues to be an exemplary citizen diplomat, using his skills to bring peace and understanding to the world. So harness your hopes and dig in. All of you should enjoy this book.

Jack Hassard’s accounting is wide-ranging, sharp-elbowed, and deeply committed to democracy and equality. With sharp, clear-eyed prose, he takes on racial injustice, the Trumpist worldview (in a discussion inspired by the work of George Lakoff), how “the United States drifted toward authoritarian and autocratic rule,” and most thoroughly how “science in the Trump era was diminished at the peril of the health and well-being for not only people and other living things, but Earth itself.”