With Mia Love: The Rise, Stumble and Resurgence of the Next GOP Star, a biography of Mia Love by Salt Lake Tribune reporter Matt Canham, with Robert GWith Mia Love: The Rise, Stumble and Resurgence of the Next GOP Star, a biography of Mia Love by Salt Lake Tribune reporter Matt Canham, with Robert Gehrke and Thomas Burr, readers are fortunate to find a glimpse into the history and biography of Utah’s newest Representative to Congress, the first black, Republican woman to be elected to the United States House of Representatives. The book (which you can find at mialovebook.com or at the Amazon link below) is not authorized by Mia Love or her campaign.
Americans should be so lucky as to have such books about every member of Congress. With an incumbency reelection rate above 80%–and often much higher even—for over a half a century, it’s rare that new members join Congress. It’s even more rare that voters have any opportunity to learn the behind-the-scenes backstory before they even take office.
Over the last three years, first Utah and then America has watched the meteoric rise of Mia Love from relative obscurity to the brightest new light in the Republican constellation of stars after the midterm elections of 2014. With any new politician comes a narrative, a story that brings them to office and becomes their brand. With Mia Love — The Rise, Stumble and Resurgence of the Next GOP Star voters get to go beyond the carefully crafted and controlled messages to learn who Love is, where she came from, and, well, how she got here. The authors neither pull their punches nor swing them. Their intent seems to be to tell a story, present the facts, and let readers form a picture on their own.
The research seems thorough and the narrative doesn’t seem to depart far from what’s already been reported in the press and by Love campaign during the 2012 and 2014 races. However, what the book adds is details about her childhood, conversion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also called the Mormons or LDS Church), courtship with Jason Love, and some of the backstage drama preceding her speeches at the 2012 Utah Republican Party Convention and the 2012 Republican National Convention.
The reporting is great, even if it does come off as a really long news piece at times. The authors stick to what they know best, and the writing at times feels like an extended article that might appear on any given day in the Salt Lake Tribune. In many respects this choice of how to tell the story lends it a greater air of credibility. It’s hard to fault the book as biased, slanted, or otherwise critical of Love. Rather, the authors appear to take pains to keep the writing anesthetized of comment, critique, and color. It’s not a bad way to go and it leaves all of the drama to Mia Love’s story itself.
Because there is drama here.
The upshot of a drier writing style is that Mia Love’s story stands on its own. There’s plenty in her sometimes unlikely trail to Congress give it Hollywood scale proportions and plot twists (and I’m waiting every day to hear that she has optioned the rights to the story off). It’s hard not to see echoes of Erin Brockovich at points, or Robert Redford’s Bill McKay at others. Mia’s story stands on its own, and the authors’ style stays out of the way.
The authors are careful to consider areas and provide helpful description of subjects in which the reader may not be well-informed. For example, Canham and Co. take pains to explain aspects of the LDS Church to outsiders who may not be familiar with the often insular faith that Mia shares with former Presidential candidate Mitt Romney. The result is explanations that are concise, but helpful and fair. As a Mormon myself, it can be difficult to watch others describe my faith, but Canham, Gehrke and Burr deserve props for their treatment of the LDS faith.
When Mia Love gets past early biography–youth, college, conversion, and courtship–and finally arrives at the politics of Love’s runs for Congress, the narrative occasionally puts a fine point on how small Utah’s political community really is. If everyone on Earth is just six degrees of separation apart, then degree of separation in Utah politics is smaller still – no more than one or two degrees, perhaps. It’s no wonder that interference from Washington, D.C. consultants puts such a bad taste in Utahns mouth—we all know each other, and it rubs when someone who doesn’t know Utah shows up and tries to dictate how campaigns should be run. In Mia’s rise, it becomes clear that she did great when she stuck with local talent, winning the 2012 Utah Republican Convention with Casey Voeks and the 2014 General Election with Dave Hansen, but struggled when she spent time listening to consultants who parachuted in for the 2012 general election.
After filling out Love’s biography, political history, and election story, the authors spend a few pages laying out the geography that Representative-elect Love will face when she reaches Washington. For me, though, reading to know the history of Utah’s newest Representative, her past was more interesting than predictions about her future. Only time will tell whether Love is a flash in the pan or continues to rise as a leader in Washington and Utah.
Mia Love: The Rise, Stumble and Resurgence of the Next GOP Star is an interesting read, a must read, even, and not only for political junkies like myself, but for anyone curious about Love’s story as a fulfillment of the American dream and promise.
With any luck, this won’t be the last book that Canham, Gehrke and Burr write, but will be just the first to expand on the stories and biographies of Utah’s elected officials. Writing this book is a good thing for the public, and well in line with their roles as journalists. That said, I can’t help but wonder why they haven’t done this yet for other Utah politicians. Take, for example, Speaker Becky Lockhart. As Utah’s first female Speaker of the Utah House of Representatives, she was arguably the most powerful woman in the state during her term, and I know we haven’t seen the last of her, yet. Or another might cover former Attorneys General John Swallow and Mark Shurtleff, two conservative politicians who once enjoyed a high level of popularity in their own right, only to be brought down by hubris and corruption.
Few are as well-positioned to write these stories as this trio of authors, and Utah, and the country, could only be served by the effort.
Merged review:
With Mia Love: The Rise, Stumble and Resurgence of the Next GOP Star, a biography of Mia Love by Salt Lake Tribune reporter Matt Canham, with Robert Gehrke and Thomas Burr, readers are fortunate to find a glimpse into the history and biography of Utah’s newest Representative to Congress, the first black, Republican woman to be elected to the United States House of Representatives. The book (which you can find at mialovebook.com or at the Amazon link below) is not authorized by Mia Love or her campaign.
Americans should be so lucky as to have such books about every member of Congress. With an incumbency reelection rate above 80%–and often much higher even—for over a half a century, it’s rare that new members join Congress. It’s even more rare that voters have any opportunity to learn the behind-the-scenes backstory before they even take office.
Over the last three years, first Utah and then America has watched the meteoric rise of Mia Love from relative obscurity to the brightest new light in the Republican constellation of stars after the midterm elections of 2014. With any new politician comes a narrative, a story that brings them to office and becomes their brand. With Mia Love — The Rise, Stumble and Resurgence of the Next GOP Star voters get to go beyond the carefully crafted and controlled messages to learn who Love is, where she came from, and, well, how she got here. The authors neither pull their punches nor swing them. Their intent seems to be to tell a story, present the facts, and let readers form a picture on their own.
The research seems thorough and the narrative doesn’t seem to depart far from what’s already been reported in the press and by Love campaign during the 2012 and 2014 races. However, what the book adds is details about her childhood, conversion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also called the Mormons or LDS Church), courtship with Jason Love, and some of the backstage drama preceding her speeches at the 2012 Utah Republican Party Convention and the 2012 Republican National Convention.
The reporting is great, even if it does come off as a really long news piece at times. The authors stick to what they know best, and the writing at times feels like an extended article that might appear on any given day in the Salt Lake Tribune. In many respects this choice of how to tell the story lends it a greater air of credibility. It’s hard to fault the book as biased, slanted, or otherwise critical of Love. Rather, the authors appear to take pains to keep the writing anesthetized of comment, critique, and color. It’s not a bad way to go and it leaves all of the drama to Mia Love’s story itself.
Because there is drama here.
The upshot of a drier writing style is that Mia Love’s story stands on its own. There’s plenty in her sometimes unlikely trail to Congress give it Hollywood scale proportions and plot twists (and I’m waiting every day to hear that she has optioned the rights to the story off). It’s hard not to see echoes of Erin Brockovich at points, or Robert Redford’s Bill McKay at others. Mia’s story stands on its own, and the authors’ style stays out of the way.
The authors are careful to consider areas and provide helpful description of subjects in which the reader may not be well-informed. For example, Canham and Co. take pains to explain aspects of the LDS Church to outsiders who may not be familiar with the often insular faith that Mia shares with former Presidential candidate Mitt Romney. The result is explanations that are concise, but helpful and fair. As a Mormon myself, it can be difficult to watch others describe my faith, but Canham, Gehrke and Burr deserve props for their treatment of the LDS faith.
When Mia Love gets past early biography–youth, college, conversion, and courtship–and finally arrives at the politics of Love’s runs for Congress, the narrative occasionally puts a fine point on how small Utah’s political community really is. If everyone on Earth is just six degrees of separation apart, then degree of separation in Utah politics is smaller still – no more than one or two degrees, perhaps. It’s no wonder that interference from Washington, D.C. consultants puts such a bad taste in Utahns mouth—we all know each other, and it rubs when someone who doesn’t know Utah shows up and tries to dictate how campaigns should be run. In Mia’s rise, it becomes clear that she did great when she stuck with local talent, winning the 2012 Utah Republican Convention with Casey Voeks and the 2014 General Election with Dave Hansen, but struggled when she spent time listening to consultants who parachuted in for the 2012 general election.
After filling out Love’s biography, political history, and election story, the authors spend a few pages laying out the geography that Representative-elect Love will face when she reaches Washington. For me, though, reading to know the history of Utah’s newest Representative, her past was more interesting than predictions about her future. Only time will tell whether Love is a flash in the pan or continues to rise as a leader in Washington and Utah.
Mia Love: The Rise, Stumble and Resurgence of the Next GOP Star is an interesting read, a must read, even, and not only for political junkies like myself, but for anyone curious about Love’s story as a fulfillment of the American dream and promise.
With any luck, this won’t be the last book that Canham, Gehrke and Burr write, but will be just the first to expand on the stories and biographies of Utah’s elected officials. Writing this book is a good thing for the public, and well in line with their roles as journalists. That said, I can’t help but wonder why they haven’t done this yet for other Utah politicians. Take, for example, Speaker Becky Lockhart. As Utah’s first female Speaker of the Utah House of Representatives, she was arguably the most powerful woman in the state during her term, and I know we haven’t seen the last of her, yet. Or another might cover former Attorneys General John Swallow and Mark Shurtleff, two conservative politicians who once enjoyed a high level of popularity in their own right, only to be brought down by hubris and corruption.
Few are as well-positioned to write these stories as this trio of authors, and Utah, and the country, could only be served by the effort....more
As I write this, it is March 5, the anniversary of the Boston Massacre (or an "Unhappy Disturbance" if you were British) on a cold night in 1770. It sAs I write this, it is March 5, the anniversary of the Boston Massacre (or an "Unhappy Disturbance" if you were British) on a cold night in 1770. It started as an argument between a British soldier and several Boston residents and soon escalated as a crowd gathered, chasing the soldier back to the Customs House, where a sentry stood guard. Other British soldiers came out to defend the soldier as the crowd taunted, throwing snowballs and pieces of ice (and perhaps objects) at the soldiers, daring them to fire. Then, in the confusion, shots were fired, and when the smoke cleared, five people lay dead, while three more were injured.
Famously, John Adams became the man chosen to defend the British soldiers, though he was by no means a supporter of the British soldiers in Boston. The soldiers--two thousand strong--had arrived in 1768 to quell riots and to enforce the Townsend Duties, which taxed glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea; set up courts to prosecute smugglers; and allowed British officials to search colonists' homes.
You can imagine how popular all that was. For many years Boston had been the center of colonial discontent. Tensions were already high, and the arrival of the soldiers, 1 for every 8 Bostonians, was destined to create and exacerbate the friction.
It was no accident that the deaths quickly became the center of an ongoing war of words in the press, the Committees of Correspondence throughout the American Colonies, and the efforts of the Sons of Liberty. And while there were many men in the midst of these efforts one man sticks out as the chief rabble-rouser, a man that King George called the "most dangerous man in the colonies": Samuel Adams.
Who was this man? To me, my experience with Samuel was as the older cousin of John Adams, the man who saved the Revolution by securing financing for it from Europe, who wrote the Massachusetts constitution, helped write the Declaration of Independence, and became our second president. Sam barely gets a supporting role in that story. And yet, if you were to poll Americans and British of the day, Samuel Adams was among the leading voices, if not the leading voice, in the years up to and during the Revolution.
So on this anniversary of the Boston Massacre, a seminal event in the years before the American Revolution, I read Stacy Schiff's biography of Samuel Adams, appropriately titled "The Revolutionary." In these pages, we see Samuel as a gifted orator and writer, the man of a hundred pseudonyms, a planner and connecter, an "everyman" who is anything but that. Unique among the Founding Fathers, he never had money, never had resources, and yet was at one point the most wanted man in America.
Even as the Revolution passed into the Founding of the nation and he began to fade, he remained forefront in the minds of those who did not. On the eve of the anniversary of the Boston Massacre in 1801, Thomas Jefferson acknowledged his role in bringing about the break with England, calling him the "patriarch of liberty" and asking himself if Samuel would approve of his speech. Having read Samuel's rise in spite of failure, I am convinced that it was no amount of hyperbole to see him as more than just a rabble-rouser, but a gifted politician and leader who predicted almost every aspect of the fight for independence, and was seen as almost as important as George Washington by his contemporaries.
And there's this: it's a really good piece of history and a great addition to the modern understanding of the Founding generation. ...more
I read “Permanent Record” by Edward Snowden, our most recent selection for the Manly Book Club. To read it while watchiThe first rule of book club is…
I read “Permanent Record” by Edward Snowden, our most recent selection for the Manly Book Club. To read it while watching the disaster that is the US withdrawal from Afghanistan is at times an emotional experience. Snowden is just a few years younger than I am, and though we come from different backgrounds, there are moments when I find myself empathizing with him. Like him, I found myself at a point when public education no longer made sense, and I set off to make my own way. Later, we were both in or near D.C. during 9/11 and were deeply affected by the events of that day. Both of us love our country and have sought a path that allowed us to serve.
Those paths, however, have led us in different careers and the similarities stop there.
A tech wiz from an early age, Snowden took a career as an intelligence contractor and found employment in various agencies in the US intelligence apparatus, including first the CIA and then the NSA. As he began to learn and understand more about how the Chinese government was collecting information, or rather, “mass surveilling” its own people, Snowden began to believe that the United States was doing the same. Concerned about this (and cutting a long story short), Snowden decided to leak to that the US government was surveilling everyone, all the time, far beyond Constitutional limits.
The rest is history. Snowden absconded with US secrets to Russia, intending to arrive eventually in Uruguay. US officials revoked his passport, stranding him there where he remains today. Google it. There's a lot to the story.
This Tuesday, we'll debate in book club whether Snowden is a hero or a villain.
- Did Snowden do the right thing, or was he misguided? - Is he a hero? Is he a villain? - Is Snowden an honest person? He's telling his own story--but how much is he spinning? How much is true and how much is embellished and how much is flat out false? - Let’s assume Snowden is correct and the US government is conducting warrantless, mass surveillance of its own people: could Snowden have affected change in some other way that might have been less harmful to US intelligence capabilities? - Would I have the courage to do the same if presented with the same facts? - With this technology available, is mass surveillance inevitable? - Can we unring the bell? How do we combat countries that do not operate under the limitations of the United States? Can the US remain safe against China, Russia, and other countries that do not play by the rules we claim to follow in the Bill of Rights? - Or is it better to be ignorant that we are under constant surveillance? Is ignorance the opioid of the masses? Do we care? - Must some pay the price of a spook's life to protect the rest of us? ...more
To members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Russell M. Nelson is a prophet, one who stands on the mountain top and warns of dangersTo members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Russell M. Nelson is a prophet, one who stands on the mountain top and warns of dangers ahead. While I've listened to him speak at the General Conferences of the Church over the years, I knew little about him.
For example, though I knew he had been a cardiovascular surgeon, I didn't realize he had actually been one of the pioneers of heart transplants. I knew he had 10 children, but I didn't realize he had had nine daughters before finally having a son. I knew he had learned Chinese, but I didn't realize he had learned several other languages, as well. I knew he had remarried after his first wife, Danzel, had passed away, but I hadn't heard how or why. And, to be honest, beyond the basics, I didn't know much about the man who led the Church. I had a smattering of facts that I knew, and I had felt the power of his testimony and mantle many times, but I did not know much about him.
This book, which is not a full biography, but a smattering of snapshots, is a great way to begin to know him. It covers his entire life, from his youth, as the son of inactive members of the Church, to a brilliant academic career, to his innovations in heart surgery, to his church service, and finally to his calling as a prophet and the changes in organization, temples, and procedures. Sheri Dew knows President Nelson, and she makes the story personal and inspirational, and I was constantly touched and moved. It's a fast read, and while perhaps only an overview of the highlights of his life, it's a good place to start for someone looking to learn about Russell M. Nelson's life. ...more
What a delightful little read. You'll find here one to two-page summaries of how some of the great artists, scientists, writers, movie makers, composeWhat a delightful little read. You'll find here one to two-page summaries of how some of the great artists, scientists, writers, movie makers, composers, and more worked. Each is short and sweet, perfect for a quick bit of motivation or inspiration between other tasks. It fills the place that exists between one project and another, one meeting and the next.
In fact, Daily Rituals was born out of one of those very moments. Mason Currey was under deadline and avoiding writing an article for the publication he worked for at the time. He began to research how the great writers worked, surfing the internet to find out. Before long, he had started a blog and was writing about the work habits of the men and women he was reading about. From that blog came the book.
I read it while walking into the office from the parking garage, occasionally skipping them if the individual--an artist or writer--was one with which I was unfamiliar. The peeks into the lives of these extremely successful people was fascinating, if massively abridged. The rituals, or routines, or, maybe lack of routines, were varied as the artists (let's just call them all artists, and that includes all of them whether they were or not). Some worked mornings, some in the evening. Asimov worked all day every day; others, only for a few hours in the morning, or a few in the evening. In fact, many of them seemed to work a mere two to four hours each day. Darwin took decades to write his book, and he hated society, hiding from the world in his country home. Warhol would call his agent each morning to detail the entire previous day for a journal that was used for tax purposes. Dickens would take long walks through London to collect characters and scenes for his serialized stories.
It was a fun read and inspirational. I recommend it. ...more
JQA was a much more interesting member of Congress than he was a president of the United States. This bio isn't the most in-depth examination of a preJQA was a much more interesting member of Congress than he was a president of the United States. This bio isn't the most in-depth examination of a president I've read in recent years, but for a relatively unknown president, it's a good introduction. ...more
Tonight I finished reading Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. It's a short read and reads fast. A letter to his son, Coates' voice is intenTonight I finished reading Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. It's a short read and reads fast. A letter to his son, Coates' voice is intense and direct.
I'm still processing Coates' message. I admit that I find it distinct from my own life experience, a view of America and the world rooted far from my own. Where I grew up in largely homogenous communities, often in rural parts of the west, Coates is a child of the black inner city of the coast. His book is a personal narrative, a recasting of American history as resting on the backs of African slave labor, the sting and oppression which has never quite left our country, the plunder of which continues to bolster the children of our oppressor ancestors.
The son of a minority religious group--at least until I moved to Utah--there are moments when I can sympathize with the affinity he found at Howard University, a place where he finds for the first time the books to explain his culture, his past, his history, and a multimillennial explanation of the oppression of the African race. Like many of us, he begins to discover that he can become something more, that the ability to write taught him by his mother can become a tool for an inquiry into the world. With this...coming of age?...in the world during college I am able to find some empathy, for I too found people who understood me for the first time when I left home to attend college. But it is a tenuous connection. Coates story remains, for me, almost an anthropological look into a world that is very, very different from my own. It is familiar and yet alien.
And so I'm still processing it.
Have you read Between the World and Me, yet? What was your experience?
If not, have you heard of the book and intend to read it?...more
This book is appropriately named, though perhaps another subtitle could be added: "or how to fake it until you make it."
Scott Adams is known best for This book is appropriately named, though perhaps another subtitle could be added: "or how to fake it until you make it."
Scott Adams is known best for Dilbert, a "satirical office humor about a white-collar, micromanaged office featuring engineer Dilbert as the title character" (to quote Wikipedia). After listening to his story, it's hard not to see in the eponymous character much of Scott Adams. He is savvy, smart, and, in a way that is uniquely American, confident of doing anything he sets his mind to, regardless of whether he is qualified or not.
It's this last quality, this modern entrepreneurial "daring do" attitude, that makes Adams' book so compelling. As he tells his story, it becomes clear that he has overcome significant obstacles to success. That he overcame these obstacles makes the things he did compelling and persuasive. Indeed, there are times when I had to remind myself that even Adams himself had opened by admitting that he was only sharing what had worked for him, was simplifying the information he had learned from others, and that the readers should figure out what works best for them. Adams is so persuasive a story teller that it is difficult not to be inspired. You too can be a rich and famous--something--if you only think it, believe it, and work harder at it than anyone else.
Also, get lucky along the way. There's no doubt that luck plays a part in success, and you can see it in Adams' tale, but it was his ability and tenancy at taking advantage of both the opportunities, as well as capitalizing on the setbacks, that led him down a road to fame and fortune.
I truly admire Scott Adams for his success. I'm not sure I'll apply his methods or suggestions, but just listening to his story had the effect on me to get my creative juices and ambitions going. It's easy to believe success is in reach and that I can make the changes I need to obtain that success as you listen to Adams' tell how he turned one lemon after another into lemonade. Luck favors the prepared and at the heart of Adam's story is his application of his preparation at the opportune moment. It's a lesson we can all learn from....more
He's a Wall Street tycoon, a brilliant scientific mind, and an inventor of devices and instruments used by the military to defeat the forces of evil.
NHe's a Wall Street tycoon, a brilliant scientific mind, and an inventor of devices and instruments used by the military to defeat the forces of evil.
No, he's not Tony Stark; he's Alfred Lee Loomis, and his work helped bring down the Nazis and win World War II. And yet, you're unlikely to find a lot of information on Loomis in the history books. A businessman turned scientist, he was one step up from a dilettante among scientists, possessing the abilities to understand and to cultivate scientific research in his top of the line, skunk-works lab that he built on his property in the decades preceding World War II. His rise was remarkable for the seeming ease with which he accomplished every task before him.
Prior to the war, Loomis built a fortune as a Wall Street investor selling bonds for the incipient utilities industry. As the market began to bubble, Loomis recognized the signs of instability, and divested his holdings in utilities. Then as the crash of 1929 rolled the country, he earned even more through careful investing, growing his fortune at a time when others were ruined. By the time the 1930s were closing, Loomis had been able to leave business with a fortune that put him in the upper echelons of society in America, while at the same time allowing him to pursue his true interest, scientific research. As World War II began, and the Nazi menace spread, Loomis joined a nationwide network of scientists working to develop technologies that would help defeat Germany and its allies.
Loomis' story is remarkable, but in many ways felt lacking largely because of the lack of tension or obstacle. Written by a descendent, Tuxedo Park (the location of the laboratory Loomis built) feels like a long Wall Street Journal article, where quotations are given with the expectation that they will appear in the press and facts are presented dispassionately. In short, the story lacks narrative, a sense of progress. Loomis appears on the scene--whatever the scene may be-- and sua sponte achieves his aims. As one friend suggested while discussing the book, there's not many obstacles that can't be overcome, apparently, if you're both brilliant and filthy stinking rich. Especially rich.
And yet, wealth is no excuse for a flat story. Theodore Roosevelt and Winston Churchill also came from means, rising from wealthy families, but both would overcome great obstacles during their life to create biographies that beg to be told. If Loomis has that story, I found this one to be lacking in that regards. While I'm glad to have learned a new chapter of the World War II saga, I don't know that I would have missed not reading it. ...more
Mormon Rivals: The Romneys, the Huntsmans, and the Pursuit of Power is an engrossing political drama, an in-depth look at the lives, families, historyMormon Rivals: The Romneys, the Huntsmans, and the Pursuit of Power is an engrossing political drama, an in-depth look at the lives, families, history of and connections between two of the biggest names in politics to come out of Mormon ranks in a generation. Authors Matt Canham and Thomas Burr are masters of their subject, weaving a fascinating look at how the two families took parallel paths to rise from pioneers on the American frontier to leadership on the national political stage.
For political junkies, Mormon Rivals, published by the Salt Lake Tribune, is like opening a bag of Cheetos: You promise yourself that you're going to just read a page or two and then put the book down, turn off the light and go to bed. Hours later, you're still reading, gripped by a saga that is as dramatic as that of any modern political dynasty. Before you know it, morning light is filtering through the bedroom windows and you realize that you've got orange dust up to your elbows and the Cheetos are gone. Oh, and you know far more about the Romneys and Huntsmans than you ever thought to ask. Canham and Burr carefully document not only the family history of both of the former presidential candidates, but detail the path that each took to political prominence, and the combination is both fascinating and informative.
Here are the “saloon keepers and rabble rousers” in Jon Huntsman’s past on father’s side and the “ministers and proselytizers” on his mother’s. We watch Mitt’s father’s quest for the White House and the poorly conceived comments that ended that campaign for the Republican nomination. And there’s more, with the authors tracing both families’ history into their past as pioneers of the American west. I thought I had done a pretty decent job of following the presidential race in 2012, reading numerous stories about both Mitt and Jon, but I found much that I had missed, or had been unclear, a more thorough and less loaded picture than most accounts provided of the candidates during the heat of a presidential campaign.
It’s also clear that Canham and Burr know their subjects, if not personally, well enough to provide appropriate context, whether the reader is a political debutant or veteran. As if it weren’t clear from the title, a major part of the friction between Huntsman and Romney that the authors are examining is the common religion, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mitt and Jon come at their religion differently from each other, with Romney seeming, apparently sincerely, the more orthodox of the two, while Huntsman’s dedication to the LDS faith seems at times to be more cultural. The authors are able to use a deft hand to explain the faith to non-believers or the uninitiated, demonstrate how the faith impacted and was demonstrated by both Romney and Huntsman (and their families), but without the mistakes or faux pas that often characterize the writing of journalists from outside of the mountain west. It’s a style that neither flaunts not flogs the faith. Instead, it merely explains Latter-day Saint history and doctrine with sufficient information to provide a framework for the world from which Romney and Huntsman emerged.
In many respects, the Romney and Huntsman families come from different places and have made distinct choices that set them apart. Both have strong good looks, beautiful wives, and large families, but similarities fade from there. Romney may be culturally closer to Utah, but is more a child of Michigan and Massachusetts. Huntsman, a Salt Lake City native, often seems to have more in common with an east coast prep school crowd than with the social and economic conservatives of his home state.
There are other differences, as well. Both owe much to their fathers for help in building their careers, but Huntsman career seemed to rely more on his father’s connections, and large financial donations, to political elites. Whether in his appointment to the USTR or employment with Huntsman Corp, Jon’s biggest benefactor has always been his father Jon Huntsman, Sr. It’s hard to argue that Romney was as reliant on his father for Mitt’s immense success in business or in politics. On the other hand, the influence of George Romney on his son’s choices in life cannot be underestimated. However, it was an influence that is born of Mitt’s admiration for his father, not based on his father’s money.
And, of course, there is the 2012 campaign for the White House. Canham and Burr tell the story that is still fresh in the public’s mind with a thorough look at the ups and downs of the campaign.
As Mormon Rivals draws to a close, Canham and Burr look at the scions of the Romney and Huntsman clans, evaluating how the next generation has participated in their fathers’ political lives and whether a second generation of rivalry might continue the rivalry. Whether Abby Huntsman and Josh (or Tagg) Romney will enter politics, though, remains an open question, and the book closes with an eye on the future. ...more
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