Book Review: ‘Our Divided Political Heart’ by E. J. Dionne Jr.
Geoffrey KabaserviceThe New York Times
The Washington Post columnist E. J. Dionne Jr. has ascended to a sufficiently elevated plane of the Higher Punditry that his author’s biography no longer mentions he received a doctorate from Oxford, where he was a Rhodes scholar. Even so, he still comes across as a precocious student, bubbling with boyish charm and enthusiasm for ideas, though sometimes a bit glib and preening. His books are clever, upbeat and interesting, particularly when he examines current political concerns through the lens of history, religion and philosophy. But while readers will admire Dionne’s intellectual dexterity in diagnosing the historical origins of our present political problem of division and dysfunction, they may also wish he could make a more substantive case for how we might move beyond it.
The Washington Post columnist E. J. Dionne Jr. has ascended to a sufficiently elevated plane of the Higher Punditry that his author’s biography no longer mentions he received a doctorate from Oxford, where he was a Rhodes scholar. Even so, he still comes across as a precocious student, bubbling with boyish charm and enthusiasm for ideas, though sometimes a bit glib and preening. His books are clever, upbeat and interesting, particularly when he examines current political concerns through the lens of history, religion and philosophy. But while readers will admire Dionne’s intellectual dexterity in diagnosing the historical origins of our present political problem of division and dysfunction, they may also wish he could make a more substantive case for how we might move beyond it.
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