The Secret: Love, Marriage, and HIV Book

Overall I think it was a good book. A nice introduction and expansion of what it means to "go local". The book is short on details though and reads as pie in the sky wishful thinking.

My big issue with the book is that Shuman advocates for more local power and smaller units of government, but glosses over the dangers of parochialism. Call me a cynic, but I just don't believe that people are as good natured as Shuman does. Smaller government may be closer to citizens, but that doesn't mean that citizens will behave better. Towns all over this country enact exclusionary and self-serving laws. Before local control can hope to fix anything, the fundamental inequalities that exist in this country must be addressed. Home-rule authority is already used to protect the wealthy; they don't need more tools to keep poor people out of their communities.

Overall, the book felt like it was just skimming the surface. Granted, it is not an academic piece and is clearly written for the lay reader. Still, I'd like to have seen a more nuanced and critical look at the issue. A good tool to get people interested in wresting control from big business, but one that should be accompanied by further research on the part of the reader.