tl;dr: This book is possibly the most important political book you’ll read this year.

I went into this book pretty pessimistic. After reading Sasse’s op-ed on the same topic in the WSJ I was convinced he was one more out of touch Republican senator.

But I picked up this book on the recommendation of a friend. And I’m very glad I did.

It turns out Sasse is not what I expected. The book is a surprisingly frank analysis of what divides our country. He does a really good job of calling out problematic behavior on both sides, and mostly leaving policy out of it.

And I think he’s right on pretty much all counts. My view of him has completely flipped. We may not agree on policy, but I would be pretty hard pressed not to vote for him if I lived in Nebraska.

Read the book. Whether you agree with it or not it’s a side of things that’s worth inspecting.