Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service [J0111]

2025 - HCDJ Excellent condition. Who works for the government and why does their work matter? An urgent and absorbing civics lesson from an all-star team of writers and storytellers. The government is a vast, complex system that Americans pay for, rebel against, rely upon, dismiss, and celebrate. It's also our shared resource for addressing the biggest problems of society. And it's made up of people, mostly unrecognized and uncelebrated, doing work that can be deeply consequential and beneficial to everyone. Michael Lewis invited his favorite writers, including Casey Cep, Dave Eggers, John Lanchester, Geraldine Brooks, Sarah Vowell, and W. Kamau Bell, to join him in finding someone doing an interesting job for the government and writing about them. The stories they found are unexpected, riveting, and inspiring, including a former coal miner devoted to making mine roofs less likely to collapse, saving thousands of lives; an IRS agent straight out of a crime thriller; and the manager who made the National Cemetery Administration the best-run organization, public or private, in the entire country. Each essay shines a spotlight on the essential behind-the-scenes work of exemplary federal employees. Whether they're digitizing archives, chasing down cybercriminals, or discovering new planets, these public servants are committed to their work and universally reluctant to take credit. Expanding on the Washington Post series, the vivid profiles in Who Is Government? blow up the stereotype of the irrelevant bureaucrat. They show how the essential business of government makes our lives possible, and how much it matters.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "In an age when tens of thousands of government jobs are being mindlessly eliminated, this book is especially relevant for the public to discern the importance of those decisions and the names and purposes behind the statistic."; "Every public servant deserves to have an essay like these written about them, and every time someone bloviates about gutting federal (and state! and local!) program, they should have to read stories of the amazing folks working thanklessly every day to make the world better, to serve all of us in ways we didn't even realize we needed."; "If you're one of the people who ever wonders, "Where do my tax dollars really go?" or if you're in need of another argument for when you inevitably encounter someone who laments spending money on social services, this text offers a cursory but meaningful look at who government is, exactly, and what it does."