A Few Remaining Thoughts on Kornblut

I was really disappointed that I had to miss last weeks class (I'll explain the reason why I was gone in my next blog post because I think it was pretty interesting and relevant to our class) when we were discussing Anna Kornblut's Notes From the Cracked Ceiling, and figured I would refrain for a couple days to see if any of the material you all discussed in class came up here on the blog - from what I can tell it sounds like the discussion focused on different types of feminism and generational differences, an issue that I thought was very interestingly highlighted in Kornblut's book.

I personally really enjoyed Notes From the Cracked Ceiling, not simply because of the material, but because of the kind of perspective she brought to the topic. I think her position as a journalist gave her an incredible and balanced insight into the candidacies of both Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin and allowed her to probe issues in a particularly fascinating way. The fact that she framed the entire book as an answer to a very delicate question (Why did these candidacies fail?) I think made it so that she provided the reader with a uniquely thorough description. I think her discussion of the presses unfair treatment was especially poignant and brought many issues that sincerely need to be addressed amongst her journalistic peers to the forefront.

On another note, I am not sure how many of you have read John Heilemann and Mark Halperin's book, Game Change, but I couldn't help but be reminded of certain passages of Game Change while reading Notes. Both books address many of the same specific incidents, although Game Change is a great deal more gossipy, and does not delve into the important identity dynamics or explanations that made the candidates in 2008 so interesting. I guess what was so encouraging to me about Notes was the fact that it was able to tackle these questions and issues with tact and fact. It made me wonder what would happen if a book that got as much buzz and acclaim as Game Change had actually addressed the important questions of the 2008 election, or really, what would happen if Notes From the Cracked Ceiling had been treated with the acclaim it deserved?