Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/877799
is typically such a taboo topic and even in provider-patient relation- ships, that patients are not prepared when death suddenly comes knocking. Most Americans do not have advance directives written down, nor have they designated a proxy to make medical decisions for them. The last chapters are devoted to reviewing the modern "right-to- die" movement and explaining the differences between euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, and terminal sedation. Overall, this is a fascinating and worthy book to read, particularly for registered nurses who encounter death on a daily basis and often play such a huge supporting role in the death process. But I found the material was sometimes poorly organized and redundant; War- raich sometimes skips around and the reading experience can be dis- jointed. And, of course, Warraich is observing only the small fraction of deaths that occur for those who actually have access to hospitals; what is the situation for those who are shut out of our profit-driven, corporate-controlled healthcare system? Nevertheless, Warraich makes a valiant effort to lay death bare so that it is not so terrifying. "To me, death derives its power from the deafening silence it induces whenever it enters a discussion," he writes. He also adds, "Perhaps the best way to beat it is to talk it to death." —Lucia Hwang No Is Not Enough: Resisting Trump's shock politics and winning the world we need By Naomi Klein; Haymarket Books If, like many progressives, you find yourself discombobulated by the cur- rent state of the country, feeling like you are living an absurdist alternative reality, and constantly waving your arms, you need to read Naomi Klein's latest book, No Is Not Enough. Then everything will make perfect sense and you will regain your sense of knowing what to do. It should be required read- ing for all activists. Over her long career, Klein has written three authoritative books about the most seminal economic and cultural forces at work in our global society: one about the develop- ment and significance of modern branding and the rise of "super- brands," one about how disasters and other shocking events, whether natural or man made, are exploited by individuals and gov- ernments to push through changes that would normally never be accepted by the public, and one about how reversing the climate cri- sis necessitates an entire dismantling of the neoliberal economic agenda and radical adoption of a fossil-fuel-less economy. In No Is Not Enough, Klein builds upon all her previous work and research to present a concise worldview of how Donald Trump's administration is "less an aberration than a logical conclusion—a pastiche of pretty much all the worst trends of the past half century." She organizes the book into an explanation of how we got to the present day, what's happening now, the damage she predicts is yet to come, and how we not only resist, but proactively create and cham- pion our vision for the way things could and should operate. A lot of us are just stumped by how Trump can talk, act, and tweet in a way so disconnected from reality, yet still enjoy the support he does. Simple, explains Klein. Trump is not simply Trump. Trump is an established brand, and the rules of branding, not reality, apply. "According to these rules, you don't need to be objectively good or decent; you only need to be true and consistent to the brand you have created…If you stay focused, very little can touch you." Given this, the only way to take down a brand is to attack the ways it is not living up to the brand. Trump's brand is all about being "the boss" and being obscenely rich, so efforts to show how he's not really in charge (à la references to "President Bannon") and to make him less rich (such as boycotting his brand's products or convincing real estate developers not to lease his brand) will be the most effective. The book is too dense for me to delve into every chapter and sec- tion, but let's just say Klein does a brilliant job of examining every facet of the injustices we are experiencing today—economic inequity, racial inequity, gender inequity, political inequity, environ- mental inequity—through her critical lens of the neoliberal agenda. It's chilling and terrifying, but it all makes sense. From the outset, however, Klein insists that just protesting this agenda is not sufficient. "Saying no to bad ideas and bad actors is simply not enough," she writes. "The firmest of no's has to be accom- panied by a bold and forward-looking yes—a plan for the future that is credible and captivating enough that a great many people will fight to see it realized, no matter the shocks and scare tactics thrown their way…No…may be what initially brings millions into the streets. But it is yes that will keep us in the fight." Both in the 1990s, when a global movement against corporate free trade agreements was vibrant and gaining steam, and after the Great Depression of 2008 when Obama was president and Democrats controlled the House, we had chances to take the country and world in a different direc- tion, but Klein argues that 9/11 sadly hit the brakes on the first, and as for the second, "we weren't ready—too many of us were waiting for change to be delivered from on high." We were not prepared to push and pressure Obama to do what we needed. She does not want for us to miss our moment again, nor for us to be distracted or retreat when the next crisis hits. The good news is that people have been shocked awake; people are ready to fight. Klein spends the last part of her book explaining how her experience at Standing Rock convinced her that we must not only resist, but build and model the type of world we want to live in, and to dream big. Indeed, the window of opportunity to turn around the climate crisis has grown so short that we must dream big. For her part, Klein helped convene a diverse group of Canadians to come together and draft a people's platform based on values, not necessarily policies. Our current neoliberal system is based on "lim- itless taking and extracting, on maximum grabbing," she writes. "In sharp contrast, when people spoke about the world they wanted, the words care and caretaking came up again and again—care for the land, for the planet's living systems, and for one another…Though many of us (including me) had originally thought we were conven- ing to draft a list of policy goals, we realized that this shift in values, and indeed in morality, was at the core of what we were trying to map…The specifics of policy all flowed from that shift." Under this framework, any job that doesn't burn a lot of carbon is a "green" job: teaching, day care, nursing! The end result was what they called the "Leap Manifesto," and communities all over the world have been inspired to adapt the doc- ument to their needs. Of course, nurses' values of caring, compas- sion, and community fit perfectly with this vision of utopia. As a nurse activist, a patient advocate, and a champion of humanity, your 16 N A T I O N A L N U R S E W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . 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