United: Thoughts on Finding Common Ground and Advancing the Common Good

This first book by Booker, the junior senator from New Jersey and one of the rising stars nationally of the Democratic Party, is highly readable and engaging. Both within his home state and via his social media presence, Booker has become known for his positive, approachable manner, and this work, which blends memoir and politics is written in that voice. He begins by documenting his familial history and follows with how he entered politics; prior to the U.S. Senate, Booker, a Yale Law School graduate, was a city councilman and mayor of Newark, NJ, his adopted hometown. He focuses chapters on the local leaders (e.g., heads of tenants' organizations) who inspired him and shaped his experiences, and consistently credits them for their tireless work in the city. His impassioned call for reforms to the country's criminal justice system, especially with regards to mandatory minimum sentences and the lack of resources for the recently released, is backed up by data and his time living with and advocating for Newark's most vulnerable. Whether readers agree or disagree with the senator's politics, his titular appeal for Americans to recognize their history of interdependence and to work to improve the lives of others is hard to dispute.