Lyle Greenfield’s new book is a breath of fresh air for a troubled world. With the matter-of-factly titled Uniting the States of America: A Self-Care Plan for a Wounded Nation, it’s a particularly sobering statement that Greenfield movingly includes photographs of, and dedications to his children and grandchildren. Simply put, the statement reads: For Ava Marie – and for Linley Jane, Parker Murray, Nolan Thomas, Eleanor Marie, and all the little ones for whom we have much work to do. Most including such vulnerable and raw sentiments then go for cheap, using rhetoric that has almost an apocalyptic, doomsday proselytizing feel with little actual theories, methodologies, or action plans proposed for how to combat the oncoming threat. To his infinite credit, as even some of the best of the best stoop to this low, Greenfield immediately springs to action.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: https://x.com/i/flow/login?redirect_after_login=%2Flylegreenfield
He’s clear, informed, and articulates his points in bell-clear, eloquent, quietly directed prose. For him, it’s about action, not argument. And the way to bring people into the fold and to the table is from a place of instigating and supporting self-empowerment, not deflation or a sense of simply being overwhelmed by the enormity of the problems at hand.
Greenfield’s book fundamentally explores the lack of communication prevalent amongst political parties, differing social movements and belief systems, and individuals sitting around the kitchen table. He unwaveringly is able to describe his own chagrin at the current cultural condition in America, but never at the expense of retaining a calm, collected, and informed approach to mending fences. In the case of Greenfield, he advocates for what he christens a 10-point plan for healing American divisiveness. Like any truly reliable communicator, he sticks to the facts, and to objective methodologies – not immaterial arguments, or tangents with an excessive verbose touch, yet little substance. It’s just straight truths and articulations for how to proceed here, per aforementioned philosophy. He samples different voices in the text, informing his approach to implementing the 10-point plan. The result is something reasoned, concise, and indicative of being a genuine elixir to a lack of communication, a lack of empathy for one’s dissenting opinion. He writes about this with wit, emotional candor, and a sense of pace to boot.
“Finally, I’ll attempt to distill these ideas and information into a 10-point plan for Uniting the States of America. A simple recipe for a better American pie, if you will,” he states. “Is this even possible? To quote the conservative pundit and columnist Karl Rove from an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, ‘U.S. politics today is ugly and broken …. But the good news is that it was worse in the past, and it will get better again.’ I hope he’s right about that. But better sooner than later, I say, so let’s get to work. Together.”
AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/Uniting-States-America-Self-Care-Wounded-ebook/dp/B0D96RYKDF
Together. It’s odd how certain words have taken on a sanctity with which it’s easy to get somewhat wrought up over. But again, action – not just argument. Greenfield writes with this straightforward focus, keeping the reader’s eyes on the core concepts of his proposed path to a better future. That is to be commended.
Garth Thomas