Outside the Wire

I've followed Jason Kander on social media for years now, probably since he decided to run for the Senate in 2016. I didn't live in St. Louis by then but I had great memories of living in Missouri as well as visiting Kansas City, and I was quite excited to follow a progressive millennial politician from the very red state. The election night ended up being full of disappointments, including Kander's loss but he is still contributing a lot to the country through his organizations Let America Vote and Veterans Community Project. I was actually very excited to read his book when it released last year but somehow lost sight of it among whatever was happening in my life then. I was recently watching a YouTube video of his and decided it was time I picked it up. I managed to get the audiobook which is even better because he narrates it himself and it was very fun experience.

This is not a typical memoir where we follow his life in a chronological order. This is more of a list of lessons he has learned in his life, that he thinks will be useful for other too - especially ones who are aspiring politicians or want to be a part of public service in whatever way they can. However, don't mistake these life lessons to be told in any preachy manner because he is too cool for that. He lets us know through his self deprecating humor and signature bluntness how he arrived at those lessons, giving us anecdotes from his life in Afghanistan or the campaign trail or even his various interactions with politicians and voters. He really is very honest about whatever he wants to say, and it's clearly obvious that this trait of his has gotten him into hot water quite a few times with other politicians across party lines. But I guess this is what makes him apart from everyone else - he is not here just to win elections, he is here because he believes in his convictions and works hard to ensure that he is helping people in whatever way he can.

I particularly enjoyed listening about some policy fights he had with republicans during his stint in the Missouri House of Representatives and as it's Secretary of State. He is also not at all scared of naming and shaming people with whom he had these encounters, which I actually found a bit surprising but also refreshing. His anecdotes from Afghanistan are also quite funny in retrospect, but it's a little hard to read about the kinda of scary situations the soldiers had to navigate, oftentimes without a lot of protection. And even though the book jumps timelines a lot of times, he narrates it all in such an engaging manner that I didn't get bored for even a second. He even makes some situations feel very suspenseful and I was eagerly awaiting to know the outcome (like any fiction novel). I obviously can't not mention that his pop culture references really show that he is a true blue millennial even though I didn't get most of them. But he referenced particular scenes and dialogues from the tv show The West Wing and that brought a huge smile on my face.

On the whole, this was a very engaging memoir and I loved getting to know Kander better after just getting glimpses of him through twitter for years. If you like reading politician's memoirs and would love to know more about a progressive politician who also happens to be the first millennial to ever win statewide office in the country, you should definitely pick this up. It's full of hope and optimism and a sense of duty and I think you'll really enjoy it. I would also highly recommend the audiobook because Jason's narration is fun and honest and very engaging. And I'm very much looking forward to see what he does next in the political arena.