Hirshman documents behind-the-scenes details, political maneuvering, evidence that was presented or suppressed, truths that became apparent long after decisions went into effect, and how these developments affect current events. The unabated, continuing public outcry against sexual harassment is a reminder that resolution is long overdue.
In thirteen strong chapters, Hirshman examines major US events in great detail and with a storyteller’s panache ... What’s striking throughout Reckoning, along with how history repeats, is, once again, Hirshman’s tone: combative and pragmatic but also rather simplistic...The practical advice only goes so far ... I read Reckoning seeking the concrete advice Hirshman offered in Get to Work. But I finished the book wanting more counsel and less storytelling.
The history recounted in Reckoning is buoyed along by a sense of righteous inevitability ... Hirshman has written a timely and readable volume on an urgent subject, but her disdain for anyone she deems to be the wrong kind of feminist can be so potent that it’s corrosive ... Hirshman gestures at some of these complexities, including the trade-offs liberal women have had to confront, especially when it comes to the piggishness of certain male Democrats ... The strongest parts of Reckoning are where Hirshman gives credit to the black women in addition to Hill who were central to the movement ... Reckoning glosses over an expansive definition of physical assault without peering too closely at its expansive law-and-order implications ... anyone seeking a deeper understanding of why the current moment has been such a long time coming may wish that she had done a little more reckoning of her own.
