Book Club – The Washington Post – March 21, 2025

Book Club – Reviews and recommendations from critic Ron Charles.

By Ron Charles

Elon Musk holds a chainsaw at the Conservative Political Action Conference at the National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland on Feb. 20, 2025. (Photo by Valerie Plesch for The Washington Post)

In his 2006 biography of Andrew Carnegie, David Nasaw notes that the fabulously wealthy industrialist “would live his final years in disappointment that he had not met his lifelong goal of giving away all his money.

It wasn’t for lack of trying. At the start of the 20th century, Carnegie was building two libraries a week. In 1903, he doubled that pace. Before he died in 1919, he’d given away money for the construction of more than 2,500 libraries. To distribute these charitable donations as quickly as possible, Carnegie designed a “scientific, corporate system,” Nasaw writes. “He had turned his giving into a business — a very efficient one.” They don’t make efficient rich people like they used to. Now, our wealthiest citizen is brandishing a chainsaw and celebrating as federal cuts doom millions of people to unemployment, illness and intellectual impoverishment.
The horrors and the hardships are becoming impossible to catalogue in this cascade of malfeasance, but let’s take a moment to concentrate on libraries: Last Friday night, Donald Trump fired off another havoc-wreaking executive order.
Among other things, this one calls for gutting the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Every year, that little-known agency supports America’s museums and libraries with grants totaling about $266 million, which is close to what Elon Musk spent to put Trump back in the White House. IMLS grants have helped tens of thousands of libraries offer STEM classes, training for school librarians working with students with disabilities, broadband access, disaster relief planning, services for veterans, employment assistance, expanded access to e-books and summer reading programs for kids. Not bad for 78 cents a year per American. John Chrastka, executive director of the advocacy group EveryLibrary, tells me that the precipitous nature of Trump’s executive order is “catastrophic.” “Having that funding suddenly disappear would be very difficult because states can’t just flip a switch and raise taxes,” Chrastka says. “To cover that, you need some planning, you need some order, you need some time.”
Read more: Book Club – The Washington Post – March 21, 2025Source Links: Book Club from The Washington Post