The Song Behind Today’s Review Title

Today’s review title comes from the infectious 1979 Queen song Don’t Stop Me Now, a rocking paean to having a good time. The song exudes happiness, confidence and energy like no other. It was not an immediate hit but has grown in popularity over time as it has featured in numerous ads, TV shows and movies. It now ranks as one of Queen’s most beloved tunes. In September of 2024 the European “Grand Jam” took up the song, performed by 1,000 musicians in this YouTube video.

For me this performance expresses the theme of today’s book, as the team of musicians, motivated by their love of the song (as opposed to money), set out to make something good. Besides, it’s also just happy and fun, feelings that are in somewhat short supply right now.

Michael Lewis teams up with seven other authors in Who is Government? The book is a set of stories about the good work done by dedicated individuals within our Federal government.

Lewis has two other books that mine the rich vein of stories presented by the wide-ranging work done by our government. Published in 2018, The Fifth Risk is built on stories originally written for Vanity Fair. That book focused on examples of outstanding work done inside the Federal bureaucracies. Kirkus Reviews called it “a searing indictment of… Trump’s disastrous administration.”

If that book made you feel good about the work of federal employees, the follow up book The Premonition made you feel the opposite. Published in 2022, it tells the story of a group of brilliant scientists known as the Wolverines. They try to help the country through the COVID crisis but are caught within a broken public health system. In my review of that book I said it “reads like a thriller” and “had me hooked from the start.”

In Who is Government?, Lewis recruits seven other authors who return to the promise of The Fifth Risk. The book contains feel-good narratives, all but one of which first appeared as 2024 feature stories in The Washington Post. The focus here is on stories of exceptional work done by dedicated individuals who rise to meet unmet needs or answer a call to serve.

Of the eight stories my favorites were the first two. The first covers Christopher Marks' years-long effort to identify causes for roof collapses in coal mines. His efforts to not only find causes but also ways to stop collapses finally paid off in 2016. That was the first year in which no deaths were recorded due to coal mine roof collapses.

The second story focuses on Ronald Walters of the VA’s National Cemetery Administration. It’s the story of his dogged focus on customer service for our fallen heroes and their families. Walters and his employees show selfless service in pursuit of that goal. Under his leadership the National Cemetery Administration has topped the University of Michigan’s American Customer Satisfaction Index seven times. Most recently they did it with a score of 97 - the highest any organization of any kind has ever achieved.

That second story sums up the message of the book. Public servants are not the shiftless caricature we've been told. Public service is not populated by underachievers who would never make it in the private sector. Clock punching loafers, looking forward to retirement. Instead, there are real stories to be told of high achievers, whose quiet dedication can and sometimes does achieve excellence.

Read it for the interesting stories, and for a feel-good dose of reality in these post-DOGE times.

The seven other authors in this anthology are: Casey Cep, Dave Eggers, John Lanchester, Geraldine Brooks, Sarah Vowell and W. Kamau Bell.

RATING: Four Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐

OVERALL COMMENTS: Eight unexpected and inspiring stories about the essential work being done by exemplary federal employees. An excellent follow up to Lewis’s The Fifth Risk.

WHERE I GOT MY COPY: I purchased a hardcover copy of the book at Barnes and Noble on a recent trip to Missouri.