I really liked this book! I knew nothing abut Dave Pell before picking it up and I was pleasantly surprised. He is super funny and provides a comprehensive commentary on 2020, the worst year ever. It was almost soothing in a way to relive all the events of the year from his point of view rather than mine. His was better. Sarcastic and thought-provoking, yet also very informative--definitely worth reading!!!

This book was a revisit of the political and social hellscape that was 2020 in America. I like that Dave Pell provides factual information as well as provides personal anecdotes to reference certain events as well. The headlines were definitely blaring in this book. I think a lot of people will stroll through this one day and realize the level of duping that has occurred in our country. It will be interesting to see the take that history has on this year in the future. The IQs were low and the world was quite the dumpster fire. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.

Dave Pell of the NextDraft daily newsletter has put together a recap of the year that would never end. Reading through the book I found it surreal to read all that had happened in 2020 from a news perspective since almost every day of that year was newsworthy. I found the comparisons of what particular outlets were covering particularly helpful as a way to understand what others were focused on throughout the year. Overall, I think this book will be a helpful bench mark for how fascinating and horrifying 2020 was for all of us to live through.

Dave Pell’s “Please Scream Inside Your Heart: Breaking News and Nervous Breakdowns in the Year That Wouldn’t End” is a kind of time capsule of the year 2020, month by month, by the man who calls himself the managing editor of the internet. Pell’s newsletter, NextDraft, is apparently well-known, but I admit I went into this clueless about him or his newsletter.

In addition to chronicling the year from hell, Pell explores his deep connection with his Holocaust-survivor parents, and all the are both heart-warming and gut-wrenching. Here is Pell on his father escaping the Nazis: “In the darkness, my dad crawled on his hands and knees through mud and s— until he reached the edge of the Polish forest,” Pell writes. “He survived there for months, alone, often getting through the night by stealing some warmth while lying on top of outdoor bread ovens. Eventually, he got a gun. A gun meant you could join the partisans, an organized group of insurgents, protecting each other and launching attacks from their hideaways in the woods. He spent years fighting the Nazis, specializing in blowing up German trains headed toward the front.”

The title comes from a sign in an amusement park in Japan, admonishing the riders of a new and very scary ride to be stoic...advice we all needed throughout 2020 (and, so far, 2021). Four stars and thanks to Hachette Books and NetGalley for providing a copy in exchange for this honest review.

This is the intellectual reassurance we all needed!

Dave Pell has been soothing my soul for quite some time with his daily newsletter, NextDraft. His humor and laser-sharp wit reduce the anxiety-inducing news topics to a manageable level, reminding me that I'm not the only one who sees current events for what they really are.

When I heard he'd put all his 2020 eggs into one book basket, I knew right away it was one I had to have. And when I was able to secure an ARC copy through NetGalley, I was not disappointed.

Stealing the title from a sign above a roller coaster admonishing riders not to allow their fear to alarm their fellow passengers, he goes on to craft the entire 13-month news cycle - from January 2020 through January 2021 - as the roller coaster it was. He not only examines everything that happened on our national and world stage, he puts it into the context of history as only a man with deep personal ties to the atrocities of the Holocaust can.

This should be required reading for everyone too young to call themselves a Boomer, as those are the folks who lack the first- and second-hand knowledge of how hard evil was to eradicate in WWII. I grew up wondering just how the good Christian people of Germany could have allowed such a madman to destroy their country; I never thought I'd live in an America that was so ill-educated as to allow it to happen here only a few decades later. This book lays it all out in plain language, easy to read yet filled with thought-provoking insights and amazingly cogent exposition.

This is as much an autobiography as it is political punditry, a method that serves to underscore the authority with which he comments as well as endearing him to the reader as just another hard-working family man, the kind that built this country in the first place. Scattered throughout are some of his best tweets, reminding us all of the power of social media to cut through the noise and connect us with like-minded fellow citizens.

I am still awaiting the delivery of the hard copy of this book; even though my children are all grown and not a single one of them is stupid enough to fall for the authoritarian cult that is today's GOP, I'm still going to insist that they read this book to insulate their intelligence and arm them with the necessary facts and historical perspective so they can defend our nation's Constitution against the encroaching evil that, sadly, is not yet completely vanquished.

If you're looking for a book to explain the past year in America and to educate yourself or your target audience, look no further. This is a fun book to read, despite its heavy content, because it reminds us that we're not the ones who've lost sight of what this great nation is truly all about. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.