Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service

This book should be required reading for all who disparage our government workers. The stories are masterfully told and the people in them have an unimaginable dedication. Kudos to Michael Lewis for writing another fantastic book!

Only the truth from a master writer of nonfiction.

Excellent work and profoundly important as the Trump group is attempting to politicize what has been and should be professional and for the public good

Intelligently written. This pulls the curtain back on civil servants and shows what good people they are.

The eight vignettes in eight short chapters has made me realize that our country might actually survive its current crisis. It is a "must read" for those of us seeking inspiration in our government.

With all of the knocks on federal government employees these days, I enjoyed reading true stories about people who really made a difference in government. I'm sure there are many more who do the same.

If you think that government workers are just part of a big ineffective bureaucracy, read this book. There are so many govt. workers whose whole goal is to help their fellow Americans.

Excellent book!She sells seashells by the seashore. Sea shells she sells by the seashore. Sea shells she sells by the she sore.

When I was a teenager I looked in the Occupational Outlook Handbook to find a good paying job that paid well and was in demand. I should have looked at Who Is Government? so I felt fulfilled as I entered retirement.

I loved this book. I always enjoy a Michael Lewis book, but this set of essays is a wonderful collection of stories about people who took in anonymity. Yet their work has such incredible impact and demonstrates WHY we have a federal government. Should be required reading in high schools, fostering more young people to serve and choose civil service careers.

This is what we should all understand about government today. It’s so much more than the three branches. It’s huge and this collection of essays makes a strong case for that being a very good thing indeed.

Government is “for” the people even if some on the right don’t believe. This book is timely in that it gives an insight into so many selfless people dedicate their lives in the public service.

Compelling stories from ‘Boring’ places. A great service is done by this book in an era of DOGE and wacky govt experiments

This book was a gift, not one I would have bought for myself, but nevertheless I trust the giver so I wanted to give the book a chance.The premise of this book (a collection of essays by a number of writers) is that there are good people doing necessary work in our government. A few of the writers really understood the assignment - Michael Lewis, Casey Cep, Geraldine Brooks. Their essays were interesting, even moving. Another couple made game attempts (Dave Eggers' essay could have answered better why the government should find exoplanet research, and John Lancaster didn't humanize the Consumer Price Index). Unfortunately, the remaining writers seemed more interested in trotting out their own hobby horses (settler colonialism in the case of Sarah Vowell, sexuality and racial issues in the case of W. Kamau Bell).If you want to preach to the choir, fine. Talk up progressive causes, and everybody who already favors government will feel further justified. But if the goal was to change minds, the people who view government negatively, forgo the virtue signaling, and don't try to score partisan points with petty digs (even the best essayists couldn't resist this temptation). Remember your goal.

I can't stop reading this book. Most interesting stories about real government employees whose seemingly mundane lives have been very important at providing the type of help a government should bring to its citizens. None of them feel themselves to be heroes, but every one of these government employees are what I would call "value added people". In a time when our government is being stripped of proper funding and government employees are being told that they are not useful or deserving of their paychecks, this book stands up to tell the truth. Well written. I did real some of the articles in the Washington Post but had forgotten, thus I am so glad to have good stories to tell about who actually works for our government

Okay, it is easy to blame government for all its failures despite elections, but the government is comprised of an amazing number of unsung heroes, modest civil servants, committed to serving America. As Michael Lewis has always done, he asks questions, investigates, explores, and listens.This time, Lewis invited some writers to assist. Spotlighting some of these amazing individuals inspires, reassures, and validates the best of government. Unfortunately, we are living in a time when DOGE budget cuts, myopic politicians, and public ignorance threaten the various individuals, agencies, and programs that have benefited Americans.Read slowly, chapters at a time while balancing with other reading, but well worth the reading.

Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable read even though I found a number of stories heavily biased towards what could be described as "progressive" views. While the book doesn't draw any specific conclusions, it sort of nudges you towards the view that the government (the system and the people) is noble, hardworking despite being underfunded and underplayed. In short something we need more of. In real life the picture is much more complex with both being concurrently true: lots of well-meaning hardworking people and well intentioned programs AND a good deal of dead wait and waste, fraud, and abuse. We should be able to keep both thoughts in our minds at the same time and to have a civil, constructive discourse about them. These are the stories that need telling, stories about people who need to be celebrated. And, not surprisingly, I cried when reading the last one.

The general public doesn't realize who civil servants are or what they do. This book gives insight into the wide variety of people who work quietly in the background. They make less money than if they were in the private sector. But some jobs are not done by the private sector as they do not generate money for a business. During furloughs they are told to stay out of the office or the risk being arrested for trespass. They are reimbursed for salary but not interest or late fees. They are know how things could be improved but are rarely asked and if they are, rarely are their comments implemented.

"Who Is Government" would be an excellent book regardless of when it was published. Michael Lewis not only wrote two excellent chapters for the book, but he also selected six authors who added their voices to the accurate depiction of how selfless public servants improve our lives. What makes the book not just excellent but also vital to the health of Civics in the US is the timing of its publication, though. "Who is Government" is a crucial shield against the vilification of career government officials (and the contempt towards public service as an ethos) that has grown louder and infected more than 70 million Americans since Trump started his baseless accusations about "The Deep State."I read and re-read Lewis' previous assessment of the strong service ethic in the Federal Government (and how it was dismissed and neglected by the first Trump Administration). "The Fifth Risk" left me wondering about how many more examples there would be of public servants working hard on behalf of their fellow citizens while trying to stay as far away as possible from the spotlight. I'm happy to report that "Who Is Government" delivers a near-perfect answer to my question.The only sad reaction this book elicits is indirect, and it got worse as I read the negative reviews here. Chances are that those who need to understand how the Federal Government meets their needs far better than a self-aggrandizing POTUS (and his Apartheid Nepobaby sidekick) ever could will never assess "Who Is Government" with intellectual honesty, or read it at all. Ultimately, we are not talking about a fight between Democrats and Republicans, or between liberals and conservatives. This is a fight between knowledge and willful ignorance. That the latter seem to be winning bothers me less than how irreparable the consequences of their temporary victory might be for the US and for the rest of the world.In view of this, I choose the same path Lewis and his co-authors chose. Shine a light on the valuable work good people do, explain as clearly as possible that work helps even those that attack it without understanding it, and hope that we'l be able to convince some of them that they were wrong.

Easy read with a hopeful theme. It should be required reading for anyone making decisions on the structure of government. It did leave me with a bit of saddness when read in today's environment (early 2025) given it represented what can be done when the collective we decide to do good. It would be nice to return to that time and work together to create the world we want to live in.