If you are a fan of democracy and of a functioning federal government, then you probably recognize the name Robert Reich. Heck, you may even follow him on social media. Even though he has a long and storied career in government and in higher education, Reich has gained most recent popularity as being one of the major voices of reason in an America gone MAGA. So, what's his own story? What experiences brought him to this point, as he approaches 80 years of age? What can we learn from the past that he himself witnessed?

Naturally, this memoir is told mostly in chronological order. We tag along as Bob has a solid family life and a happy childhood in Connecticut. Then he moves on to attend college at Dartmouth and Yale, where his grad school classwork caused him to meet Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham, before they were known as Bill-and-Hillary. Gee whiz. After college, Bob embarked on a lengthy career of public service. His positions included interning in the office of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, working at the Department of Justice, and serving as the U.S. Secretary of Labor and heading the Department of Labor for four years during the Clinton administration. Bob grew to understand the details of how our government worked. Economics became his specialty. Eventually, he acted as an adviser and a consultant in this field.

And yet, Bob believes that teaching has been his true calling. Over the years, he taught -- and learned from -- college students at Harvard, Brandeis and UC-Berkeley. His approach is a casual but ultimately knowledgeable one. Although he is no longer based in a physical classroom, Bob is still teaching. Us. The American public. Through a variety of social media outlets.

Sometimes Bob offers pointed lists to detail his explanations. He does this by citing the differences between authoritarianism and fascism, for example. He also makes a list of reasons why he isn't cut out to be a politician -- or even to be the governor of Massachusetts, which is an office he ran for, and lost, in 2002.

Bob has a good sense of humor, and he is not above making fun of himself. He cracks jokes about being short, including in the title of this book. He never reached the five-foot-tall mark, due to living with a rare genetic disorder called Fairbank's disease. Because of this noticeable difference between him and his school classmates, he was regularly targeted by bullies when he was young. He developed strategies to deal with them. He can still call upon these approaches today, as needed.

Coming Up Short is not simply a chronicle of one specific life. It serves as a history lesson of the last 50 years of American politics. If you follow Robert Reich online, then you'll hear his voice, loud and clear, in this text. If he is someone new to you, then you may want to find him elsewhere, after finishing this book. His economic assessments help us to realize the stark and dark realities of our current situation, in this frenzied political scene of 2025. Yet he always adds a modicum of hope to the equation.