An Effort to Understand

February 1, 2021
A veteran writer delivers a plea for renewed communication in American public and private life in this collection of essays. As the son of parents who were both "writers by trade" in the advertising industry, Murray was raised with a deep appreciation for the power of words. Today, he heads the Professional Speechwriters Association and serves as editor and publisher of the venerable monthly magazine Vital Speeches of the Day. In this book, he offers readers over 50 essays loosely centered on the thesis that America lacks meaningful avenues of authentic communication. Indeed, despite the nation's ideological and cultural divides, the author maintains that most Americans actually "share vastly more common experiences and values than we know." The work's title comes from the famous remarks delivered by Robert F. Kennedy shortly after news broke of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, as the United States presidential candidate urged Americans to follow the slain leader's example of making "an effort to understand" one another across racial and political divides. Though Murray, with a trademark candor, notes that in retrospect the speech "sounds so bland....So preachy. So white," its message is "just as urgent" today. With a firm command of U.S. politics and history and a matching wit, the author's short essays present keen insights on figures ranging from President Donald Trump to former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Despite his call to "understanding," Murray is equally emphatic in rejecting a feigned civility that glosses over real differences, noting that some of the nation's most acclaimed communicators, from H.L. Mencken to Hunter S. Thompson, were renowned for their acerbic critiques of fellow Americans. Though politics is Murray's bailiwick, it is his later reflections on the importance of communication in one's personal life that stand out. Essays on the value and intersection of effective communication with marriage, grief, and technology provide a poignancy that transcends politics, though they sometimes make for a thematically disjointed read. Some readers may also balk at the book's suggestion that the term privileged is a counterproductive "fighting word" that fails to win converts while the essay itself neglects to supply a meaningful alternative. A smart, witty account of America's failure to communicate.

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