The Atlantic
Portrait of a Leader Humblebragging
In October, Governor Andrew Cuomo issued a book-length ode to his leadership style. It has not aged well.
Some books age poorly; others are poorly aged from the moment they’re published.
American Crisis: Leadership Lessons From the COVID-19 Pandemic, Andrew Cuomo’s recent memoir, manages to fall into both categories. The New York governor’s paean to his handling of the COVID-19 crisis is in some ways a classic political chronicle: a hero’s journey, through the ordeal to the victory, told by the hero himself. (The tale is often interrupted by musings about the power of government and the grim call of history. The author, along the way, compares himself to Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill.) But