Photo by Declan Langton ’22
Rachel Maddow, host of “The Rachel Maddow Show,” speaks with Ruth Lawson Professor of Politics Kavita Khory on tour for her most recent book, “Blowout.”
BY SABRINA EDWARDS ’20
“I really see my job as explaining stuff,” Rachel Maddow, host of “The Rachel Maddow Show” on MSNBC and author of “Drift” and “Blowout,” said in an interview with the Mount Holyoke News before her campus book event on Sunday, Nov. 17. The event, run by The Odyssey Bookshop in collaboration with Mount Holyoke College, was the last stop on Maddow’s tour to promote her newest book.
“Blowout” is an in-depth, comprehensive review of the corrupt, complex relationship between the U.S. and Russian oil industries. The book covers a lot of ground, literally and figuratively; from Russian to Oklahoma oil fields and everywhere in between, Maddow deftly describes situations and characters across the system in her signature, dry comedic style.
However, “Blowout” is not for the faint of heart. The 384-page book is a dense read. Each chapter, though comically named, takes the reader deeper into the decades-long perversion of the free market against the foundations of democracy.
“I didn’t set out to write a book about oil and gas,” Maddow said. “I’ve been trying to figure out what I can add that’s useful to the conversation I think we are increasingly having as Americans of all political stripes.”
“In trying to figure out what I can add meaningfully to this conversation, you hear a lot of people lament that and sing the praises of democracy and criticize the rise of authoritarianism, but that isn’t enough,” Maddow said. “I do think it’s worth — for lack of a better phrase — following the money and looking at some of the influence of one of the most powerful industries on earth. And making those fights either more winnable or less winnable.”
Though the book ends declaratively — don’t worry, no spoilers — Maddow is adamant that it isn’t a call to action.
“I don’t think it would be helpful if I was up there every day trying to lead a movement. I’m not,” Maddow said. “I know what it is to try to do that because I’ve done that in other parts of my life, and if I ever feel like that’s the thing I need to do, I would quit my job and go do that instead.”
“I think a lot of people think that I’m an activist because they have ‘activisty’ feelings when they hear me explain things, but that’s on you and that’s not actually for me,” she said.
As for what the book does call for, Maddow answered, “Regulation.”
“Dealing with this is not rocket science. Dealing with this is about making sure that the interests of this industry don’t outstrip and overpower competing interests that are just as important,” Maddow said. “They need to be regulated.”
Some of these regulations, as Maddow asserted, will happen in response to rising concerns about climate change and will have significant repercussions for geopolitics after their implementation.
“When the oil and gas industry loses its market share and loses its power … boundaries of countries will change,” Maddow said. “What will happen in the wake of that? When governments the world over are shaken … what’s going to take [the oil and gas industries’] place when that happens?”
Even though the purpose of the event was to discuss the book, current news dominated the questioning — particularly the issue of impeachment.
“The book sort of did end up being about what the impeachment is about, which is really weird,” Maddow said.
Just days before Maddow’s campus event, impeachment proceedings against President Trump became public for the first time, creating a volatile and time-sensitive news cycle.
“13 million people spent time in the middle of the day to watch that supposedly-boring proceeding,” Maddow said in an interview with the Mount Holyoke News. “I didn’t find it boring at all and most other people didn’t either.”
Maddow explained that, this being one of the only impeachment hearings to occur in American history, she doesn’t know how it will end. To her, one of the most important facets of the impeachment inquiry is how it grabs the public’s attention.
“People getting the gravity of what happened and staying really focused on the central matter that’s at the heart of the inquiry is really good,” she said. “When you call on people to be adults and to be serious and to appreciate nuance and complexity, they do.”
Despite her surprised tone at the unexpected synchronization between the release of “Blowout” and the beginning of the impeachment inquiry, the book itself is about global democracy. It specifically discusses the 2016 election and ensuing investigation.
“In terms of the big stakes for democracy … accountability is the heart of it,” Maddow said to a representative of the Mount Holyoke News. “This accountability moment for the presidency — and for this president in particular — feels righteous, just in terms of our health as a country, but we’ll see. We’re right in the middle of it.”
Just as we’re in the middle of the impeachment process, Maddow herself is in the middle of news cycles, week after week, keeping up with current events at their fever pace.
“There are a bunch of moving parts in the news right now, and we’re just going to take it one piece at a time, one step at a time with the full and full-hearted expectation that more news will break over the course of this hour,” Maddow said at the beginning of her Nov. 15 show on MSNBC. “We’ve got a whole show prepared. I’m sure it’s all about to go out the window.”
“Blowout” is already making headlines, appearing on The New York Times Best Seller list this past week.
“I went to number one briefly, and then I know I was knocked off very quickly by Elton John and Prince,” Maddow said. “If you’re gonna be beaten by somebody on the Best Seller list, I mean, Elton John and Prince? Okay.”
Despite extensive hearings coverage and moderating the Democratic debate, which Maddow has planned for this week, her work isn’t done.
“This debate will be a success in terms of our performance and our behavior if you remember nothing about us,” Maddow said. “[The candidates] are the show.”
With Maddow’s involvement in polarizing news events in mind, “Blowout” features a unique dedication: “To the bots and trolls, all of you, with love.” Maddow said the dedication was a challenge.
“It’s kind of like a ‘bring it,’” she said in an interview with the MHN. “The experience of covering the 2016 election was weird, in the sense of being part of this media environment and doing a news show. We were very much in the mix of the social media distortion, foreign influence stuff in a way that felt very foreign. And not idiomatic. And hard to get a handle on in the moment. We now know more of what that was, and as we get closer to the election and in the impeachment process we’re seeing all of that come back. I’m sort of just trying to acknowledge that and troll them back a little bit.”