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Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America 2025
by Robert B Reich (Author)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars (627)
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - From political economist, cabinet member, beloved professor, media presence, and bestselling author of Saving Capitalism and The Common Good, a deeply felt, compelling memoir of growing up in a baby-boom America that made progress in certain areas, fell short in so many important ways, and still has lots of work to do
"Important and galvanizing." --Senator Bernie Sanders
"Essential reading for understanding this moment in American history." --Molly Jong-Fast, New York Times bestselling author of How to Lose Your Mother
A thought-provoking, principled, clear-eyed chronicle of the culture, politics, and economic choices that have landed us where we are today--with irresponsible economic bullies and corporations with immense wealth and lobbying power on top, demagogues on the rise, and increasing inequality fueling anger and hatred across the country.
Nine months after World War II, Robert Reich was born into a united America with a bright future--which went unrealized for so many as big money took over our democracy. His encounter with school bullies on account of his height--4'11" as an adult--set him on a determined path to spend his life fighting American bullies of every sort. He recounts the death of a friend in the civil rights movement; his political coming of age witnessing the Berkeley free speech movement; working for Bobby Kennedy and Senator Eugene McCarthy; experiencing a country torn apart by the Vietnam War; meeting Hillary Rodham in college, Bill Clinton at Oxford, and Clarence Thomas at Yale Law. He details his friendship with John Kenneth Galbraith during his time teaching at Harvard, and subsequent friendships with Bernie Sanders and Ted Kennedy; and his efforts as labor secretary for Clinton and economic advisor to Barack Obama. Ultimately, Reich asks: What did his generation accomplish? Did they make America better, more inclusive, more tolerant? Did they strengthen democracy? Or did they come up short?
Reich hardly abandons us to despair over a doomed democracy. With characteristic spirit and humor, he lays out how we can reclaim a sense of community and a democratic capitalism based on the American ideals we still have the power to salvage.
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Review
"As bullied as [Reich] was, he never became a bully. He has dedicated his life to promoting fairness, not revenge....His numerous books have a moral center because he has a moral center.... Reich has been remarkably prescient, regularly warning about the dangers of inequality and the perils posed by a financial industry run amok....Over the last four decades, Reich has seen what happens when his colleagues succumb to complacency, presuming that everything will be just fine in the long run....Even though this book is billed as a memoir, it's ultimately a call to action."
--Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times
"I am a big fan of Robert Reich. He is the rare academic who addresses the real problems facing America and fights to fix an economic system propelled by uncontrollable greed and contempt for human decency. He has used every position and platform at his disposal to reverse the unbridled pursuit of power and profit by the ultra-wealthy at the expense of working people. We would all do well to follow his example. Coming Up Short, an important and galvanizing account of a life dedicated to public service, is a good place to start."
--Senator Bernie Sanders
"In Coming Up Short, the former adviser to multiple presidents lays out all that's wrong with the country and how we might get back on track....A full-throated...rallying cry to get things back to where they belong."
--The Washington Post
"Being bullied as a child helped Robert Reich become a champion for the little guy. As Secretary of Labor, political economist, and public intellectual, he has called out the bullies, demagogues, and oligarchs who exploit working people and now threaten to subvert democracy. With characteristic wit and verve, Reich's thoroughly absorbing memoir shows how his generation fell short in achieving a just society, and how the next generation can do better."
--Michael Sandel, author of The Tyranny of Merit
"Robert Reich is one of the most important political thinkers and activists of our time, and Coming Up Short is essential reading for understanding this moment in American history."
--Molly Jong-Fast, New York Times bestselling author of How to Lose Your Mother
"What Reich self-deprecatingly claims he lacks in physical stature, he more than makes up for in moral standing and civic pride . . . . Reich's memoir is both economic treatise and political reckoning, stemming from a deep love of country and commitment to progress, in pursuit of doing what's right as opposed to what is popular or expedient . . . . Clear-eyed and critical, Reich's assessment of where America is headed is both sobering and, characteristically, hopeful."
--Booklist, *starred review*
"In this passionate political memoir, Reich, former U.S. secretary of labor under Bill Clinton, calls on Democrats to refocus on the working class . . . . Along the way, he works in piquant sketches of political figures.... Reich's arguments are convincing . . . . A perceptive insider's account of Democratic disarray."
--Publishers Weekly
"A sharply pointed chronicle of a society that, Reich laments, gladly tolerates the strong brutalizing the weak."
--Kirkus Reviews
"Highly recommended for readers concerned about the nation's future and the world that will be left to the next generation."
--Library Journal
About the Author
ROBERT B. REICH recently retired as Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. He has served in three presidential administrations, Republican and Democrat, as Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton, and has written eighteen books, including The Work of Nations (translated into twenty-two languages) and the bestsellers The Common Good, Saving Capitalism, and Locked in the Cabinet. His articles have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. He is a columnist for Newsweek and The Guardian, and writes a daily newsletter at https: //robertreich.substack.com/. He is co-creator of the award-winning film Inequality for All and the Netflix original Saving Capitalism, and co-founder of Inequality Media. He lives in Berkeley.
Product details
Publisher : Knopf Publishing Group
Publication date : 5 August 2025
Language : English
Print length : 416 pages
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Ken
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August 20, 2025
Billed as a memoir, Coming Up Short is also a political tract and a plea. It's the type of book where you constantly feel the urge to quote excerpts, thinking to yourself, "Great point!" or "This is exactly how I feel!" or "I never knew that, but now I see how things have come to be as rotten as they presently are!" All good feelings (despite being about odious things).
The "call to action" finish features short chapters with such titles as "Rejecting 'Both-sides-ism'," "Refusing Dr. Phil," "Restoring Democratic Capitalism," "Reclaiming Patriotism," "Creating 'We' Workplaces," "Sharing the Profits," "Making Community Count," "Recirculating Stuff," "Leading America," "Making Society Healthy," and "Watching the Moneyed Class Get Run Over."
Unlike many of his contemporaries, Reich hasn't drifted or much changed in his core beliefs. He's never fallen prey to the "get rich quick and the devil take the hindmost -- read: the vast majority of Americans" like so many other politicians, bought and paid for, have. He points out that Trump's culture wars and emphasis on immigrants, crime, DEI, etc., are really a smoke screen for the fact that most of his moves are made to make himself and his fellow 1%ers rich and richer still. As for common Americans, he's all about their votes only, period. End of story.
As an example of the many great points he makes throughout this book, there's his charges against the media, including liberal media, which is intent on "both side-isms":
"More of our ablest journalists must be willing and able to tell America the truth and their bosses must allow them to do so. It is not 'partisan' to explain what Trump and his anti-democracy movement are seeking. It is not 'taking sides' to point out that the Trump Republicans are trying to establish an authoritarian government in America. It is not 'violating journalistic standards' to tell the unvarnished truth about the crisis we are facing today. A failure to call out the Trump Republicans for what they are -- liars, enablers, and accessories to crimes against the Constitution -- itself violates the most basic canons of journalistic ethics."
And so, what you have here is a guy in the twilight of his life pulling no punches. He even has some criticisms for Clinton and Obama and the more traditional Republican George W. Bush, chiefly for being beholden to Wall Street and notoriously for the Wall Street bailout of 2008, wherein the little guy was left to his own sinking devices while the banks committing crimes where saved and propped up -- at taxpayer expense.
He has nothing but bad to say about EVERYONE involved in opening the gateways to campaign contributions -- unlimited and hidden offerings to lobbyists and political candidates alike -- by the monied class. These fabulously wealthy folks now own the politicians in Washington, certainly in the White House, in Congress, and yes, even in the "Supreme" Court, which is partisan and looking out for the 1%-ers.
Reich rues the fact that Hillary, and not Bernie Sanders, got the presidential nomination in 2016. He truly believes that Sanders' form of populism for the people would have won the day over Trump's form of populism for himself. It's all part of the "If" game, though. If only Republicans had held Trump accountable when he ginned up the crowd that attacked the Capitol. If only Republicans did not "fear" Trump so much that they do his every bidding instead of what they know is good for the country.
If, if, if. It doesn't change where we find ourselves and the long road back that lies ahead of us.
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Ava Courtney Sylvester
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August 6, 2025
Robert Reich for president!
Unfortunately, I’m too young to remember Reich as a Clinton cabinet member, and I’m not privileged enough to know him from his Harvard professorship. It was Reich’s articles in the Guardian and posts on social media that first brought me to his work, and I preordered this book right away because I loved what I saw.
In this book, Reich details his life and career in terms of standing up against bullying, from fighting for himself as a kid to seeing bullies everywhere in America and taking a stance. Reich stands for feminism, civil rights, gay rights, and for the common American against big corporations, billionaires, and corrupt demagogs alike. Throughout his memoir, Reich weaves his own personal narrative with compelling historical events and statistics that detail how his generation let us down from these ideals. My favorite part is when he ties John Rawls’ classic veil of ignorance thought experiment with the Powell memo: we clearly could have built a society with freedom and justice for all, but we chose instead one where corporations and oligarchs rule over everyone. That, and the joke about Hillary’s buttered popcorn.
Reich writes how he was once the Democrats’ “new guru” in the 1980s when his first book came out. Had we listened to him then, perhaps the Democrats wouldn’t have so glibly abandoned the working class, and perhaps we wouldn’t be living under fascist rule now.
Can we vote for Reich as president?
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Betsy Robinson
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September 5, 2025
This book is not merely a memoir. It is a history—personal and comparative—and because it's also a compellingly readable story, it's sometimes magical. Former Labor Secretary and so many other things Robert Reich was born at the start of the Baby Boom generation in 1946. But, at the beginning of the book, this fact is woven into the simultaneous histories of Donald Trump, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, as well as the Frank Capra movie It's a Wonderful Life—also born in 1946. What a great way to launch a memoir and history. It's inventive, idiosyncratic, and FUN!
Over and over, in Reich's words, "my eyes welled up" as people I'd known of from general history knowledge and events I lived through, but from the periphery, became deeply personal. And sometimes I learned history that had somehow escaped me: the hardhat riot of May 8, 1970 right here in NYC, "the first major salvo in America's culture wars, and it had been planned in [Nixon's] Oval Office (128)." I attribute my emotional reactions to storytelling that carries a kind of vibrant energy that animates everything he writes. (And I have no doubt that same energy makes him a gifted teacher.)
Reich's history and American history, starting in 1946, are seamlessly intertwined, and reading this memoir is an emotional, visceral experience. Sometimes funny, always entertaining, his personal life intersects not only early on with murdered Freedom Rider Michael Schwerner, but with Hillary Rodham Clinton when he was at Dartmouth, segueing into the beginning of a professional life working a signature machine for Bobby Kennedy and going on to organize young people for Eugene McCarthy in the fight against LBJ for the Democratic nomination for president.
Reich is ambitious as early as grade school, and turns out to be an absolutely fearless leader, activist, and organizer in his twenties. Although he suffers from a genetic disorder that ended his physical growth at 4'11" and made him a magnet for bullies when he was a child (experience that has directed his politics as well as the rest of his life), his ability to jump in wherever he is needed and make a difference make him to us sapiosexuals (people who are attracted to intelligence) a stud! (And I'm sure that would make him blush and laugh.)
However, not only is he smart, he is self-aware. He tells a remarkable story that I will not spoil by retelling it about encountering his own potential to become a bully and rather than getting seduced by the "win" inherent in what happens, he is shocked and commits to never letting himself go down that road. Oh, my heart!
There was a lot of economic policy which was interesting, but I'm not educated enough to understand the weeds. But then came the chapter "Becoming Secretary." Kaboom. New understanding about how government works, and specifically cabinet confirmations. (Teaser: confirmation has zero to do with what a candidate knows or even his policies.) I felt as if I was learning secrets that can be extended to many parts of life. (Interestingly, I had the same reaction to E. Jean Carroll's hilarious and detailed narrative in her memoir Not My Type about how her lawyers prepared her to testify. And then the judge's instructions to the jury. And I've had the same reaction to Elizabeth Warren's books which connect the dots between economic policy and life. All of this leads me to think that were we all educated by economists and lawyers for at least part of our schooling, the world would be a better place because we'd understand how the "game" is played.)
The "Becoming Secretary" chapter was followed by a laugh-out-loud one about meeting Fed chair Alan Greenspan, with imaginary conversation worthy of the best comedy writer. And then there is Reich's lunch with Bill Gates, and the ethical brouhaha around his letting Gates pick up his tab made me groan with both longing for ethics and pain at the naked grift in today's White House. There's the "Illicit Affair" chapter about his laugh-out-loud long, funny, loving friendship with tall Alan Simpson, Republican Senator for Wyoming. And so much more.
I reiterate, this book is FUN! But it's a lot more than that. Sometimes the policy and economic discussion erupts in a call to action with a prophet's vision of a different future. I found myself silently cheering during the following passage from a chapter titled "The Rigging of the Market."
It was once thought acceptable to own and trade human beings, to take the land of Indigenous people by force, to put debtors in prison, and to exercise vast monopoly power. It must now be asked: Is it morally acceptable that the typical worker's wage has stagnated for the last forty years while most of the economy's gains have gone to the top? Do we believe that people who are fabulously rich are succeeding because of their own inherent worthiness or because the game is rigged in their favor? Have people who are poor failed, or has the system failed them? Is it morally acceptable that the pay of American CEOs of big companies has gone from an average of 20 times that of the of the typical worker forty years ago to over 350 times today? Are the denizens of Wall Street—who in the 1950s and 1960s earned modest sums but are now paid tens or hundreds of millions annually really "worth" that much more now than they were then? (360-361)
As Arthur Miller wrote in Death of a Salesman, "attention must be paid" to the working people of this country. Otherwise we are unsustainable. Robert Reich tells the whole chaotic story of how we got where we are, while maintaining optimism in young people's will and ability to transform us.
See Robert Reich podcast about the book: Coffee Klatch.
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Tim Null
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October 17, 2025
When moving to California a good many decades ago, my wife and I drove through Arkansas. Shortly after entering that state, there was a huge billboard with a large photo of the local governor welcoming us to Arkansas. I turned to my wife and said, "Bill Clinton wants to be president."
She replied, "Who's Bill Clinton?"
I fear I've digressed even before I've begun.
Robert Reich's book Coming Up Short is historically valuable. Especially for its behind the scenes look at the Clinton presidency. (There are better Reich books to learn about economic principles.)
My biased view about Bill Clinton is that he succeeded initially because he acted like a Republican. However, Clinton ultimately failed because he learned to lie and cheat almost as well as a frigging Republican. (In Clinton's defense, I should mention that Ronald Reagan turned the Republican party into a cult, and Newt Gingrich took full advantage.)
Quote
Because I was short enough to fit into the jump seat opposite Bill [Clinton] in the White House limo, I'd try to find out what time he was leaving the Oval Office so I could get in the limo and make my pitches to him in private, arguing against the policies Bob [Rubin, the Secretary of Treasury,] was pushing. Bill listened politely, but I could tell that my constant harping about widening inequality was beginning to make me more of an irritant than a helpful adviser. p.189
[Eventually,] I figured that since I couldn't have much effect on the [Clinton] administration's big decisions, I'd retreat to the Labor Department, where I could have a big impact small decisions ... p. 190
[Gingrich had the] meanness of a little kid ... And like all bullies, inside was an insecure little fellow who desperately wanted attention. p. 208
Being an activist for social justice means working hard but not expecting the goals to be achieved anytime soon. p. 289
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Marshall Snyder
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August 20, 2025
I really enjoyed this book. The biography portions were interesting and fun, but his analysis of what ails the United States is right on. I watched a company I worked for fall prey to the forces Reich thinks are destructive to this country. My company, founded by charismatic and thoughtful men, was sold to an equity company which systematically squeezed it for bigger profits, decreased benefits, and eventually sold off the company for big money. Profits over people; law and order over freedom; nationalism over diversity!
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Melanie
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August 24, 2025
This memoir is also a great history lesson, and it combined much of what I studied in college and taught in a college course with politics of the last 40 years. The author toes in his sense of humor in laugh-out-loud ways and also provides advice for how we can stop the bullies. I’d recommend this book to anyone!
My favorite quotes:
“Nothing important works out in the end, unless we work hard for it now. We must all be activists. Overtime, I’ve come to understand that the choice is not between gaining immediate wins or falling into passivity. Being an activist for social justice means working hard but not expecting the goals to be achieved any time soon. It requires accepting that they may not be achieved in our lifetime. But that seeking them is essential for our lives to matter. It means taking on some challenges you’re likely to fail at, but which may inspire others along the way. It means regarding some failures as Nobel experiments. It means seeking to achieve big important, things that will change people’s lives for the better. Even if you come up short.” — Part VI The Long Game: My Mother’s Advice
“…but the stark reality, as I have traced it and lived it over the past 78 years, is that the richest and most powerful nation in modern history—the America that emerged victorious from World Ward II and whose democracy was a beacon for much of the rest of the world, is now coming up short. Trump and trumpism are consequences —not causes. As I hope I’ve made clear, the causes have been growing for more than 40 years. We could have addressed them. We did not. The responsibility to remedy this— to restore genuine opportunity, strengthen democracy and contain the bullies—now falls to those who come after us.” - Growing Old (final words of the book)
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August 15, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC of this book!
I was too young to be paying attention to the politics (and drama) of the Clinton administration, so my familiarity with Robert Reich came from his Instagram posts and videos. Reich’s videos demonstrated his talent for taking complex problems or ideas (as well as topics that can immediately “trigger” many a MAGA) and breaking them down into easy-to-understand explanations and graphics. Reich was able to translate this skill into this book successfully - mixing memoir, American history, and amusing tales from his many fascinating jobs, while connecting it all through the theme of “bullies.” Reich’s argument that the concept of the “common good” being critical to a civilized society, while castigating the dangers of selfish individualism (epitomized by a certain orange cretin) feels like an essential part of the conversation that is often missing in political discussions. Overall, this book was a fast-paced, fascinating, refreshing, and, dare I say, hopeful read.
Also - Reich referring to Ayn Rand as “Trump’s pinup girl” made me full out witch cackle.
2025
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Beth Seabreeze
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August 23, 2025
Very interesting account of all the things the professor saw and did in politics. He was in the middle of it all.
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Elizabeth
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September 2, 2025
A fantastic memoir from a man who’s spent his life in politics fighting for workers. I’ve closely followed politics for most of my life, and I knew a lot of the material covered in this memoir. But Mr. Reich, having worked closely with many administrations (and just by virtue of being a lot older than me,) covered so many gaps in my knowledge and provided essential context so that I now have a much better understanding of, for instance, why there was such an explosion of corporate money in politics in the 1980s, and why the GOP has been so vocal about their (supposed) disdain for large government. I also learned about the Hard Hat Riot (seriously wtf???) and the Powell memo. This is an essential read for anyone who wants to know how we got to where we are in the US in 2025, and wants to fight to protect democracy.
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Bryan Tanner
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November 11, 2025
BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front)
Robert Reich would be a U.S. President if he weren’t 4’10”.
Executive Summary
Robert Reich’s Coming Up Short traces the erosion of the American middle class through decades of economic policy and political compromise.
1. Abandonment of the Working Class — Both major parties, Reich argues, prioritized Wall Street and globalization over the needs of ordinary workers.
2. Democratic Drift — As Labor Secretary under Bill Clinton, Reich witnessed Democrats shift toward pro-corporate centrism, alienating their traditional labor base.
3. Rise of Resentment — This betrayal seeded the populist anger that later fueled the rise of Donald Trump.
4. Patriotism Reimagined — Reich defines true patriotism as inclusive and civic-minded—defending democracy, equality, and justice rather than symbolic nationalism.
5. The Path Forward — Reviving the American Dream requires rebuilding trust in public institutions and creating economic systems that reward contribution over exploitation.
Review
Coming Up Short is a lucid, impassioned argument that America’s working class has been systematically betrayed—not by one party alone, but by a bipartisan surrender to corporate power. As a learning designer and citizen, I left the book convinced that the American Dream isn’t dead, just deliberately starved.
Reading Coming Up Short felt like sitting in office hours an unflinching yet hopeful teacher (who happens to be a Harvard Economics professor)—a man determined to remind his country of its moral obligations. Reich’s analysis blends moral philosophy with economic realism. He’s angry, yes, but his anger is tethered to faith in the American project. What struck me most wasn’t the critique of capitalism (that’s familiar territory), but his insistence that patriotism and justice are not opposites—they are inseparable.
Reich’s idea of “true patriotism” felt essential to me. Compared to Trump’s brand of “patriotism”with gaudy symbols, empty rhetoric, and token gestures when it comes to serving the American People and reducing our $38 trillion debt stands is stark relief to what Reich proposes. Reich’s patriotism isn’t partisan; it’s civic. He calls us to love America enough to make it fair. Community sacrifice over self aggrandizement.
As alluded to in the book (and in a season 4 episode of Only Murders In the Building), there seems to be a correlation between one’s feelings toward the film It’s a Wonderful Life and one’s proclaimed political party. I would love to conduct an informal Facebook survey exploring this further. The film, which FBI memos once labeled “communist propaganda,” celebrates community over profit. My hypothesis is that Democrats often cherish the film for that reason—it’s a story about people triumphing over Potter’s predatory capitalism. However, I imagine many Republicans, by contrast, dismiss or distrust it, perhaps because they either fail to recognize or resent its critique, deriding it as socialism. Not wishing to admit it (even to themselves) some Republicans may argue that Potter is the hero of the film, thereby resorting to a straw man attack of the film, calling it childish or stupid.
Reich speaks to me from an academic, professional, and moral perspective. As a learning scientist, the book doubles as a case study in civic learning. Reich models what critical reflection looks like on a national scale: questioning assumptions, re-examining systems, and confronting cognitive dissonance with courage. His writing pushes readers to develop civic metacognition—to think about how we think about our country. That’s rare and deeply necessary.
TL;DR
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Reich argues that the American Dream isn’t dead—it’s been hijacked. He calls for a recovery of moral and civic imagination: a patriotism grounded not in flags or slogans but in fairness, dignity, and shared sacrifice. Essential reading for anyone who loves It’s a Wonderful Life for what it truly is—a parable of people over profit—and wants to believe that dream can still be saved.
Similar Reads
- Saved by Benjamin Barber — on democracy, markets, and moral citizenship.
- Who Stole the American Dream? by Hedrick Smith — a journalistic counterpart to Reich’s moral economics.
- Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty — a macroeconomic deep dive into inequality and the structures Reich condemns.
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