Elizabeth M. Norman — We Band of Angels (Book Review)
Elizabeth Norman delivers everything I want from narrative nonfiction in her 2000 book We Band of Angels: The Untold Story of American Nurses Trapped on Bataan by the Japanese. It’s engaging and obviously well-researched, including many interviews with the women...The Language of Threads from Gail Tsukiyama—Women of the Silk Book #2 (Book Review)
The Language of Threads is a continuation of Gail Tsukiyama’s excellent book Women of the Silk. I’m glad to have read both in sequence, which immersed me in the main character’s entire life. In the first book, Pei is taken from her small China village, sold to work...Gail Tsukiyama — Women of the Silk delivers Historical Fiction set in China (Book Review)
In Women of the Silk, a 1991 book from Gail Tsukiyama, times are hard. It’s China in the late 1920s and especially in the small villages nature and politics affect everyone. Our main character is a young girl named Pei. As the story opens, she’s about six, and her...Shuggie Bain — a Heartbreaking Debut from Douglas Stuart (Book Review)
Shuggie Bain, the debut novel from author Douglas Stuart is a gut punch on nearly every page. It’s the story of a kid growing up in Glasgow, Scotland during the 1980s. He’s the youngest of three kids born to an alcoholic mother. His older siblings have a different...Erin French — Finding Freedom: A Cook’s Story; Remaking a Life from Scratch (Book Review)
Erin French details how she reached success in her upcoming memoir Finding Freedom: A Cook’s Story; Remaking a Life from Scratch. (Available early April 2021.) It’s not a straight A to Z path, but one that goes backwards, forwards, and even sideways. Of course,...Doris Kearns Goodwin — The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism (Book Review)
Doris Kearns Goodwin creates a behemoth of early twentieth century history in The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism. I confess to knowing very little beyond the basics about Roosevelt. Before reading this book, I...Mona Hanna-Attisha Fights for the Children in What the Eyes Don’t See (Book Review)
Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha wrote What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City to tell what happened in Flint, Michigan. But it’s not just her story. It’s the story of her clinic, her city, her state, and her country. And they are...Our Malady by Timothy Snyder—Healthcare, Freedom & Politics (Book Review)
Our Malady: Lessons in Liberty from a Hospital Diary by Timothy Snyder is just under 200 pages. While it’s not long, it covers topics we all face daily whether we know it or not—our health and freedom. A Yale professor, historian, and writer, Snyder was not well at...Stacey Abrams on a Fair America: Our Time is Now (Book Review)
Stacy Abrams knows voting rights. Starting in college, she worked on voter registration drives. And this led her to more civic service, including serving for ten years in the Georgia State House of Representatives. You may be more familiar with her because of her 2018...Jason Stanley Offers Stellar Explanation in How Fascism Works (Book Review)
Jason Stanley breaks down How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them in this short, but intense book. We throw the term fascism around a lot these days. Better understand what it is before using it in a sentence. Or so I told myself when starting this book....The Nickel Boys: Reality-based Historical Fiction in the Jim Crow South from Colson Whitehead (Book Review)
The Nickel Boys is the third Colson Whitehead book I’ve read. It’s a joy to watch his skill as a writer improve each time. Of course, two of the three won Pulitzer Prizes, so I’m not the only one noticing. And this book evoked a range of emotions from cheers to jeers...Mychal Denzel Smith on why Stakes is High: Life After the American Dream (Book Review)
Mychal Denzel Smith crafted a group of stunning essays in his new book, Stakes is High: Life After the American Dream. These essays are so spot on and relevant to current events as to be fully prescient. When in fact, they’re discussing complex conditions that have...Book Review: The Power Worshippers by Katherine Stewart
Katherine Stewart deftly explains the intersection of Christian evangelism and political power in The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism. She breaks down the history, the people, organizations, goals, and the tactics. For the first...Book Review: Hiding in Plain Sight by Sarah Kendzior
Sarah Kendzior has done it again with Hiding in Plain Sight: The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America. This is 320 pages of hard truths, and may or may not feel like healthy quarantine reading. Especially considering how much scarier everything has...Book Review: Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow
The bestseller from Ronan Farrow, Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators, documents the process of reporting a huge story. And it shows how that story was like nailing Jell-O to the wall. Or herding cats. Everything conspired against Farrow...Bookshop.Org Affiliate
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