Garrett Graff — The Only Plane in the Sky (Book Review)
Garrett M. Graff created a heart-wrenching book with The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11. Since the author intended this to be an oral history, I listened to the audiobook which has a large cast of narrators. About five minutes in, during one of the...Nancy Marie Brown — The Real Valkyrie (Book Review)
Nancy Marie Brown combines history and imagination in her upcoming book, The Real Valkyrie: The Hidden History of Viking Warrior Women. If you follow me, you know that I love books about Vikings and Norse people. And this is the best I’ve ever read. It covers a wide...Carol Anderson — One Person, No Vote (Book Review)
In 2018 I saw Carol Anderson speak about One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression is Destroying Our Democracy. I’d just spent my first campaign season knocking doors to canvass for candidates I cared about. Anderson’s talk convinced me that voter suppression is the...Arthur Herman — The Viking Heart (Book Review)
Arthur Herman explores Scandinavian culture, history, and its worldwide effects in The Viking Heart: How Scandinavians Conquered the World. As the publisher puts it, he “melds a compelling historical narrative with cutting-edge archaeological and DNA research to trace...Elizabeth Packard is The Woman They Could Not Silence
in Kate Moore’s New Book (Review)
Elizabeth Packard is the subject of Kate Moore’s new book, The Woman They Could Not Silence: One Woman, Her Incredible Fight for Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear. But I’ll venture to guess you’ve never heard of Mrs. Packard. Although her story is...
Anne Fadiman — The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down (Book Review)
Author Anne Fadiman combines multiple narratives in her fabulous ethnography The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures. Most importantly, it’s both an immigration and a medical story of one Hmong...Richard Engel — And Then All Hell Broke Loose (Book Review)
Richard Engel breaks down decades of newsworthy events in his 2016 book, And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the Middle East. As a veteran foreign correspondent for various new organizations, he should know. Yes, it’s fascinating. But I also found it...Isabel Wilkerson: Caste (Book Review) — A Racial Justice Must Read
Isabel Wilkerson writes about devastating history in Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. It’s long, intense, and absolutely necessary to read. Thinking of the social and societal issues around race as based in a complicated caste system makes perfect sense. And...Anne Applebaum: Twilight of Democracy (Book Review)
Anne Applebaum isn’t an author I’d normally read. But, on the recommendation of a friend, I picked up her book Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism from the library. It’s short but presents a variety of anti-democratic and authoritarian...Amy Stanley — Travel to 1800s Japan in Stranger in the Shogun’s City (Book Review)
Amy Stanley is a professor and social historian who specializes in early modern Japan. In her 2020 book, Stranger in the Shogun’s City: A Japanese Woman and Her World, Stanley explores the story of a rebellious woman in a strict time. Her subject is Tsuneno, the...Charles Person — Buses Are a Comin’: Memoir of a Freedom Rider (Book Review)
Charles Person was the youngest person on the 1961 Freedom Ride. He was younger even than the legendary John Lewis, who went on to represent an Atlanta area district in the U.S. House of Representatives. Now, Person tells his story in Buses Are a Comin’: Memoir of a...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...Ed West — Saxons vs. Vikings: A Compact but Extensive History (Book Review)
Saxons vs. Vikings is the first mini-history book on my shelf from Ed West. And it’s worthy of the subtitle: Alfred the Great and England in the Dark Ages. But it also contains interminable descriptions of battles and considering its brevity that’s saying a lot....Michiko Kakutani — The Death of Truth: Small Book about Big Ideas (Book Review)
The Death of Truth: Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump from Michiko Kakutani sat on my shelf for years, since being published to great acclaim in 2018. Other books related to the political situation during the Trump Administration felt more relevant. After reading...Mudlark by Lara Maiklem — Visit London Throughout the Ages (Book Review)
Lara Maiklem introduced me to a whole new world in Mudlark: In Search of London’s Past Along the River Thames. Not that I haven’t been to London. I have. She takes readers specifically to the foreshore of Britain’s iconic Thames, with all of its quirks and...Bookshop.Org Affiliate
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