Sponsored by Oxford University Press.
The story of how women’s lives, loves, and dreams have been re-shaped since 1950, the year of Walt Disney’s Cinderella and a time when teenage girls dreamed of marriage, Mr Right, and happy endings…
Welcome to the third day of the third month! That’s kinda fun. We’ve got women’s history, we’ve got self-help, and we’ve got sheep. That pretty much encompasses it.
Emma Goldman, “Mother Earth,” and the Anarchist Awakening by Rachel Hui-Chi Hsu
Revolutionary and political anarchist Emma Goldman worked on a magazine called Mother Earth during the Progressive Era. Mother Earth “stirred an unprecedented anarchist awakening, inspiring an antiauthoritarian spirit across social, ethnic, and cultural divides and transforming U.S. radicalism.” I love the list of who they say this book should appeal to: readers interested in early twentieth-century history, transnational radicalism, and cosmopolitan print culture, as well as those interested in anarchism, anti-militarism, labor activism, feminism, and Emma Goldman. I LOVE Emma Goldman and am so psyched there’s another book out about her and the work she contributed to.
Follow the Flock: How Sheep Shaped Human Civilization by Sally Coulthard
SHEEP. Can’t live with ’em. But have to bring them into the home in winter so they stay alive. If you’re familiar with the Bible or most stories from The Ancient Past, you know that sheep are all over those things and have been with us since the early days of human civilization. So what’s their history! How did we use them? What’s up with sheep. All these questions and more can be answered by Follow the Flock, a title that every time I see it gets a song from the musical Guys and Dolls stuck in my head.
I’m So Effing Tired: A Proven Plan to Beat Burnout, Boost Your Energy, and Reclaim Your Life by Amy Shah
Are you feeling perhaps especially exhausted? Doctor/nutritionist Shah has some ideas for you. The part of this book I’m most interested in, aside from the tip to eat more fiber (I’M GONNA) is the “energy booster” facts, because I kind of just eat hummus day in and day out, and it’s possible that is not max’ing out the ol’ energy possibilities. Huzzah for health ideas!
Come Fly the World: The Jet-Age Story of the Women of Pan Am by Julia Cooke
Does this woman on the cover remind anyone else of Ruth Wilson? Anyway, you might have heard of Pan Am, the airline renowned in the ’60s and ’70s and then slowly declining until its end in the early ’90s. Did you know only 3-5% of women applying to be flight attendants got hired? It was extremely competitive! This history gets into why and traces the stories of three women who flew Pan Am during its glory days.
For more nonfiction new releases, check out the For Real podcast which I co-host with the excellent Kim here at Book Riot. If you have any questions/comments/book suggestions, you can find me on social media @itsalicetime. Until next time, enjoy those facts, fellow nerds.