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New Releases: Protests, Journalism, and a Bee (maybe)

Has it been gloomy and overcast everywhere for two weeks, or is it just Chicago? I work right by some nice windows, but it has not helped recently, because the sky is just a sheet of either white or grey. Until this past weekend! I went out! I saw birds! Cormorants — two cormorants. One didn’t care for the other, but nevertheless! I hope you all are getting out and enjoying some summerness and that the weather is not preventing you due to its weirdly continuous threat of rain.

We’ve got some new releases this week that I will call INTERESTING. Meaning I’d pick these up and see what they were about for sure. Ok, here we go:

The Tiny Bee cover

The Tiny Bee That Hovers at the Center of the World by David Searcy

Sometimes I’m just like “sure, why not” about a new release. Searcy goes “from the decaying architectural wonder that is the town of Arcosanti, Arizona, to driving the vast, open Texas highway in his much-abused college VW Beetle,” which sounds a lot like a holdover book from the ’60s, but maybe we need a book about a person going on a meandering trip and contemplating life during these times. Times are weird.

Surviving Mexico Cover

Surviving Mexico: Resistance and Resilience among Journalists in the Twenty-first Century by Celeste González de Bustamante, Jeannine E. Relly

Two journalism professors tackle what is happening with journalists in Mexico. Namely, it is a very hard thing to be right now. Since 2000, over 150 journalists have been killed in Mexico, and Bustamente and Relly “examine the networks of political power, business interests, and organized crime that threaten and attack Mexican journalists, who forge ahead despite the risks.” Their book highlights a crisis that, despite its proximity, is little known in America.

No Study Without Struggle cover

No Study Without Struggle: Confronting Settler Colonialism in Higher Education by Leigh Patel

I know, there are a lot of serious reads this week! I don’t know what to tell you; publishers looked at mid-July and said “that’s it. The heart of summer. Release the solemn books.” I would like to point out that this one is short (208 pages) and covers something important — namely “how student protest against structural inequalities on campus pushes academic institutions to reckon with their legacy built on slavery and stolen Indigenous lands.” Keep protesting, students!

For more nonfiction reads, 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.