Happiest of Fridays, nonfiction friends! I hope your Memorial Day weekend was pleasant and reverent, and your first official weeks of summer are off to a positive start. Here in Minnesota, things haven’t quite warmed up the way we all hoped, but I am optimistic better weather is soon to come. In this week’s newsletter I’ve got some new history books, feminist bookish merch, and more!
Feminist Icon Bookends
Another bookish thing I love to admire and collect is bookends! This set let’s you choose two feminist icons to create a pair, with options like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Gloria Steinem, Michelle Obama, and more.
New Releases
This week’s new releases take a dive into some historical science!
The Monster’s Bones: The Discovery of T. Rex and How It Shook Our World by David K. Randall
Could there be anything more delightful than the story of “a fearless paleontologist, the founding of America’s most loved museums, and the race to find the largest dinosaurs on record”? I think not! This book is about the partnership between fossil hunter Barnum Brown and museum president Henry Fairfield Osborn, after Barnum found the first T-Rex fossil in Montana. Gilded Age history is full of amazing stories like this one, which sounds so fun!
The Wine-Dark Sea Within: A Turbulent History of Blood by Dr. Dhun Sethna
This book offers a new history of modern medicine centered around the discovery of the circulatory system and the role that blood plays in our bodies. For centuries, physicians believed in the idea that blood was like the sea, moving back and forth within the body. After William Harvey proved that blood circulates, the entire understanding of life sciences was upended. Sethna shows how this discovery led to groundbreaking advances like cardiac imaging, bypass surgery, and more.
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
Due to a tech glitch, last week’s newsletter cut off my two book suggestions inspired by Colin Kapernick’s upcoming young adult graphic novel, Colin Kaepernick: Change the Game. So, I’m going to share those picks again – plus one more bonus suggestion because who doesn’t love a sports memoir?
Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang
Before he was a full time graphic novelist, Gene Luen Yang was a high school teacher in California. In this book, he chronicles a single season of his school’s varsity basketball team, the Dragons, as they try to win the California State Championships. I love this comic so much – it’s like an inspirational sports movie in book form.
Spinning by Tillie Walden
For a decade, figure skating was the center of Tillie Walden’s life and identity. But after switching schools, discovering art, and falling in love with a girl, she started to question whether she really fit into that world anymore. Eventually, she finds the courage to quit and see what else might be out there.
Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team by Steve Sheinkin
This one isn’t a graphic novel, but I stumbled across it this week and felt like I had to include it! In addition to being an underdog sports story, this book explores the U.S. government’s persecution of Native Americans at government boarding schools. Jim Thorpe, a future Olympic gold medalist, and Pop Warner, a football mastermind, met in 1907 at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. They worked together to build an amazing football team that challenged the best athletes of the day.
For more nonfiction reads, head over to the podcast service of your choice and download For Real, which I co-host with my dear friend Alice. If you have any questions/comments/book suggestions, you can find me on social media @kimthedork. Happy weekend!