Category: True Story

Leng’ete grew up in a Maasai village in Kenya. She became an activist who ended female genital mutilation in her village entirely, “and Nice continues the fight to end FGM throughout Africa, and the world.”

I’m sorry, but as a person who loves Gosford Park a weird amount, I have to highlight this Yale University Press book about British country houses and the people who lived in them. There is literally ANOTHER nonfiction book about British country houses being published next week. What a weird month. How amazing is this cover though?

SPEAKING OF COVERS ermg. Tarana Burke, founder of the Me Too movement, writes a memoir “about her own journey to saying those two simple yet infinitely powerful words―me too―and how she brought empathy back to an entire generation in one of the largest cultural events in American history.”

If you want a memoir about particle physics and the cosmos by a woman of color… The Disordered Cosmos by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein for $4.99.

If you want to read about some of the first female doctors… Women in White Coats by Olivia Campbell for $2.99. 

If you want to read some true crime about the illegal gold trade… Dirty Gold by Jay Weaver for $3.99.

I’m going to cheat a little bit and tell you about the book I finished reading last weekend because it was so great I’d feel bad not telling you about it. I am a former journalist, so I have a real soft spot for well-reported and well-written nonfiction by journalists. In that respect, I cannot say enough good things about Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire by Lizzie Johnson. 

Author Kamei teaches a course on the legal ramifications of the World War II incarceration of people of Japanese ancestry. This looks at the over 120,000 people forcibly removed from their homes by the U.S. government and kept in detention camps until the end of WWII. The background and context for these events are “interwoven with more than 130 individual voices of those who were unconstitutionally incarcerated, many of them children and young adults.”

The Violence Project is a nonprofit “dedicated to reducing violence in society and using data and analysis to improve policy and practice.” It is also a comprehensive database of mass shooters. Through interviews and hundreds of data points, “instead of offering thoughts and prayers for the victims of these crimes, Peterson and Densley share their data-driven solutions for exactly what we must do, at the individual level, in our communities, and as a country, to put an end to these tragedies that have defined our modern era.”

What is the Devils Hole pupfish! Great question — it is “a one-inch-long, iridescent blue fish whose only natural habitat is a ten-by-sixty-foot pool near Death Valley.” And yet it survives! This looks at its history on the endangered species list (a controversial listing!) and why we should care about this tiny fish.

Bronzeville is one of Chicago’s historic Black neighborhoods (a few people who lived in Bronzeville: Ida B. Wells, Louis Armstrong, Gwendolyn Brooks, among others!). Turner grew up in ’70s Bronzeville and her memoir focuses on the story of her, her sister, and her friend Debra, as well as that of her mother, aunt, and grandmother. Really psyched about this one, because 1970s + Bronzeville + woman-centered memoir. A+.

Much of what is known about Holmes and Theranos came out in a blockbuster nonfiction book by Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou, Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup. It was one of my favorite books of 2018, and I recommend it a lot for people who love non-violent true crime. 

The New Yorker will be publishing a series of columns about famous female chefs, inspired by chapters in Mayukh Sen’s upcoming book Taste Makers: Seven Immigrant Women Who Revolutionized Food in America. I’m jazzed about this book and this series!

This weekend I’ll be heading up to my parent’s house in Wisconsin for a few days at the cabin. The weather looks like it’s going to be great – sunny and a little cool – which means plenty of time to read outside without feeling like there’s some other activity I should be doing. I’m already planning to bring way too many books, but the one I’m excited to finish is The Quiet Zone: Unraveling the Mystery of a Town Suspended in Silence by Stephen Kurczy.

Children’s author Bolden tells the story of Dovey Johnson Roundtree, famous for her “successful defense of an indigent Black man accused of the murder of Mary Pinchot Meyer, a prominent white Washington, DC, socialite, in 1965.” Roundtree also was the first lawyer to bring a bus desegregation case before the Interstate Commerce Commission, “the first Black women to enter the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, and was one of the first ordained female ministers in the African Methodist Episcopal Church.” Dovey Undaunted indeed!

Know that I pick this having the Funko Pop of Lagertha from Vikings on my bookshelf. In this history, Brown “lays to rest the hoary myth that Viking society was ruled by men and celebrates the dramatic lives of female Viking warriors.” Take that, hoary myth! It combines archaeology, history, and literature (amazing) to tell the story of a female Viking warrior found in a grave in Sweden. You also learn about medieval women like Queen Gunnhild Mother-of-Kings, the Viking leader known as The Red Girl, and Queen Olga of Kyiv. So cool.

Alexander’s website describes himself as “a theoretical physicist specializing in cosmology, particle physics and quantum gravity.” Which is fancy. He emphasizes the importance of intuition and thinking outside the box (four dimensions! forget the three dimensional box) for great physics. Also how much we need diversity in science, which, as someone who regularly covers science/nature books in her newsletter/podcast, YES PLEASE. Give diverse scientists book deals!

In this book, journalist Gigi Georges tells the story of five teenage girls as they come of age in Washington County, Maine, one of the most isolated communities on the Eastern seaboard. Near Acadia National Park, the town is adjacent to a lot of wealth, but residents are distant from that opportunity. The girls Georges profiles – a photographer, a writer, a softball player, a basketball star, and a valedictorian – struggle to find their place, thrive amidst poverty and drugs, and celebrate where they are from. Mare of Easttown has so many great female characters and explores the lives of teenage girls, so this felt like a great connection.

Growing up Ashley C. Ford always wished she could turn to her father for guidance and support – particularly when her relationship with her mother was at its most fraught. The problem was that Ford’s father was in prison, no one in her family would tell her why, and she didn’t know when he’d get out. This beautiful memoir is about growing up poor, female, and Black in the Midwest, with family close by but always feeling on the outside. Mare’s relationship with her daughter, Siobhan, is complicated but loving, and I think Siobhan’s journey has a lot in common with what Ashley writes about. 

For months, the people of Accomack County, Virginia, went to bed each night wondering which abandoned building in their community would burn down next. The volunteer firefighters took turns sleeping at the station and vigilante groups started hunting the arsonists, as local police struggled to investigate and protect the buildings. Poverty and what happens when people feel left behind are a big part of Mare of Easttown, themes that this true crime book explores with a lot of compassion. 

This weekend I’m excited to jump into a new memoir out this week, Seeing Ghosts by Kat Chow, the story of how Chow lost her mother when she was 13 years old. Chow used to work for NPR, so I remember her from being on podcasts like Code Switch and Pop Culture Happy Hour, and have been waiting anxiously for her book to come out. I love memoirs about complicated families, and the reviews of this one so far have been really good – USA Today, Shondaland, Kirkus.

This was inspired by the Yves St Laurent sardine dress, which basically looks like the cover (fish scales!) and “celebrates the fading crafts, industries, and artisans that have defined communities for generations.” She looks at Manhattan dressmakers of the nineteenth century and “the fishermen on Grand Manan Island, a community of 2,500 residents, where the dignity of work and the bounty of the sea ruled for hundreds of years.” Grand Manan is in Canada!

Chinese diaspora! Gold! Ngai covers the gold rushes of the nineteenth century and how they led to “the Chinese Question,” namely: “would the United States and the British Empire outlaw Chinese immigration?” Spoiler: they did. Ngai links themes from “Europe’s subjugation of China to the rise of the international gold standard and the invention of racist, anti-Chinese stereotypes that persist to this day.” Basically, we are always being influenced by events and decisions of the past, and here are some you might not have known about that impact you.

Chemerinsky is dean of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. His new book “reveals how the Supreme Court has enabled racist policing and sanctioned law enforcement excesses through its decisions over the last half-century” and how “its conception in the late eighteenth century until the Warren Court in 1953, the Supreme Court rarely ruled against the police.” If you like deep dives into Supreme Court history (I do) and again, why we do the things we do (history!), then check this out.

Ok yeah, this came out in June, but I am only HEARING about it now. In the Heights is my wife’s favorite musical and this behind-the-scenes look offers “untold stories, perceptive essays, and the lyrics to Miranda’s songs—complete with his funny, heartfelt annotations. It also features newly commissioned portraits and never-before-seen photos from backstage, the movie set, and productions around the world.” SO NEAT.

Soccer legend Megan Rapinoe is starting a book club! The first pick for her “new and exclusive” book club with Literati will be Unbound by Tarana Burke, founder of the #MeToo movement. In an interview with People, Rapinoe said she plans to read the books right alongside book club members, choosing titles that will help readers learn from experts in a variety of areas. I haven’t dug into Literati subscriptions much, but I can’t help but be a fan of Megan Rapinoe – awesome first pick!

Huma Abedin has revealed the cover of her upcoming memoir. Titled Both/And: A Life in Many Worlds, the book is, I believe, the first time Abedin will share at length about her ex-husband’s sex scandal and her time working for Hillary Clinton. Abedin is the daughter of Indian and Pakistani intellectuals and advocates, and has worked with Clinton since 1996 as a college intern. I’m most curious about how forthright Abedin will be in this book – memoirs by politicians can be bland, but she’s not exactly in politics anymore. It could be fascinating! Both/And will be released on November 2.

This weekend I am hoping to finish up An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook’s Battle for Domination by Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang. The book is a behind-the-scenes look at the reasons Facebook has come under fire over the last five years – everything from data privacy issues to election manipulation. Frenkel and Kang are both reporters for the New York Times, and bring their extensive knowledge of cybersecurity, technology, and regulatory policy to the table, along with some really extensive and knowledgeable interviews with Facebook insiders.

It’s an absolutely fascinating read that really shows the extensive and fundamental flaws with Facebook as a platform and a tool. I’ve been feeling a lot of ambivalence about social media lately, and this book has just reinforced that the true goals of the people running the company go deeply against the public good in a whole host of ways.

Described as a “radically inclusive, intersectional, and transnational approach” to women’s rights, written by an American Muslim woman, attorney, and political philosopher. This centers women of color and is a “counter-manifesto to white feminism’s global, long-standing affinity with colonial, patriarchal, and white supremacist ideals.” This is part of a literature of recent work that notes the importance of decentering white women — particularly upper middle class white women — from feminism and from being seen as the de facto leaders of the movement.

This makes you reexamine or even just examine what we can take for granted, but which comes at the price of someone else’s safety, physically and, I’m gonna say it, spiritually. It looks at jobs that “society considers essential but morally compromised,” like drone pilots, prison guards, and slaughterhouse workers, and how the majority of Americans are shielded from the ethically troubling work we expect unnamed others to do.

While Afghanistan borders the Middle East, this short (less than 250 pages) read can maybe be something of a background on the region for those of us shielded from the on-the-ground realities of what is happening. El Baghdadi and Gatnash “tell the story of the modern Middle East as a series of broken promises. They chart the entrenchment of tyranny, terrorism and foreign intervention, showing how these systems of oppression simultaneously feed off and battle each other.”

This feels a little like the vibe of The Nanny Diaries, but instead of a nanny, it’s a tutor. They’re still talking about “the inner circle of New York’s richest families” though, so if you’re looking for something escapist and to I guess learn some kind of thing about how it’s hard to be rich (but probably not that hard), here y’go. It’s under 200 pages!

It’s like a Mary Roach deep dive, but into taxidermy! Journalist Milgrom goes from “the anachronistic family workshop of the last chief taxidermist for the American Museum of Natural History to the studio where an English sculptor, granddaughter of a surrealist artist, preserves the animals for Damien Hirst’s most disturbing artworks.” And beyond! Obviously I bought this. How could you not.

This university press American women’s suffrage history book is apparently not the first thing you’d maybe reach for. BUT. This is the story of Adella Hunt Logan, a Black suffragist who “taught at Alabama’s Tuskegee Institute but also joined the segregated woman suffrage movement, passing for white in order to fight for the rights of people of color.” Alexander is Logan’s granddaughter, and she grew up hearing her family refer to Tuskegee as “the Hither Isles.”

I have multiple histories of Germany. One is because it has a very fun cover (Germania) and this one because it promises up front that it’s gonna be short. It asks questions like how Roman did Germania ever become? How did Prussia come about (and whatever happened to Prussia)? And more modern questions, but I like things before people stopped wearing fun hats.

I have a lot of books about the history of women in America! They are on some of my “no, we can’t donate books in this genre” shelves. I’m proud of this one because it feels like a deep cut of the work of Daina Ramey Berry, also known for co-authoring A Black Women’s History of the United States. No, you’re right, a real deep cut would be 2007’s “Swing the Sickle for the Harvest is Ripe”: Gender and Slavery in Antebellum Georgia. I don’t have that one. YET. But this one “shows the lengths to which enslavers would go to maximize profits and protect their investments.” Berry researched this for over ten years! And she “resurrects the voices of the enslaved and provides a rare window into enslaved peoples’ experiences and thoughts, revealing how enslaved people recalled and responded to being appraised, bartered, and sold throughout the course of their lives.”

Did you know they used clamshell razors in colonial America? And that at least 85% of American women regularly remove hair from their bodies? Historian Herzig examines what’s up with that. She also shows how over time, mainstream American beliefs about visible hair changed, and how its existence — “particularly on young, white women—came to be perceived as a sign of political extremism, sexual deviance, or mental illness.” Wow! That seems bad. We should probably think about that more.