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Ann Skea's Bookshelf
The Many Lives of James Lovelock: Science, Secrets and Gaia Theory
Jonathan Watts
Canongate
https://canongate.co.uk
9781805302872, $29.56 hc, 312pp
https://www.amazon.com/Many-Lives-James-Lovelock/dp/1805302876
James Lovelock is best known as the 'father' of the Gaia theory, which claims that the Earth functions 'like an organism to
maintain a habitable environment'; that we live in a holistic, system in which life does not just adapt but shapes the
environment; and that we, like all living things, play an active part in maintaining the balance which supports life. Jonathan
Watts, however, shows that there were many 'mothers' necessary to the birth of this hypothesis, and to its presentation, not
just to scientists but also to less academic readers. 'Gaia,' he writes, 'was not the monopoly of one man... Like Gaia itself, it
is a group effort, a product of relationships.'
In this book, Watts applies Gaia theory to a biography:
'the chapters are organised by layers of relationships that made up Lovelock's life and shaped his thinking.... On one hand it
tells the story of a brilliant individual who played a central role in some of the great scientific developments of the twentieth
century....Yet, at the same time, it challenges the idea of a solitary genius and stresses the importance of interactions -
neglectful, manipulative, passionate, loyal, inspiring and resentful.'
Many of these important interactions were with the women in Lovelock's life: the scientists Dian Hitchcock and Lynn
Margulis, who each played a vital part in sharing ideas and shaping the Gaia hypothesis into a coherent thesis; and,
especially, his first wife, Helen, his 'gatekeeper and account manager', who unwillingly tolerated his affairs but, in spite of
her own ill health, remained his 'personal assistant' and 'pillar of the family, making sure everyone was looked after while
[he] travelled for work'. Another significant contributor was Sidney Epton, who worked with Lovelock as ghost writer and
editor to make his influential paper for The New Scientist easy and interesting reading for the general public.
So, although Lovelock caused fury, criticism and 'fierce academic debates' for unscientifically linking myth with serious
research, and because of his 'purple prose', Gaia's influence among the general public spread so widely that it was adopted
and adapted by ecologists, 'cybernetic analysts, eco-modernists, diplomats, New Age gurus, witches and wizards', and
creationists and spiritual groups drawn to the goddess Gaia or to the idea of there being 'a grand design' to life on Earth
rather than it being the result of Darwinian evolution.
It was the novelist, William Golding, who suggested the name 'Gaia' to Lovelock, telling him of the Greek Goddess of the
Earth - the powerful, sometimes terrifying, mother of all life. Watts doubts whether Gaia would have become so well-know
if Lovelock had continued to refer to his theory as describing 'a cybernetic biological system or a biologically controlled
homeostatic system'. 'Gaia', as Lovelock liked to say, was 'a good four-letter word'.
Gaia, however, was only one part of Lovelock's life. It is surprising to read of his work on airborne disease for the National
Institute for Medical Research (NIMR); with virology and hygiene for Medical Research Council (MRC), where he also
worked with radio-active materials until he was warned of the health hazards; his employment by the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory in California to measure the chemical composition of the soil and air on other planets; his relationship with
Victor Rothschild of the petrochemical giant, Shell, who employed him as a senior consultant; and that he engaged in
anti-terrorism operations in Northern Ireland for the British Ministry of Defence. 'He was never a full-time member of
British Intelligence', but was 'almost certainly Britain's longest-serving spy', with 'a working relationship with MI5 and MI6
that was to last until well into his nineties possibly until his 100th birthday'.
A number of sensitive questions that Watts asked Lovelock about his work with these various employers ('was Lovelock
knowingly involved in biological weapons development?' when working for the MoD, for example) went largely
unanswered, because Lovelock was still bound by The Official Secrets Act, which he signed in 1941 before being taken on
by NIMR. He did, however, state that 'In no circumstances would I knowingly harm anyone.'
Lovelock's most important invention, the Electron Capturing Device (ECD), was the result of a conversation with Archer
Martin 'the world's leading gas chromatography expert' when they were both working for MRC.
'Lovelock asked Martin whether he could analyse the blood of hamsters to understand why they alone - of all laboratory
mammals - could successfully be reanimated after freezing. The answer came in the form of a challenge. Martin said the
sample was too small for his instruments, so he could only examine the rodent if Lovelock invented a more sensitive
detector.'
Lovelock had for some time been experimenting with an ionizing anemometer that he had invented to track air movements.
He had been using this
'to measure the composition of gasses and liquids with a degree of sensitivity that no other scientist on Earth possessed at
the time. He did not fully understand how it worked until decades later, when he would talk in hallowed terms of his
device's 'quantum' properties and 'magical' effectiveness.... That instrument was the electron capture device (ECD).'
Taking up Martin's challenge, Lovelock 'retreated to his lab' and over the next few years developed two smaller, cheaper
ionizing detectors which were 'hundreds of times more sensitive that anything that had existed before.'
He went on to use his ECD for atmospheric analysis, which led, amongst other important discoveries, to the identification of
lead and sulphur in car exhaust and from the burning of fossil fuels; the spread of atmospheric pollutants around the world;
the increase of CFC's (greenhouse gases) in the atmosphere; and, eventually, to Lovelock's formulation of the Gaia
hypothesis, which, too, changed as he became more and more aware of humans' effects on the world around us.
Lovelock was a maverick, an inventor, brilliant at chemistry and although he was hopeless at maths due to dyscalculia, he
had a 'phenomenal memory'. Open minded and always willing to see an alternative point-of-view, he became an excellent
fixer and problem solver. As one man who worked with him at the Medical Research Council put it:
'With Jim here were always ten ideas: nine of them would be too outlandish and impossible but there was always one
gem.'
Watts notes, however, that Lovelock was not comfortable with personal relationships:
'this was an area where he often felt ill-equipped for self-reflection.... Despite an ability to charm and a mischievous sense of
humour, he preferred to live away from others. Although he developed the world's most sensitive chemical detectors, he
could be incredibly tin-eared and inconsiderate of the feelings of those closest to him.'
As a parent he was unpredictable.
'Lovelock's idea of diverting his baby son, Andrew...was to fill empty tins with gas then ignite them with a boom. 'You
never knew what was going to happen with Dad. One time he tied a hydrogen balloon to Jane's toy pram and it floated off,'
Christine said.
He wasn't a boring old fart. His boundaries of what was permissible were different. My sister and I got used to it. He taught
us how to make volcanoes.'
As a boy, he had been a passionate bombmaker, 'fascinated by the explosive power of chemistry' and Watts quotes him as
saying 'Not many people made bombs. And, of those who did, not many still have all their fingers.' By the time he left
full-time employment and set up his own laboratory in barn near his house, he was unafraid of working with dangerous
substances, including explosives and radioactive materials. When he was in his nineties, and the Science Museum in
London considered acquiring his entire laboratory for an exhibition focused on his work, they found 'there were too many
hazards, including radiation, mercury, asbestos, Semtex and just about everything you could possibly imagine'.
One of the most interesting and worrying chapters in this book is based on the relationship between Lovelock and Victor
Rothschild. Rothschild clearly valued Lovelocks expertise in tracing atmospheric pollutants in relation to petroleum
products, but it seems that he also wanted to control what Lovelock publicly disclosed about this.
On one occasion he wrote to Lovelock that he 'particularly' did not want him 'to talk to non-Shell people' about the
atmospheric effects of the combustion of fossil fuels, which was part of the title of two confidential papers Lovelock
produced in 1966. When, in 2000, Lovelock
'told the Shell executive that by the end of the century, pollution would be catastrophic, fossil fuels would have to be
replaced by nuclear power, and that conservation would become the great political and religious issue of the day.'
'The oil baron told him to keep quiet about his predictions.'
Rothschild, however, was an influential patron, and his contacts in high places put Lovelock in touch with government
ministers and with key figures in the intelligence services.
Watts is meticulous and thorough in charting Lovelock's life and work, but basing his biographical method on the Gaia
Theory does mean that he jumps back and forth in time as he deals with the important relationships that brought that theory
into being. His conclusion, however, that 'Lovelock was everything that was right and wrong about the twentieth century', is
amply demonstrated and his summing up of Lovelock's character seems true:
'He was a curious, funny, kind, dynamic, ambitious, jet-setting exemplar of 'progress' who was never afraid of risks....Yet he
was also reckless, secretive, occasionally callous, prone to low self-esteem, inclined to exaggerate his own achievements,
and seduced by power, praise and knowledge.'
Gaia, however, changed the way we look at our world, and Lovelock was the most important figure in its development and
in its lasting influence on our growing awareness that nature is not just a resource for us to exploit without
consequences.
Darkenbloom
Eva Menasse, author
Charlotte Collins, translator
Scribe US
https://scribepublications.com
9781964992044, $26.25 hc / $19.00 pbk / $10.99 Kindle 480pp.
https://www.amazon.com/Darkenbloom-Eva-Menasse/dp/1964992044
Darkenbloom is a fictitious small town on the Austrian/Hungarian border. 'A region where great spiritual, national, and
cultural differences have repeatedly collided'. The year is 1989. In September that year, the border between the two countries
was opened and in November, the Berlin Wall fell.
Rehberg has become Darkenbloom's travel agent and has decided that there is now potential for attracting tourists to the
town. It had, for centuries, been a feudal state, and although it is now situated in a republic and the descendents of the count
choose to live elsewhere and rarely return, when they do the locals still dutifully turn out to line the main street, the children
weave wreaths of flowers, and the old women dress in their hundred-year-old traditional costumes. Sadly, there had been a
catastrophic fire in the castle during the Russian occupation, but the tower survived, there are centuries old rustic streets
with their picturesque small houses, and there is the plague pillar, although the two saints' 'sensitive noses had been eroded
by wind and rain so they looked like affronted sphinxes'.
Rehberg has started to research the town's more recent history, but he soon discovered that 'the memories of individuals can
only be trusted so far; most people only remember what suits them, what casts them in a better light, or spares their feelings.'
And, as the narrator tells us,
'that is precisely the problem with the truth. The whole truth, as the name implies, is the collective knowledge of all those
involved. Which is why you can never really piece it together again afterwards. Because some of those who possessed a part
of it will already be dead. Or they're lying, or their memories are bad.... That was how it was in Darkenbloom.'
Rehberg is not the only one who has begun to be interested in Darkenbloom's history. Flocke Malnitz, the young primary
schoolteacher, is keen to discover more about the recent past and has shocked a recent council meeting by interjecting 'a
stupid remark that exposed the frazzled state of the mayor's nerves':
'something about a border museum, something special that no one else has but us. Us, in collaboration with people from
Over There, everything in both languages - there were links, we'd just have to dig them up...'
'Over There' is the way Darkenbloom people habitually refer to Hungary, the border of which is so close, and where Soviet
control has now just ended.
Two apparent strangers, too, have just arrived in Darkenbloom. One, Dr Alexander Gellert, seems to be a tourist and has
taken a room in Hotel Tuffer but, curiously, he seems to know some of the locals. The other, Lowetz (who had not been
born in Darkenbloom, had 'got out as soon as he could' and 'had intended never to return') has come to sell his mother's
house after her unexpected death. His mother was from 'Over There' 'but over the decades she had skillfully succeeded in
making people forget it'. She, too, had been researching local history.
'She had not been ill, nor was she especially old, yet, as expressed in the unintentional witticism produced with some effort,
by her inconsolable neighbor Fritz - the injury he had received as an infant made him difficult to understand, but the Lowetz
family were attuned to his guttural stammer - she still 'woke up dead one morning''
Flocke also discovers that a group of students of contemporary history 'who regard themselves as left-wing, fighters against
Austria's historical amnesia', have dedicated three weeks of their summer holidays to the restoration of the overgrow and
neglected Jewish cemetery, which had 'vanished from peoples' consciousness'.
All this is upsetting the people of Darkenbloom, who do not want their history to be dug up. Nobody talks about the war,
curtains twitch, people watch each other, 'the walls have ears, the flowers in the gardens have eyes,... and the grass has
whiskers that register every step.' There are many dark secrets. Some of its men had belonged to the Nazi Youth and still
meet in the Hotel Tuffer to discuss the old days; Flocke's mother, Leonore, who married into Darkenbloom, calls it a town
'full of Nazis, liars, and drunkards'; Dr Alois Ferbenz, one of the most important men in the Darkenbloom, boasts that he
once met Adolf Hitler and still speaks admiringly of his blue eyes and his 'artist's hands'. Other residents know something
about a party that had been held in the castle before it burned down, and the rumours of young men with guns heading for
the border wall to deal with the forced labour 'vermin' who were building it.
Darkenbloom, too, like other Austrian towns, had expelled its Jews and had become the first to raise the white flag signaling
to the Nazi invaders that (as was written in the paper)
'Darkenbloom is free of Jews! The town that for centuries was infamous for its more than one hundred resident Jews is now
completely Jew-free! Most have already been deprived of citizenship, because they left the territory of the Reich'.
Other things, like the violence and rape that occurred during the five years of Russian occupation at the end of the war in
1945, are not spoken of, although their effects still linger -as in the episodic madness of Agnes Kalmar, and the sad lives of
the unmarried Stipsits women - Mother Stipsits, and her daughter, who all the old folk know was 'a memento from a
Russian soldier'.
All this suggests that Eva Menasse's Darkenbloom is not an easy book to read, but she distances the horrors by creating
characters that hold your interest; by the ironic, dark wit of her narrator; and by exploiting the hidden secrets and the
conspiracies that arise after Leonore Malnitz's barn mysteriously burns down, a corpse is dug up in a border field, Lowentz's
mother's history notes go missing, and Flocke suddenly disappears.
Darkenbloom becomes a mystery story that you keep reading, partly because you slowly get to know the people, their mixed
loyalties, and how they struggle or, in a few cases, thrive in the constantly changing landscape of war, but also because you
want the mysteries to be resolved. You begin to understand, too, this society's need for historical amnesia.
That the town of Darkenbloom is, as Menasse says in an interview, a fictitious version of the Austrian/Hungarian border
town of Rechnitz, where some of the atrocities she has built into her story did take place during World War II, is horrifying.
So, too, when the current European territorial war is constantly in the news, are the final words in this book:
'This is not the end of the story.'
YouTube Interview with Eva Menasse:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2zFsL_7V5o
Wiki entry on Rechnitz:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rechnitz
Exit Wounds
Peter Godwin
Canongate
https://canongate.co.uk
9781805303336, $25.44 hc / $14.99 Kindle 274pp.
https://www.amazon.com/Exit-Wounds-author/dp/1805303333
Exit Wounds is a curious title for a memoir, especially when Godwin, early in the book, tells of an illustrated lecture on
wounds given by a combat surgeon, Major Jolly, to a group of war-bound BBC correspondents on a 'hostile environment'
refresher course. Two slides present the results of a bullet shot into the abdomen:
The entry wound was small and pursed. It looked survivable.
But the entry wound isn't usually your problem, explained Jolly. Once the bullet hits you it starts tumbling...He clicked the
remote to the next slide, a rear view of the same man. The bullet had punched a huge hole out of his back.
It's the exit wound that'll get you, Jolly said. It's the exit wound that kills you.
Godwin's own exit wounds, it seems, have been many and varied but not lethal. His first was the traumatic separation from
his family and the freedom of his Rhodesian childhood when, at the age of six, he was sent to a strictly regulated boarding
school. He was desperately unhappy, but his visiting parents, to his shock, refused to take him home. Then, 'a deeper
wound', when his elder sister, Jain, was killed in a Rhodesian army ambush. The horrors he saw and experiences as an
eighteen-year-old draftee in the Rhodesian army during the civil war which followed the Unilateral Declaration of
Independence, 'sucked the youth clear out' of him. And his later forced exile from the country left him contemplating
whether voyaging 'far from home, the places and people that once nourished you' induces 'a kind of spiritual scurvy', so that
'old scars open and you begin to bleed'. Then, his wounds were suddenly and unexpectedly opened by the breakup of his
marriage ('partners of twenty-five years'), and the disintegration of the family as his boys grew up and left home.
Godwin, however, is too good a story-teller for this underlying trauma to become depressing reading, and Exit Wounds, as
he tells us on the Preface, 'is not a conventional memoir'. Instead he has tried to 'track the way memory works': so it is
subjective, random, inexact - 'rather like viewing life through a fairground mirror'. And, especially when he writes of his
elderly mother, Helen Godwin, it is very funny
Helen was a doctor. For many years, she had been Chief Medical Officer in Rhodesia but, in the early chapters of the book,
she has taken to her bed, 'as if prematurely lying-in-state', in the London home of Godwin's younger sister, Georgina. Her
voice, too has suddenly changed, and she has begun to speak in a 'frightfully mannered, haute Edwardian fashion', such that
he and his sister 'nickname' her as 'Empress Dowager', or 'Her Grace'.
At ninety, my mother measures her longevity against two pacers. Her Majesty the Queen, who is eight months her junior,
and whom she considers as a colleague - they both served in the WRENS (the Women's Royal Naval Service) during the
Second World War. And her nemesis, Robert Mugabe, who misruled Zimbabwe for the last thirty years my mother lived
there. He is one year her senior, and she is determined to outlive him.
Watching TV coverage of Mugabe, 'Her Grace' spots his swollen ankles and 'diagnoses right-side heart failure. Doctors
never retire'.
'Mugabe's losing it,' she says cheerfully. 'Have you noticed how his kaftans have pictures of his own face all over
them?'....
'I think he wears pictures of himself to remind him who he is. He's getting dementia, I tell you.'.
Godwin comes back frequently to his interactions with his mother. She maintains her powers of critical observation and her
sharp wits, but she has shed her 'social filter' and blurts out 'whatever happens to move through her mind' oblivious to any
embarrassment or offence it may cause. On one occasion, as Godwin sits at her bedside, she examines his profile and
wonders aloud how he would describe his forehead:
My brow is rather prominent, a dashboard abutting a windscreen, so, in jest, I reply, 'Neanderthal?'
Yes', she promptly agrees. 'That's the word I was looking for.
At other times, he recalls episodes from his childhood; events and people from his war-service; his time in 1980s 'based in
South Africa reporting on the last years of Apartheid'; his years living in England; scraps of the research he is doing on a
biography of Emin Pasha; random bits of history, literature and other knowledge; and his life in America with his wife and
sons. The book flows smoothly between past and present, always with Godwin's easy way of capturing the moment and
bringing it to life for his reader. His 'fairground mirror' approach, too, offers many unexpected scattered reflections.
Describing his first, temporary, sojourn in New York, where he lived in an apartment building overlooking the river, he
notes that 'the Hudson was once so toxic that brigs sailed up it to burn the barnacles off their hulls.' Then he remembers his
encounter with a group of people blocking the riverside path where he was walking his dog. He asks a man what is going
on.
It's Tashlich,' he explains, 'the first day of the Jewish High Holidays. To atone, we write down our sins of the year on a piece
of paper and then cast it into the flowing water, preferably with fish in it. Fish have no eyelids, you see, so their eyes never
close; they see all things, just like our Creator'.
...
I realize I haven't been to Catholic confession in, what, more than a decade? 'Phew, I may need more than one page' I
say.
He laughs, tearing off a second one. 'You don't have to actually write your sins down,' he says. 'It's symbolic,'
Some of Godwin's happiest memories are of the times he has spent with his sons, Thomas and Hugo. Telling them the myth
of Narcissus as a bedtime story, the boys want to know why Narcissus didn't recognise his own voice when Echo repeated
his words, or his own reflection in the pool.
'It's a myth, Tom,' I said, frustrated. 'It has gods and nymphs and stuff. It's like a fairy tale or a fantasy movie.'
The boys are not convinced. Thomas thinks the story should have a moral, and Hugo, later, finds 'an online listicle entitled
'The 13 Biggest Assholes in Greek Mythology. To his disappointment, Narcissus didn't make the cut.'
Returning to London to visit his mother who has been temporarily hospitalised, Godwin recounts the arrival of a priest at
her bedside, which leads to a typically bizarre event. The priest gives Helen the wafer and wine of Holy Communion, then,
to Godwin's and his sister's horror proceeds to carry out the last rites.
Mum has recognised the Creed now and joins in with growing gusto. She has presided over many such deathbed rituals in
her decades as a doctor, and now she is presiding over her own. Hers is soon the dominant voice, booming its Empress
Dowager's heppy vowels across the ward....
The ward comes to a standstill as staff and patients alike pause to listen to her ex-straw-dinary voice.
The priests continues the ritual, finally marking Helen's brow with holy oil.
'Helen, be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit', he says.
'Mmm, smells like Christmas,' Her Grace says beaming.
And Helen, released from hospital, returns to her own bed and to what she calls, with precision, 'latibulating' (retreating
from the world).
Beneath all this, however, is Godwin's constant feeling of displacement, of not belonging, and his love for his lost, and
radically changed, home country, Rhodesia. Maybe, he thinks, he is 'struck down by what Chaucer, in 'The Parson's Tale',
describes as 'acedia'.
Acedia is sometimes called 'departing monk syndrome'. When a monk left (not even the order, but just for another
monastery, merely an inter-office transfer), the remaining monks would often plunge into a prolonged melancholy.
And yes, I know this analogy shouldn't apply to me as it is I who left for other monasteries. So why do I miss my prior
cloister so much?
'In any case,' he concludes, his 'sickness' is like 'an emotional aquifer, it can spring to the surface at the slightest signal.'
'We Godwins are paragons of stoicism', he writes early in Exit Wounds. 'Pain is something we pretend happens to other
people.' But clearly he is still suffering from these old wounds, and the therapist he sees diagnoses PTSD due to childhood
trauma; to 'fighting in one war and reporting on many others'; and to the 'moral injury' of 'bearing witness to, and failing to
prevent, deeply transgressive behaviour', such as that he had seen and experienced.
Helen's death towards the end of the book is moving, Godwin is holding her hand, and she is articulate and unpredictable to
the end:
I wish to pay you a compliment,' she announces.
This is a highly usual occurrence.
'I find that... She pauses, choosing her words carefully.
'I find you don't annoy me.' She adds, 'Most people do.'
At the end of the book, living alone in his New York apartment, Godwin sees 'a chevron of geese, returning from their
winter in Mexico'
They are flying against the wind, honking to cheer each other on, honking to boost their morale.
They have almost reached their destination.
They are almost home'.
Flying against the wind seems to be what Godwin has done for most of his life, but home, for him, is still Rhodesia, which
is, as Jim Moore says, in a poem he quotes, 'a country that no longer exists'.
Dr Ann Skea, Reviewer
https://ann.skea.com/THHome.htm
Arthur Turfa's Bookshelf
In The Thaw of Day
Cynthia Good
Finishing Line Press
https://www.finishinglinepress.com
9798888386309, $22.99
https://www.amazon.com/Thaw-Day-Cynthia-Good/dp/B0DJF3GSKM
Several themes recur in this volume of lyric verse. The waters, aquatic life and landscape around Cabo San Lucas and the
Pacific Ocean, he poet's parents and life changes. All are written with clarity and precise language, which set the scene very
easily to draw readers in,
The first two of these intersect. My Father's Smoke is one of several poems recalling the poet's closeness with him. There is
a physical resemblance but also a shared love for the ocean, for being together, for the "balm of Salem Menthol/masking
everything bad.-" (p. 2)
Her mother appears in sme poems also. Hating Me For it and Going down For the Third Time Today chronicle her mother's
final hospitalization in well-chosen, matter-of-fact phrases that still convey a sense of grief. When combined with My
Mother's Nudes the reader has a good grasp of the mother's personality. The poet never allows these poems to focus on
herself.
As for life changes, the poet experiences marital and professional changes, which become the subjects of several other
poems. These also have a sense of wistfulness and clear observation that will also give pleasure to readers.
Arthur Turfa
Reviewer
Booklife
The Fateful Adventures of the Good Soldier Svejk During the World War, Book One (The Centennial Edition)
Jaroslav Hasek, author
Zenny K. Sadlon. translator
Independently Published
IngramSpark
9798218487089, $17.99, PB, 320pp (IngramSpark)
9798327723146, $16.99, PB, 320pp (Amazon)
https://booklife.com/project/the-fateful-adventures-of-the-good-soldier-vejk-during-the-world-war-book-one-95475
https://www.amazon.com/Fateful-Adventures-Soldier-During-Centennial/dp/B0DBVXQHNP
Readers familiar with Hasek's satirical Czech novel of war and survival only from earlier English translations will likely be
jolted by Sadlon's version, first published in 2000 and here updated in a new edition to mark the centennial of Hasek's 1923
death, which left the serialized novel unfinished. Often printed in the west with an emphasis, in both translation and critical
assessment, on protagonist Svejk's good humor even as he gets impressed into becoming cannon fodder in the first World
War, Hasek's masterpiece is revealed, in Sadlon's handling, as a book of greater bite, heft, and complexity. The broad
strokes of this first book (of three) have not changed: After the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914, the
soldier Svejk finds himself interrogated and institutionalized in response to rambling remarks made about the Austrian
emperor over a pub feast of "five beers and one roll with a sausage."
Upon his release, Svejk receives a summons to a medical examination to determine his fitness to fight in the coming war.
He demands his cleaning woman push him there in a wheelchair, declaring "at a time when it is so grim for Austria, every
cripple must be at his post." As always, this first book of Hasek's sprawling novel centers on soldiers' talk, including
scabrous monologues about latrines and what maladies will help get one out of service ("I got a dislocated foot for a
tenner"), plus hilarious accounts of card games, training mishaps, and soldiers' certainty that they face death.
Here, though, the laughs are more pained, the scatology more pointed, that good humor laced with mustard gas. Rather than
a bumbling Pangloss, this Svejk resists readers' efforts to see him as sympathetic. He's often cruel and oafish, animated by
no clear philosophy, quite unlike the pacifist teacher Hasek describes in the prison passages. The result is challenging and
provocative, a century on. Prefatory material addressing translation issues is academic but illuminating.
Takeaway: Illuminating translation of the human complexity of a Czech classic.
Editorial Note: Also available are all three volumes (Books 1, 2, 3&4) of the First Edition (1997-2009) of the "Fateful
Adventures of the Good Soldier Svejk [sh-vake] During The World War". All three volumes are also available in a digital
book format (Kindle, $3.99 each) at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DKTTHZY7. The remaining two volumes of The
Centennial Edition will be published this year.
BookLife
https://booklife.com
Carl Logan's Bookshelf
Slaves for Peanuts
Jori Lewis
The New Press
www.thenewpress.com
9781620971567, $29.99, HC, 352pp
https://www.amazon.com/Slaves-Peanuts-Conquest-Liberation-Changed/dp/1620971569
Synopsis: With the publication of "Slaves for Peanuts: A Story of Conquest, Liberation, and a Crop That Changed History",
journalist, historian and author Jori Lewis pulls back the cover to reveal an obscure bit of human history -- a history of
greed, hypocrisy, prejudice, exploitation, and, because the growing and harvesting of peanuts was an expensive and physical
labor-intensive proposition, it was through the widespread use of slaves that the crop of peanuts and its broadening uses it
was made to be cheaply produced and a wealth building opportunity for slave owners and traffickers.
Critique: An extraordinary and seminal work of impressively detailed and documented research, "Slaves for Peanuts: A
Story of Conquest, Liberation, and a Crop That Changed History" by Jori Lewis brings out from an undeservedly obscure
piece of human history. Informatively enhanced for the reader's benefit with the inclusion of sixty pages of Notes and a five
page Index, and a fascinating, compelling, and informative read from start to finish, ""Slaves for Peanuts" is especially and
unreservedly recommended for community and college/university library Agricultural History collections, as well as
supplemental Colonial and Post-Colonial History curriculum studies lists. It should be noted by students, academia, and
non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that this hardcover edition of "Slaves for Peanuts" from The
New Press is also available in paperback (9781620979174, $18.99) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).
Editorial Note: Jori Lewis (www.jorilewis.com) is an award-winning journalist who writes about agriculture and the
environment. Her reports have appeared on PRI's The World and in Discover Magazine, Pacific Standard, and the Virginia
Quarterly Review. She is also a contributing editor of Adi, a literary magazine about global politics. In 2018, she received
the prestigious Whiting Grant for Creative Nonfiction.
Carl Logan
Reviewer
Clint Travis' Bookshelf
Walk by Faith, Not by Sexuality
Terry Reese & Scott Beyer
FB-AACP Publishing
9798990352445, $19.99, HC, 215pp
https://www.amazon.com/Walk-Faith-Not-Sexuality-Compassionate/dp/B0DMWTQ9YD
Synopsis: For Christian men grappling with same-sex attraction, reconciling faith and their sexuality can feel like an
impossible battle.
Many devout Christian men experience intense internal conflict when their same-sex attractions clash with their deeply held
religious beliefs. This struggle can lead to shame, isolation, and fear of rejection from their faith communities and society at
large. With a lack of resources that address both spiritual convictions and sexual feelings, men can be left without an option
to navigate the complicated path of sexuality.
With the publication of "Walk by Faith, Not by Sexuality: A Compassionate Guide to Sexual Identity, Religious Integrity,
and Inner Peace", board-certified professional Christian therapist Terry Reese offers a compassionate and practical approach
to this complex issue. Drawing from his professional expertise and personal experience with same-sex attraction, Reese
introduces the Faith-Based Acceptance, Abstinence, Congruency & Practice (FB-AACP) Therapy protocol.
This innovative framework provides readers with:
A path to self-acceptance and reduced shame while maintaining their faith.
Strategies for developing healthy masculinity and nonsexual male friendships.
Insights into navigating relationships and Christian living with same-sex attraction.
Practical tools for managing sexual urges and living in alignment with God and the Bible.
Guidance for church communities on creating supportive environments for those with same-sex attraction.
"Walk by Faith, Not by Sexuality" goes beyond simplistic condemnation of homosexuality or full acceptance of a gay
identity. Rather it offers a nuanced, middle-ground approach. Reese's unique blend of personal story, psychological insight,
and biblical wisdom provides a road map for readers seeking to live authentically while honoring their faith.
For Christians struggling with same-sex attraction, "Walk by Faith, Not Sexuality" offers hope, healing, and a way forward
in their life and soul journeys.
Critique: "Walk by Faith, Not by Sexuality: A Compassionate Guide to Sexual Identity, Religious Integrity, and Inner
Peace" is a guide written expressly to help Christians (especially men) with same-sex attraction who wish to live a life of
abstinence in accordance with their faith. "Walk by Faith, Not by Sexuality" does not support same-sex romantic
relationships, but neither does it condemn those with same-sex attraction, nor does it pretend that same-sex desires can be
eliminated. Compassionate and understanding, "Walk by Faith, Not by Sexuality" is an invaluable resource for its target
audience: Christians with same-sex attraction who seek a life of abstinence, and the pastors who counsel them. It should be
noted that this hardcover edition of "Walk by Faith, Not by Sexuality" from FB-AACP Publishing is also available in
paperback (9798990352421, $14.99) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).
Editorial Note #1: Terry Reese is a board-certified professional Christian counselor specializing in helping Christian men
navigate same-sex attraction while maintaining their faith. As cofounder of biblicalsexualintegrity.org and developer of
FB-AACP Therapy, Terry combines his personal journey, 26 years of military service, and extensive counseling experience
to offer unique insights on sexual identity and faith integration. Currently pursuing a PhD, Terry holds multiple
certifications in counseling and addiction therapy.
Editorial Note #2: Scott Beyer (www.biblegrad.com) is a minister with over 20 years of experience preaching and
counseling those struggling with addiction. He specializes in guiding Christian men with same-sex attraction, offering a
biblically rooted protocol for living in peace and congruence with their faith. A father of nine, Scott has been a featured
speaker at family lectures and hosts the Love Better podcast. He currently preaches at Eastland Church of Christ in
Louisville, Kentucky.
Clint Travis
Reviewer
Debra Gaynor's Bookshelf
Crossing in Time
Between Two Evils series - The 1st Disaster
DL Orton
Rocky Mountain Press
https://www.rockymtpress.com
9781941368015, $13.99 Paperback, $26.99 Hardback
https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Time-Between-Two-Evils/dp/1941368026
Crossing Time has a unique plot. Humanity is in trouble. It is on the verge of extinction. Planet Earth is facing a multitude
of problems, one problem leads to another. Volcanoes are spewing ash in the air. Eruptions cause a rise in temperature
which cause the polar caps and icebergs to melt causing tsunamis as well as drought. Fires break out in Denver. Could
things get worse? Of course they can. People are anxious, living on edge and that causes rage. The US and Russia exchange
a nuclear weapon (accidentally of course.) There is an outbreak of a virus similar to Ebola. The vaccine for the virus mutates
into something worse than the disease. If someone doesn't do something, mammals will become extinct within a few
months. A round sphere with Einstein's equation engraved on it appears with a sock in it. The fate of humanity rests in the
hands of our main characters. It is their love for each other that could save the world.
Time travel, romance, multi-universes, spheres, sea shells, socks, and a towel play a part in this tale.
The main characters are Isabel a strong female character. She is a geneticist, a risk taker, and very determined and Diego a
software engineer, laid back, easy going. He is not your typical main character or hero.
Our main characters are desperately in love. So, you ask what is unique about this plot. I'm glad you ask! This tale is a
combination of sci fi and romance. Heavy on the romance and heavy on the hot and heavy details. While the romance and
physical aspects are well done it might make some readers uncomfortable. If you embarrass easily you might want to skip
this book. The love between Isabel and Diego is a love that will last for ages and time travel.
It took me a bit to get really involved in this tale. The first part of the book is slow. However, the last half of this book made
it all worthwhile. The characters are well defined and multilayered. This book has 3 elements that I especially like: (1) Time
Travel, (2) Romance, (3) a Dystopic society, making this book a win-win for me.
The Cozy Christmas Cookbook: 50 Recipes to Rediscover the Magic of the Season
Taylor Vance
Rock Point
B0CV8LZ71T, $9.99 Hardback
Food brings people together. I love the Christmas season, and I love to cook so I was thrilled to receive an ARC copy of this
book. The delightful scents of peppermint and cinnamon as well as apple cider waffle through the house. One of the
highlights of the Christmas season in our home is hosting a party for friends and neighbors. The Cozy Christmas Cookbook
is the perfect addition to my seasonal cookbooks. The recipes in this book are bright, cheerful and delicious. There are 50
easy recipes in this book. Who could resist Orange Glazed Ham, Quiche Me Under the Mistletoe, I'm Dreaming of a White
Christmas Nog, and so many other tempting recipes.
The recipes in The Cozy Christmas Cookbook are easy to make even for a novice. They portray the heart of Christmas;
some are classics, and some add a twist to the customary dishes. Author Taylor Vance adds personal notes to the entries.
The photos are beautifully done. The instructions are easy to follow.
If you only have one Christmas cookbook it should be this one.
An Insidious Inheritance
Amelia West
Self Published
9781738771172, $12.99 Paper
B0DGMGY3FZ $3.99 Ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Insidious-Inheritance-Clara-Dawson/dp/1738771164
This is a spooky read.
The setting is Upstate New York in the 1930s. Clara had no contact with her estranged father for years. Upon his death by
suicide, she inherits an isolated inn. The property is dilapidated and has no electricity.
Several things bothered me concerning this book.
Repetitiveness:
The reader is told over and over that Clara is in financial dire straits. Usually once or twice is enough.
The year is 1930, something the country is in great depression. There is no need to tell the reader about the depression over
and over.
Some of the details are confusing. Clara can't pay rent. She has a part time job and yet she owns a car. Contradictory!
The library scene has contradictions. She doesn't know the names of people and yet she knows their names.
Some elements of the plot are not explained; they are dropped. What happened to them.
Again, and again, there are inconsistent parts.
This plot has great potential but still needs work. It needs proofreading and editing.
Amish Weddings: From Courtship to Celebration
Beth Oberholtzer
Herald Press
https://heraldpress.com
9781513813615, $20.99 Hardback
https://www.amazon.com/Amish-Weddings-Celebration-Beth-Oberholtzer/dp/1513813617
Before the wedding: Amish youth join a youth group around sixteen years of age. Amish youth end their school days end
after the eighth grade. They begin their progress to adulthood. Both male and female youth work outside the home. They
learn to manage their finances.
"Dating is serious; the goal is to find a life partner." The girl doesn't make the first move; she waits for the boy to approach
her. A first date could be the boy escorting the girl home after church. A young couple may date for several years before
deciding to marry.
An Amish wedding emphasizes the importance of relationships, of family, of the church community, and their faith in God.
The couple must be members of the Amish Church before they marry. The couple do not exchange rings nor is the wedding
attire fancy, there are no photographers or dance bands. The Amish have what they call Plain weddings, of course they add
personal touches. An Amish wedding is joyful and traditional. The Amish gather from other communities nearby and far
away to witness the joining of two into one (it is not unusual for there to be several hundred attending the wedding.) An
Amish wedding lasts all day. There is a long church service followed by a brief wedding ceremony. After a large meal the
people play games, sing and play harmless pranks. Often family and friends stay for another meal. A traditional Amish
wedding takes place on a Tuesday or Thursday after the fall harvest.
As I read the Foreword of Amish Weddings I contemplated the meaning of a wedding. Have the vows become secondary to
dancing down the aisle. I think the Amish may have this right.
Amish Weddings is an informative book explaining the views of the Amish and their traditions from youth to a wedded
couple.
Cypress Tombs
Shane Lege
Lege Industries LLC
9781961387454, $8.99 Paperback
B0DK9SL99M $2.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Cypress-Tombs-Shane-Lege/dp/196138745X
There is a serial killer in Vermillion Paris; he is targeting women and hiding their bodies in the bayou. The public
nicknamed him the Bayou Butcher. Leah was the assistant to the coroner; she spent hours at the crime scene documenting
the horrific details of the crimes. Sarah Cormier was the first victim; she was tortured, restrained, beaten and her body was
thrown into the bayou. The second victim's identity was unknown. Rebecca Boudreaux was the third victim; her body told
the same story. All three women had blonde hair and blue eyes. The fourth victim was Leah Broussard.
The reader has a front row seat as Leah's predicament is played out. She is tied, gagged and blindfolded by her captor. She
knows her life is in danger. Her captor played games with his victims; he tortured them. Can the information she gathered
from the crime scene assist her in any way?
The cover of this book is well done. It hints at the suspense, fear and intrigue that awaits the reader. The setting is
frightening, and the atmosphere is tense, intimidating, and disturbing. This tale has potential but there are several aspects
that need work.
There is too much repetition.
There are times when the plot loses focus.
The plot has a split personality. It is mystery and suspense and yet it is erotic suspense.
The characters lack depth.
The men that found the bodies got more sympathy than the dead women.
The ending needs work.
The writing is rambling in many places.
Things that work.
The cover quickly caught my attention and reeled me in.
The setting was perfect: A bayou and cypress trees set the atmosphere.
The atmosphere is tense.
The premise had potential and with work could be great.
The Buddy System: A Small-town, MMF, Military Romance
Honeybee Hollow #1
Ariella Talix
https://www.ariellatalix.com
Ringmaster Publishing
9798989515646 $15.99 pbk
B0DHJ3VNYS $5.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Buddy-System-Small-town-Military-Honeybee/dp/B0DRS7PGQ1
Brooke and Levi were the perfect couple. He was courageous, gorgeous, charming, and intelligent. He was proud to be an
American and served in the military. Six months after they met, they tied the knot. Brooke adapted to life as a soldier's wife.
Levi would be gone a few weeks at a time. After only five months of marriage Levi was deployed to Afghanistan. She
counted down the months, weeks, days, hours and minutes until his deployment would end. The unthinkable happened, Levi
was injured.
Levi returns home extremely depressed, with PTSD and unable to function sexually. He attempts to convince Brooke to
move on. But she refuses. Skyler, Levi's best friend, issues the young couple an invitation to come stay in Honeybee
Hollow. Levi strongly suggests Skyler join him and Brooke in bed.
"Our love keeps multiplying with each new member."
The scenes are hot and spicy. The first part of this tale was slow moving. Great story!
Tomb of the Sun King
Raiders of the Arcana #2
Jacquelyn Benson
https://jacquelynbenson.com
Crimson Fox Publishing
9781958051771, $39.99 hc
9781958051764, $19.99 pbk
B0CYHN25MW, $7.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Tomb-Sun-King-Raiders-Arcana/dp/1958051772
Adam and Ellie travel to Egypt to assist her brother Neil that his dig is in danger. Someone wants the artifact located at
Neil's dig. The four follow the three-thousand-year-old clues that lead them from the necropolis of Saqqara to the temples of
Luxor searching for the secret of a pharaoh. The secret could result in serious world changes. Ellie and her team will resort
to physical fighting and disregarding appropriate archaeological methods.
I love this tale. I have not read book 1 and MUST go back and read it. The characters work well together. I was a great fan
of The Amelia Peabody series written by Elizabeth Peters. This book reminds me a bit of that series. What do they have in
common? Humor, wit, action, mystery, suspense, Egypt, history, pyramids, and romance.
The setting is realistic. This tale has magical elements. (Magical elements would not occur in our world. The magical
elements ae left unexplained to make them part of everyday life.) The magicl elements in this tale are low key.
Ellie Mallory, our female main character, is intelligent, extremely strong, and independent. She is a scholar that bucks the
norms of society. Our male main character is Adam Bates is a surveyor. Ellie is attracted to him. Dr. Neil Fairfax is Ellie's
stepbrother; he is intelligent and protective of Ellie. Constance Tyrrell, aka Connie, is fearless. This book highlights
Colonialism and the institution of marriage. The narrator is Alex Picard. He has a talent of balancing the characters and
developing their accents.
Great reading.
The Starlight Heir
Amalie Howard
Avon
c/o HarperCollins
https://www.harpercollins.com
9780063355842 $15.19 pbk / $40.66 audiobook
https://www.amazon.com/Starlight-Heir-Novel-Amalie-Howard/dp/0063355841
5 star
"His Imperial Majesty King Zarek requests your presence as his esteemed quest."
Syraya Saab is a talented bladesmith. She is one of the few who can infuse her work with jadu, the last source of magic in
the realm. When she received a gold invitation from King Zarek, she believes it is a joke. She has been invited to join in a
competition for the crown prince of Kaldari's hand in marriage. She knows she is not qualified to be a potential bride for the
prince. The invitation was tempting; it sounds exciting and adventurous. The invitation had nought to do with acquiring a
bride for the crowned prince, it was an obscured hunt for the Starkeeper, a girl that was believed to hold the magic of the
stars in her blood.
Her trip to Kaldari was filled with danger. Syraya was drawn to crowned prince's illegitimate half-brother, Roshan. Unrest is
growing between the noble houses and the rebel militia. Suraya and Roshan flee the city after the rebels attack. The couple
continue to deny their attraction to each other. Roshan is shielding secrets. Suraya could be the girl they are searching for,
Starkeeper. She has no discipline over the force swirling within her. A dark god has taken notice of her, he could be the
greatest threat she must face.
WOW! What a great read! I was quickly drawn into Suraya's story. She is a strong female main character; she stands up to
anyone trying to push her around. She is loyal to those she cares about. Roshan is determined to protect Suraya. The two
main characters are likable and work well together. Roshan is funny and a big flirt. The secondary characters Javed and his
mother were not likable. The supporting characters added depth to the plot.
This is a great romance fantasy. The romance slowly built up until it blossomed. Action packed.
Kudos to author Amalie Howard!
Something in the Walls: A Novel
Daisy Pearce
Minotaur Books
c/o Macmillan
https://us.macmillan.com
9781250334381 $25.20 hc / $14.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Something-Walls-Novel-Daisy-Pearce/dp/1250334381
4 star
Mina Ellisis was recently certified as a child psychologist. It is difficult to pick up clients because of lack of experience. A
friend she met at a grief support group, Sam, is a journalist. He is working on an unusual case that he believes will help
Mina gain experience. He suggests she go with him to Babathel to interview Alice Webber. Thirteen-year-old Alice hears
voices she believes there is a witch in the chimney. The town believes she is a witch.
The town of Babathel is small and has a reputation for being superstitious and believing in ancient myths. The reader will be
looking over their shoulder for the boogey man. The atmosphere is one of alarm and danger. Some of the scenes in this book
terrified me to the point I wasn't sure I could read any more. The suspense and terror build until suddenly the plot takes an
unexpected turn. Not all of the questions are tied up with a pretty bow, several are left unanswered. They are left for the
reader to contemplate. Author Daisy Pearce allows the tension to slowly build. She knows how to build the atmosphere. The
author is extremely talented. She has created a plot that is disturbing, intelligent, and filled with slow building terror.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.
Celebrating All Creatures Great & Small: For the Love of the Yorkshire Dales
All Creatures Great and Small, Rosie Page
Michael O'Mara Books
Dreamscape Media
9781789297188, $39.99 Hardback, $12.99 Ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Celebrating-All-Creatures-Great-Small/dp/1789297184
I have read the original books by James Herriot over and over. They leave me with a good feeling. Perhaps it is humor,
maybe it is the animals, or it could be the simpler time. James Alfred "Alf" Wight, aka James Herriot, was born in 1916.
Although he was exempt from service he served as a pilot in WWII. In 1968, 50-year-old Wight began to write. His first
book "If Only They Cold Talk" was published in 1970. His books offer readers stories concerning animals. One of my
favorite stories concerns Strawberry Cows. I have never heard of Strawberry Cows and still would like to see a picture of
one.
I was so excited to listen to Celebrating All Creatures Great & Small. The daughter of James Herriot wrote the foreword for
this book. She offers insight into her father. This book is more about the PBS series than a repeat of the original stories. PBS
has a show featuring the delightful stories of James Herriot and his adventures as a veterinarian. The main character is
played by Nicholas Ralph. The stories have been adapted for the new series, but they still offer the viewer the warmth of the
series from the past. The viewer travels to Darrowby, a fictional village where they meet the cast playing the characters from
the original books. This book shares information about how the series is made and bits and pieces concerning the actors. It
introduces listeners to the setting, the landscape and of course the animals. The listeners visit Skeldale House, the home of
the Wights. There are several narrators for this book, and they are all very talented. Deborah Balm and Nathaniel Priestley
do an exceptional job.
The book is a beautiful hardback. In it we learn more about the author, his life, his writing. The book has hundreds of
delightful photographs.
James Alfred Wight, was veterinarian in Yorkshire. He was especially fond of dogs. Alf loves all animals and tells his
stories with more than a little humor.
This is a 5 star book!
The Lost House: A Novel
Melissa Larsen
Minotaur Books
c/o Macmillan
https://us.macmillan.com
9781250332875, $28.00 Hardback, $14.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Lost-House-Novel-Melissa-Larsen/dp/1250332877
Agnes Glin lost her precious grandfather, Elnar Palsson a year and a half ago. She loved him dearly and was still mourning
him. She had a surfing accident that shattered her kneecap leaving her in great pain. Agnes is addicted to her pain
medications; she attempts to avoid abusing them, but the pain is unbearable. Her life was falling apart.
Her grandfather and father were from Bifrost, Iceland. Forty years ago, Elnar's wife, Marie and infant daughter were found
murdered and buried in the snow. Marie's throat was cut, and the infant had drowned. The Frozen Madonna case had never
been officially closed. Suspicion fell on Elnar but there was no evidence. In small towns rumor and gossip can convict
without proof. He was never arrested or charged. He took his son and left Iceland for California. The case was referred to as
the Frozen Madonna. When Nora Carver contacted Agnes and invited her to Iceland for an interview on her true crime
podcast, Agnes packed her bag and headed for the airport. She saw the opportunity to clear her grandfather's name.
A girl is missing in Bifrost, could this be connected to her grandmother and aunt's murder?
The Lost House is a great book to curl up with next to a cozy fire. The fire is a must because this book's atmosphere is icy
cold. In my mind I could see Agnes struggling through the knee-deep snow and the ice-covered roads. Author Melissa
Larsen does a superb job of describing Iceland's weather conditions. While I enjoyed The Lost House, I felt the pace was a
bit too slow. The story is told from Agnes' point of view.
The Viking Sword: An Anglo-Saxon Mystery
Elizabeth Springer
https://elizabethspringerauthor.com
Privately Published
9798985285130 $15.99 pbk
B0DR48H5V7, $5.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Viking-Sword-Anglo-Saxon-Wimborne-Mysteries/dp/B0DTFDX266
Christmas time is usually a special time for newlyweds however Lord Edwin and Lady Molgiful's Christmas may not go the
way they expect. The setting is AD 879 at Wimborne in Dorset. Edwin is employed by King Alfred as an administrative
official. A band of callous gamblers appear to be organizing in nearby Hampton. A man reports the theft of a treasure trove
of silver. A precious artifact at Wimborne Abbey has disappeared. Someone burns down a warehouse with a year's worth of
food inside. A musician with a communication from Edwin's brother vanishes. The skull of woman is recovered in a
shallow grave in an isolated spot close to the river. Could anything else go wrong? Of course! On Christmas day a man is
found in his locked bedchamber with a Viking Sword in him. Are the crimes connected...
Edwin and Molly attempt to bring back a little semblance of peace and holiday cheer.
I love this action-packed historical mystery. The main characters are fun. This is the second book in this series. A great
read!
Debra Gaynor, Reviewer
www.hancockclarion.com
www.facebook.com/bookreviewsbydebra
Donald Schneider's Bookshelf
Shun the Heaven: An Antebellum Mystery
David Hoing and Roger Hileman
https://hoingandhileman.net
Black Rose Writing,
https://www.blackrosewriting.com
9781685135898, $22.95 Paperback
BODT2B9ZNS, $5.99 Kindle
https://www.blackrosewriting.com/mystery/p/shuntheheaven?rq=shun%20the%20heaven
Shun the Heaven, by Dave Hoing and Roger Hileman, is another example of historical and period fiction brought forth by
this collaborative writing team that has previously produced stellar examples of this genre including among others:
Hammon Falls (2010), A Killing Snow (2016) and what I consider to be their tour de force, In the Blood (2020). The title is
derived from Shakespeare's Sonnet 129 which ends as: "To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell," with other chapters
likewise headed by Shakespearian quotes that have relevance to the novel's plot.
The novel involves the convergence in the Detroit of 1847 of three plot lines following in the wake of the murder of Claire
Hinman, the wife of Carl Hinman, her stepbrother. Claire has been found bludgeoned and stabbed and left in the frigid snow
of February, 1846. Her murder followed a partially prepaid funeral planned in December of 1845 with a local undertaker by
a mysterious woman purporting to be Joanna Hinman, Carl's and Claire's illegitimate half-sister. She offers the undertaker
one-quarter down with the balance to be paid upon his services being rendered. The woman leads the undertaker to believe
that Claire Hinman is seriously ill and not expected to survive for much longer. Although reluctant to agree to this unusual
arrangement and somewhat skeptical as well, he finally does and accepts a bank draft signed by Carl Hinman (who turns out
to be illiterate) for the advance partial payment. However, after the murder with the funeral completed, the undertaker is
unable to locate Carl Hinman to collect the balance due as Carl Hinman has fled along with Claire's and his young daughter
Mariel as circumstances point to Carl as the murderer of his wife, though sufficient evidence is lacking to charge him as yet.
Although Carl denies guilt for the murder, he flees to rural Ohio with Mariel where he takes up farming for fear he will
eventually be charged and convicted, leaving Mariel effectively an orphan.
The undertaker retains lawyers in an attempt to locate Carl and collect the balance due for his services. To that effect, they
locate and contact by letter Claire's father, Noah Blackbourne, an East Coast sailor serving for years aboard whaling ships,
the sea always being his first love despite his dutiful affection for his late wife, Claire's mother, and more so, for their
daughter. Years before Noah had married a tumultuous seaside serving wench named Jane after an impromptu and singular
sexual dalliance had led to the conception of their daughter whom he loved dearly. He had felt that honor dictated marriage.
However, the resulting stormy marital union proved untenable and Jane ran off with another customer named Horace
Hinman, a widower, taking Claire with them for a visit to Jane's sister in Ohio. Although she deserts Noah, Jane never
divorced him or therefore legally married Hinman. Carl Hinman is the son and only child of Horace by his late wife.
Together, the illicit couple have two daughters of their own producing a complicated family situation after returning to
Boston, in which Blackbourne was unaware that they resided.
Horace died of heart disease in 1828 and Jane continues to reside in Boston with her children where her sister joins the
family. When Jane died of cholera in 1832, Noah, having just discovered that she and the children were living in Boston,
secretly attended the funeral. His daughter does not recognize him having been only two when her mother had left him.
Jane's sister continued to raise Jane's children, while Carl Hinman, old enough to be on his own, eventually moved to
Detroit after marrying Claire Blackbourne in 1836 where he worked in a tannery. They eventually had Mariel, their only
child.
Upon learning of the death of his daughter, Noah decides to travel to Detroit and investigate what seems to him to be the
suspicious circumstances surrounding Claire's death, with his suspicions centering on the son-in-law whom he doesn't know
but despises if for no other reason than he bears the name of the man who had taken Noah's wife and daughter from him. He
was outraged when he learned of his daughter's marriage to her stepbrother. Accordingly, accompanied by his faithful sailor
friend and sidekick, William Short ("Short Bill"), they embark on a precarious journey west in the course of which they
brave a shipboard Great Lakes storm rivaling in intensity any Short Bill or he had ever faced in the North Atlantic.
The third plot line of the novel involves a traveling medicine/freak show owned by one "Major Marcus T. LaVoie,"
purportedly of Franklin, Tennessee, complete with an ersatz Southern accent. He claims to have fought the Seminoles at the
Battle of Wahoo Swamp and afterwards partially obtained from a Seminole warrior his "miracle liniment" guaranteed to
cure whatever ails one which he peddles at a hefty price during the course of his troupe's performances. In reality, he is Marc
Kane from Ebytown, Canada, a fact known to his intimates, chief among them being Jubal Lawson, a midget (but not a
dwarf which he defensively points out to anyone mistaking him as such). Jubal performs as a dancing midget in another
freak show until he comes to the attention of LaVoie who purchases his contract recognizing that the man has capabilities
well beyond that of a mere "freak" of nature. Lawson is very intelligent and well educated and is a first class and honest
bookkeeper. LaVoie also uses Jubal as a barker as well as a participant in one of LaVoie's trick acts. A lonely and
melancholy Lawson corresponds with and occasionally visits his childhood love, a cousin from Detroit named Annalee, a
beautiful, sophisticated and affluent temptress.
The show picks up in the course of its travels an attractive Black woman named Cuff who had escaped Southern slavery
along with her daughter, now safely secreted somewhere north while her mother attends to other matters. She convinces
LaVoie to allow her to join his show which he reluctantly agrees to after she convinces him of her talents to be employed to
enhance the show. Lawson forms an interracial attraction for the woman which she politely but unequivocally rebuffs. Later
she convinces an ever more skeptical LaVoie to harbor two other escaped slaves who would prove handy to him, or so she
assures him.
One day, Salmon J. Garrett, LaVoie's advance man, a consumptive who always seems to be on his last legs, though always
manages to surprise LaVoie by turning up yet again, returns with the exciting news that a wealthy, seemingly mysterious
man named Samuel Zug (an actual historical figure of the time) from Detroit has for reasons unknown to Garrett taken an
interest in LaVoie's show and wishes to become its patron with significant financial assistance. As the matter of what Zug
expects in return from LaVoie is left unspecified for the time being, LaVoie is skeptical but decides to travel with his show
to Detroit to at least investigate the offer notwithstanding that LaVoie has always preferred to steer clear of cities, preferring
to perform in rural communities inhabited by yokels as opposed to the more sophisticated city denizens.
When Carl Hinman's young daughter becomes seriously ill, he has no choice but to travel back to Detroit - despite the
potential danger to himself and thus to Mariel - with the child to seek the services of a highly respected physician in the
hope of saving his beloved daughter, the convergence of the three plot lines comes to fruition. In the process, the mystery of
the murder of Claire Hinman is largely resolved as Carl is forced to come clean to his suspicious and vengeful father-in-law.
Incidentally, Jubal Lawson is shaken to the core by a chance encounter during the course of a performance with the show.
As a result, he abruptly returns to his previous employer as a dancing midget (a personal indignity he had sworn he would
never stoop to again) after attending to some pressing personal business that he feels he must. A side development occurs
when LaVoie comes to understand Zug's intention, a proposition that rattles the conscience of a man heretofore seemingly
bereft of one and forces a decision entailing profound risks and potential consequences.
Shun the Heaven is another fine Hoing & Hileman historical fiction piece, set in the antebellum United States, replete with
well-researched historical characters, issues, settings and nuances. The novel brings forth rich leading character
developments and enjoys the presence of several interesting supporting characters as well. It's well worth the reader's
time.
Donald Schneider
Reviewer
Elspeth Lorraine's Bookshelf
Just What to Do
Kyle Lukoff, author
Hala Tahboub, illustrator
Dial Books
c/o Penguin
https://www.penguin.com
9780593462942, $17.66 PB, 40pp
https://bookshop.org/p/books/just-what-to-do-kyle-lukoff/20701472
Synopsis: When you see someone sad, it's only natural to want to cheer them up. But how? Some people like hugs but
others don't. Sometimes a joke is more comforting than a card. How can you do the just-right-thing if you don't know what
it is?
Critique: Often when a friend or loved one is grieving it's hard to know what to do. Just What to Do offers a unique
roadmap.
When our young protagonist learns his brother's cactus died he thinks he knows just what to do. But his brother doesn't want
a painting of the cactus, he wants to hear a joke to get his mind off things. So when his cousin's goldfish dies he knows just
what to do! Tell her a joke! But she doesn't want a joke, she wants a warm hug. Every time he thinks he has cracked what a
grieving person needs, it changes. Confused and unsure when his best friend's grandma dies, he thinks and thinks before
asking, "Can you tell me what to do?" Together he and his best friend work to find out how best to comfort her. His honesty
and listening are the key to knowing what to do. Newbery Honor-winner Kyle Lukoff and Hala Tahboub both did an
excellent job balancing the seriousness of the topic with an easy to understand approach for kids. (9780593462942
$17.66)
Elspeth Lorraine, Reviewer
ElspethLorraine.com
Fred Siegmund's Bookshelf
Freedom's Dominion: A Saga of White Resistance to Federal Power
Jefferson Cowie
Basic Books
c/o Hachette
https://www.hachettebookgroup.com
9781541605121, $21.99, 416 pages
https://www.amazon.com/Freedoms-Dominion-Winner-Pulitzer-Prize/dp/1541605128
Freedom means different things to different people, a matter Professor Cowie explores in his latest work of history. Our
Constitution defines a government that wants us to obey the rules and accept the restrictions on freedom that democracy
creates, but it does not define freedom. Freedom's Dominion explores how some Americans have exploited the term
freedom to justify their social and political views.
Cowie's introductory discussion applies freedom as it continues to be used and distorted in the American south to justify
their racial views and their efforts to maintain an authoritarian social hierarchy. The introduction establishes the theme for
the four episodes of southern history with the emphasis on how they played out in the town of Eufaula, Alabama. The first
period follows five years after 1832 when the federal government signed the Treaty of Cusseta with the Creek Indians. The
second period covers the years of reconstruction after the civil war while the third period covers the south after
reconstruction ends, and the federal government withdrawals from the south. This third section continues into the 1950's,
but ends with the rise and career of George Wallace and the civil rights protests, the subject of section four.
Down in Alabama in 1832 southern whites would not accept the terms of the Treaty of Cusseta, which awarded the Creek
Indians land in Alabama for a reservation. Southern whites invaded the reservation lands and settled them as their own.
When the Federal Government attempted to fulfill their obligations and protect Indian land, southern whites decided an
oppressive federal government denied them their freedom as they defined it.
In all four episodes southern whites declare states rights as justification for doing as they please and overrule federal
government attempts to apply equal treatment before the law written into the U.S. Constitution. The white south came close
to exterminating the Creek Indians, which the federal government resisted, but without matching southern violence with
enough might to prevail. Instead, the remnants of the Creek nation were forcibly removed to Oklahoma territory.
The second episode covers reconstruction and the efforts of the federal government to protect the freed slaves from the
determination of the white south to deny their rights and keep them as subordinate cheap labor. Again, the south claims
freedom allows them to do as they please while the federal government has to resort to military occupation and be
constantly ready to match southern violence in the name of constitutional government. This second episode wears down the
resistance of the north and sets the stage for the third episode and the failure of the federal government to protect the black
community from 1877 until 1961. Chapters in this third section narrate the history of schemes to coerce and terrorize blacks
into submission.
The schemes include arresting blacks on false claims to exploit them as prison labor. How to rig elections and destroy
democracy is another chapter, followed by lynching blacks in the next chapter.
On lynching, Cowie writes "Largely unexplored in the varying explanations of American lynching is something
fundamental: the continuity of the underlying idea of freedom. Reframing the most heinous aspects of American violence as
part of the most cherished set of principles in American life is neither obvious nor easy to accept." Impossible to accept for
most of us, but he reviews others who have puzzled over it and written books about it. In one, the author suggests lynching
"arose precisely out of an ideology of the sense of what rights accrued to someone possessing democratic freedom." Cowie
reviews others writing on lynching: Ida B. Wells, Jacquelyn, Dowd Hall, and describes the tepid efforts of Presidents that
worried too much about votes to take a principled stand.
Part III continues into the great depression and the New Deal that finds southern whites working in the textile mills for a
pittance while blacks remain impoverished as tenant farmers. White supremacy reigns but only the white elite have political
and economic power, which they use to assure political dominance and cheap labor. WWII finds racial discrimination in war
productions jobs and a weak response by the Roosevelt administration to bring equal rights for blacks.
The book's fourth part covers the rise of George Wallace as a resident of Eufaula, a state legislator, state judge, governor of
Alabama and presidential candidate. Readers get a sense for Wallace from some of his aphorisms: "Moderation [is] political
suicide," [Voters]'d rather be against something than for something." And "[A] certain amount of pain must be expected and
tolerated; opponents must be dispatched without mercy; and fighters must be prepared to do whatever is necessary to
win."
Winning for Wallace meant appealing to the racial bigotry of southern whites, slightly disguised as freedom from
"oppressive" federal government efforts to guarantee the civil and political rights in the U.S. Constitution. Cowie tracts the
political career of George Wallace narrating his opposition to voting rights, civil rights, racial equality, integrated schools,
and his campaigns platforms for the 1968 and 1972 presidential elections.
A twelve-page conclusion ends the book, where the last paragraph calls for a commitment for the federal government to
defend civil and political rights at the local, state and federal levels. Good history has a theme to go with the narrative and
Cowie does this extremely well in Freedom's Dominion. He comes back to freedom as practiced in the south from 1832 to
the present. Since neither blacks nor anyone else give up civil rights through deception, southern politics requires violence,
or the threat of violence, for whites to sustain their prerogatives. All four eras define freedom that includes white violence
used in defiance of a consistently timid federal government.
The book is well organized, reads easily and provides useable documentation to pursue selected topics. It connects directly
to current Republicans that define freedom and patriotism as it suits their authoritarian aims. Those who believe in equality
and freedom may react with incredulous disbelief at the southern notions of freedom, but unfortunately it qualifies as current
events.
Fred Siegmund, Reviewer
www.Americanjobmarket.blogspot.com
Israel Drazin's Bookshelf
Sol's Journey: Seven Stories
Charles H. Freundlich
Independently Published
9798340837806, $19.98, 160 pages
https://www.amazon.com/Sols-Journey-Charles-Herbert-Freundlich/dp/B0DRSJX169
I have been reading and reviewing the inspiring, fascinating books by the brilliant writer Rabbi Dr. Charles H. Freundlich
for over ten years and enjoyed every one. "Sol's Journey," his eleventh fiction book since he started writing them at age
eighty, is no exception. It is a delightful, informative, thought-provoking collection of seven short stories.
The author's name, Freundlich, means "friendly." I know him as a person and as a writer. He is remarkably friendly and
concerned for others in person and in writing. Knowing him and reading him is a joy.
There is much to enjoy in this book. Two things stand out. Why is it that despite all the benefits that America gives Jews,
many Jews have stopped being observant of Jewish laws? Also, why have so many Jews who have risen to prominent places
in government and in universities taken the side of Hamas, which murdered hundreds of Americans and Israelis and
criticized Israel, which is trying to defend itself?
Dr. Frieundlich fascinatingly addresses these significant questions, and his solution is correct.
Renewing the Old, Sanctifying the New
Marc Shapiro
The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization
9781802077339, $32.95, 212 pages
https://www.amazon.com/Renewing-Old-Sanctifying-New-Civilization/dp/1802077332
The best book I read in years
Marc B. Shapiro's books and articles are always superb. His writings are filled with fascinating information. His
presentation of scholarly ideas and religious and secular practices, ancient and modern, Jewish and non-Jewish, is explained
engagingly. Even people who are generally uninterested in the subjects, Jews and non-Jews who have no background
knowledge of it, find what he writes to be eye-opening and riveting.[1]
Shapiro's 2025 book
"Renewing the Old Sanctifying the New: The Unique Vision of Rav Kook" is such a book.[2] Dr. Shapiro reveals Rabbi
Kook's surprising, sometimes radical, and breathtaking ideas, prompting us to rethink what we have accepted as
sensible.
Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (1865-1935) was pre-state Israel's first Ashkenazi chief rabbi. Ashkenazi Jews were from the
area in and near Germany, in contrast to Sephardic Jews who lived in Israel and Muslim countries. He introduced many
interpretations of Jewish ideas to please Jews and non-Jews of all persuasions.
He was born in what is today Latvia, served in two rabbinic positions there from 1896 until he moved to the Land of Israel
in 1904, was appointed Chief Rabbi in 1921, and served in this position until he died in 1935.
He was a talented student in his youth at the famed Volozhin Yeshiva. However, he rejected his time's traditional
Talmud-only, single-minded, study-only system, which is still followed by many ultra-Orthodox yeshivas today. He insisted
that such studies ruin the minds and behaviors of Jews who must learn secular studies in addition to Jewish ones. While he
introduced many rational teachings, he also liked Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism. Still, here, too, he stressed that people
studying Kabbalah must also learn secular subjects, meaning scientific advances, for the Torah can and must coexist with
current scientific truths.
He asserted that total immersion in Talmud often resulted in basic morality being preserved more truly by the uneducated
public than among learned scholars. Many pious people devoted so much time to their acts of piety that they ignored the
behavior that the traditional practice was meant to teach. The pious disregarded the idea that the best way to honor God is to
honor fellow humans and what He produced, but the ordinary folks did not ignore it.
Among many other teachings, he was convinced that sacrifices would not be made in the messianic age. He describes this
age as the age when people will become vegetarians.
He stressed that we do not have to accept introductory biblical stories as facts because they were not written to teach actual
history but moral lessons. He does not tell us how far he would take his non-literal approach, but Dr. Shapiro describes how
others understand the stories.
The opening chapters of Genesis could be understood as a long development period. We can even speak of a million years
from the creation of humans until they realized they were different from animals. We can accept the ideas of evolution and
realize that the tale of the serpent in the Garden of Eden is part of an allegory, that Eve was not taken from Adam's rib and
the story is a way of teaching that husbands and wives should create a partnership to be successful, the long life spans in
Genesis are not to be taken literally because the people were no different from us - and views are given to explain the
longevity such as the text is speaking of clans or groups of people, the story of Cain killing his brother also never happened
but is a tale that should be mined for many lessons. One can consider the first "ten generations" in Genesis until Noah as
allegories.
Rabbi Kook reveals that biblical prophets, being human, can err in their prophesies and gives examples. He tells how the
Torah style is filled with exaggerated figures of speech, such as Israel flowing with milk and honey and cities fortified to
heaven. Similarly, the Torah incorporates all sorts of untruths because these were what people believed when the Torah was
given. For example, Jacob's wives, Rachel and Leah, think mandrakes help women conceive. Likewise, the Torah uses
language that is not accurate but reflects the mistaken beliefs of the masses, such as Exodus 15:11, "Who is like You, Lord
among the gods."
Maimonides explains in his Guide for the Perplexed 3:28 that the Torah needed to do this because the general population
would have been unable to accept the Torah if the truth, which was contrary to their mistaken notions, had been stated
explicitly. Maimonides called these untruths "Essential Truths."
Rabbi Kook taught that even if a person is convinced that the Torah is not from God but is authored by humans, it can still
be respected as a repository of wisdom and a guide to one's life.
He often repeated that we must treat others as we want them to treat us. This includes people with other religious beliefs,
even atheists. He goes so far as to write, "Every religion has some value and a divine spark, and even idolatry has a good
spark because of the small morality in contains. He notes that Maimonides recognized that non-Jews could receive
prophecy.
In summary, the foregoing is only an outline of some of what Dr. Shapiro reveals of Rabbi Kook's many wise teachings.
Rabbi Kook's views of the Torah and Judaism will surprise readers of all persuasions. The teachings will serve as a
grounding for a rational approach to many subjects and a stimulant to seeking further learning and observance of the Torah's
goal of honoring all that God provided. Rabbi Dr. Shapiro has made a remarkable contribution to our thinking and
behavior.
[1] An example is "Changing the Immutable, How Orthodox Judaism Rewrites its History," The Littman Library of Jewish
Civilization, 2015, 347 pages. In it, Shapiro shows that many rabbis in the Orthodox community rewrite the past by snipping
out of books of prior rabbis and scholars, even well-respected ones, what does not fit into their personal worldview.
A small sample of many that Shapiro reveals is the "offending view" of Rashi's grandson Rashbam on Genesis 1:5 that the
day began in the morning in the Bible. They conceal the conviction of many sages that parts of the Five Books of Moses"
were composed after Moses' death, such as Abraham ibn Ezra and the famed pietistic Rabbi Judah HaHasid. They hide the
fact that the codifier Moses Isserles felt it is permissible to drink non-Jewish wine. They censored Joseph Karo's "Shulchan
Arukh," where he states that the "kapparot" ceremony on the day before Yom Kippur in which people transferred their sins
to a chicken was a "foolish custom." They excised the statement of Rabbi Joseph Messas from his "Mayim Chayim," where
he ruled that married women have no obligation to cover their hair, a decision also held by Rabbi Joseph Hayim and many
others. They obscured the ruling of the highly respected codifier Rabbi Yehiel Mikhel Epstein that one is allowed to turn on
electric lights on festivals. They expunged the opinion of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch that everyone does not need to
devote his life to Torah study and the opinion of Maimonides in his Introduction to his opus "Mishneh Torah" that Jews
need not study the Talmud. They erased the Vilna Gaon's belief that it is only a custom for males to cover their heads and
that in Orthodox families in Germany, male Jews only covered their heads when at prayer or saying a blessing. They hide
what Rabbi Kook and Maimonides taught: that people must exercise.
[2] The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, Liverpool, 212 pages, including 27 pages of a Bibliography and Index.
Israel Drazin, Reviewer
www.booksnthoughts.com
Jack Mason's Bookshelf
How to End Christian Nationalism
Amanda Tyler
Broadleaf Books
www.broadleafbooks.com
Blackstone Publishing
https://www.blackstonelibrary.com
9781506498287, $27.99, HC, 244pp
https://www.amazon.com/How-Christian-Nationalism-Amanda-Tyler/dp/1506498280
Synopsis: Christian nationalism is a form of religious nationalism that focuses on promoting the Christian views of its
followers, in order to achieve prominence or dominance in political, cultural, and social life. To impose various forms of
Christian beliefs on the general populace through the force of law -- complete with penalties for non-compliance to what are
deemed 'Christian Principles' and the changing demographics that will make non-whites the majority of the American
population.
Christian nationalism is a powerful and pervasive ideology, and it is becoming normalized. To counter it, author From
Amanda Tyler, (the lead organizer of the Christians Against Christian Nationalism campaign), comes "How to End
Christian Nationalism" -- a handbook on countering this dangerous ideology.
In the pages of "How to End Christian Nationalism, Tyler draws on her personal experiences, conversations with pastors
and laypeople, research, Scripture, her Baptist convictions, and her work as a constitutional law expert to help her readers
confront Christian nationalist fervor.
Readers will learn how to distinguish Christian nationalism from the teachings of Jesus and to demonstrate how the former
perpetuates white supremacy. "How to End Christian Nationalism also unpacks key truths we can share with others. Among
them -- That patriotism is not the same as nationalism. Religious freedom means little if it's not for everyone. Christians
follow a gospel of love, not the idol of power.
"How to End Christian Nationalism" is also a compendium of stories about what Christians are doing to resist Christian
nationalism in their churches and communities, plus ideas for the reader's own work.
From strategies for faith-rooted organizing to guidance for holding hard conversations with loved ones, Tyler offers
practical ways to protect faith freedom for all. With precision and compassion, Tyler offers cogent arguments for the
separation of church and state, a timely call to action, and an urgent case for replacing a twisted, fearful version of faith with
one that is good and right and true.
We've all seen what Christian nationalism can do. Now is the time for Christians to reckon with its harm. Now is the time to
end it.
Critique: Erudite, eloquent, 'real world' practical, engendering motivation and inspiration, "How to End Christian
Nationalism" will prove of immense value to readers with an interest in protecting the Christian Faith from the corruption of
politics and evangelical con artists. Defending our American Democracy from the religion based wars that so plagued
Europe the the Founding Fathers deliberately imposed a separation of Church & State for the protection of either one from
contaminating interference by the other. Power corrupts -- not just political authorities by religious ones as well. "How to
End Christian Nationalism" is unreservedly recommended as an essential acquisition for personal, community, church,
seminary, and college/university library Contemporary Social Issues collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It
should be noted for seminary students, academia, clergy, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject
that this hardcover edition of "How to End Christian Nationalism" from Broadleaf Books is also readily available in a digital
book format (Kindle, $22.98) and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Blackstone Publishing, $35.99, CD).
Editorial Note: Amanda Tyler (https://bjconline.org/amanda-tyler) is an attorney, executive director of the Baptist Joint
Committee for Religious Liberty, and lead organizer of Christians Against Christian Nationalism. Tyler holds degrees from
Georgetown University and the University of Texas School of Law. A member of the Texas Bar and U.S. Supreme Court
Bar, she has testified before Congress and her work has been featured by or published in the New York Times, the
Washington Post, CBS News, ABC News, CNN, and MSNBC.
Jack Mason
Reviewer
John Burroughs' Bookshelf
American Justice
Joseph Hawke
Ach Publishing
http://www.achpublishing.co.uk
https://americanjusticebook.com
9798330370153, $15.99, HC, 92pp
https://www.amazon.com/American-Justice-Joseph-Hawke/dp/B0DFDRDDF3
Synopsis: A native Texan, Jacob "Mack" McKenzie is a well-meaning patriot who finds himself caught up in genuine
mid-life crisis. Confronted by the cognitive dissonance that surrounds him, he has been humbled by divorce and an ill-timed
foray into entrepreneurship. Though he moved away from Texas for college and stayed in the Mid-Atlantic to work and
raise a family, he always remained a Texan at heart.
While in New York for meetings to salvage his company, his intervention in a gang organized looting results in the death of
the gang's leader; His newly beloved, Janie Harriman, a Southern Belle with a. trust fund, appreciates Mack for who he is
and hopes to save him from the unjust machinery of government.
Critique: A deftly crafted novella by a mastery storyteller, "American Justice" showcases author Joseph Hawke's distinctive
and narrative driven style in his original, engaging blend of satire, drama, suspense and mystery. A fun, memorable, and
thought-provoking read from start to finish, "American Justice" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal
and community library Contemporary Suspense/Thriller collections. A very special novella whose theme is both timely and
relevant given our current social/political/economic times. It should be noted that this hardcover edition of "American
Justice" from Ach Publishing is also readily available in paperback (9798330368051, $11.99) and in a digital book format
(Kindle, $6.99).
Editorial Note: Joseph Hawke (https://americanjusticebook.com) brings a unique blend of personal experience and
insightful storytelling to his writing. Born in Waco, Texas, he was raised in the Mid-Atlantic, before returning to Texas for
business over the course of two decades. Drawing upon his regional knowledge, Hawke infuses his work with authenticity
and depth. His protagonist, Jacob "Mack" McKenzie, personifies many of the complex nuances and challenges faced by
individuals navigating the often contradictory landscapes of modern American life. Hawke's ability to weave together satire,
drama, and poignant social commentary offers a distinctive voice in contemporary literature.
John Burroughs
Reviewer
Julie Summers' Bookshelf
Autism and Adolescence: What Teens and Adults Need to Know
Dr. Temple Grandin
Future Horizons, Inc.
www.fhautism.com
9781957984988, $18.95, PB, 204pp
https://www.amazon.com/Autism-Adolescence_The-Way-See-Adults/dp/1957984988
Synopsis: With the publication of "Autism and Adolescence: What Teens and Adults Need to Know", Dr. Temple Grandin
draws on her hard-won experience to deliver an essential guidebook for guiding and nurturing autistic youth. She gets to the
real issues of autistic adolescents -- the ones parents, teachers, and individuals on the spectrum face every day.
Topics covered in "Autism and Adolescence" include:
Enhancing social skills
Developing talents
Autism and driving
Preparing for college
Strategies for non-verbal teens
And much more!
In these helpful pages, Dr. Grandin offers do's and don'ts, practical strategies, and try-it-now tips, all based on her insider
perspective and extensive research. She argues that adolescents on the spectrum must focus on their overlooked strengths to
foster their unique contributions to the world. She has packed a wealth of knowledge into this informative and instructional
guide, which will also aptly serve as an excellent reference for the parents, educators, and caregivers of autistic
adolescents.
Rather than continuing to waste the singular gifts of autistic people, Dr. Grandin proposes innovative approaches to
educating, parenting, employing, and collaborating together. This important study also shows why the world needs every
kind of mind.
Critique: Informative, insightful, special, "Autism and Adolescence: What Teens and Adults Need to Know" is critically
important reading for all adults who have an autistic teen or young adult in their care and charge. Exceptionally well written,
organized and thoroughly 'reader friendly' in presentation, "Autism and Adolescence: What Teens and Adults Need to
Know" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, school district, and
college/university Autism Education and Behavioral Disorders Special Education collections and supplemental curriculum
studies reading lists. It should be noted for parents with autistic children that "Autism and Adolescence" is also currently
available in a digital book format (Kindle, $0.99).
Editorial Note: Temple Grandin earned her PhD in Animal Science from the University of Illinois and is currently a
Professor at Colorado State University. She is the author of Emergence: Labeled Autistic, Thinking in Pictures, Animals in
Translation (which spent many weeks on The New York Times Best-Seller List),The Autistic Brain, and The Loving Push.
Dr. Grandin revolutionized animal movement systems and spearheaded reform of the quality of life for the world's
agricultural animals. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_Grandin)
A World of Our Own: Women Artists Against the Odds
Frances Borzello
Thames & Hudson, Inc.
www.thamesandhudsonusa.com
9780500297216, $40.00, HC, 320pp
https://www.amazon.com/World-Our-Own-Artists-Against/dp/0500297215
Synopsis: Women have always practiced as artists, but for centuries the art world considered them mere dilettantes. Their
work was derided as second-rate, and they were considered intruders in a male profession.
With the publication of "A World of Our Own: Women Artists Against the Odds" art historian Freances Borzello examines
how, against the odds, women artists overcame these difficulties and shifts the focus away from their being "victims", and
provides an account of how they actually practiced their art. This stirring account documents the centuries long struggle of
gifted women who confronted the exclusionary tactics of a male-dominated art establishment but pressed ahead undaunted
to gain acceptance as sought-after professionals.
"A World of our Own" takes readers deep into the restricted world of women artists of the past, showing how diligently they
trained themselves, set up studios, and pursued sympathetic patrons. Starting with Renaissance painters Sofonisba
Anguissola and Lavinia Fontana, this history reconstructs the changing world of women artists as social attitudes
evolved.
Seventeenth-century painters Artemisia Gentileschi and Judith Leyster enjoyed success by depicting subjects relevant to
women, as did eighteenth- century greats Angelica Kauffman and Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun with lucrative commissions.
Further breakthroughs came in the nineteenth century as young hopefuls Mary Cassatt and Marie Bashkirtseff strove to be
admitted to exhibiting societies and opened art schools. Finally, as equality for women advanced through the twentieth
century, Augusta Savage, Georgia O'Keeffe, Frida Kahlo, Cindy Sherman, Mona Hatoum, and others led the way for today's
talented women to secure their rightful place in the annals of art.
Critique: Beautifully and visually enhanced for the reader's benefit with the inclusion of 215 color illustrations, and in a
fully revised and updated new edition from Thames & Hudson, "A World of Our Own: Women Artists Against the Odds"
by author and art historian Frances Borzello will prove an immediately welcome and enduringly valued addition to personal,
professional, community, art school, and college/university Art History & Women's Studies collections and supplemental
curriculum reading lists. It should be noted for art students and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject
that this hardcover edition "A World of Our Own: Women Artists Against the Odds" is also available in a digital book
format (Kindle, $30.90).
Editorial Note: Frances Borzello is an art historian and the author of several books, including The Naked Nude, Seeing
Ourselves: Women's Self-Portraits, and At Home: The Domestic Interior in Art. She lives in England.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Borzello)
Julie Summers
Reviewer
Margaret Lane's Bookshelf
Deprogram Diet Culture
Dr. Supatra Tovar
Greenleaf Book Group Press
www.greenleafbookgroup.com
9798886451948, $24.99, HC, 192pp
https://www.amazon.com/Deprogram-Diet-Culture-Relationship-Diet-Free/dp/B0D4KRMM2D
Synopsis: Dieting is one of the greatest contributors to weight gain. Yet the pressure to be thin is always present through
advertising, social media, and even subtle influences from family and friends. As a young woman, Dr. Supatra Tovar was
trapped in the frustrating cycle of dieting and disappointment and was determined to break free from the Diet Culture
hamster wheel.
Combining scientific research with clinical work as a licensed psychologist, registered dietitian, and fitness expert, Dr.
Tovar went on to develop a unique approach that has helped her and her clients naturally achieve sustainable health.
Now Dr. with the publication of "Deprogram Diet Culture: Rethink Your Relationship with Food, Heal Your Mind, and
Live a Diet-Free Life", Dr. Tovar will teach you the steps to eliminate Diet Culture's negative influence by explaining the
science of why diets fail, while providing simple steps to help you achieve a healthy mind-body-soul relationship. By
focusing on scientifically proven methods to change your mindset, tune into your body, and eat mindfully, she will help you
reshape your relationship with food, heal your mind, and live a diet-free life.
The readers of "Deprogram Diet Culture" are presented with transformative stories, work through simple exercises, and gain
access to valuable resources including meditation videos, a mindful eating journal, a workbook, and a cookbook -- all in
support of a journey to a more joyful, balanced, and self-accepting life.
Critique: An informtive, insightful, inspiring, life-changing read from start to finish, "Deprogram Diet Culture: Rethink
Your Relationship with Food, Heal Your Mind, and Live a Diet-Free Life" by Dr. Supatra Tovar is a 'must' for anyone
struggling with the problem of weight loss leading to weight gain over and over and over again. Exceptional, impressive,
effective, "Deprogram Diet Culture" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal reading lists, as well as
community and college/university library Eating Disorders, Weight Loss Dieting, and Psychological Body Image issues,
"Deprogram Diet Culture" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $1.99).
Editorial Note: Dr. Supatra Tovar (https://drsupatratovar.com) is one of the only clinical psychologists who is also a
registered dietitian and accredited fitness expert. Dr. Tovar has helped numerous clients overcome eating disorders, trauma,
depression, and anxiety by teaching research-proven techniques that can be implemented within daily routines. Her clients'
successes led her to start ANEW, a company dedicated to guiding people through the journey of improving their
relationships with the mind, body, and spirit. Dr. Tovar earned her doctorate in psychology and has two master's degrees,
including a Master of Science in Nutrition. She opened her first Pilates practice more than twenty years ago and has been a
registered dietitian since 2015.
Everything I Wish I Could Tell You about Midlife
Mikala Albertson, M.D.
Bethany House Publishers
c/o Baker Publishing Group
www.bethanyhouse.com
9780764243899, $51.55, HC, 272pp
https://www.amazon.com/Everything-Wish-Could-about-Midlife/dp/0764243896
Synopsis: As a woman, has the middle part of life left you wondering: Is this... it? I thought it would get easier. I thought I'd
have more figured out by now. Something is wrong, and I just can't put my finger on it. Is it my thyroid? Perimenopause? Or
is this just what midlife feels like?
With the publication of "Everything I Wish I Could Tell You about Midlife: A Woman's Guide to Health in the Body You
Actually Have", Dr. Mikala Albertson draws on her eighteen years in evidence-based clinical practice as well as her own
personal experience to offer real stories and current medical information on a wide range of topics common to women in
their later thirties, forties, fifties, and beyond.
Also offering a compendium of practical tools to empower you to care for and find healing in the body you actually have in
this life you are actually living, "Everything I Wish I Could Tell You About Midlife" digs deep into:
Preventive health and well-being specific to YOU and your unique parameters
Perimenopause, mood disorders, and body image (as well as the harmful effects of cultural and societal expectations)
Co-occurring life stressors like relationship issues, caregiver expectations, and shifting work/motherhood roles
Support systems, purpose, and healing in your one precious, beautiful life
Life is hard. And today you may feel weary -- but there are steps you can take toward health, growth, and healing while
discovering along the way: There is beauty here, too.
Critique: Of special and particular interest and value to readers concerned with menopause, and midlife health issues from a
Christian perspective, "Everything I Wish I Could Tell You about Midlife: A Woman's Guide to Health in the Body You
Actually Have" by Dr. Mikala Albertson is extraordinarily well written, organized and presented for the non-specialist
general reader. Informative, insightful, knowledgeable, exceptional, and unreservedly recommended for personal,
professional, community, and college/university Women's Health collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists, it
should be noted that this hardcover edition from Bethany House Publishers is also readily available in a paperback edition
(9780764242984, $18.99) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $16.99).
Editorial Note: Dr. Mikala Albertson (www.mikalaalbertsonmd.com) is a board-certified family practice doctor, author, and
well-being advocate who is passionate about women's health and healing in the middle of our messy, ordinary lives in the
imperfect bodies we actually have. She inspires readers every day to stop striving for "perfect" lives or some unattainable
cultural ideal of "beauty and wellness" and instead aim for wholehearted living through a gentle, achievable, sustainable
approach.
Margaret Lane
Reviewer
Mark Walker's Bookshelf
Falling Seven Times
Mark Wentling
https://www.markgwentling.com
Archway Publishing
https://www.archwaypublishing.com/en
9781665763219, $24.99
https://www.amazon.com/Falling-Seven-Times-Mark-Wentling/dp/166576323X
I've read and reviewed several of the author's books. We were both Peace Corps Volunteers in Central America and worked
in West Africa, although Wentling went on to work and travel in 54 African countries over the years. My favorite book from
his "African Trilogy" is "Africa's Embrace," which is fiction, but reflects his experience working as a Peace Corps Volunteer
in West Africa in the 1970s.
This book begins in Ethiopia with a young woman's struggle to be a migrant worker to support her family. It is a fictional
story based on her experience with his Ethiopian wife. She became a naturalized citizen in 2019. As the author told me, "If
you are looking for a human face to put on labor migrants, this is it."
Her story is one of tens of thousands of people going abroad searching for jobs that pay a livable wage so they can send
money home. Indeed, her sacrifices and the ups and downs of her experience reflect what so many migrant laborers suffer.
She'd pursue this goal by working in the glittering city of Dubai and going to Iraq, with a harrowing experience on her way
to Turkey.
The book highlights the foreign environments, including the different languages and cultures Alya encounters and how they
contrast with her customs. In the United Arab Emirates, the Emirati families had several camels and would visit them on
special farms when they had a break. Alya also tells of a coffee ceremony that is elevated to an art form. A local herb (t' ena
adam) increased the "...intoxicating aroma of coffee fumes."
The pitfalls of migratory labor are highlighted in the chapter "Tricked or Trafficked?" when she's on her way to Turkey but
is 'diverted' to Iraq." She was "deathly afraid of living the life of a house servant in a strange land. Her head spun, and she
wanted to flee, but there was no escape."
Wentling tells how abuse of women was a common thread to all ethnicities in this region where wife beating was common.
Alaya narrowly escaped several confrontations with abusive male family members where she worked.
The book's many twists and turns kept me guessing what would happen next and whether Ayala would survive. Each of the
thirty-six chapters describes Alya's understanding of bondage in a foreign land and her eventual escape to the impoverished
sanctuary of her home in Ethiopia. Fortunately, Wentling has finished a new book and is working on another.
About the Author:
Mark Wentling was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras 1967-69 and Togo 1970-73. He obtained a degree from Wichita
State University and served as a Peace Corps Director in Gabon and Niger. Wentling began working for the U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID) in Niger, Guinea, Togo, Benin, Angola, Somalia and Tanzania. After retiring from the
U.S. Senior Foreign Service, he continued to work with USAID Missions in Zambia, Malawi, Guinea, and Senegal. His
book, Dead Cow Road, was recognized by the Peace Corps Writers Group with the Maria Thomas Fiction Award in 2018.
He works and lives in Lubbock, Texas, but continues to travel extensively in Africa. He designed a course in International
Development for Texas Tech University.
Mark D. Walker, Reviewer
www.MillionMileWalker.com
Michael Carson's Bookshelf
Abolitionist of the Most Dangerous Kind
Todd Mildfelt and David D. Schafer
University of Oklahoma Press
https://www.oupress.com
9780806192901 $45.00 hc / $36.95 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Abolitionist-Most-Dangerous-Kind-Montgomery/dp/0806192909
Synopsis: A controversial character largely known (as depicted in the movie Glory) as a Union colonel who led Black
soldiers in the Civil War, James Montgomery (1814-71) waged a far more personal and radical war against slavery than
popular history suggests. It is the true story of this militant abolitionist that Todd Mildfelt and David D. Schafer tell in
Abolitionist of the Most Dangerous Kind, summoning a life fiercely lived in struggle against the expansion of slavery into
the West and during the Civil War.
This book follows a harrowing path through the turbulent world of the 1850s and 1860s as Montgomery, with the fervor of
an Old Testament prophet, inflicts destructive retribution on Southern slaveholders wherever he finds them, crossing paths
with notable abolitionists John Brown and Harriet Tubman along the way. During the tumultuous years of "Bleeding
Kansas," he became a guerilla chieftain of the antislavery vigilantes known as Jayhawkers. When the war broke out in 1861,
Montgomery led a regiment of white troops who helped hundreds of enslaved people in Missouri reach freedom in Kansas.
Drawing on regimental records in the National Archives, the authors provide new insights into the experiences of African
American men who served in Montgomery's next regiment, the Thirty-Fourth United States Colored Troops (formerly
Second South Carolina Infantry).
Montgomery helped enslaved men and women escape via one of the least-explored underground railways in the nation,
from Arkansas and Missouri through Kansas and Nebraska. With support of abolitionists in Massachusetts, he spearheaded
resistance to the Fugitive Slave Act in Kansas. And, when war came, he led Black soldiers in striking at the very heart of the
Confederacy. His full story thus illuminates the actions of both militant abolitionists and the enslaved people fighting to
destroy the peculiar institution.
Critique: Abolitionist of the Most Dangerous Kind: James Montgomery And His War On Slavery is an extraordinary
biography of militant abolitionist James Montgomery, who helped slaves escape through the Underground Railroad, became
a guerilla chieftan of the antislavery Jayhawkers vigilantes, and led regiments of both white and black troops for the Union
during the Civil War. Meticulously researched, Abolitionist of the Most Dangerous Kind is at once both a detailed historical
study and an enthralling portrayal of one man's controversial life dedicated to the eradication of slavery at all costs.
Extensive notes, a bibliography, and an index round out this excellent and highly recommended collection to public and
college library American Biography collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that Abolitionist of the Most
Dangerous Kind is also available as a Kindle edition ($36.95).
Michael J. Carson
Reviewer
Nikki Auberkett's Bookshelf
Angels Strange and Beautiful
Gina Fiametta
https://ginafiametta.com
Self Published
9781735709703, $17.03 hc / $14.99 pbk / $4.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Angels-Strange-Beautiful-Gina-Fiametta/dp/1735709727
"Never was a place so mysterious and full of secrets as this, and yet a certain holiness abides in the shadows, waiting for the
right moment to burst forth into radiant light."
Something prowls the forest surrounding the small New England village of Reason, sending locals into a panic as they try to
protect themselves and their children from the shadows and bumps in the night. Among these villagers, a young man
follows his first crush - and his curiosity - into the woods and uncovers a tangled web of mystery, superstition, science, and
true love.
Several years later in a not-so-far city, a young orphan girl arrives from across the ocean into an uncertain future. When she's
found by an "angel-man" and his wife, she also finds herself pulled into the warmth and love of something she's never
experienced before: family.
But is it enough to keep back the deadly fires of an arsonist?
And will the surge of fear and panic throughout the city push its leaders into uncovering the secrets her newfound family
have kept - secrets that involve a certain village and its monster?
Narrated in a beautifully classic prose, Angels Strange and Beautiful weaves the two stories together through the eyes of the
children who witness them. I was immediately reminded of classic American literature in the stylings of authors like
Nathaniel Hawthorne and Washington Irving, which fit the somewhat-ambiguous timeframe and more definitive
geographical setting perfectly. Even between the different ages of each narrator, Fiametta matched the expected vocabulary
and truly made it feel like I was listening to the character tell me the story over a coffee.
While a romance is central to the overall events, it doesn't make this book necessarily a romance novel. It's clean in terms of
spicy content, although there was a very slight hint at something "closed door" that made me giggle!
I'd place this more in the Inspirational genre, with supernatural/paranormal effects woven into the story enough to keep the
reader on the edge of their seat. Recalling my earlier comparison to Washington Irving, the first half of Angels Strange and
Beautiful definitely reminded me of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow in its similarities to the narrative voice, superstitious
villagers, eccentric "outsider" scientist, and the Is-It-Real-Or-Not/What-Even-Is-It creature haunting the wild woods of a
young New England society.
Readers and booksellers should note that there is a strong Christian focus in the second half, with passages discussing
Scripture, faith, and what it means to be Christian. While I personally loved this and know many of my customers, readers,
friends and family will as well, I'm also aware that this may not be everyone's cup of tea.
One great benefit of this narrative is how it challenges some of the worst perspectives found within church leadership,
calling out hypocrisy and underlining the true mission of representing Christ:
"Her eyebrows went up. 'Do you mean to say you force the needy to seek you out instead of stepping in where the need
makes itself known?'
He looked a little flustered. 'We want people to know that our service comes from God, and that the parish is a safe place to
look for help.'
'And how are they going to know that unless someone goes out of their way to reach them where they are? Are we not
supposed to seek out and save the lost?'"
In terms of editorial curation, it is very clear that Fiametta worked with professionals to bring this to its best - clean copy,
well-developed structure, and an overall care for details places this firmly among the quality ranks of traditionally-published
novels. The beautifully handpainted cover evokes a sense of curiosity and mystery, and Fiametta's own side comment at her
book signing about "red leaves being important" made me eager to know why, how, and where! (They are, but I'm not going
to give any spoilers!)
Gina Fiametta is an avid lifelong storyteller with more novels soon to debut, counting Angels Strange and Beautiful as her
breakout debut. An Iowa native currently living in Des Moines, she's also fast becoming a popular author here in The
Amana Colonies! I highly recommend adding her works to your TBR, bookselling catalog, library (personal and/or
institutional), and can confidently recommend Angels Strange and Beautiful as the perfect gift to give a reader who needs a
cozy, heartwarming reading experience... with just the slightest touch of supernatural mystery.
You can follow Gina Fiametta and her upcoming projects at her websites:
https://ginafiametta.com
https://www.facebook.com/ginafiamettabooks
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20745837.Gina_Fiametta
Prince of Glass, remastered edition
S.A. Matey
Self Published
9781737294047, $21.99 hc / $2.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Prince-Glass-Remastered-Thorn-Book-ebook/dp/B0CLKCWTV1
"It almost made him laugh, now - that he thought he could kill the good in himself and resurrect it later, that the unending
rage inside would burn out once it was no longer needed, that he could turn himself into a monster to kill something
monstrous, and not stay that way forever.
In the end, what separates a man from a monster, when he is trying to do right?
And when the wars have been fought and the guilty have been killed and everything has been set as right as it can ever be
set, how can he ever find himself again?"
The paperback version of this book was donated to BumbleBooks as part of our Grand Opening celebration (April 2024),
with no expectations of an editorial or commercial review. I voluntarily read this in my free time on Kindle Unlimited and
wrote/posted my reviews voluntarily as well.
With one touch, the existence of an entire kingdom crumbled into ash.
With one touch, the fate of an entire bloodline became sealed in blood.
With one touch, Vasily both gained and lost everything he was and ever aspired to be - consumed by grief, rage, and an
unceasing hunger for vengeance against the people who killed his father.
It's not as easy as wiping out every last member of the family, because one of them refuses to die. He doesn't know why,
either, because the world Taein found delicate safety in should have chewed him up and spit him out long ago. Despite
everything, though, he keeps managing to bounce back and move forward - which makes him the ideal person to escort
"special cargo" through the vast realm to a mysterious entity known only as The Outworlder.
As Vasily pursues the hunt for Taein's final demise and Taein struggles to balance self-interests with protecting the "special
cargo", both men are forced to face the demons of their shared past if either of them have a chance of surviving the world
that's beginning to fall apart around them.
Told from a captivating third person perspective, the narrative shifts focus between characters (labeled in each respective
chapter) so you can immerse yourself within their thoughts and feelings. Maybe even share some opinions, too!
I was reminded of the fast-paced but thoroughly world-building composition of works like Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
and Akithar's Greatest Trick by Jason Dorough. There's just enough originality in character names and places to make this a
truly unique setting and structure, but they're not overly complicated like some higher fantasy works I typically DNF
because my brain wants to relax, not work.
I need to take a moment to thoroughly applaud Matey for a brilliant, well-structured worldbuild overall. The biggest strength
from which everything else branches out just as tangibly is in the description and establishment of the fictional "death
culture": the spiritual beliefs regarding what happens to a person when they die.
While this may sound macabre, hear me out: the comprehension and belief in an afterlife is one of, if not the, key point(s)
anthropologists look for when determining if a prehistoric settlement was either human or close to being Homo sapien.
From the concept of spiritual longevity and an afterlife comes practices during life which impact agriculture, legal structure,
traditions and rituals, even family structure.
Prince of Glass is no exception to this rule. The world of the various Jins - sections of the encompassing Ieris that seem to
be nations, if not geographical differences like Central America to North America - is imbued with superstitions, cultural
words and habits, and even jewelry which all stems from the importance of their understanding of what happens when they
die.
I've never thought to advise authors to establish Death Cultures in order to strengthen worldbuilds before, but now I'm
thinking this needs to be a new standard. Well done, Matey!
The overall theme of Prince of Glass is where storytelling really makes this fictional world shine. How far is too far when
pursuing your own personal sense of peace? Is the inability to let go of grief their problem, or yours?
And how much can a person do before they lose all humanity?
Just when I thought I was rooting for one character, they did something to make me change my mind and shift favoring
opinions to someone else. Who then, similarly, did something abhorrent enough to make me move to someone else's camp,
and then that person would make me question if there even is such a thing as choosing sides in this book.
Personal opinion? No. There is not. There are no sides. Only chaos.
But that's the brilliance and beauty of Matey's storytelling - you truly are challenged to wonder about your own perceptions
of justice, vengeance, loss, and ask the overall question for your own struggles: "Is it worth it?"
While this is definitely Fantasy, breathe easy. There's no overly complicated languages or dialects, what new language is
used always gets a translation, and even that's sparse throughout the book. There's also no romantic plot, so fantasy-lovers
who don't want to read about lovers can definitely enjoy this journey.
In the absence of wizards and swordplay comes a nail-biting, adrenaline-spiking confrontation with pestilence, superhuman
abilities no one wants or likes, a wall of deadly mist that had me needing to take a moment to breathe...
Listen - if you've ever watched the real-life mists of Lake Michigan roll off the water into the city, you'll understand why
that chapter had me forgetting to operate my lungs.
I should take a moment to add a pseudo-Content Warning for anyone who's still experiencing flashbacks, post-traumatic
stress, et cetera from 2020 (that would be me, thanks): this book does contain descriptions and depictions of a fast-spreading
pandemic.
Prince of Glass is set up as the first book of the Thorn and Ash series, with the sequel tentatively scheduled for December
2025 according to Matey's response to my demands - I mean, my gentle probative questions regarding the next book's
release.
From the author's bio: "Sarah Matey was raised among the unending green of the Pacific Northwest and spent her childhood
riding horses, exploring the woods with her orange cat Dale, and writing stories. Today, she can be found fending off the
soul-crushing drudgery of adult responsibilities with a pen in one hand, a guitar in the other, and Dale ever at her side; still
resident of the PNW, married to the love of her life, and forever enchanted by storytelling."
Matey designed the stunning cover herself, which is actually how I first came across this book in a Facebook Group back in
2023! The internal map was illustrated by Jack @EJdelGato (on X/Twitter), with further illustrations created by Lauren
Glasgow.
Prince of Glass is the perfect recommendation for every contemporary, action-packed fantasy lover's bookshelf. Libraries
and bookstores should absolutely make the wise investment into stocking this title, as it's sure to quickly become a fan
favorite. My own bookstore sold out every single copy within the first 2 weeks!
This brings me to my final point, and my main point of contention: the fact that this book hasn't already swept readers and
Bookstagram/BookTok/Book Blogs by storm feels like a crime. Like a whole world is sleeping on something that can easily
rival all our other obsessions and sit comfortably next to Shadow and Bone and Caraval. I want sprayed edges, foiled
hardcovers, cozy hoodies with quotes, replicas of the rosewood pendants that anchor my soul for the afterlife... everything.
This book deserves everything.
Follow Sarah (S. A.) Matey on Instagram: @saarahwrites
Check out her website for more Thorn and Ash updates, bonus content, and ways to work with her on your own creative
storytelling:
https://sarahamartin21.wixsite.com/website
Third Wheel
Richard R Becker
Copywrite, Ink. Writing Services, Inc.
9798985381153, $25.18 hc / $16.99 pbk / $6.95 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Third-Wheel-Richard-R-Becker/dp/B0CFXMD26H
"If the devil can't make you bad, he'll make you busy."
Fourteen-year-old Brady Wilks struggles to find his place among the ever-changing social and literal landscape of 1982 Las
Vegas. Between a toxically unstable home life, firsts in love, and constantly fighting for a place among his peers, it's too
easy for him to fall into a deep pit of drugs, alcohol, and murder.
What's surprisingly easier is how he finds the help to climb back out - as well as where it comes from.
Third Wheel is a dark and gritty - yet all-to-real - examination of the dichotomy between right and wrong. Brady asks
himself, and the reader, questions about growing up that almost all of us tackled at one point or another in our own
adolescence.
Is a person inherently good?
Can you be "born bad"?
Or is it a dance between the two until we're able to make our own choices without the constant influence of people pulling
in either direction?
While I've never read The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, I had many friends in middle school and high school (and even now as I
write this) singing its praises, sharing tidbits and themes, and pushing me to "just read it already". So even without a full
comparison available, I still got the vibe from Third Wheel that it fits perfectly within the fanbase of The Outsiders. When I
shared this theory with a few readers who *have* read both books, they wholeheartedly agreed!
I will put a Content Warning here: there are heavy references to drug use, alcoholism, and all the problems that come with
both. There's also a scene of self-harm that doesn't go in the direction you may be thinking, but still made me make a note to
mention for those who may be sensitive to this kind of literature. Suicide is also referenced, and there are plenty of physical
injury descriptions to warrant a casual mention just in case it's not your cup of tea. None of this bothered me personally, and
I did not find anything to be gratuitous or unwarranted given the overall themes and message of the book. It's also
historically accurate to the organized crime landscape of the early 1980s, so the involvement of certain substances made
sense given the historical context and implications the very real-life activities had (and still have) here in the USA.
Regarding age level for reading, I'd rank this in New Adult. I'll caution parents of teens with this: if your kid is 15+ and is
prone to discuss what they read with you, this might be okay with your discretion. I just finished reading the bulk of it
yesterday and can't remember seeing any swear words/cussing/foul language, which is actually surprising given everything
going on! There also is no explicit sex or sexual content - however there is enough hinting in one or two scenes to suggest
sex may have occurred. The author left that up to the reader's imagination, and honestly I feel like it could go either way (did
they or didn't they).
If you're looking for a gripping new read that squeezes your heart and makes you gasp a few times (I definitely did!), Third
Wheel is the perfect addition to your personal library.
Third Wheel was the featured Book of the Month for The Book Club, August 2024.
Nikki Auberkett, Reviewer
https://www.bumblebooks.co
Robin Friedman's Bookshelf
Frederick Douglass: Autobiographies
Frederick Douglass, author
Henry Louis Gates, editor
Library of America
http://www.loa.org
9780940450790, $31.24 hardcover / $19.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Frederick-Douglass-Autobiographies-Narrative-American/dp/0940450798
The Life of a Free Man
Frederick Douglass (1818?-1895) was the greatest African American leader of the Nineteenth Century. He was born a slave
on the Eastern Shore in Maryland and grew up on plantations on the Eastern Shore with several years in Baltimore. He was
a physically powerful, highly intelligent, and spirited youth and developed quickly a hatred of the slave system. As a slave,
he taught himself to read and write, and learned the art of public speaking from the church and from a book of orations
popular at the time that feel into his hands. He escaped from slavery at the age of 20 and moved to New Bedford,
Massachusetts. He became part of the Abolitionist Movement and achieved fame as a public speaker. He became a
newspaper editor and writer. During the Civil War, he assisted in the recruitment of black troops. He met President Lincoln
on several occasions and became a great admirer. In later years, Douglass was aligned with the conservative "stalwart" wing
of the Republican party and continued to speak out for the rights of African-Americans, to oppose (somewhat belatedly) the
end of Reconstruction, and to work for the life of the spirit and the mind.
Frederick Douglass wrote three autobiographies which are given in this volume. The first, shortest, and best was written in
1845, seven years after Douglass had escaped from slavery. It tells in graphic and unforgettable terms the story of Douglass'
life as a slave, the growth of the spirit of freedom in himself. and the early part of his life as a free man in New
Bedford.
The second autobiography was written in 1855. It repeats much of the earlier story and describes Douglass's visit to Great
Britain. A highlight of this volume is the Appendix in which Douglass gives the reader excerpts from several of his
speeches, including his perhaps most famous speech "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July."
Douglass wrote his third autobiography in 1888 and edited it substantially in 1893. It describes Douglass's relationship with
Abraham Lincoln and John Brown. I also enjoyed the section of the book in which Douglass describes his trip to England,
Italy, and Egypt near the end of his life. It is highly intelligent, perceptive and reflective travel writing. There are also
excerpts in this final autobiography from Douglass's speeches and letters.
The most striking incident in all three volumes is Douglass's story of how he stood up for himself and became in his own
eyes a man of dignity and courage. Douglass had been sent for a year to live with a small farmer named Covey who had a
reputation for breaking the sprit of strong-willed slaves. Covey whipped Douglass unmercifully for the first six months.
Then, after a whipping which left Douglass scared and weak for several days (he ran back to his old master who ordered him
back to Covey) Douglass fought back. Covey attempted to whip Douglass and Douglass resisted. The two men fought
hand-to-hand for hours. Douglass could not assume the offensive in the fight (it was enough to resist at all) but more than
held his ground and had the better of it. Covey at last walked off and never whipped Douglass again. This incident is
strikingly told in each autobiography and marks the moment when Douglass showed he could stand up for himself and not
have the spirit of a slave. It is inspiring and it grounded his actions for the rest of his life.
There is much in these books that transcends the resistance against American slavery, utterly important as that is. We have,
as I have tried to explain, in this book the voice of personal freedom and self-determination which is something every
person must learn and understand for him or herself in deciding how to live. In addition, I get the impression that as
Douglass aged he became increasingly committed to the life of the mind and the spirit. This is apparent from his writing and
from his interest in travel, in European high culture, art, literature, and music. Douglass learned the meaning for freedom.
He tried to devote himself to matters of the spirit in addition to his lifelong quest to improve the lot of the former slave. I
think there is still a great deal to be learned here.
Douglass had much to say about the nature of American freedom and democracy. He loved and had faith in them, in spite of
the horrible stain of slavery. Here is a wonderful observation from the third autobiography in which Douglass' describes his
activities during the Presidential campaign of 1888.
"I left the discussion of the tariff to my young friend Morris, while I spoke for justice and humanity....I took it to be the vital
and animating principle of the Republican party. I found the people more courageous than their party leaders. What the
leaders were afraid to teach, the people were brave enough and glad enough to learn. I held that the soul of the nation was in
this question, and that the gain of all the gold in the world would not compensate for the loss of the nation's soul. National
honor is the soul of the nation, and when this is lost all is lost. ... As with an individual, so too with a nation, there is a time
when it may properly be asked "What doth it profit to gain the whole world and thereby lose one's soul?"
There is a spirit and a wisdom in Douglass that still has much to teach.
As a man of the Nineteenth Century, Douglass tells us little in his autobiographies of his personal life. Upon his escape from
slavery, Douglass married a free, uneducated black woman. Upon her death, Douglass married a white woman, which (as
we see briefly in the book) caused shock among American whites and blacks alike. We also see little of Douglass'
relationship to his children. The reader who would like to learn more about Douglass' personal life needs to read a
biography, such as William McFeeley's "Frederick Douglass" (1991)
Douglass' autobiographies are precious work of American literature and a testimony to the free human spirit.
Slave Narratives
William L. Andrews, editor
Henry Lewis Gates, editor
Library of America
http://www.loa.org
9781883011765, $41.46 hc / $19.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Narratives-Library-America-William-Andrews/dp/1883011760
The Voices of American Slaves in the Library of America
This book in the Library of America series is a collection of ten narratives that document the nature of American slavery
from colonial times to the eve of the Civil War. The volume includes some familiar narratives, particularly the first and
best-known of Frederick Douglass' autobiographies written in 1843, the "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an
American Slave". Douglass has a volume of his own in the Library of America. Many of the other narratives in this volume
were new to me.
The book includes two writers from the colonial period, a short account by James Gronniosaw and a longer narrative by
Olaudiah Equiano. The latter book has a first-hand description of the notorious "middle passage" -- the transatlantic journey
by which Africans were transported to a life of bondage in the New World. This book also features accounts of life at sea
during the mid-18th century that reminded me of Patrick O'Brian's novels of sea life during the Napoleonic era.
The collection includes two narratives by women. Sojourner Truth's "Narrative of Sojourner Truth", as told to a woman
named Olive Gilbert, appeared in 1850. It tells the story of slavery in New York State (where it was not abolished until
1827) and introduces a strong-willed woman who combined abolitionism with strong religious passion and a commitment to
woman's rights. Harriet Jacobs's account, "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" was published in 1861. Written in a
Victorian style, it still tells the story of the trials of a young woman who resisted her master's advances and hid for seven
years in a narrow attic before escaping to freedom.
"The Confessions of Nat Turner" became the basis of a controversial novel by William Styron. It is an account recorded by a
local attorney, Thomas Gray, of Turner's description, while in jail waiting execution, of the slave rebellion he led in Virginia
in 1831. This is a spare account but to me much more impressive than what I remember of Styron's novel.
Henry Bibb's 1849 "Narrative of the Live and Adventures of Henry Bibb, an American Slave" describes several escapes, and
a slave prison of almost unbelievable cruelty in Louisville, Kentucky. I found Bibb's extended narrative perhaps the most
riveting work in this collection.
Jacob Green's 1864 "Narrative of the Life of J.D. Green: A Runaway Slave from Kentucky" is short and tough-minded
book. It shows a person who was not afraid to fight back.
The narrative by William and Ellen Craft "Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom" (1860) describes how a husband and
wife disguised themselves to make a 1000 mile journey from Georgia to freedom. Most escapes occurred from the border
states. Although easier than an escape from the deep South, escapes from even the border states were extraordinarily
difficult.
William Wells Brown, like Douglass, went on to a literary career after his escape from slavery. He was the author of the first
published African American novel, "Clotel". Brown also has a LOA volume devoted to has writings. His narrative, "A
Fugitive Slave: Written by Himself" (1847) is short but documents convincingly his escape from slavery in Missouri.
This collection will help the reader understand the nature of slavery in the United States from its beginning to its end. The
volume is part of the Library of America's admirable attempt to produce uniform series of the best in American literature,
thought and history. The narratives of American slaves included in this book amply deserve their place in a series that
documents the American experience.
Jim Crow: Voices from a Century of Struggle Part 1: 1876 -- 1919
Tyina L. Steptoe, editor
Library of America
http://www.loa.org
9781598537666, $28.20 hc / $17.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Jim-Crow-Century-Struggle-Reconstruction/dp/1598537660
Jim Crow in the Library of America
The volumes published by the Library of America help to explore and preserve the United States -- its literature and history,
aspirations and failings. The LOA has published many volumes of source documents on American history ranging from
colonial to modern times. It has published a range of books of source material on black history, including a volume on the
Reconstruction Era and a two-volume set "Reporting Civil Rights" covering the momentous era between 1941 --1973.
This recent LOA book, "Jim Crow: Voices from a Century of Struggle" (2024) is the first of two volumes of documentary
history covering the years between Reconstruction and, with substantial overlap, the Civil Rights Era. This volume covers
the years 1876, when Reconstruction formally ended with the disputed presidential election between Rutherford B. Hayes
and Samuel Tilden, and 1919, with the "Red Summer" following WW I. The second volume, to be released in 2025 takes
the documentary history of Jim Crow through 1976. Tyina L. Steptoe, associate professor of history at the University of
Arizona, edited the volume.
In its length and breadth, this book tells a daunting and disturbing story. It consists of over eighty documents, including
pamphlets, speeches, testimony, court opinions, newspaper articles, and more showing Jim Crow in its many manifestations
throughout the United States, not only in the South. The documents cover a range of perspectives from those who endured
Jim Crow to those who perpetuated and defended it.
The volume offers much to read and digest, and placing the documents in context is necessary. The book opens with
Steptoe's 15 page Introduction which offers an overview of Jim Crow, beginning before the Civil War, and discussing its
many aspects as shown in the documents. The supporting materials also include a chronology for the years 1877-1919 which
offer background and help the reader follow the documentary story. The chronology is followed by nearly 60 dense pages of
notes which offer details on the writers of the documents and on people and events described in them which contemporary
readers may find unfamiliar. These materials are all useful in understanding the history recounted in the over 600 pages of
source documents forming the body of the volume.
The book consists of three sections. The first, covering the years 1876 -- 1896, opens with a speech by Frederick Douglass
to the 1876 Republican National Convention urging the need for protecting the Black vote in the South. Among many other
things, the book covers sharecropping, intimidation of Black people, the first wave of migrations north and west, the denial
of voting rights, and segregation. The most striking documents are those written by Ida Wells and Frederick Douglass
dealing with lynching. This section also includes the full Supreme Court opinion and dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
together with the brief filed by plaintiff's counsel, Albion Tourgee.
The second section covers the years 1897 -- 1909. Again, several documents discuss lynching, including an 1898 article by a
white woman, Rebecca Felton, and a response by the editor of a Black newspaper. The documents continue to discuss
disenfranchisement and the need for political action. A lengthy speech by segregationist Ben "Pitchfork" Tillman of South
Carolina is one of several in the book defending a sharply segregationist perspective. An essay by W.E.B DuBois criticizing
Booker T. Washington, and two essays by Mary Church Terrell, one on peonage and chain gangs and the other on Black life
in Washington D.C. are among the highlights of this part.
In the third part of the book, covering the years 1909- 1919, violence comes to the fore, especially in the years of WW I. The
documents offer varying perspectives on riots in East St. Louis, Houston, Washington, D.C., Chicago, and elsewhere. The
documents include a testy exchange between President Woodrow Wilson and activist William Monroe Trotter on the
segregation of the Federal work force. Documents show various reactions to the heavyweight championship victory of Jack
Johnson, the film, "Birth of a Nation", and the increasing Black presence in the arts. The collection concludes with a speech
in Harlem by Marcus Garvey and an increasingly restive Black population at the end of the Great War heralding the rise of
the 'New Negro".
This is a wonderful book to have to document Jim Crow in the United States and to encourage thought. It will be of most
interest to readers with a background in and passion for the subject. It can also be used as a collection of source material to
accompany classes in American history. In an interview with the LOA, Steptoe offered the following thoughts on presenting
the documentary history of Jim Crow to students and readers.
"It's unfortunate that some people don't know this happened in our nation's history. People have a sense that things were bad
back then, but they don't always know how brutal it was, the public nature of the violence. That's why I try to find figures
we can latch on to, who will be our guides. We meet Ida B. Wells, a young schoolteacher biting the hand of a train
conductor. That's a cool story! She seems badass, right? Then later, her friends are killed and she starts writing about
lynching. But we know her and her story by the time she starts to describe these horrible things.
As an editor and a writer, I'm always thinking about how to bring people into this world, a world that in some ways sounds
like the one we know, and in others is nothing like it."
This book is an outstanding contribution to the Library of America and to its goal of helping readers understand our country
and its history.
Reporting Civil Rights Part 1: American Journalism 1914 -- 1965
Clayborne Carson, compiler
David J. Garrow, compiler
Bill Kovach, compiler
Carol Polsgrove, compiler
Library of America
http://www.loa.org
9781931082280, $37.22 hc
https://www.amazon.com/Reporting-Civil-Rights-Vol-LOA/dp/1931082286
A Priceless Documentary of America's Struggle for Civil Rights -- Part 1
America's largest, most continuous, and most pressing domestic issue has been the treatment it has accorded black
Americans. Similarly, the most important and valuable social movement in our country in the Twentieth Century was the
Civil Rights movement which began, essentially, in the 1940's with WW II, received its focus with the Supreme Court's
decision in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, and continued through the 1950s 60s, and 70s.
The Library of America has published a two-volume history of the American Civil Rights Movement which focuses on
contemporaneous journalistic accounts. The LOA's collection centers around the March on Washington in August 1963
which opens the second volume. The publication of the volumes, indeed, was timed to coincide with the 40th Anniversary
of the March on Washington. This March is best known for Dr. Martin Luther King's "I have a Dream" speech.
The first volume of the series, which I am discussing here, begins in 1941 and ends in the middle of 1963. In consists of
about 100 articles and essays documenting the Civil Rights struggle during these momentous years. Given the centrality of
the March on Washington to the collection, the volume opens with a "Call to Negro America" dated July 1, 1941 calling for
10,000 Black Americans to march on Washington D.C. to secure integration and equal treatment in the Armed Forces.
Philip Randolph, then the President of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters" was primarily responsible for this attempt
to organize the 1941 march, and he participated prominently 22 years later in the 1963 March on Washington.
The volume documents other ways in which Civil Rights activities in the 1940s foreshadowed subsequent events. For
example, an article details how Howard University students used the "sit-in" technique to desegregate Washington D.C.
restaurants beginning in 1942. (see Pauli Murray's article on p. 62 of this volume). The sit-in technique was widely used
beginning in the early 1960s to desegregate lunch counters in Southern and border states. Many articles in this volume
document these later sit-ins and their impact, as well as the original sit-in organized by Pauli Murray.
Among the many subjects covered by this book are Thurgood Marshall's early legal career for the NAACP, the Supreme
Court's decision in "Brown", the lynching of Emmett Till in 1954 and the acquittal of the guilty parties by an all-white
Mississippi jury, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, in which Martin Luther King first gained prominence, of 1956, the
integration of Little Rock High School in 1957, the lunch counter sit-ins that I have already mentioned, the "Freedom Rides"
the admission of James Meridith to the University of Mississippi in 1962, the Birmingham riots, and the murder of Medgar
Evars, Mississippi Field Secretary for the NAACP. on June 12, 1962. There is a great deal more, and the articles given in
the volume address Civil Rights in the North as well as in the South.
The immediacy and eloquence to this collection give the reader the feel of being there and participating at the time. The
cumulative effect of reading the book through is moving and powerful. By reading the book cover-to-cover and as the
articles are presented the reader will get a better feel for the Civil Rights Movement and Era that can be gotten anywhere
else. The book records a seminal Era in our Nation's history and an idealism and a spirit that is difficult to recreate or
recapture.
I would like to point out some of the longer articles that the reader should notice in going through the book. I enjoyed James
Poling's 1952 essay "Thurgood Marshall and the 14th Amendment" which chronicles Marshall's early career. Another
important essay is William Bradford Huie's "Emmett Till's Killers Tell their Story: January, 1956." which recounts the
confession to Till's murder of the individuals acquitted by the Mississippi jury. Robert Penn Warren's 1956 book-length
essay "Segregation: the Inner Conflict in the South" is reprinted in the volume in full. A lengthy excerpt from James
Baldwin's 1962 "The Fire Next Time" recounts Baldwin's meeting with Elijah Muhammad and his thoughts about the Black
Muslim Movement. Norman Podhoretz's 1963 essay "My Negro Problem and Ours" remains well worth reading. Probably
the most significant single text in this volume is Martin Luther King's "Letter from the Birmingham Jail" written in 1963. In
this famous letter, Dr. King responds eloquently to criticism of his movement and his techniques voiced by eight
Birmingham clergymen. The letter is a classic, not the least for Dr. King's writing style.
The book includes a chronology which will help the reader place the articles in perspective, and biographical notes on each
of the authors. I turned to the biographies and the chronology repeatedly as I read the volume. The Library of America has
also posted excellent study material for this book and its companion volume on its Website.
This book documents American's history and our country's continuing struggle to meet and develop its ideals.
Reporting Civil Rights Part 2: American Journalism 1963 -- 1973
Clayborne Carson, editor
Library of America
http://www.loa.org
9781931082297, $22.09 hc
https://www.amazon.com/Reporting-Civil-Rights-Vol-LOA/dp/1931082294
A Priceless Documentary of America's Struggle for Civil Rights -- Part 2
This book is the second volume of the Library of America's documentary, journalistic history of the Civil Rights Movement.
The first volume covers the years 1941-1963 and takes the story up to the March on Washington in August, 1963. The
second volume covers a shorter time span, 1963 - 1973 with an equally momentous series of events. Volume II is easily
important enough for its own separate review here.
The centerpiece of the two volumes is the March on Washington which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. [2003]
Indeed, the 1963 March, led by Dr. King, may be the watershed event of the Civil Rights Movement as a whole. The three
eyewitness accounts of the March presented in this book offer three different perspectives. The 1963 March, and the
moment of idealism, justice and peace it has come to represent pervades and suggests worlds of commentary upon the rest
of the volume.
The articles in this book have an emphasis on Congressional action. In 1964, following the 1963 events in Birmingham,
Alabama and the 1963 March, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act which, in time, would effectively end segregation in the
South. In 1965, following events in Selma, Alabama and the March from Selma to Montgomery Alabama, Congress enacted
voting rights legislation which at long last fulfilled the promise of the 15th Amendment to protect the voting rights of black
people. The events in Selma, and the manner in which they galvanized the nation are well documented in this book.
The history recounted in this volume is marked by assassination, violence and discord. There are two major assassinations
highlighted in the book. The volume describes Malcolm X's break from the Black Muslim movement and his assassination
in February, 1965. A great deal of space is given to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King in Memphis, Tennessee, on
April 4, 1965 and to its tragic aftermath.
Much space is given to the violence that haunted the struggle for Civil Rights. In particular, many articles discuss the
murder of three young Civil Rights workers in Philadelphia, Mississippi: Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James
Cheney during June, 1964. These murders involved the FBI in a massive manhunt which ultimately led to the conviction of
Klansmen and of local law enforcement officials.
There is a great deal of material in the volume on the riots in Watts and Detroit and on the rise of Black Power and the
Black Panther movement.
Many articles draw excellent portraits of the leaders of the Civil Rights movement, including Malcolm X, Stokely
Carmichael, Bayard Rustin, Ralph Abernathy, Jesse Jackson, and, of course, Dr. King.
There are pictures of dusty roads and small towns in the South with portrayals of places both before and after the victories of
the Civil Rights Movement. There is a suggestion in more than a few articles that the South may have, given its past, an
ultimately easier time of moving towards a unified, racially egalitarian and united society than will the North. Time still
needs to tell whether this is will in fact be the case.
The two Library of America volumes on the Civil Rights Movement are invaluable guides to the most important social
movement of 20th Century America. They will show the reader how the Civil Rights Movement became an essential
component in the formation of the American dream and the American ideal.
Robin Friedman
Reviewer
Roisin Smyth's Bookshelf
We Are The Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast
Jonathan Safran Foer
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
c/o Macmillan
https://us.macmillan.com/fsg
9780374280000, $11.99
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MYXDK94
Synopsis: There are those who reject the scientifically accepted fact that our planet is warming because of human activity.
However, do those of us who accept this fact truly believe it? If so, surely we would act on this knowledge - if we don't,
what truly separates us from those who reject the facts around global warming?
In We Are the Weather, Jonathan Safran Foer explores the central global dilemma of our time in a surprising, deeply
personal, and urgent new way. The task of saving the planet will involve a great reckoning with ourselves - with our
reluctance to sacrifice present comforts for the sake of the future. We have, he reveals, turned our planet into a farm for
growing animal products, with disastrous consequences. Only collective action will save our home and way of life. And it
all starts with what we eat - and don't eat - for breakfast.
Critique: This book's explicit aim is to highlight the issue of global warming, and it amalgamates a series of facts, figures
and personal reflections. Jonathan Safran Foer makes very good points, and few informed readers would disagree with his
diagnosis that the planet is on the verge of entering dangerous territory in environmental terms. His insight that people will
be unlikely to act if they are not personally affected is well-developed.
However, there are times when the book becomes very repetitious, and this actually undermines the serious points that he
makes. The book is worth reading, but be forewarned that it can be grating at times as the repetitions can come across as
condescending. That said, it does underscore the sincerity of Foer - he believes in the case he makes, and overall he does
make it well.
Editorial Note: Jonathan Safran Foer is the author of two bestselling, award-winning novels, Everything Is Illuminated and
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and a bestselling work of nonfiction, Eating Animals. He lives in Brooklyn, New
York.
Roisin Smyth
Reviewer
Suanne Schafer's Bookshelf
The Shadowy Horses
Susanna Kearsley
Sourcebooks Landmark
https://www.sourcebooks.com
9781402258701, $16.99
https://www.amazon.com/Shadowy-Horses-Susanna-Kearsley/dp/1402258704
In The Shadowy Horses, author Kearsley weaves together past and present in a dark gothic mystery. Archaeologist Verity
Grey is in Scotland for a job interview and ends up staying, though her boss - Peter Quinnell, an infamous archaeologist - is
eccentric, if not crazy, but she nonetheless joins him in his search for evidence of the Ninth Roman Legion he thinks exists
on his farm. Joining those two are Adrian, Verity's former lover; David, also an archaeologist, with whom she is smitten
almost immediately; and a local boy, Robbie, who has "the sight" and who sees the ghost of a Roman legionnaire he calls
The Sentinel. Quinnell has spent his whole life searching for the resting place of the lost Ninth Roman Legion and is
convinced he's finally found it - not because of any scientific evidence, but because the boy has seen the ghost of this Roman
soldier.
In my younger days, I thought of being an archeologist, but the dusty American Southwest with its scorpions and snakes
soon conquered that desire. My fascination with the past continues, so this book was right up my alley. Kearsley brings this
particular archeological dig to life, blending realistic science with the magical realism of The Sentinel and just enough
spookiness to be spicy. Her descriptions of the scenery are marvelous. The characters are well described, too. Verity is
intelligent, strong, and likable, not one to bend to male authoritarianism. Peter, though elderly, is intelligent and endearing.
Adrian's lack of moral fiber and his unwarranted possessiveness (he and Verity have long separated) shows through while
David's physical and mental strength are a welcome contrast. The secondary characters are well-defined. On the whole, The
Shadowy Horses was enjoyable and satisfying. I plan to read more of Kearsley's novels in the future.
Behind the Scenes at the Museum
Kate Atkinson
St. Martin's Press
https://www.stmartins.com
9781250251503, $16.00
https://www.amazon.com/Behind-Scenes-at-Museum-Novel-ebook/dp/B00BMKE7CE
I must confess I purchased Behind the Scenes at the Museum thinking it was in one of my favorite genre: museum and
art-related. However, it was not that at all, but I loved it, nonetheless.
The narrator, Ruby Lennox, starts her life at the moment of her conception in the 1950s, thus beginning a challenging family
saga that covers four generations and two wars, and moves between past and present in search of the truth. Ruby's life is
rather bleak, but the tone of the book is light, often funny. Ruby's mother and father dislike each other, while her sisters
dislike her, each other, and their parents. The family is bound by generations of stories bordering on mythology. An amazing
number of family members, in attempts to escape their disheartening family, vanish and are never heard from again. Her
parents hoard deep, dark secrets from their children. What is unique (and which forms the museum portion of the book) is
that objects have a secret history, which Ruby addresses in "footnotes" at the ends of chapters. Modern studies on emotions
show that each time a person revisits a memory, they revise that memory based on their current life events, so memories are
constantly changing rather than being immutable, and that is certainly evidenced in this novel.
Clever tricks of plotting twist the narrative like the double-helix of human DNA and knock the readers' socks off. Behind
the Scenes at the Museum is a complex, ingenious novel that challenges one's perceptions of the definition of family.
The Museum of Innocence
Orhan Pamuk
Vintage
c/o Random House
https://www.randomhousebooks.com
9780307386243, $17.00
https://www.amazon.com/Museum-Innocence-Orhan-Pamuk/dp/0307266761
The Museum of Innocence is a lovely novel by Nobel Prize winning author Orhan Pamuk. Set in 1970s Istanbul, post
Ataturk and during several coups, it captures the sense of a country tied to the past while striving for but not quite reaching
the future. Pamuk's writing is poetic and ornate, showing endless layers of obsession and love.
The novel begins with a love triangle between Kemal, the son of one of Istanbul's most wealthy families, his fiancee Sibel,
and a distant cousin by marriage, Fusun. Though he's seducing Fusun and falling in love with her, he refuses to give up his
relationship to Sibel - certain, in the self-righteous way of privileged young men, that he can have it all. However, Fusun
leaves Kemal on the night of his engagement party to Sibel and soon marries a chubby young filmmaker who's loved her for
years and is willing to overlook her lack of virginity. Kemal then begins a years-long obsession with Fusun and her family,
eating with them (and her husband) several times a week in a poor neighborhood in Istanbul. He develops a kleptomania,
stealing items from her home each night as remembrances of their time together (items such as 4123 cigarette butts
classified according to how she crushed them, salt shakers, and other homey items such as a quince grater), and storing them
in an apartment in which his mother places all her outdated clothing and furniture.
Eventually Fusun divorces her filmmaker and, just as it seems she and Kemal can renew their love-of-a-lifelime, drive off in
his father's '56 Chevrolet on a tour of European museums, and live happily ever, fate intervenes. Kemal discovers all he can
possess of his true love are the items he has collected, with which he creates a museum.
This book is interesting when read in conjunction with Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson, as both deal
with objects and their place in memory. To quote from The Museum of Innocence, "The power of things inheres in the
memories they gather up inside them, and also in the vicissitudes of our imagination, and our memory of this there is no
doubt." In both books, again to quote Pamuk, "...the past is preserved within objects as souls are kept in their earthen
bodies." With these thoughts, the reader understands Kemal's obsession with collecting artifacts of his love for Fusun.
All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake
Tiya Miles
Random House
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com
9781984855015, $22.00
https://www.amazon.com/All-That-She-Carried-Keepsake/dp/1984855018
Through sheer serendipity, All That She Carried is the third book in a row I've read about the place of objects in our lives
and memories. The first two were fiction: Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson and The Museum of
Innocence by Orhan Pamuk. All That She Carried is nonfiction and deals with a grain sack that was given by a Black slave
mother to her daughter who was torn from her family and sold. The sack passed through generations from the 1850s through
the 1920s when Ruth Middleton embroidered the following on the sack:
My great grandmother Rose
mother of Ashley gave her this sack when
she was sold at age 9 in South Carolina
it held a tattered dress 3 handfulls of
pecans a braid of Roses's hair. Told her
It be filled with my Love always
she never saw her again
Ashley is my grandmother
Author Miles writes very moving story here, but she faced an immense challenge: the lack of records kept during the Black
slavery-related diaspora meant entire family histories were lost. Miles could find little on these three women. She, by
necessity, fills in with a lot of supposition based on what we do know about chattel slavery in America, much of which is
difficult to read and much of which reads as "filler."
This book made me grateful for the history I have of my own family. My father researched our genealogy back through the
1700s. I have ephemera like the receipt for my grandmother's first year of college ($320 including room, board, and piano
lessons), the receipt for the Percheron shipped from France for my great-grandfather's horse ranch, and countless other
items. I feel for those whose history has been ruptured by man's inhumanity to his fellow man.
Tartufo
Kira Jane Buxton
Grand Central Publishing
c/o Hachette
https://www.hachettebookgroup.com
9781538770818, $29.00
https://www.amazon.com/Tartufo-Kira-Jane-Buxton/dp/1538770814
I am not usually one for humorous books, but Tartufo caught my eye, largely because it is set in Italy where I lived for a
number of years.
The village of Lazzarini Boscarino is dying. Young folks have all left heading to Milan or other big cities. The old mayor
died, never revealing that he squandered money he got to help the village. The new mayor, his daughter, Delizia Micucci, is
a veterinarian who's lived and worked all over Italy, usually leaving her current job when she's passed over for promotion in
favor of a male. She's come home with her husband to Lazzarini to heal. She's voted in as mayor, but the ballot included a
donkey named Maurizio. In the forest nearby, Giovanni Scarpazza, a truffle hunter, finds a huge truffle worth a lot of
money. He, in turn, donates it to the village where, in the end, it causes more to-do that it is worth. Tartufo is about the
connection between the village, the villagers, the land, and all nature. The characters' lives intertwine, separate, and then
rejoin.
Tartufo has a large cast of oddballs, all of whom are well-conceived, though the village itself serves as a character. The
prose is gorgeous with sensuous descriptions of food that will have your mouth watering but is also a sensuous feast for all
the senses. I don't think I've ever read a book in which the reader's senses are so titillated. The novel is quirky but truly
brilliant with lovely prose and lovelier characters, and is absolutely charming, life-affirming, and heart-warming - and often
laugh-out-loud funny. Tartufo is told in an omniscient point of view and includes life as seen, for example, through the eyes
of a bee and truffle-hunting dogs.
Tooth and Claw
Craig Johnson
Viking
c/o Penguin
https://www.penguin.com
9780593834169, $25.00
https://www.amazon.com/Tooth-Claw-Longmire-Story-Mystery/dp/059383416X
Tooth and Claw is the twenty-fifth volume in the Sheriff Walter Longmire series - and like the Hillermans' Leaphorn/Chee
novels - I've read and enjoyed every volume. Tooth and Claw doesn't disappoint. Though it is quite short at 208 pages, it
packs a whallop of non-stop action and danger into those pages. It is a flashback of sorts, the story being told by Henry
Standing Bear to their friend at their usual Tuesday night chess game.
Just after returning home from the war in Vietnam, Walt is working in Alaska as security for an oil company and feels
emotionally frayed. Henry comes to visit, and they end up escorting a US Geological Survey scientist who's studying ice
worms. Because of the threat of polar bear attacks, they tag along to provide security. During a sudden severe weather
storm, they are trapped overnight on the open tundra and are hunted by a polar bear who moves quickly and silently and
seems to kill for pleasure. There is a constant sense of dread regarding the polar bear, which is enhanced by bone-chilling
cold, the twenty-hours of night, and a plot full of twists. Not to mention companions on this journey who have hidden
agendas. Henry is clawed by the bear, and for a change, Walt rescues him. If you've read any of the series, you understand
how the role reversal here.
Despite the bleak landscape and the pulse-pounding terror, this is also a humorous book.
White Mulberry
Rosa Kwon Easton
https://rosakwoneaston.com
Lake Union Publishing
9781662519703, $16.99
https://www.amazon.com/White-Mulberry-Rosa-Kwon-Easton/dp/1662519699
I chose to read White Mulberry because the author told her grandmother's story, as I did in one of my own novels, and I
wanted to know how she treated her family history.
Miyoung, a poor Korean country girl living during the Japanese occupation of Korea just prior to World War II, has the
opportunity to move to Japan to live with an elder sister. Once in Japan, she faces many formidable experiences: Japanese
prejudice against Koreans, sexism, religious persecution, the loss of a beloved husband, and the birth of a son. She has been
exposed to Christianity while in Korea and converts to that religion in Japan. She cannot afford to continue her education, so
she seeks a job but must assume a Japanese name and pretend to be Japanese to accomplish that. She becomes a nurses' aid,
marries, and has a child.
Easton handled the conflicts well as well as some aspects of Miyoung's growing pains and her longing for her home country,
her family, and Korean foods and scents while in Japan. She also has the gumption to give her grandparent a sex life, though
it is quite modest and understated. However, there isn't much of a plot beyond the day-to-day meandering through a young
woman's life. There is a lot of repetition of Miyoung's desire for education, how she misses her mother, etc. At times the
dialogue is not particularly well-rendered and doesn't flow well. The use of Korean and Japanese phrases, in small doses,
may flavor the scenes, but it seems overdone, especially since the translations of these phrases into English in the next
immediate sentence felt clunky and pulled me from the story. Mostly, the entire novel seemed a bit "one-note" without
significant changes in pace to accentuate the highs or lows of Miyoung's life. The characters themselves were not
substantially different from any other tale of a poor, smart girl overcoming obstacles to warrant much engagement with
them. That said, I did enjoy the insights into Korean and Japanese life before World War II.
Suanne Schafer, Reviewer
www.SuanneSchaferAuthor.com
Susan Bethany's Bookshelf
Reading the First Five Books
Rachel Toombs
Baker Academic
c/o Baker Publishing Group
www.bakerpublishinggroup.com
9781540968463, $49.99, HC, 208pp
https://www.amazon.com/Reading-First-Books-Rachel-Toombs/dp/1540968464
Synopsis: "Reading the First Five Books: The Invitation of the Pentateuch's Stories" by theologian and biblical scholar
Rachel Toombs invites readers to rediscover the artistry and transformative power of the narratives of the first five books of
the Bible.
"Reading the First Five Books" highlights key literary techniques like brevity, pacing, characterization, and use of the
grotesque, showing how these characteristics shape biblical stories into memorable, complex narratives that reward close
reading. This accessible guide unpacks what makes Old Testament stories effective while cultivating skills for deeper
engagement with scriptural texts. Extended examples drawn from each book of the Pentateuch are included.
Bridging literary study and biblical scholarship, "Reading the First Five Books" deftly models a spirit of open-minded yet
careful reading that uncovers profound meaning in sparse details. This seminal study is an ideal curriculum pick for courses
on the Old Testament or the Pentateuch. Semiknary students will find valuable instruction and inspiration for their own
journeys through these sacred texts.
Critique: Exceptional, impressive, informatively insightful, thoroughly 'reader friendly' in organization and presentation,
"Reading the First Five Books: The Invitation of the Pentateuch's Stories" by Rachel Toombs is especially and unreservedly
recommended for personal, professional, community, church, seminary, and college/university library Old Testament
collections and supplemental Pentateuch curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for clergy, seminary students, and non-
specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that this hardcover edition of "Reading the First Five Books" from
Baker Academic is also available in paperback (9781540965905, $19.99) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $18.99).
Editorial Note: Rachel Toombs (PhD, Baylor University) serves at Ascension Episcopal Church in Stillwater, Minnesota.
She previously served as the director of formation and connection at St. Alban's Episcopal Church in Waco, Texas, and as a
lecturer at Baylor University. She is the author of Flannery O'Connor and Stylistic Asceticism.
(https://racheltoombs.net)
The Reiki Sourcebook
Bronwen Logan & Frans Stiene
O Books
c/o Collective Ink Books
https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com
9781803419077, $28.95, PB, 544pp
https://www.amazon.com/Reiki-Sourcebook-Timeless-Reference-Practitioners/dp/1803419075
Synopsis: Twenty years ago, "The Reiki Sourcebook" revolutionized the Reiki community with its comprehensive coverage
of the history, practice, and philosophy of the system of Reiki. It meticulously tracks every significant aspect from the
system's inception in early 1900s Japan to the West and back to Japan.
"The Reiki Sourcebook: A Timeless Reference Book for Reiki Practitioners Of All Levels" is an anniversary edition from O
Books that celebrates the depth of research and clarity that this instructional reference study has brought to the Reiki
community. With an introduction for beginners and a chronological history that answers questions like Where did the
attunement process come from? and Which hand positions are correct?, "The Reiki Sourcebook" explains and illustrates
techniques drawn from both Japan and the West.
This is the definitive manual for anyone with a particular interest in the system of Reiki, Japanese healing practices, or a
more general interest in complementary health. Reiki authors and teachers Bronwen Logan and Frans Stiene (who are the
co-founders of the International House of Reiki) have worked with the system of Reiki and conducted research on its
Japanese origins across Europe, Asia, North America, Australia, and Japan.
Bronwen, who now resides in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, Australia, has since launched her own initiative, Reiki with
Bronwen, to further explore and teach the practice. Frans has returned to his roots and teaches from his hometown of
Haarlem in the Netherlands. Together, they continue to share their extensive knowledge and experience with Reiki
practitioners worldwide.
Critique: Reiki is a form of energy healing and a type of alternative medicine originating in Japan. Reiki practitioners use a
technique called palm healing or hands-on healing through which, according to practitioners, a "universal energy" is
transferred through the palms of the practitioner to the client, to encourage emotional or physical healing. It is based on qi
("chi"), which practitioners say is a universal life force.
Arguably the 'bible' of the Reiki movement at home and abroad, "The Reiki Sourcebook: A Timeless Reference Book for
Reiki Practitioners Of All Levels" by Reiki experts and seasoned practitioners Bronwen Logan & Frans Stiene is especially
and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, and college/university library Alternative Medicine
collections. It should be noted for students, practitioners, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject
that "The Reiki Sourcebook" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $14.99).
Editorial Note #1: A driving force in the Reiki community, Bronwen Logan co-founded both the International House of
Reiki and Shibumi International Reiki Association. She's the co-author of respected works such as The Reiki Sourcebook,
The Japanese Art of Reiki, and Your Reiki Treatment. Her extensive publications and teaching materials have been a
cornerstone for students globally, offering guidance that blends scholarly accuracy with heart-centred intuition. She lives in
Mount Tomah, NSW, Australia.
Editorial Note #2: Frans Stiene is a senior teacher of Reiki who specializes in teaching the traditional form of Japanese
Reiki based on Usui Mikao's teachings. He is also the author of several books on Reiki, such as The Inner Heart of Reiki,
The Way of Reiki and Reiki Insights. (https://ihreiki.com/?v=0b3b97fa6688_)
Susan Bethany
Reviewer
Victor Owens' Bookshelf
The Fear Index
Robert Harris
Penguin Random House
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com
9780307948113, $16.95
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/214458/the-fear-index-by-robert-harris
While Robert Harris isn't my favorite author of all time, he definitely finds a place in my personal top 50. It's certainly hard
to find fault with novels like Imperium and Pompeii. Both of these, unlike many idealized modern (and indeed
contemporary) depictions, portray the ancient Roman Republic with all its numerous warts. As it turns out, the rich and
powerful didn't give moral principles all that much more weight back then than they do now. By acknowledging this, Harris
makes his heroic protagonists stand out that much more.
Along the way, Harris also shows off the fruits of some truly meticulous research, revealing credible and illuminating details
only a die-hard historian can be expected to know. He brings much the same effort to The Fear Index...unfortunately, the
gap between historical and science fiction seems a little too wide for this author to successfully bridge.
Since I happen to know more about finance than most, I appreciate his understanding of the context that underlies this
techno-thriller. Still, if you don't get the difference between (say) put options and equity futures when you start reading, you
still won't once you put the book down - and I don't think this will affect your enjoyment of the story one way or the other.
His speculations about the future of technology in general and AI in particular also seem reasonable, especially considering
that this novel was written way back in 2012.
What bugs me about this book certainly isn't its factual accuracy or plausibility. To be clear: The Fear Index is a pretty
serviceable thriller with which to while away a lazy Sunday afternoon. What it is not is up to the standards of similar books
by the same author.
Compared to Fatherland, for instance, which is set in an alternative future in which Germany won the Second World War,
the pacing and suspense just seem off. The plot also falls somewhat flat; depending on how much mystery you like, there's
either too much or too little foreshadowing.
In addition (and again in comparison to other books by the same author), the characterization disappoints. During the first
few dozen pages, a number of interesting and unusual personalities are introduced: the misunderstood and socially isolated
genius, the budding artist, the amoral go-getter. As the book progresses, though, they just sort of stumble along, never being
fully developed aside from a few flashbacks (which seem a little contrived).
In short, The Fear Index is a pretty good but not stellar read. It's worth buying, especially if you're already interested in
investments, stock trading, and how AI may be disrupting both. By the high standards Robert Harris has set in his other
work, though, it's only mediocre - my advice is to pick up literally any other book by the same author first. If you dislike
historical fiction for some reason, for instance, Ghost is a great choice: though it suffers from the same limp similes that
characterize his writing (i.e. "the duck walked like ducks walk") it shares none of The Fear Index's other flaws.
Don't Mediate Just Be: The Pathless Path to Spiritual Enlightenment
Kel Kalyan
https://www.khelkalyan.com
Independently Published
9781919634944, $18.35 pbk / $6.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Mediate-Just-Spiritual-Enlightenment-ebook/dp/B0DH3LP4DZ
When picking up a relatively unknown book on the topic of spirituality, it's always a crapshoot: any given title can be either
life-changing or a total waste of time. To be fair, I personally, as a kind of religious skeptic who knows a little about
meditation, may have unusually high standards. Fortunately, this one by Kel Kalyan manages to avoid a number of cardinal
sins this genre is known for.
In the first place, it positions itself firmly outside the "self-help" category. Of course, some books aimed at personal
betterment are certainly worth a read, but others are really just an attempt by the author to make a quick buck, endlessly
discuss an idea that can be covered quite adequately in a few paragraphs, or otherwise amount to a misuse of perfectly good
dead trees.
Don't Meditate, Just Be, however, doesn't try to oversimplify the complex subject of mysticism. It gets in your face rather
than trying to be touchy-feely and reassuring. It doesn't try to tell you that everything is really okay if you look at it from the
right perspective or that success is just around the corner. In fact, this is a pretty challenging and thought-provoking book;
depending on how attached you are to your current worldview, you may well find parts of it offensive.
The author has quite a long list of things he has a bone to pick with: social media, intransigent family obligations, all
conventional religions, charity, asceticism, friendships, politics... The book's thesis seems to be that we should each evaluate
every one of these in terms of how they're designed to please our "egoic selves" rather than the more noble desires springing
from our inner beings.
Another thing that annoys me about many books on spirituality is how they build their arguments on the foundation of some
existing religion. As far as I'm concerned, "Jesus, the Buddha, and I all say that..." is no way to generate credibility for
yourself or your opinions. Fortunately, this book avoids that temptation. Several religions are referenced at different points,
but their tenets are evaluated dispassionately and without trying to piggyback on their authority (which the author pretty
much rejects entirely, anyway).
This is the kind of book that will make you think twice, whatever your current views on religion or the modern lifestyle,
both of which the author rejects lock, stock, and barrel. It's pretty heavy (300 pages or so) and, due to its scope, could have
been expected to be difficult to read and absorb. Fortunately, it's divided into numerous short sections that each cover a
single aspect of spirituality, while the language is gentle and engaging even when controversial or unfamiliar concepts are
being discussed.
It's probably not the first book on spirituality you want to read, though. The material is less about actual meditation and
more of a semi-philosophical discussion of spirituality in the broadest sense of the word. I'd say that Don't Meditate, Just Be
is a good book if that's what you're looking for, regardless of whether you're a believer, godless, or find yourself somewhere
between these two poles. However, if you're looking for more of a general primer to give you the highlights on meditation
and mysticism, something like The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh will suit you better.
Victor Owens, Reviewer
https://victortheghosteditor.wordpress.com
Willis Buhle's Bookshelf
The Gift of Conflict: The Art of Biblical Reconciliation
Richard Parrish
www.richardparrish.com
Independently Published
9798336033298, $15.99, PB, 157pp
https://www.amazon.com/Gift-Conflict-Art-Biblical-Reconciliation/dp/B0DGY22FWG
Synopsis: In a world shadowed by deception and decay, conflict emerges as an unexpected gift -- a catalyst for profound
transformation and spiritual growth.
With the publication of "The Gift of Conflict: The Art of Biblical Reconciliation", Richard Parrish reveals how conflict can
lead to spiritual growth and transformation. Drawing from Biblical wisdom and personal experience, Parrish provides
practical insights for overcoming life's challenges, from strained relationships to personal struggles.
"The Gift of Conflict" offers a roadmap to turn adversity into blessings through the redemptive power of Jesus Christ,
guiding readers to navigate trials with grace and resilience.
Critique: Iconoclastic, insightful, memorable, inspirational, and inherently interesting from start to finish, "The Gift of
Conflict: The Art of Biblical Reconciliation" is exceptionally organized and presented -- making it ideal for biblical
students, clergy, and members of the Christian community regardless of denominational affiliations. Highly recommended
for community, church, and college/university library Christian Theology, Christian Counseling, and Christian
Family/Relationship collections, it should be noted that this paperback edition of "The Gift of Conflict" by Richard Parrish
is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).
Editorial Note: Richard Parrish (www.richardparrish.com) is the Director of Richard Parrish Ministries, an outreach of
Music Serving the Word (MSW). Richard attends to the soul care of pastors, leaders, and learners. Richard is also an
ordained minister and speaks in numerous cross-denominational settings. A seasoned, empowering and compassionate
leader, he devotes his life to assisting others discover HOPE through writing, speaking, mentoring, and offering spiritual
care to pastors and ministry leaders.
Willis M. Buhle
Reviewer
James A. Cox
Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive
Oregon, WI 53575-1129
phone: 1-608-835-7937
e-mail: mbr@execpc.com
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