Another bumper crop of interesting books this week. I didn’t even have time to get them all listed here.
One of the books is about the Beatlemania of 1963, and it makes me sorry that I am right now, possibly at the very moment you are reading this, not at the Rolling Stones concert here in Phoenix, Arizona (actually, in the adjacent city of Glendale.) As the Arizona Republic reports, the first time the Stones played in Phoenix was November 30th, 1965—nearly 59 years ago. Oh, the joyful energy of still doing what you love into your seventies and eighties!
Today is also the publication date of Kristi Noem’s political biography, which as we now know includes her account of murdering her dog and lying about meeting Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. Her book has earned a spot on my Literate Lizard Bookstore’s BOOKS FOR THE TRASH CAN list.
THE LITERATE LIZARD'S THOUGHTS ON THIS BOOK
No one in their right mind could possibly care what South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem's opinion on
"what is wrong with politics." SHE is what is wrong with politics. Even before the firestorm over her bragging about how she shot her dog to death because he was misbehaving (and recommended President Biden's dog Commander be shot as well), she spouted the worst political opinions. She supports a near-total ban on abortion, including in cases of rape and incest (and her state has the sixth-worst infant mortality rate.) She brought death and misery to countless of her constituents be refusing to take and Covid precautions when the pandemic broke out. She gave Trump a replica of Mount Rushmore with Trump's image wedged in with the other presidents.
She has hired family members for her government, and has been accused of misusing government resources.
And she seems to enjoy the challenge of telling lies. Her claim in this book to have met North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has been shown to be a complete lie, yet she went on national television multiple times trying to avoid admitting it. More untruths are coming to light, and her publisher has apologized. Ultimately, she tried to blame her editors and her ghostwriter, but the problem with that is she is the voice of the audiobook version. She literally read out loud every single word in the book. Kind of hard to pretend you didn't notice the totally made-up stories.
And yes, she continues to defend shooting her dog to death because he was misbehaving.
A big NO THANKS to this book!
The annual Reading the West Awards shortlist has been announced. The Literate Lizard was proud to be one of the judges selecting these titles (in the memoir and biography category—three of my choices made the shortlist.” But now it’s your turn to vote in the eight categories, each with five books. CLICK HERE to see the shortlist and vote for your choices by May 31st.
THIS WEEK”S NOTABLE NEW NONFICTION
- Empireworld: How British Imperialism Shaped the Globe, by Sathnam Sanghera. This book explores the global legacy of the British Empire, and the ways it continues to influence economics, politics, and culture around the world. 2.6 billion people are inhabitants of former British colonies. The empire's influence upon the quarter of the planet it occupied, and its gravitational influence upon the world outside it, has been profound. Sanghera visits Barbados, where he uncovers how Caribbean nations are still struggling to emerge from the disadvantages sown by transatlantic slavery. He examines how large charities--like Save the Children and the World Bank--still see the world through the imperial eyes of their colonial founders, and how the political instability of nations, such as Nigeria, for instance, can be traced back to tensions seeded in their colonial foundations. And from the British Empire's role in the transportation of 12.5 million Africans during the Atlantic slave trade, to the 35 million Indians who died due to famine caused by British policy, the British Empire, as Sanghera reveals, was responsible for some of the largest demographic changes in human history. "This is history a historian can recognise: a field that demands close study and resists easy generalisation or pat judgments . . . Sanghera’s book admirably marches us into the weeds of peer-reviewed scholarly work."—Quinn Slobodian
- Massacre in the Clouds: An American Atrocity and the Erasure of History, by Kim A. Wagner. In March 1906, American soldiers on the island of Jolo in the southern Philippines surrounded and killed 1000 local men, women, and children, known as Moros, on top of an extinct volcano. The so-called ‘Battle of Bud Dajo’ was hailed as a triumph over an implacable band of dangerous savages, a “brilliant feat of arms” according to President Theodore Roosevelt. Some contemporaries, including W.E.B. Du Bois and Mark Twain, saw the massacre for what it was, but they were the exception and the U.S. military authorities successfully managed to bury the story. Despite the fact that the slaughter of Moros had been captured on camera, the memory of the massacre soon disappeared from the historical record. In Massacre in the Clouds, Kim A. Wagner meticulously recovers the history of a forgotten atrocity and the remarkable photograph that exposed its grim logic. His vivid, unsparing account of the massacre—which claimed hundreds more lives than Wounded Knee and My Lai combined—reveals the extent to which practices of colonial warfare and violence, derived from European imperialism, were fully embraced by Americans with catastrophic results.
“Wagner deftly shows how an atrocity largely relegated to American historical and military amnesia lives vividly in other places: in archival sources and news media from 1906, in trophy photographs of the massacre at Bud Dajo, in local memory in Jolo, and in the rhetoric of contemporary American and Philippine politicians like Trump and Duterte. Massacre in the Clouds is thus a vital new history of American warfare, imperialism, and the historical amnesia resulting from the disavowal of racism and extreme violence in US foreign and domestic policy."—Susie Protschky
- The Damascus Events: The 1860 Massacre and the Making of the Modern Middle East, by
Eugene Rogan. On July 9, 1860, a violent mob swept through the Christian quarters of Damascus. For eight days, violence raged, leaving five thousand Christians dead, thousands of shops looted, and churches, houses, and monasteries razed. The sudden and ferocious outbreak shocked the world, leaving Syrian Christians vulnerable and fearing renewed violence.
Drawn from never-before-seen eyewitness accounts of the Damascus Events, eminent Middle East historian Eugene Rogan tells the story of how a peaceful multicultural city came to be engulfed in slaughter. He traces how rising tensions between Muslim and Christian communities led some to regard extermination as a reasonable solution. Rogan also narrates the wake of this disaster, and how the Ottoman government moved quickly to retake control of the city, end the violence, and reintegrate Christians into the community. These efforts to rebuild Damascus proved successful, preserving peace for the next 150 years until 2011. “In the hands of the distinguished historian and master storyteller Eugene Rogan, an incident of communal violence in Damascus in 1860 is at once an evocation of the vanished world of the Ottoman empire and an ominous foreshadowing of the communal violence tearing apart the Middle East of today.”—Margaret MacMillan
- Look Away: A True Story of Murders, Bombings, and a Far-Right Campaign to Rid Germany of Immigrants, by Jacob Kushner. A thrilling narrative investigation into the National Socialist Underground (NSU)—a German terror organization that targeted immigrants—and how a government failed to stop it. Not long after the Berlin Wall fell, three teenagers became friends in the East German town of Jena. It was a time of excitement, but also of deep uncertainty: some four million East Germans found themselves out of work. The friends began attending far-right rallies with people who called themselves National Socialists: Nazis. And, like the Hitler-led Nazis before them, they blamed minorities for their ills. From 2000 to 2011, they embarked on the most horrific string of white nationalist killings since the Holocaust. Their target: immigrants. “Jacob Kushner’s Look Away is, at one level, a compelling true-crime thriller about a trio of German terrorists on the run. But it’s also a warning about the dangers of white supremacy and right-wing extremism – and about how the fear and hatred of immigrants, combined with the incompetence (or worse) of law enforcement, remains a threat around the world.”—Jeffrey Toobin
- The End of Everything: How Wars Descend into Annihilation, by Victor Davis Hanson. War can settle disputes, topple tyrants, and bend the trajectory of civilization—sometimes to the breaking point. From Troy to Hiroshima, moments when war has ended in utter annihilation have reverberated through the centuries, signaling the end of political systems, cultures, and epochs. Though much has changed over the millennia, human nature remains the same. Modern societies are not immune from the horror of a war of extinction. In The End of Everything, military historian Victor Davis Hanson narrates a series of sieges and sackings that span the age of antiquity to the conquest of the New World to show how societies descend into barbarism and obliteration. Hanson delivers a sobering call to contemporary readers to heed the lessons of obliteration lest we blunder into catastrophe once again.
- Say More: Lessons from Work, the White House, and the World, by Jen Psaki. Not many White House Press Secretaries capture the nation’s interest the way Jen Psaki did. Refreshingly candid and clear, Psaki quickly became known for her ability to break through the noise and successfully deliver her message. In her highly anticipated book, Psaki shares her journey to the Briefing Room and beyond, taking readers along the campaign trail, to the State Department, and inside the White House under two Presidents. With her signature wit, Psaki writes about reporting to bosses from the hot-tempered Rahm Emanuel to the coolly intellectual Barack Obama to the surprisingly tenderhearted John Kerry. She also talks about her time working closely with President Joe Biden from the start of his administration to set a new tone for the country, restoring a sense of calm and respect for the role of the media in our Democracy. “Say More is the book I wish I had when I was first thinking about a career in politics. Jen Psaki made one of the hardest jobs in the White House look easy—not just because she’s brilliant, tough, and tireless, but because she has an innate ability to connect with almost anyone by listening, empathizing, and treating people as equals. If you want to know what it takes to succeed in politics or in life, this book is for you.” —Jon Favreau
- Relentless: My Story of the Latino Spirit That Is Transforming America, by Luis A. Miranda, Jr. There is no one on the Latino, New York, and national political scene with the breadth of experience, passion, and storytelling charm of Luis Miranda. In Relentless, he shares a fascinating narrative of his life and career—from his early days as a radically minded Puerto Rican activist to his decades of political advice and problem-solving. Miranda recounts the thrill of the ascendency of Hamilton, created by his son Lin-Manuel, and he details the suffering after the devastation of Puerto Rico by Hurricane Maria. Amid the triumphs and challenges, Miranda examines what his experience reveals about our ever-changing politics, demographics, and society. “Luis Miranda sees what other political operatives often miss: the potential for change. He sees how you can change lives by building schools and hospitals, by asking tough questions to find answers for working families. ... Change happens when you don’t take no for an answer. Change happens when you meet someone like Luis Miranda.” —New York State Attorney General Letitia James
- I Will Show You How It Was: The Story of Wartime Kyiv, by Illia Ponomarenko. I Will Show You How It Was is Illia Ponomarenko's heart-wrenching memoir of the war on his homeland, offering a fiery diatribe against Russian hypocrisy and a moving look at what is being lost. But it's also a story of pride and even elation as Ukrainian forces come together, find their mojo, and oust the invaders from Kyiv. The most powerful and personal chronicle of the war to date, I Will Show You How It Was is an exceptional literary achievement, chronicling a stunning feat of resistance and a courageous people set on a miraculous victory. “Brilliant, dark and devastating. Illia Ponomarenko's memoir of the battle for Kyiv following Russia's 2022 invasion is destined to become a classic of modern war reporting."—Luke Harding
- Send Me: The True Story of a Mother at War, by Marty Skovlund, Jr. and Joe Kent.
Of the 1.3 million active-duty service members in the US military, only a tiny fraction are selected as “operators.” Shannon Kent was one of the first women to serve at this level and was widely recognized as one of the best. Shannon served as a Navy cryptologic technician, responsible for signals intelligence and electronic warfare, but her proficiency with language set her apart. She was assigned to a unit so secretive that its name can’t even be printed here, where she worked clandestinely to hunt the most wanted terrorists in the world. Send Me is Shannon’s heroic life story, revealing the truth of both her work and the challenges she faced while trying to raise a family with her husband Joe, himself a Special Forces soldier. He and Shannon met in a war zone, their love forged during a special operations training course, their dedication spanning multiple combat deployments and the birth of their two boys. Shannon Kent was among the Americans killed in the 2019 ISIS suicide bombing in Manbij, Syria. “The first and the best, Shannon Kent blazed trails that others may now follow. I came to admire her enormously—especially her extraordinary gift for languages and her capacity to build trust in the most seemingly impossible of situations—through the words of her still-grieving husband. How did she come by the courage to complete the missions she was assigned? Now we can know, and honor her, thanks to this stunning book.” — Helen Thorpe
- The Wolves of K Street: The Secret History of How Big Money Took Over Big Government, by Brody Mullins and Luke Mullins. Two veteran investigative journalists trace the rise of the modern lobbying industry through the three dynasties—one Republican, two Democratic—that have enabled corporate interests to infiltrate American politics and undermine our democracy. “If you want to understand how American democracy went off the rails, all you need to do is read this book. The Mullins brothers have captured the entire crazy saga, and they’ve come with the receipts to prove that it’s all true. A shockingly detailed look inside the secretive industry that shapes our democracy for the highest bidder, this epic feat of investigative reporting will be required reading for years to come.”—Christopher Leonard
- The Quiet Coup: Neoliberalism and the Looting of America, by Mehrsa Baradaran.
With the nation lurching from one crisis to the next, many Americans believe that something fundamental has gone wrong. Why aren’t college graduates able to achieve financial security? Why is government completely inept in the face of natural disasters? And why do pundits tell us that the economy is strong even though the majority of Americans can barely make ends meet? In The Quiet Coup, Mehrsa Baradaran, one of our leading public intellectuals, argues that the system is in fact rigged toward the powerful, though it wasn’t the work of evil puppet masters behind the curtain. Rather, the rigging was carried out by hundreds of (mostly) law-abiding lawyers, judges, regulators, policy makers, and lobbyists. Adherents of a market-centered doctrine called neoliberalism, these individuals, over the course of decades, worked to transform the nation—and succeeded. They did so by changing the law in unseen ways. Tracing this largely unknown history from the late 1960s to the present, Baradaran demonstrates that far from yielding fewer laws and regulations, neoliberalism has in fact always meant more—and more complex—laws. Those laws have uniformly benefited the wealthy. “The Quiet Coup demonstrates how powerful interests under the guise of a ‘free market’ were able to rig the laws and regulations in order to capture and loot from the U.S. economy. The irony is that neoliberalism did the very opposite of making markets more ‘free’ and government less ‘active.’ What’s more, the neoliberal coup itself stemmed from deep within the same bureaucracy it purported to dismantle. Mehrsa Baradaran has done it again—her rigor, receipts, and insights distinguish her as an unsurpassed public intellectual. — Darrick Hamilton
- Who Owns the Moon?: In Defence of Humanity's Common Interests in Space, by A. C. Grayling. Silicon for microchips; manganese for batteries; titanium for missiles.
The moon contains a wealth of natural resources. So, as the Earth’s supplies have begun to dwindle, it is no surprise that the world’s superpowers and wealthiest corporations have turned their eyes to the stars. As this new Space Race begins, A.C. Grayling asks: who, if anyone, owns the moon? Or Mars? Or other bodies in near space? And what do those superpowers and corporations owe to Planet Earth and its inhabitants as a whole?
From feudal common land, through the rules of the sea, to the vast, nationless expanse of Antarctica, Grayling explores the history of the places which no one, and therefore everyone, owns. Examining the many ways this so-called terra nullius has fallen victim to ‘the tragedy of the commons’ – the tendency for communal resources to be exploited by a few individuals for personal gain at the expense of everyone else – Who Owns the Moon? puts forward a compelling argument for a bold new global consensus, one which recognises and defends the rights of everyone who lives on this planet.
- The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution's Original Meaning, by A.J. Jacobs. The author has made a career out of humorously immersing himself in a subject, while also managing to offer some genuine knowledge along the way. In this escapade, he asserts his right to free speech by writing his opinions on parchment with a quill and handing them out to strangers in Times Square, consents to quartering a soldier, as is his Third Amendment right, and—because women were not allowed to sign contracts— feebly attempts to take over his wife’s day job, which involves a lot of contract negotiations. There are also dozens of interviews from constitutional experts from both sides. Jacobs dives deep into originalism and living constitutionalism, the two rival ways of interpreting the document. “I’ll be honest: This is a really funny book. A.J. sets out to be faithful to the Constitution in the most literal way possible, and hilarity ensues. But at the same time, it’s deeply insightful about the promise and problems of living under a political order framed almost a quarter of a millennium ago. And—dare I say it—the book actually offers better ideas about how to improve modern constitutional democracy than most legal scholarship.”—Kermit Roosevelt
- Small Acts of Courage: A Legacy of Endurance and the Fight for Democracy, by Ali Velshi. More than a century ago, MSNBC host Ali Velshi’s great-grandfather sent his seven-year-old son to live at Tolstoy Farm, Gandhi’s ashram in South Africa. This difficult decision would change the trajectory of his family history forever. From childhood, Velshi’s grandfather was imbued with an ethos of public service and social justice, and a belief in absolute equality among all people—ideals that his children carried forward as they escaped apartheid, emigrating to Kenya and ultimately Canada and the United States.
In Small Acts of Courage, Velshi taps into 125 years of family history to advocate for social justice as a living, breathing experience—a way of life more than an ideology. With rich detail and vivid prose, he relates the stories of regular people who made a lasting commitment to fight for change, even when success seemed impossible. This heartfelt exploration of how we can breathe new life into the principles of pluralistic democracy is an urgent call to action—for progress to be possible, we must all do whatever we can to make a difference.
- The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth, by Zoë Schlanger. It takes tremendous biological creativity to be a plant. To survive and thrive while rooted in a single spot, plants have adapted ingenious methods of survival. In recent years, scientists have learned about their ability to communicate, recognize their kin and behave socially, hear sounds, morph their bodies to blend into their surroundings, store useful memories that inform their life cycle, and trick animals into behaving to their benefit, to name just a few remarkable talents. The Light Eaters is a deep immersion into the drama of green life and the complexity of this wild and awe-inspiring world that challenges our very understanding of agency, consciousness, and intelligence. In looking closely, we see that plants, rather than imitate human intelligence, have perhaps formed a parallel system. "Instead of trying to ram the square peg of botanical life into the round holes of human biology and metaphors, Schlanger instead considers plants on their own terms, as they actually are. The result is mesmerizing, world-expanding, and achingly beautiful." — Ed Yong
- The Book of Mothers: How Literature Can Help Us Reinvent Modern Motherhood, by Carrie Mullins. Sweet, supportive, dependable, selfless. Long before she had children of her own, journalist Carrie Mullins knew how mothers should behave. But how? Where did these expectations come from—and, more importantly, are they serving the mothers whose lives they shape? To discover how we might talk about motherhood in a more realistic, nuanced, and inclusive way, Carrie turned to literature with memorable maternal figures for answers. Moving through the literary canon––from Pride and Prejudice and Little Women to The Great Gatsby, Beloved, Heartburn, and The Joy Luck Club—Carrie traces the origins of our modern mothering experience. By interrogating the influences of politics, economics, feminism, pop culture, and family life in each text, she identifies the factors that have shaped our prevailing views of motherhood. "Mullins draws unexpected connections and manages the difficult task of finding fresh perspectives on much studied works of literature. The result is a discerning feminist examination of the Western canon." ––Publishers Weekly
- Love Is a Burning Thing: A Memoir, by Nina St. Pierre. Ten years before Nina was born, her mother lit herself on fire in a dual suicide attempt. During her recovery in the burn-unit, a nurse initiated her into Transcendental Meditation. From that day on, her mother's pain became intertwined with the pursuit of enlightenment. Growing up, Nina longed for a normal life; instead, she and her brother were at the whims of their mother, who chased ascension up and down the state of California, swapping out spiritual practices as often as apartments. When they finally settled at the foot of a mountain—reputed to be cosmic—in Northern California, Nina hoped life would stabilize. But after another fire, and a tragic fallout, she was forced to confront the shadow side of her mother's mystical narratives. With obsessive dedication, Nina began to knit together the truth that would eventually release her. In Love Is a Burning Thing, Nina interrogates what happens to those undiagnosed and unseen. This is a transfixing, moving portrait of a mother-daughter relationship that also examines mental health, stigma, poverty, and gender—and the role that spirituality plays within each. Nina’s writing skirts the mystical, untangles it, and ultimately illuminates it with brilliance.
- Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me, by Whoopi Goldberg. If it weren't for her mother Emma Johnson, Caryn Johnson would have never become Whoopi Goldberg. Emma gave her children the loving care and wisdom they needed to succeed in life, always encouraging them to be true to themselves. When Whoopi lost her mother in 2010--and then her older brother, Clyde, five years later--she felt deeply alone; the only people who truly knew her were gone.
Emma raised her children not just to survive, but to thrive. In this intimate and heartfelt memoir, Whoopi shares many of the deeply personal stories of their lives together for the first time. Growing up in the projects in New York City, there were trips to Coney Island, the Ice Capades, and museums, and every Christmas was a magical experience. To this day, she doesn't know how her mother was able to give them such an enriching childhood, despite the struggles they faced--and it wasn't until she was well into adulthood that Whoopi learned just how traumatic some of those struggles were. "[Whoopi's] new memoir is an emotional and uplifting exploration as, with her unique voice and trademark wit, she reflects on the people, places, and experiences that have made her the multi-award-winning icon she is today...Goldberg's fan base will be avid for the mix of memoir and guidance."-- Booklist
- My Mama, Cass: A Memoir, by Owen Elliot-Kugell. To the rest of the world, Cass Elliot was a rock star; A charismatic, wisecracking singer from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducted band, The Mamas & The Papas; A legend of Laurel Canyon, decked out in her custom-made Muumuus, glittering designer jewelry, blessed with a powerful, instantly identifiable singing voice which helped define the sound of the 1960s counterculture movement. But to Owen Elliot-Kugell, she was just Mom. In the nearly 50 years since Cass Elliot’s untimely death at the age of 32, rumors and myths have swirled about, shading nearly every aspect of her life. In her long-awaited memoir, Owen Elliot-Kugell shares the groundbreaking story of her mom as only a daughter can tell it. “My Mama, Cass is a daughter’s search for the mother she lost. In these pages, Owen Elliot-Kugell reconstructs who Ellen Naomi Cohen really was, which is not an easy task, as the woman who became Cass Elliot was a very complex person: unimaginably talented, independent, loving, warm, and completely dedicated to her one and only child. She brings her mother back to life for herself and for Cass’s millions of fans. The spotlight is back on my friend, and it’s great to see her again.”—Michelle Phillips of The Mamas and the Papas
- Shake It Up, Baby!: The Rise of Beatlemania and the Mayhem of 1963, by Ken McNab. A vivid, captivating account of the Beatles’s musical transformation throughout the pivotal year of 1963, as the world became caught up in the maelstrom of Beatlemania and its far-reaching cultural impact. In Shake It Up, Baby! we go back to the start—to 1963, when they went from playing in small clubs in the remote Scottish Highlands to four number one singles, two number one albums, three national tours, and being besieged by thousands of fans at gigs all over Britain. Ken McNab tells the story through gripping, exclusive eye-witness accounts from those who were there: the Beatlemaniacs, the journalists, broadcasters, and television producers who were scrambling to make sense of it all—and the other bands who could only watch in awe as the Beatles went from bottom of the bill to headline act to the biggest band on the planet, forever transforming musical history.
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