Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man (Emmanuel Acho)

Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man
Emmanuel Acho
Flatiron Books
Nonfiction, History/Memoir/Politics
**** (Good)

DESCRIPTION: Is racism really a problem in modern times? Can Black people to be racist? What about "reverse racism" against whites? Why can't we all just stop seeing color - won't that make the problem go away? Former football player and current sports commentator and podcast host Emmanuel Acho answers questions about race that many white people hesitate to ask.

REVIEW: If nothing else has become glaringly apparent in the decade since Barack Obama's presidency, it's that American racism is not only alive and well, it's become emboldened enough to step from the shadows and openly feast on whatever progress has been made since at least the 1960's. Acho does not pretend to speak to the experience of all Black Americans, but he does honestly and thoroughly explore a number of topics related to racism, from the personal prejudices and biases that seep into daily life and color decisions to the systemic racism built into the institutions that govern all aspects of our public existence, going all the way back to the nation's founding and persisting to the present day. He even addresses "that" word, its volatile history and if it's ever okay for someone outside the community to use it. It makes for an interesting, candid, and frequently depressing and infuriating look at the many faces, many forms, vexingly persistence, and adaptive mutability of a problem that underlies so many of today's challenges, challenges that threaten everyone but that share common roots.

You Might Also Enjoy:
Why Does Everything Have to Be About Race? (Keith Boykin) - My Review
Between the World and Me (Ta-Nehisi Coates) - My Review
How to Be an Antiracist (Ibram X. Kendi) - My Review

Democracy in Retrograde (Sami Sage and Emily Amick)

Democracy in Retrograde: How to Make Changes Big and Small in Our Country and in Our Lives
Sami Sage and Emily Amick
Gallery Books
Nonfiction, Politics
**** (Good)

DESCRIPTION: It's no secret that the state of America's democracy is dire. Voting rights are under attack, the very notion of who is or is not a citizen has been thrown into the shredder, and the party that pushed a literal, televised insurrection has grasped the levers of power. Institutions and guardrails are being destroyed at exponentially increasing rates, and those doing the destruction aren't even trying to hide the anti-democratic, anti-Constitutional roots of their motivations. Is it too late to stop the complete collapse of the country we thought we knew? The authors offer ideas for finding hope and motivation even in the darkest times.

REVIEW: This book was published in July 2024. At that time, I would've agreed that there was, indeed, some chance of at least limiting damage from the bad actors who have successfully infiltrated the system and grasped control of the media narrative to push their messaging and drown out opposition. I'm not at all certain of that anymore, one year later. In any event, the authors explore ways to connect with like-minded individuals and build intentional communities - ideally in-person communities, as so much of the internet has been siloed into echo-chambers and ultimately compromised (many online public spaces being actually in the hands of private individuals pushing their own agendas and influence, rewarding outrage and divisiveness) - in order to work toward change. They discuss the different ways people can contribute: not everyone is a leader, but most everyone can likely find something useful to do, some place where their interests and passions intersect with a need. As usual, though, there are those of us who fall through the cracks; I lack access to in-person communities, for one, and for another I lack anything tangible to contribute. I'm also congenitally invisible, so even in the off chance I found a place to show up I'm not particularly useful except as an inert object. Still, ideas like these are likely the only way to turn anything around or, as I sadly suspect will be more likely, eventually rebuild anything from the rubble that will eventually be left to whoever or whatever manages to survive what's coming.

You Might Also Enjoy:
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Let This Radicalize You (Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba)

Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care (Abolitionist Papers)
Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba
Haymarket Books
Nonfiction, Essays/History/Politics
**** (Good)

DESCRIPTION: It's no secret that we're living in turbulent times. The rolling back of rights, the gutting of environmental regulations just as climate change approaches a dangerous tipping point, the removal of any and all guardrails on greed, the rise of state violence, the stripping of viable venues and options for protest and dissent... not just in America, but around the world, it seems that cruelty, regression, greed, and authoritarianism are on the rise. But giving up has never been an option. In this book, two experienced leaders and organizers explore how to effectively resist in a time that seems openly hostile to resistance.

REVIEW: Since November this year (2024), I've been struggling to find anything resembling hope for the future of the country I live in and coming up with little to nothing, not helped by the fact that I'm not in a position to do much, if anything, about any of the innumerable dangers looming in the new year and beyond (dangers that are already here in some form or another). Don't give up, fight back, is the rallying cry on social media and elsewhere. Where? How? I ask, only to be told once more that if I don't do something and just give up They win. I was hoping this title would help answer those questions, or at least give me some ideas... or hope. Did it manage any of that? A little.
From the outset, it's clear that this book isn't quite targeting me. It's targeting current and would-be leaders and activists, offering advice not just on how to effectively recruit and organize people but on how to avoid burnout, mission creep, losing focus, and other risks, as well as some advice on dealing with the inevitable pushback one will encounter when challenging the status quo, legal and otherwise. A fair bit of word count is devoted to the importance of community and mutual support, not just for political or activism purposes but basic life needs. A vital community, one not reliant on social media (which is useful, to be sure, but, as has been illustrated all too clearly with "X" and others, not something one can rely on for privacy or even safe and neutral discussion), is the essential heart of any remotely successful activism group. The authors address the need to learn social skills and patient listening (skills that have fallen out of common practice in today's age of instant digital gratification and intentionally fractured attention spans), finding ways to meet people where they are and seek common cause for mutual benefit. They also emphasize the need to avoid the creep of dread and cynicism that can paralyze us and end resistance before it begins, essentially complying in advance. That's one heck of an ask, especially in 2024, but necessary just for basic survival.
For people better positioned to start or join activism and resistance efforts, this book offers plenty of information and moral support, plus appendices with practical links (such as how to deal with chemical weapons that police commonly unleash on rallies, and how to resist unlawful law enforcement action). That person may not be me for various reasons of life circumstances (plus me being me; there's a reason the number one advice I was given growing up was that the best way I could help was to stay out of the way, as I'm both congenitally invisible and basically useless), but it was still interesting to get an inside look at how more effective people can rally and organize and, every once in a while, actually succeed. That's hopeful, at least.

You Might Also Enjoy:
I'm Not Dying With You Tonight (Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal) - My Review
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The Hate U Give (Angie Thomas) - My Review

Why Does Everything Have to Be About Race? (Keith Boykin)

Why Does Everything Have to Be About Race?: 25 Arguments That Won't Go Away
Keith Boykin
Bold Type Books
Nonfiction, History/Law/Politics/Sociology
****+ (Good/Great)

DESCRIPTION: Slavery's been over for ages - why keep bringing up the past? Isn't "equal opportunity" just reverse racism against whites? Why can't we just ignore race altogether? Don't all lives matter? Every time someone mentions racial discrimination and inequality, these and more arguments inevitably pop up, shutting down discussions and derailing progress and demanding time and energy to answer questions that have quite definitively been answered innumerable times (just not the way that those who benefit from ongoing racial inequality would like). In this book, writer Keith Boykin dissects 25 common arguments that have been used to prevent real progress on issues of race, racism, and equity from history to modern times.

REVIEW: Reading this after the election of November 2024 - when a significant portion of the American public deliberately and definitively rejected progress on race (and pretty much every other front), setting the stage for a near-inevitable rapid race backwards on a scale I doubt I'll see recovered in my lifetime - puts a certain painful spin on this book, which deftly explores America's history of racial injustice and its often haphazard and temporary attempts to correct a problem of its own making. Boykin draws on history, personal experience, and current events to demonstrate how racism infiltrates every aspect of policy and life; the reason "everything has to be about race" is because there's no way for any remotely meaningful discussion on any problems facing the country today to occur without acknowledging how race has skewed America and its ostensible promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness since before the founding documents were drafted. It would be like trying to discuss forestry without talking about all that pesky woody plant life everyone keeps dragging into the conversation. The fact that these policies rooted in historic and ongoing racism also tangibly hurt other demographics makes it all the more urgent that they be addressed, but arguments like the ones presented here are designed to keep the topic muddled and turn those demographics against each other, tiring themselves out with explanations and infighting and semantics.
By turns informative, inspiring, and depressing, it makes for interesting reading, though I sadly can't help but suspect that a nation that hasn't apparently learned a thing in over two hundred years of existence - that apparently would rather slit its own throat and throw itself into the grasp of an avowed and proud traitor and authoritarian, potentially abandoning democracy altogether, in a pivotal election where race was very much a factor - is unlikely to ever actually address the problems of race and racism and systemic inequality without near-complete self immolation first... and maybe not even then.

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How to Be an Antiracist (Ibram X. Kendi) - My Review
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How to Be an Antiracist (Ibram X. Kendi)

How to Be an Antiracist
Ibram X. Kendi
One World
Nonfiction, Autobiography/History/Politics/Sociology
***** (Great)

DESCRIPTION: Today's demonstrations in the name of Black Lives Matter are just the latest face of a struggle over racial equity that predates the founding of America. Many people are energized to join the marchers, many call for their dispersal, but a great number still sit on the sidelines as though it's not their problem. "I'm not a racist," they say, or "I don't have a dog in this fight" ... or "it'll die out on its own if we just ignore color altogether." But the story of racism is more than just the story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr or Jim Crow South or affirmative action. It's a story that involves everybody, a story on which power in the modern world as a whole has been built on a foundation of racism and inequity - one that's brought us to the literal brink, racially and politically and environmentally. It's not enough to just say one is not racist; to have any hope of actual, lasting change, one must be antiracist. Scholar, author, and activist Ibram X. Kendi traces the history of racism through history and his own life, from the invention of the concept of race through generations of supporters and detractors and the many (often flawed) proposed solutions, to the concept of antiracism as an active voice and movement.

REVIEW: As a lower-income left-leaning white woman, I've been aware that racism existed for some time, though it never quite seemed to touch my life (that I was aware of). Like many, I've been watching recent developments (or degenerations) with increasing concern. It seemed there was a lot I hadn't been told or did not understand, for this much apparent progress - for the "arc of history" I'd been told to trust would inevitably bend toward justice and equality - to backslide this far and this fast, despite apparent widespread objection. So, when the recent spurt of books on racism hit the library system where I worked, I figured it was time to do some self-education to try to understand what was going on, and why, and if there was anything that could be done. After the initial surge, this book was one of the ones that still surfaced regularly in circulation, so I figured it might be one to try. (It was also relatively short; some of those books are bricks, and I'm an undereducated American public school alumnus, so they'd likely be way too much for an introduction.) It turned out to be a very good choice.
Drawing on both deep scholarly research and his personal and family history, Kendi exposes the roots of racism at the start of the European slave trade (and the very capitalistic idea of doing an end-run around the competition, slave-traders from the Middle East... plus advertising to justify their "product" and "brand" by inventing a vision of Africa and Africans with no basis in reality but which rationalized the whole deal - and, not coincidentally, generated enormous profits.) To be sure, humans have long held prejudices against other nations and cultures - a pitfall of a brain evolved to seek mental shortcuts and patterns even when none exist, perhaps, as many prejudices seem to play right into hardwired mental blind spots - but color-based racism was an invention with a verifiable birth date. These ideas were further refined down through the ages, evolving to counter arguments and objections, dehumanizing and othering non-Whites, layering themselves into the fabric of society and policy and classes and popular thinking until even those who wanted to fix the problem too often came at the matter from flawed and racist assumptions, that the Black people needed to be "elevated" (as though they were inherently lower) or "assimilated" (as though their cultures and languages were inherently inferior) or "saved" (as though Europeans were doing their souls a favor.) Nor is racism strictly a problem of White people; many Blacks (and other races) unthinkingly swallow and regurgitate racist ideas against Whites, against Blacks of a different social strata or cultural origin, against other races - even against themselves, as reflected in movements that blame racial inequality on personal failings and laziness rather than institutions and policies designed against them. Kendi again draws on his own life and his often-painful struggle with inherited ideas of race and gender (he ties feminism and LGBTQ+ issues into the greater struggle of racism and inequality; to embrace antiracism is to recognize that any policy dehumanizing or belittling or othering any part of the human race, by skin color or gender or anything, shares the same root and spreads the same poison.) It is a very enlightening and sobering exploration, one that left me astounded at my own short-sighted ignorance.
Toward the end, he explores why antiracism seems to be floundering - an overreliance on ideological "purity" and moral victories over focusing on tangible policy changes that actually create change, plus a strange refusal to admit that flawed tactics are not working even as progress gets steamrolled by the re-energized racists in power. Kendi acknowledges that we're in dire straits, especially with the racist power structure bringing us to the edge of economic, social, and environmental collapse (racism is inextricably tied with capitalism, which is responsible for so much destruction and anti-environmental policies linked to runaway global warming), but insists that hope cannot be abandoned altogether. In the end, I consider myself much more educated on the subject, if much more aware of how deep the problem truly runs and how big and many-headed this Goliath truly is. I may not be able to do much, if anything, about the greater problems, but I can hopefully do something about my own misconceptions.

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The Mueller Report (The Washington Post)

The Mueller Report
The Washington Post, with Rosalind S. Helderman and Matt Zapotosky
Scribner
Nonfiction, Law/Politics
**** (Good)

DESCRIPTION: The official public documentation of the Special Council investigation into possible foreign interference, and later attempts to cover up crimes, associated with the American 2016 presidential election, presented with footnotes and additional related material.

REVIEW: This is not the sort of material I regularly read, but some documents are too important to ignore. The Mueller report is one of them.
The rating takes into account the overall thoroughness of the investigation, which was made under difficult (and sometimes hostile) circumstances. Though dense and thick with names and associations, not to mention copious legalese (particularly in the sections on whether or not there is any standing to even question Presidential authority and conduct), the gist of matters is not difficult to ascertain. Oddly enough, it's post-election conduct that raises the most red flags and is the most damning; proving knowledge of Russian interference pre-election is much more difficult, given the layers of contacts and general insulation of the candidate from acting individuals. Couple that with an official White House stance that facts are malleable (the infamous stance that the president has a right to "alternative facts" being just one example) and that certain people are above the law (in direct violation of Constitutional intent, that all powers should be checked and balance and should, first and foremost, exercise their authority for the good of the American people and not the self), plus the numerous convictions already on record related to these events, and there's simply far too much smoke for there not to be a fire somewhere, even if it's not the one the Special Council initially investigated. The process itself appears to have been undertaken with utmost impartiality.
The ultimate picture is grim indeed, a tangled web that the best conspiracy thriller authors would hesitate to posit, yet backed up by testimony and evidence as actual occurrences. Failure to act on these findings paints an even grimmer picture of the state of our nation, as partisan wrangling and posturing appears to take precedent over actually reading the gathered evidence. As the last lines state in words that may well go down in history: "Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, neither does it exonerate him." This is not an exoneration by any means, but while not every avenue investigated here resulted in suspect findings, those who have benefited from these events - regardless of proof of personal knowledge of shadiness or active wrongdoing - appear to have successfully placed themselves beyond reach of further investigation, let alone trial.

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What Unites Us (Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner)

What Unites Us
Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner
Algonquin Books
Nonfiction, Autobiography/Essays/Politics
****+ (Good/Great)

DESCRIPTION: Since its founding, America has been a land of many faiths and ideas, of diverse people and diverse viewpoints, of conflicts and cooperation. In recent years, our nation has been tested in ways it rarely, if ever, has encountered - ways that could permanently alter, perhaps end, the great American experiment. Noted reporter Dan Rather reflects on eight decades of life and six decades of journalism in a series of essays exploring the country he loves and how it has dealt with its own shifting self-image, not to mention how it arrived at the current murky crossroads where it now stands.

REVIEW: Like many Americans, I've spent the last few years struggling to understand what is happening to my country, how things could veer so rapidly off course because of the whims of the few and the apathy of the many. Rather, too, seems to be struggling, though his reflections offer some thin hope for the future as he discusses conflicts the country has weathered before. He draws from the experiences of his long life and notable career to explore many aspects of patriotism as it used to be, as it should be - aspects that stand in sharp contrast to the toxic brand of nationalism being bandied about in the name of "patriotism" today. From a childhood in Houston to the halls of power in Washington, from years of war and scandal to years of peace and prosperity, from personal failures to personal triumphs, Rather paints a picture of troubling trends with long roots in our often-whitewashed (in many ways) past, yet with glimmers of hope around the edges. I do hope his ultimate optimism proves prophetic, though I can't help look at the overall trend and seemingly-deliberate sabotage of key aspects of our historical resiliency - our crumbling educational system, the increasing and overwhelming voice of money over people in government, the assault on science and the very existence of facts, demonization of diversity, and more - and wonder if this appeal to our better selves is ultimately too little, too late.
(Incidentally, for those none of you keeping track, by my calculations this is my 1500th "live" review. Technically, I've written more, but I was set back when I culled reviews of no-longer-available books.)

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A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo (Marlon Bundo and Jill Twiss)

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Presents A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo
Marlon Bundo and Jill Twiss, authors, illustrated by EG (Gerald Kelley) Keller
Chronicle Books
Fiction, CH Humor/Picture Book/Politics
**** (Good)

DESCRIPTION: Marlon Bundo may be a very important bunny, pet of the Vice President of the United States, but he's also a very lonely bunny... until he meets Wesley. They have so much fun together they never want to be apart. When they try to get married, the Stink Bug in charge tells them they can't, because boy bunnies are only supposed to marry girl bunnies. What's a very important bunny to do?

REVIEW: Another slow day at work, and this one - written as a direct parody of a picture book about the real Marlon Bundo by Vice President Pence, who has notoriously narrow views on equality - was at the top of the bin. As one might expect given the source, it has some pointed political commentary sprinkled throughout; the Stink Bug looks particularly familiar. It's also a timely message about tolerance, and how being different isn't a bad thing; all of Bundo's animal friends are different in their own ways. The illustrations are bright and fun, moreso than what I've seen of the original book. While the political angle will (as one might expect) date this book eventually, the story itself is enjoyable and empowering. We can only hope the stink bugs currently in charge are so easily dealt with...

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The Rights of Man (Thomas Paine)

The Rights of Man
Thomas Paine
Open Road Media
Nonfiction, Politics
***+ (Okay/Good)

DESCRIPTION: Noted patriot and diplomat Thomas Paine, witness to both the American and French revolutions, pens a rebuttal to criticism of constitutional governments, along with thoughts on the origins of basic human rights and the perpetuation of inequality.

REVIEW: The Rights of Man was written in a time of political turmoil, when old monarchies were falling and the Western world attempted to create a new, more just and fair method of government essentially from scratch. It was, and remains, a truly revolutionary concept, though like most human endeavors it carried pitfalls that were unforeseen at the time, pitfalls that threaten the great progress made.
Many of Paine's observations and thoughts are still valid, and he approaches the topics with clarity and reason, though in some aspects it can't help showing its age. For one thing, it was written primarily as a rebuttal to one Mr. Burke, a royalist and defender of the old-school English aristocracy; this far removed from both the era and Mr. Burke, a rebuttal is bound to lose some context. For another, Paine's perception that constitutional governments were inherently immune to the faults of the corrupt old regimes has, sadly, proven to be naive, built on an obsolete and unrealistic model of human behavior - behavior that isn't as responsive to truth or logic as Paine might have hoped, which often goes to great lengths to defend pre-existing beliefs and deny its own ignorance. His descriptions of the deadly faults of the old system, of party over country and wars being used as an excuse to tax the lives out of the populace and power concentrating in a few greedy hands without benefiting the many, could unfortunately describe the current (2018) political climate in the very country whose revolution kicked off the whole constitutional government wave; it was downright chilling at many points, moreso when Paine assures the reader that this could never happen in a nation where the general populace held the power to choose or discard their representatives. (It seems he never anticipated the adaptability of old corruptions and prejudices, not to mention the idea that education and information - the means by which a nation could make informed choices - could be co-opted by those forces constitutional governments were created to guard against.) Through the lens of times, some of Paine's own blind spots become apparent; he remains mystified how aristocracy gained the roots it ever did and remained in power for so long when it was so clearly unjust and broken, while seeming to deliberately dance around the influence of religion as a driving factor in creating some classes of people more equal than others and entrenching traditional inequalities through fear of divine retribution. (This was, however, written before the concept of evolution and the possibility of a world that came into existence without a benevolent humanoid creator gained mass traction; Paine takes it for granted that the world was created by something, though denies any one religion a monopoly on understanding or interpreting that something, just as he denies that any person or country would be closer to or more beloved of that something than any other. It's as close to a logical approach as one can likely get in a creationist mentality, especially given the culture and climate Paine lived in.)
I admit I skimmed some parts, particularly toward the end when he outlines a specific plan on tax reform in England (a plan that may have been stolen, uncredited, between writing and publication), and other parts lost some relevance through my ignorance of the specific political details of his era, not to mention the individuals whom he was citing and rebutting. Overall, though, it remains a relevant and thought-provoking examination of governments, and an example of a sadly lost art: the use of logic and reason to weigh the merits of politics.

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The Prince (Niccolo Machiavelli)

The Prince
Niccolo Machiavelli
Open Road Media
Nonfiction, Politics/War
*** (Okay)

DESCRIPTION: Niccolo Machiavelli, a lawyer and diplomat of 15th-century Florence, is best remembered for his writings on politics and power. This book outlines the nature of principalities, and the methods of obtaining, securing, and expanding one's holdings.

REVIEW: This was another public domain download, part of my ongoing, if spotty, efforts to expand my horizons and patch the numerous knowledge holes in my undereducated brain. The writing, as one might expect, is a bit thick even in translation, riddled with references that only a scholar of Italian history would fully appreciate. Still, it presents interesting and timeless insights into those who have or aspire to power; the methods may change, but human psychology stays the same, and the same strengths and weaknesses Machiavelli observed still play out in the world today. I do wish this edition had included a few maps, or more footnotes explaining military and political nuances that the author took for granted, but which are far from obvious to the modern casual reader. Overall, though, it's not a bad study.

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