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September is bonkers in terms of new books. There are so many. THERE ARE SO MANY. So what we’re gonna do here is we’re gonna look at a FEW more in-depth (i.e. talk about what they’re about) and then do a list so you’re at least aware of some of the others. Because oh man. So many options right now.
When Can We Go Back to America?: Voices of Japanese American Incarceration During WWII by Susan H Kamei
Author Kamei teaches a course on the legal ramifications of the World War II incarceration of people of Japanese ancestry. This looks at the over 120,000 people forcibly removed from their homes by the U.S. government and kept in detention camps until the end of WWII. The background and context for these events are “interwoven with more than 130 individual voices of those who were unconstitutionally incarcerated, many of them children and young adults.”
Poet Warrior: A Memoir by Joy Harjo
The Antisocial Network: The GameStop Short Squeeze and the Ragtag Group of Amateur Traders That Brought Wall Street to Its Knees by Ben Mezrich
Europe’s Babylon: The Rise and Fall of Antwerp’s Golden Age by Michael Pye
Beautiful Country: A Memoir by Qian Julie Wang
The Violence Project: How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic by Jillian Peterson, James Densley
The Violence Project is a nonprofit “dedicated to reducing violence in society and using data and analysis to improve policy and practice.” It is also a comprehensive database of mass shooters. Through interviews and hundreds of data points, “instead of offering thoughts and prayers for the victims of these crimes, Peterson and Densley share their data-driven solutions for exactly what we must do, at the individual level, in our communities, and as a country, to put an end to these tragedies that have defined our modern era.”
Castaway Mountain: Love and Loss Among the Wastepickers of Mumbai by Saumya Roy
Conquistadores: A New History of Spanish Discovery and Conquest by Fernando Cervantes
Karachi Vice: Life and Death in a Divided City by Samira Shackle
The Secret Life of Fungi: Discoveries from a Hidden World by Aliya Whiteley
Devils Hole Pupfish: The Unexpected Survival of an Endangered Species in the Modern American West by Kevin C. Brown
What is the Devils Hole pupfish! Great question — it is “a one-inch-long, iridescent blue fish whose only natural habitat is a ten-by-sixty-foot pool near Death Valley.” And yet it survives! This looks at its history on the endangered species list (a controversial listing!) and why we should care about this tiny fish.
The Breaks: An Essay by Julietta Singh
Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally by Emily Ladau
Three Girls from Bronzeville: A Uniquely American Story of Race, Fate, and Sisterhood by Dawn Turner
Bronzeville is one of Chicago’s historic Black neighborhoods (a few people who lived in Bronzeville: Ida B. Wells, Louis Armstrong, Gwendolyn Brooks, among others!). Turner grew up in ’70s Bronzeville and her memoir focuses on the story of her, her sister, and her friend Debra, as well as that of her mother, aunt, and grandmother. Really psyched about this one, because 1970s + Bronzeville + woman-centered memoir. A+.
For more nonfiction reads, check out the For Real podcast which I co-host with the excellent Kim here at Book Riot. If you have any questions/comments/book suggestions, you can find me on social media @itsalicetime. Until next time, enjoy those facts, fellow nerds.