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True Story

New Releases: Malcolm X and Supernatural

WELCOME. Are you excited for new nonfiction reads, for I am. We’re heading into a lull soon and also the supply chain issues are real, so buy those books now! Or, y’know, get them from the library. Whatever works for you.

Heir to the Crescent Moon cover

Heir to the Crescent Moon by Sufiya Abdur-Rahman

Professor Abdur-Rahman’s parents were both Black Power–era converts to Islam, who left their mosque when they divorced in her adolescent years. Her memoir recounts her father’s history and her own, going from “the Christian righteousness of Adam Clayton Powell Jr.’s 1950s Harlem, through the Malcolm X–inspired college activism of the late 1960s, to the unfulfilled potential of the early 1970s Black American Muslim movement.” A look at the Black Power movement and American Muslims from the mid-20th century to today.

Reclamation Cover

Reclamation: Sally Hemings, Thomas Jefferson, and a Descendant’s Search for Her Family’s Lasting Legacy by Gayle Jessup White

I talked about this in the nonfiction preview for 2021 and it’s now out! Jessup White is the Public Relations & Community Engagement Officer at Thomas Jefferson’s home, Monticello. In her book, she talks about her discovery that she was related to both Jefferson and Hemings and “explores America’s racial reckoning through the prism of her ancestors—both the enslaver and the enslaved.”

How the Other Half Eats: The Untold Story of Food and Inequality in America by Priya Fielding-Singh

To find out how and why Americans eat the way they do, Fielding-Singh — a sociologist and ethnographer — looks at dozens of families, and does a deep dive into four: “the Bakers, a Black family living below the federal poverty line; the Williamses, a working-class white family just above it; the Ortegas, a middle-class Latinx family; and the Cains, an affluent white family.” What is the meaning of food and how does it change depending on your context? Really excited about this one; I haven’t seen a lot of books like it.

Supernatural book cover

Supernatural: A History of Television’s Unearthly Road Trip by Erin Giannini

Until two years ago, I had seen no Supernatural. Then I had a really gay moment on Tumblr where I saw a gifset of Ruth Connell who plays the season ten witch Rowena, and I decided to just watch all the way through to get to her. So I have now seen ten seasons of this show. Which is still only 67% because the show ran for fifteen seasons whattt. This history goes through the show’s “predecessors, characters, major storylines, and fan activism.” This show and its fandom are something else, and if you like it, you’ll probably like this.

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!


For more nonfiction reads, check out the For Real podcast which I co-host with the excellent Kim here at Book Riot. And don’t miss Book Riot’s new podcast Adaptation Nation, all about TV and film adaptations of awesome books. If you have any questions/comments/book suggestions, you can find me on social media @itsalicetime. Until next time, enjoy those facts, fellow nerds.