Category: True Story

Are you continuing to drink water, nonfiction reader? I know it’s weirdly hard to do, but it’s important! Read a page, drink some water, read another page, drink some water. I say this while all my dehydrated cells are most likely glaring at me for the sheer hypocrisy on display here, but do as I say, not as I do, etc etc. Now, let’s look at some new books!

The Great Indoors: The Surprising Science of How Buildings Shape Our Behavior, Health, and Happiness by Emily Anthes. Did you know we spend 90% of our time indoors? Well. Probably more now. Science journalist Anthes looks at how our indoor spaces affect our mental and physical well-being and how “the pain-killing power of a well-placed window and examines how the right office layout can expand our social networks.” Super neat and REAL relevant right now.

 

I Tried to Change So You Don’t Have To: True Life Lessons by Loni Love. I was reading parts from this out loud to my fiancée because Loni Love has that special gift of being able to talk about really vulnerable and sometimes painful things, and then zing! Suddenly there’s a hilarious joke. I am always impressed by that skill. Here she talks about growing up in housing projects to Detroit, being a French horn-playing nerd, getting an engineering degree, and going to Hollywood.

 

Thank You for Voting: The Maddening, Enlightening, Inspiring Truth About Voting in America by Erin Geiger Smith. Why do so few people vote? Geiger Smith looks at the past (history!), present (news!), and future (wild speculation!) of voting. What I’m most interested in — although voting history is pretty good to learn about — is how get-out-the-vote movements + activists “innovatively use technology and grassroots techniques to energize first-time voters.” What technology! What techniques! How are they energizing! So interesting.

 

Twisted: The Tangled History of Black Hair Culture by Emma Dabiri. Yissss this book. Dabiri is Irish-Nigerian and an excellent writer. Here she looks at the history of Black hair culture, while sharing stories from her own life. She takes the reader “from pre-colonial Africa, through the Harlem Renaissance, and into today’s Natural Hair Movement, exploring everything from women’s solidarity and friendship, to the criminalization of dreadlocks, to the dubious provenance of Kim Kardashian’s braids.” This book is great, get it.

That’s it for new books this week! As always, you can find me on social media @itsalicetime and co-hosting the For Real podcast with Kim here at Book Riot. Until next time, enjoy those facts, fellow nerds.

We’re at Friday! This week has felt THE longest and I say that as someone who is writing this on Wednesday. Okay, so who’s ready to be INSPIRED by some activist bios? I hope it’s you, ’cause these’re good. Here we go:

Sylvia and Marsha Start a Revolution!: The Story of the Trans Women of Color Who Made LGBTQ+ History by Joy Ellison & Teshika Silver. Did you know there aren’t any bios of Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera? But this one’s coming out this fall and you can preorder it NOW. It’s for kids ages 4-8 and “introduces children to issues surrounding gender identity and diversity.” Seems like a good one to get for a kid you know or to donate somewhere.

 

Spirit Run: A 6,000-Mile Marathon Through North America’s Stolen Land by Noé Álvarez. Book Riot staff LOVED this book. Álvarez grew up in Washington as the son of Mexican immigrants. At nineteen, he learned of a Native American/First Nations movement called the Peace and Dignity Journeys, “epic marathons meant to renew cultural connections across North America.” This book is about the four-month marathon he took part of through that movement, that went from Canada to Guatemala.

 

One Earth: People of Color Protecting Our Planet by Anuradha Rao. This is so digestible! It’s marketed at young adults, but adults could definitely get into it. Each activist mini biography ends with a “What can you do?” section that gives you next steps. I LOVE ACTION ITEMS. They have chapters like “Feeding the Food Desert” focused on America, “Preserving Forest-People Relationships” in Kenya, “Uniting for Clean Water” in Jamaica and Canada, and a lot more. Dang, I’m gonna order this book right now.

 

When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors & asha bandele. I recommended this last week and here it is again! Michelle Alexander of The New Jim Crow called it a “must-read.” Khan-Cullors tells the story of her life, growing up queer and Black in Los Angeles, getting a Fulbright Scholarship and known for her activism by age 22. She later co-founded the Black Lives Matter movement with Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi, which is mentioned in the book, but not the focus of it.

 

Take care of yourselves, nonfictionites. As always, you can find me on social media @itsalicetime and co-hosting the For Real podcast with Kim here at Book Riot. Until next time, enjoy those facts, fellow nerds.

Nonfictionites, I hope you’re all taking care of yourselves in this, the mid-month of the year. I hope you’re still into new releases, because I have GOT ‘EM for you.

See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love by Valarie Kaur. Feeling overwhelmed? Looking to figure out how to “fix a broken world without breaking ourselves”? Kaur is a Sikh activist and civil rights lawyer. Another of her callings is the idea of revolutionary love, which “extends in three directions: to others, to our opponents, and to ourselves.” She covers this and her own story, growing up in California, becoming a law student, and then an activist.

 

Call Me American: The Extraordinary True Story of a Young Somali Immigrant (Adapted for Young Adults) by Abdi Nor Iftin. This is the young adult adaptation of Abdi Nor Iftin’s 2018 memoir. It tells the story of his youth in Somalia (more particularly in Mogadishu), flight to Kenya when a radical group rose to power, and move to the U.S. when he won the annual visa lottery (which, by the way, I did not know was a thing). I love young adult nonfiction adaptations, so this is very exciting.

 

Brag Better: Master the Art of Fearless Self-Promotion by Meredith Fineman. A lot of people seem to hesitate when talking about their accomplishments, because they’re wary of being seen as braggy. Well! You should definitely talk about them, because they’re awesome. I haven’t had a chance to read this one yet, but I am extremely pro-its core message of pushing us to talk ourselves up to the world. Who. Else. Will. Do it. Own the cool things you’re doing! (Also, side note, if you feel prouder about what you’re doing, you’re going to feel less threatened by what other people are doing and then everyone will be nicer and that is awesome.)

 

Sarah Bernhardt: The Divine and Dazzling Life of the World’s First Superstar by Catherine Reef. If you don’t know who Sarah Bernhardt is, she used to be THE name in acting. “Used to” as in the 1860s to the 1920s. This YA nonfiction bio (yayyy YA nonfiction) covers things like how she was “extravagantly eccentric, living with a series of exotic animals and sleeping in a coffin.” This, I did not know. It also has over 60 photos, which is excellent. If you want to know a bit more about her but not jump into a heavy bio, this seems like a good pick.

As always, you can find me on social media @itsalicetime and co-hosting the For Real podcast with Kim here at Book Riot. Until next time, enjoy those facts, fellow nerds.

Pride Month happens in June because the Stonewall Riots were in June. On June 28, 1969, New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, allegedly groped queer women, beat patrons, and finally, someone reportedly shouted, “Why don’t you guys do something?” The ensuing chaos, rioting, and destruction of property are now seen as the foundation of a movement that saved innumerable lives and led to immense social change. I’m just saying.

Stonewall Riots: Coming Out in the Streets by Gayle E Pitman. I love YA nonfiction. It frequently gives you exactly as much information as you really need about a subject. If you want a more thorough understanding of Stonewall than just its most known talking points, this gives you a background on LGBTQ+ NYC before, during, and after the riots, and it does it through objects, which is awesome. A lot of the objects are photographs, but they also include a dress and a matchbox, among other items.

 

No Tea, No Shade: New Writings in Black Queer Studies edited by E. Patrick Johnson. If you like a survey of a topic via essays, do I have the book for you! 19 essays are collected here, focusing on Black gender and sexuality. Authors include scholars, activists, and community leaders. Did you know there was a ’90s magazine by and for Black lesbians called Black Lace? Neither did I.

 

 

Queer: A Graphic History by Dr. Meg-John Barker. This graphic history looks at how we “came to view sex, gender and sexuality in the ways that we do; how these ideas get tangled up with our culture and our understanding of biology, psychology and sexology; and how these views have been disputed and challenged.” I know those are a lot of words! But it’s pretty accessible and does a good job giving a history + breaking down some complicated ideas.

 

Transgender History, second edition: The Roots of Today’s Revolution by Susan Stryker. What a helpful and informative book for a time when certain authors are making all KINDS of claims. I’m really excited to look at this one more closely. Stryker spends a chapter each on terms, history (starting from the mid-19th c.), liberation, and this second edition has a final chapter that focuses on 2000 to present day (present being 2017). If you’re interested in academically nerding out, she also wrote The Transgender Studies Reader, which came out in 2006.

 

Warrior Poet: A Biography of Audre Lorde by Alexis De Veaux. Lorde called herself a “Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet.” Add librarian and civil rights activist to that list, among other things. De Veaux’s biography won the Lambda Literary Award and leads you through Lorde’s personal and professional growth until passing at the too-young age of 58 in 1992. For further reading, check out Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches.

 

The Stonewall Reader edited by the New York Public Library. Primary sources!! Ok, this is super cool because it gives you lots of pieces important to the LGBTQ+ movement, but they’re bite-sized, so you can read one or two or five things at a time, or pick and choose what you want to read, and it doesn’t have to be in order (I know that idea will make some of you panic). They’re split up into Before/During/After Stonewall. Awesome.

Take care of yourselves, nonfictionites. As always, you can find me on social media @itsalicetime and co-hosting the For Real podcast with Kim here at Book Riot. Until next time, enjoy those facts, fellow nerds.

Greetings, all. I hope wherever you are, you’re taking care of yourself and taking some time out to read things educational but also things that are fun. No one can do all the work all at once. And now! New nonfiction for the week:

Alaric the Goth: An Outsider’s History of the Fall of Rome by Douglas Boin. Look, I’m a sucker for a Roman history, despite still knowing very little about that time period. Alaric was the king of the Visigoths and best known for the sack of Rome in 410 (you know, that one we’re all aware of). Boin examines the relationship between the Goths and Romans from the vantage point of a marginalized people who were tired of being mistreated by the empire. Great stuff.

 

Our Time Is Now: Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America by Stacey Abrams. It’s here! Stacey Abrams’s new book! In this, she lays out a plan to “end voter suppression, empower our citizens, and take back our country.” She argues for the importance of “robust voter protections, an elevation of identity politics, engagement in the census, and a return to moral international leadership.” Gosh, doesn’t that sound nice? I love moral international leadership.

 

Performing Jane: A Cultural History of Jane Austen Fandom by Sarah Glosson. Have you ever hand-sewn a bonnet because of your deep love for Jane Austen, or written a “what if Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet worked as rival pet store owners in the 1980s” piece of fanfic? Well, you are not alone. Austen fans have been around since her work was first published, and if you would like to dive into how she has been celebrated by the people who love her, here’s a new release for you.

 

Revolutions: How Women Changed the World on Two Wheels by Hannah Ross. I do not ride a bicycle. I live in a city and the very idea is terrifying. But! Bicycles made women more independent, more mobile, and encouraged fun things like dress reform (corsets + long skirts do not a safe bicyclist make). Ross is herself, of course, a cyclist, and here highlights not just the history of women and bicycles, but also tells stories of individual women as well as all-female cycling groups.

 

Sweet, Savory, Spicy: Exciting Street Market Food from Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and More by Sarah Tiong. Traveling might be hard right now, but you can still eat awesome street food at home. Tiong was a finalist in Masterchef Australia and shares recipes for everything from “Malaysian Chicken Satay to Vietnamese Crispy Spring Rolls (Cha giò) to Hokkien Noodles (Hokkien Mee) to Khmer Beef Curry.” There’s also a whole chapter on sweet, savory, salty, and spicy options for sauce/toppings, and it all sounds both fantastic and delicious.

Stay healthy, stay informed, nonfictionites. As always, you can find me on social media @itsalicetime and co-hosting the For Real podcast with Kim here at Book Riot. Until next time, enjoy those facts, fellow nerds.

*I have donated my usual fee for writing this newsletter to Campaign Zero and the Loveland Therapy Fund. I encourage readers to join me in donating to mutual aid and racial justice organizations in our communities and nation.

In light of the nationwide protests, marches and vigils held in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by police in Minnesota, this week we’re highlighting books that focus on or helped inspire the Black Lives Matter movement, which strives to dismantle America’s systemic racism.

From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor. This came out in 2016, but feels extremely of-the-moment: activist and scholar Taylor “surveys the historical and contemporary ravages of racism and persistence of structural inequality such as mass incarceration and Black unemployment. In this context, she argues that this new struggle against police violence holds the potential to reignite a broader push for Black liberation.” If you’re interested in a history of the movement, this is for you.

Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin. These early Baldwin essays, written in the 1940s and ’50s, capture “a view of black life and black thought at the dawn of the civil rights movement and as the movement slowly gained strength through the words of one of the most captivating essayists and foremost intellectuals of that era. Writing as an artist, activist, and social critic, Baldwin probes the complex condition of being black in America.” The edition pictured here is published by Beacon Press, who do truly excellent work. Baldwin’s eloquent condemnation of American racism is as timely now as when these essays were first written, and many Black journalists have cited his work as an inspiration to theirs.

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander. In print for ten years now, Alexander’s study on mass incarceration shows that America’s prisons are being used for “the rebirth of a caste-like system in the United States, one that has resulted in millions of African Americans locked behind bars and then relegated to a permanent second-class status—denied the very rights supposedly won in the Civil Rights Movement.” Alexander’s work has inspired many other activists and influenced the creation of Ava DuVernay’s documentary 13th.

When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors & asha bandele. From Patrisse Khan-Cullors’s website: “Leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement have been called terrorists, a threat to America. But in truth, they are loving women whose life experiences have led them to seek justice for those victimized by the powerful. In this meaningful, empowering account of survival, strength, and resilience, Patrisse Cullors and asha bandele seek to change the culture that declares innocent black life expendable.”

For more Book Riot book recommendations on this subject, check out 35 Must-Read Books About Racism, 5 Books About Black Movements and Systemic Racism in America, and 20 Must-Read Black American Memoirs for a More Inclusive TBR.

This week for new releases, I’m highlighting women and gender non-conforming people. Because I want to. Here we go:

Beyond the Gender Binary by Alok Vaid-Menon. This Pocket Change Collective series seems awesome. It’s a teen nonfiction series that focuses on social justice and environmental issues. Amazing. I wish this existed when I was a teenager. In this entry in the series, “poet, artist, and LGBTQIA+ rights advocate Alok Vaid-Menon deconstructs, demystifies, and reimagines the gender binary. . . Taking from their own experiences as a gender-nonconforming artist, they show us that gender is a malleable and creative form of expression.” Awesome.

Girls Garage: How to Use Any Tool, Tackle Any Project, and Build the World You Want to See by Emily Pilloton. 175 illustrated tool guides! 11 how-to projects! 21 essential skills! Again, I WISH this book had been around when I was younger. Pilloton created the nonprofit Girls Garage to teach girls 9-18 to “use power tools and build real-world projects for their community.” Not gonna lie, I’m probably gonna get this for my shelf.

How We Show Up: Reclaiming Family, Friendship, and Community by Mia Birdsong. Humans need community. Activist Birdsong discusses how the American Dream as we know it can leave us isolated and disconnected. “Showing up–literally and figuratively–points us toward the promise of our collective vitality and leads us to the liberated well-being we all want.” LOVE IT. Yes. Let’s all lean more into community, since there have been appx. 1 million studies that show we as humans need it to survive.

Say I’m Dead: A Family Memoir of Race, Secrets, and Love by E. Dolores Johnson. Family secrets! In the 1940s, Indiana still had miscegenation laws that banned interracial marriage, so Johnson’s “black father and white mother fled Indianapolis to secretly marry in Buffalo, New York.” Years later, while researching her family’s genealogy, she realizes she knows nothing about her mother’s family. This leads to the discovery that her mother had left Indiana without notice, leaving police and FBI to assume she was a victim of foul play. If you’re into complicated family stories, here’s one for you.

Surviving Autocracy by Masha Gessen. Author Gessen spent over two decades covering the return of totalitarianism to Russia, and predicted a number of changes that occurred in America’s political landscape. If you’re feeling overwhelmed right now (good lord, how could you not), this read is pitched as “an inventory of ravages but also a beacon to recovery—or to enduring, and resisting, an ongoing assault.” Endurance is probably a key word for our times, yeah? Everyone take care of yourselves out there.

Who Killed Berta Caceres?: Dams, Death Squads, and An Indigenous Defender’s Battle for the Planet by Nina Lakhani. I love a question to begin things. Caceres was a Honduran indigenous leader. In 2015, she won the Goldman Prize, the “world’s most prestigious environmental award, for leading a campaign to stop construction of an internationally funded hydroelectric dam on a river sacred to her Lenca people. Less than a year later she was dead.” Journalist Lakhani, who closely tracked and covered the story as it unfolded, here lays out the pieces.

It’s difficult times, nonfictionites. Take care of yourselves. Drink water, step away from your phones, pet an animal. And as always, you can find me on social media @itsalicetime and co-hosting the For Real podcast with Kim here at Book Riot.

Let’s talk about people’s LIVES. If you’re observing social distancing, you are likely not seeing other people very often, at least not beyond a computer or phone screen. So let’s look reeeeeal close at some humans through their recounting of their own lives!

Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward. Have you read this book? No, but like, have you read this book? Ward, winner of two National Book Awards for Fiction, is a capital W Writer and this extremely moving and poignant and sad and evocative memoir of her life in rural Mississippi and the loss of four young men in her life is so, so good. If you can handle some heavy stuff now (and no worries if you cannot, my friend), this is highly recommended.

 

My Life in Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead. Have you noticed everyone talking about Middlemarch lately? Or is that just low-key happening all the time? Anyway, here’s something cozy! It’s about books, it’s about her life, if you like Victorian lit, then pick this up. Mead goes nerd-deep into why she loves Middlemarch and some background on author George Eliot, as well as talking about how it’s applied to her life throughout the years, which is charming.

 

H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald. I’ve heard from a number of friends who haven’t liked this! But I love it. Macdonald deals with grieving her father by getting very very into hawks, more particularly, the goshawk. I read it while I was also dealing with the death of a parent, and I found it both relatable and helpful. If you’re on the fence (much like the noble hawk!), check out a preview and see if you like her writing style. I’m genuinely perplexed by my friends, but I feel like I need to throw that suggestion out there now.

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson. It’s so good! And it won the National Book Award! And it’s all in verse! Ok, so Woodson herself says: “I share what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and my growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. It also reflects the joy of finding my voice through writing stories, despite the fact that I struggled with reading as a child.” It’s so good!

Have an excellent weekend, nonfictionites. As always, you can find me on social media @itsalicetime and co-hosting the For Real podcast with Kim here at Book Riot. Until next time, enjoy those facts, fellow nerds.

Happy Almost-June! Yes, things in the world are still weird, but yes, you can also momentarily forget about it by reading about some new nonfiction! It’s why I’m here. I think release dates are gonna be wonky for a whiiile, but I’m double-checking them pretty much up to their date of release, so these should all be available as of writing this. Which is great! Because they look super interesting.

This Is What America Looks Like: My Journey from Refugee to Congresswoman by Ilhan Omar. Omar was born in Somalia, and when war broke out, she and her dad and siblings fled to its capital of Mogadishu, and then to a refugee camp in Kenya. After four years, they came to Virginia. Omar was 12, so this had been her life from eight till then. From that, she became a grassroots organizer, went to college, and was elected to represent Minnesota in Congress. This is her story of that journey.

The Long Fix: Solving America’s Health Care Crisis with Strategies that Work for Everyone by Vivian Lee, MD. We all know there’s something wrong with the health care system. Dr. Lee says “The problem with the way medicine is practiced, she explains, is not so much who’s paying, it’s what we are paying for. Insurers, employers, the government, and individuals pay for every procedure, prescription, and lab test, whether or not it makes us better―and that is both backward and dangerous.” Her proposal to fix it is described as “realistic and optimistic,” two words you don’t see paired often.

Rainbow Revolutionaries: Fifty LGBTQ+ People Who Made History by Sarah Prager and Sarah Papworth. It’s almost Pride Month! Read some gay books! But for real, you’ve gotta love some brief biographies that launch you into learning more about amazing people. This one focuses on queer people around the world  and, as is the trend with these, has some ~fun illustrations~, which I am all about. Huzzah!

Feasting Wild: In Search of the Last Untamed Food by Gina Rae La Cerva. Dang, I like this cover. Do you like anthropology and adVENTURE? La Cerva “embarks on a global culinary adventure to trace our relationship to wild food.” Love it, yes, great. She “reflects on how colonialism and the extinction crisis have impacted wild spaces, and reveals what we sacrifice when we domesticate our foods —including biodiversity, Indigenous and women’s knowledge, a vital connection to nature, and delicious flavors.” Look, I don’t know why I love books about the history / extinction of food, because I don’t cook, but I LOVE them. This looks super interesting.

The Book of Eels: Our Enduring Fascination with the Most Mysterious Creature in the Natural World by Patrik Svensson. Eels! They’re so weird! Apparently, scientists have also thought so for QUITE some time: “scientists and philosophers have, for centuries, been obsessed with what has become known as the “eel question”: Where do eels come from? What are they? Are they fish or some other kind of creature altogether?” What are they indeed! Svensson looks into all this in…*dramatic pause*….The Book of Eels.

BOY, I cannot believe we’re at the end of May. Time is flyin’. As always, you can find me on social media @itsalicetime and co-hosting the For Real podcast with Kim here at Book Riot. Until next time, enjoy those facts, fellow nerds.

Monday is Memorial Day, the day that honors and mourns military personnel who have died while serving. While this technically focuses on those who served in the United States Armed Forces, I thought it would be a good opportunity to highlight some nonfiction reads by or about soldiers from other countries as well. There are many military books out there basically called “I Love My Gun.” They have not been included.

Ashley’s War: The Untold Story of a Team of Women Soldiers on the Special Ops Battlefield by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon. This tells the story of “a groundbreaking team of female American warriors who served alongside Special Operations soldiers on the battlefield in Afghanistan­—including Ashley White,” the first Cultural Support Team member killed in action. These women were banned from combat but worked as soldiers to build relationships on the ground.

 

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah. This was highly recommended to me as a book that is very hard but very good. Beah was a child soldier at 13 in the army of Sierra Leone. He was forced to fight alongside other children for almost three years before he was able to flee to America. There are an estimated 300,000 child soldiers fighting today. Beah has become a spokesperson for their welfare. (note: I saw TW on Goodreads for rape and drug abuse, so be aware)

 

One Woman’s Army: A Black Officer Remembers the WAC by Charity Adams Earley. Soon after the U.S. entered World War II, Congress authorized the organization of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps and Adams Earley became the first Black woman commissioned as an officer. This is her story as the WAC’s first Black officer and as commanding officer of the only organization of Black women to serve overseas during World War II. This. looks. awesome.

 

Undaunted: The Real Story of America’s Servicewomen in Today’s Military by Tanya Biank. As of when this book was published (2013), women make up fourteen percent of the total U.S. active-duty forces. Biank highlights the challenges they face (like still being expected to emotionally take care of family), while focusing on some particular stories, like of Second Lieutenant Bergan Flanagan, who was on the frontlines in Afghanistan, serving in the same military police company as her husband.

 

A Thousand Sisters: The Heroic Airwomen of the Soviet Union in World War II by Elizabeth Wein. If you’ve read Code Name Verity, you know Wein loves to talk women in the service in WWII. This is about the Night Witches! AKA the 588th Night Bomber Regiment of the Soviet Union. This is YA nonfiction, which I’m always delighted to recommend. These were women bomber crews who would fly into Russia and were ordered to never be captured or to retreat (or their families would pay the consequences).

As always, you can find me on social media @itsalicetime and co-hosting the For Real podcast with Kim here at Book Riot. Until next time, enjoy those facts, fellow nerds.