Writing a memoir seems deceivingly easy at first. Anyone can write about their own life, right? Yet crafting a good memoir – one that vividly communicates and mesmerizes with its words – is a difficult task. As this book’s title infers, a memoir consists of the writer’s life becoming the words, which in turn take on a life of their own. Its author Beth Kephart teaches writing at workshops and an Ivy League university (the…
When Barack Obama was born, few would have predicted that we’d witness a black US president in his lifetime. And yet he accomplished that himself. When he was elected president, few would have likewise predicted the depths of divide his presidency would unearth. And yet we are here. The pomp and circumstance of politics, as first told by the media, need to be supplemented by presidential memoirs to understand the logic of decisions. Though obviously…
I write this review sixteen years after the publication of this book – a lifetime for rapidly advancing scientific insights. Nonetheless, this book represents an early attempt to understand how to deal with the relationship of HIV infection and severe mental illness (bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or major depressive disorder). This problem was noted early in HIV’s emergence and began to be systemically addressed more in the 1990s. HIV infection rates at the time of publication…
How can someone advance their career and leadership skills without having access to good, personalized mentoring? Many – particularly women and minorities – in the workforce lack such access, yet their ambition to contribute to the world does not lack. What are they to do? One thing they can do is check out Janet Bickel’s book. In it, she teaches readers to rely on their “inner coach” and like-minded peers in figuring out how to…
Jeannette Bébinn is the daughter of a plantation owner in Louisiana in the 1840s and 1850s. Her black mother, whom her white father enslaved, died during childbirth. Jeannette can “pass” as white. Her father dotes on her and invests in her during her youth, much to the ire of her father’s jealous, white wife. When Jeannette’s father dies suddenly, this wife finds out that her late husband skipped a generation in his will by deeding…
What does it mean to be simultaneously a devout Christian and an American citizen? Are such dual allegiances even possible? In this book, Mouw – a scholarly, religious expert on the Christian’s place in the (American) public square – offers a case that these domains can be compatible with each other… for the most part. He does so in a way that sides neither with the left nor the right, but instead welcomes warm-hearted debate…
Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine in 2022 sent shockwaves through the democratic world. It reminded many of how precarious open, free societies are. As time unfolded, Ukrainian resistance, led by their President Zelensky, proved more formidable than anyone could predict. Most of the free world united behind Ukraine as they fought back Russian gains kilometer by kilometer. Zelensky’s leadership has been admirable. It’ll likely be studied by generations after his time passes, much like Churchill’s…
Even my 11-year-old daughter observes that World War II still defines our modern era. It brought the United States of America into prominence; it ushered in a relatively peaceful Europe; it set the boundaries of communism and democracy; it opened up Americans’ eyes to the global order. Many younger people are realizing this history’s impact as their parents and grandparents have recently deceased. In this book, Brown seeks to kindle one fictional family’s history, from…
This book entered two new words into my vocabulary of personality: “diminisher” and “multiplier.” To Wiseman, these contrasting interpersonal styles are the secret understanding to why some smart people succeed at leadership and others fail. A diminisher is someone who socially tries to prove how smart they are to everyone around them. As such, they promote themselves, not the people around them. In stark contrast, multipliers make the people around them feel smarter and more…
I first heard the Crafts’ story as a student in American History class in a South Carolina high school. My teacher shared how the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 was first tested with a couple in Boston who recently escaped slavery. Mass protests made a mockery of the enslavers’ efforts, the Crafts eluded capture by escaping, and the slave-catchers returned to Georgia empty-handed. I remember that the story seemed more complicated than that, but even…