Society – Page 5 – Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

How to Be an Inclusive Leader: Your Role in Creating Cultures of Belonging Where Everyone Can Thrive

By Scott J. Pearson | August 26, 2022August 26, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI, for short) were thrust towards the focal center of the workplace recently in the United States. Not only has white supremacy become more vocal, but well-reported events, such as the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and the Charleston Nine, irrefutably show that America is still overcoming systemic racism. Our racial struggles were not all settled with the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. One place of multifaceted struggle is…

The Man Who Lived Underground: A Novel

By Scott J. Pearson | July 27, 2022July 27, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

In the 1940s, Richard Wright published two seminal works (Black Boy and Native Son). Both dealt with the topic of race in America. Wright also wrote another full-length work (this one), but it was rejected by publishers for being too controversial about race. However, during the recent Black Lives Matter movement, many saw the censorship of this book as being a historical injustice that needed correction. So in 2021, this story was published for the…

History Society

An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States

By Scott J. Pearson | July 23, 2022July 23, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

American history, as traditionally taught, teaches of the US’s “manifest destiny” and of many ensuing conflicts with natives on the Western frontier. A few ugly scenarios are often mentioned, but systematic genocide, on the order of Hitler or Stalin, is not described. However, from the perspective of these indigenous peoples, that’s exactly what happened as the United States attempted to destroy their entire culture. It’s this story from this perspective that Dunbar-Ortiz attempts to tell…

Fiction-Stories Society

Passing by Nella Larsen

By Scott J. Pearson | July 21, 2022July 21, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

This short classic, set in New York City, was originally published in 1929 during the Harlem Renaissance. It examined the phenomenon of “passing” – a black person acting as a white person. Of course, the American context has changed significantly since 1929. The concept of race is now, thankfully, widely considered a social construct, without any biological merit. The concept of passing, though still present on occasion, is less of an issue. Nonetheless, Larsen gives…

Humanities Religion-Philosophy Society

Reading Black Books: How African American Literature Can Make Our Faith More Whole & Just

By Scott J. Pearson | June 25, 2022June 25, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

The year 2022 resides in an era where there is renewed interest in the African American experience. That experience, of course, is incredibly rich and deep and historically spans Slavery, Reconstruction, the Harlem Renaissance, and the Civil Rights Movement. Atcho, a Christian pastor, brings out that spiritual depth by highlighting ten pieces of literature that illuminate the African American experience and the African American perspective on theology. This book in unabashedly in the Christian tradition.…

History Society

African Founders: How Enslaved People Expanded American Ideals

By Scott J. Pearson | May 30, 2022May 30, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

African-American contributions to American history are often pushed to the side and either given a lower priority when presented or segregated into its own area. These stories are often discussed during Black History Month, but then forgotten in the remaining eleven months of the year. In this book, a (white) Pulitzer Prize-winning author seeks to make a comprehensive, foundational case that enslaved people significantly enriched the cultural course of America – all before the Civil…

Healthcare Society

Hot Spot: A Doctor’s Diary from the Pandemic

By Scott J. Pearson | May 15, 2022May 15, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

The pandemic era provided the world many types of stories that have not been seen in generations, at least since the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918. Healthcare workers and governmental leaders had the most stress refracted their way. Jahangir, a colleague and trauma surgeon at Vanderbilt Medical Center and chair of the board of health in Metro Nashville, served in both roles. What was naively thought to last perhaps only weeks or even a few…

Healthcare HIV/AIDS Psychology Society

My Nerves are Bad: Puerto Rican Women Managing Mental Illness & HIV Risk

By Scott J. Pearson | April 27, 2022May 7, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

This sociological work examines a niche group with a lot of social factors going on that impacts their health. First, there is gender as these are women. Regionally and racially, these women are from Puerto Rico but now live in the mainland US. They are impoverished, like many who come from the island. They have to deal with very real health issues like mental illnesses and the looming risk of HIV. They have risk factors,…

Biography-Memoir Society

The People’s Plaza: 62 Days of Nonviolent Resistance

By Scott J. Pearson | April 18, 2022October 20, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Full disclosure: I am professionally employed Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The Medical Center, though a separate fiscal and legal entity, shares the Vanderbilt name with Vanderbilt University, whose press publishes this book. Nashville, Tennessee, is a historic town in the move for civil rights. In fact, locals just call it “the movement.” That movement is very much alive, in Nashville and in America, as the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 have recently shown. This…

History Society

South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation

By Scott J. Pearson | April 13, 2022April 16, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

This book took me all over the place. As a southerner, I felt a little defensive of the area where I’ve lived for most of my life. Though from Alabama, Perry’s point of view is clearly northeastern (especially when describing border states), and there’s a long history of northeasterners (i.e., Yankees) stereotyping southerners. As a software developer, I found that she overlooked the “New South” almost entirely. The research triangle in North Carolina was only…