Biography-Memoir Leadership Religion-Philosophy

Reading Through Rachel Held Evans’ Last Book Published in Her Lifetime

Setting: The 1925 Scopes Trial in East Tennessee Ninety-nine years ago in 1925, the famous Scopes trial occurred in Dayton, Tennessee, in the state’s eastern part, halfway between Chattanooga and Knoxville. The state legislature had recently made it illegal to teach human evolution in public schools. The rediscovery of Gregor Mendel’s genetic mechanism for evolution had brought these concepts to the front of the American mind. At the ACLU’s encouragement, one teacher John Scopes deliberately…

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Biography-Memoir Leadership Religion-Philosophy

The Deep Faith of Paul Robeson

On August 29, 2023, the Pew Research Center released survey data about the crossing between religious groups and racial issues. 53 percent of Americans said that people not seeing racial discrimination where it does exist was a bigger problem. 45 percent said the opposite, that people seeing discrimination where it does not exist is a bigger issue. To anyone who has followed American politics in recent years, these results should come as no surprise. After…

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Biography-Memoir

The Undiscovered Paul Robeson: An Artist’s Journey, 1898-1939

Paul Robeson was one of the most dynamic characters in the twentieth century, but is often forgotten today. A pastor’s son, he grew to be a unanimous All-American defensive end at Rutgers, an award-winning scholar, a law student, a stage actor, a musical artist, a polyglot, and a film actor – all in the first forty years of his life and all despite a strong culture of racism in his home country. The second half…

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Biography-Memoir Economics Politics

Empathy Economics: Janet Yellen’s Remarkable Rise to Power & Her Drive to Forge Prosperity to All

Current US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is the first female to hold the post that Alexander Hamilton first held over two centuries ago. She is also the first person to serve as Treasury Secretary, head of the Federal Reserve, and chief of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors. In short, she has had a career that anyone of any gender identity would be proud of. Her work has been critical to American economic prosperity since…

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Biography-Memoir Religion-Philosophy

Howard Thurman & the Disinherited: A Religious Biography

Howard Thurman is a name that scholars of twentieth-century Christianity and African-American culture know well, but few in the mainstream United States are familiar with it. However, more people should be, and Harvey writes this religious biography to bring his name to the fore. Thurman was known as “the mentor to the movement” and mentored dozens of civil rights’ leaders, including Martin Luther King. He laid the groundwork for the dismantling of Jim Crow and…

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Biography-Memoir History

Destiny & Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush

To many, he’s the hero behind the first Gulf War. To some, he’s the one who let the US economy slow. To others, he guided the world from the Cold War into a more stable future. To others, he fell short of Reagan’s ideals. Like any impactful president, he consisted of many things to many people. Along with John Adams, he remains one of two presidents ever to have their sons someday succeed them. Meacham,…

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Biography-Memoir Religion-Philosophy Writing-Communication

Albert Camus and the Human Crisis

Albert Camus is one of my favorite literary figures of all time. I favor authors rooted in the Christian and classical literary traditions, and Camus fits this description well – even though he made no profession of faith after childhood. (Another fascinating and controversial book contends that Camus sought baptism just before his sudden death.) To me, Camus’ words capture the human condition very well. This biography, born out of college classes Meagher taught, attempts…

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Biography-Memoir History Leadership

Wilson by A. Scott Berg

Both Woodrow Wilson and World War I are generally overlooked by American historians because FDR and World War II tends to overshadow them. However, as Berg makes clear, both set the stage for the American century by transforming an isolationist country into the dominant player on the world stage. The son of a Presbyterian minister and a university president, US President Woodrow Wilson led America into this change. Although Congress never accepted his major creation…

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Biography-Memoir

J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography

J.R.R. Tolkien is most well-known to the public as the author of the famous trilogy Lord of the Rings, surely one of the best works of art ever written in the English language. This work by Carpenter serves as his authorized biography. Tolkien’s professorial and academic life as an Oxford don dominates most of the narrative, but always lingering behind lies his unique love of language (philology) – particularly “sub-creating” worlds with language. Carpenter achieves…

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Biography-Memoir Humanities Writing-Communication

One Writer’s Beginnings by Eudora Welty

Eudora Welty, master of the American short story, needs no introduction. Her writing chronicles life in Mississippi before and during the Depression era. This memoir was originally given as three lectures at Harvard University in April, 1983. Together, they constitute a repository of our knowledge of Welty’s upbringing and early adulthood – and importantly, her literary influences. Welty focuses on her family history and varied inspirations for her characters. Through her family and travels, she…

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