The Writer's Library: The Authors You Love on the Books that Changed their Lives by Nancy Pearl & Jeff Schwager

Nancy Pearl and Jeff Schwager's book The Writer's Library lets readers in on their favorite authors' reading history, what they keep on their bookshelf, and how those books impacted their lives and their craft.

Pearl writes, "Our consciousness is a soaring shelf of thoughts and recollections, facts and fantasies, and of course, the scores of books we've read that have become an almost cellular part of who we are." I found myself thinking about the books that were on my shelves across my lifetime.

I was happy to see books I have read mentioned but there were also many books new to me that I will add to my TBR list.

Certain books were mentioned by more than one writer.

Jonathan Lethem talked of "the poetic, dreamy, surreal stuff like Bradbury" and his favorite TV show The Twilight Zone. He said that Butcher's Crossing by John Williams is better than Stoner, so I have to move it up higher on my TBR shelf.

Susan Choi also mentions Bradbury, as well as F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and J. D. Salinger's "A Perfect Day for Bananafish."

Michael Chabon also lists Bradbury, and my childhood favorites Homer Price by Robert McCloskey and Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes. He calls The World According to Garp by John Irving a bombshell; I do remember reading it when it came out. He is another fan of Watership Down. Also on his list are Saul Bellow's Herzog.

One more Bradbury fan, Dave Eggers was in the Great Books program in school, just like me. He also loves Herzog. As does Richard Ford.

Amor Towles begins with Bradbury and adds poetry including Prufrock, Whitman and Dickinson, and a long list of classics.

Another Dickinson fan, Louise Erdrich also loves Sylvia Plath and Tommy Orange's There There.

Jennifer Egen loved Salinger's Nine Stories. As a teen loved Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and The Magus by John Fowles. "Then Richard Adams' Watership Down took over me life," and she got a rabbit. Oh, my! My husband and I also loved that book when it came out and WE got a pet rabbit--house trained to a liter box. I share a love for many of her mentions including Anthony Trollope.

Andrew Sean Greer included Rebecca and also loves Muriel Spark.

Madeline Miller also notes Watership Down as one of the "great favorites of my entire life." She is a fan of King Lear, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot, and Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. 

Laila Lalami mentioned Waiting for the Barbarians by J. M. Coetzee as a favorite.

I would not have guessed that Luis Alberto Urrea had fallen hard for Becky Thatcher (from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer) or that he fell in love with Stephen Crane's poetry.

At college I read The Sot Weed Factor by John Barth; it is  one of T.C. Boyle's favorite historical novels. He calls Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro "one of the greatest books ever." And he brings up John Gardner, whose novels I read as they came out.

Charles Johnson also studied under John Gardner whose book On Moral Fiction appears on his shelf along with Ivan Doig.

Viet Thanh Nguyen was blown away by sci-fi writers like Isaac Asimov and fantasy writers like J. R. R. Tolkien. He liked Michael Ondaatje's Warlight.

Jane Hirshfield was "undone" by Charlotte's Web by E. B. White and loved Water de la Mare's poem "The Listeners" and reads poetry including Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, W. H. Auden, and Gerard Manley Hopkins. Philip Levine is a poet on my TBR shelf that she mentions.

Siri Hustvedt read Dickinson and the canonical English poetry early. Flannery O'Connor shows up on her shelf, also found on shelves of T. C. Boyle, Erdrich, Ford, and Tartt.

Vendela Vida is "indebted to Forster," including A Passage to India. Also on her shelf is Coetzee's Disgrace.

Donna Tartt read Bedknobs and Broomsticks by Mary Norton, James Barrie's Peter Pan, and other classic children's literature. Oliver Twist particularly moved her and it also appears on Urrea's shelf.

Russell Banks loved Toby Tyler by James Otis and loves to read the classics.

Laurie Frankl's books are not ones I have read. Along with all the other books on these author's shelves, I can extend my reading list past my natural lifespan!

Readers will enjoy these interviews, comparing book shelves, and learning the books that influenced these writers.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

The Writer's Library: The Authors You Love on the Books That Changed Their Lives
by Nancy Pearl and Jeff Schwager
HarperCollins Publishers/HarperOne
Pub Date September 8, 2020
ISBN: 9780062968500
hardcover $27.99 (USD)

from the publisher:

With a Foreword by Susan Orlean, twenty-three of today's living literary legends, including Donna Tartt, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Andrew Sean Greer, Laila Lalami, and Michael Chabon, reveal the books that made them think, brought them joy, and changed their lives in this intimate, moving, and insightful collection from "American's Librarian" Nancy Pearl and noted playwright Jeff Schwager that celebrates the power of literature and reading to connect us all.

Before Jennifer Egan, Louise Erdrich, Luis Alberto Urrea, and Jonathan Lethem became revered authors, they were readers. In this ebullient book, America’s favorite librarian Nancy Pearl and noted-playwright Jeff Schwager interview a diverse range of America's most notable and influential writers about the books that shaped them and inspired them to leave their own literary mark. 

Illustrated with beautiful line drawings, The Writer’s Library is a revelatory exploration of the studies, libraries, and bookstores of today’s favorite authors—the creative artists whose imagination and sublime talent make America's literary scene the wonderful, dynamic world it is. A love letter to books and a celebration of wordsmiths, The Writer’s Library is a treasure for anyone who has been moved by the written word. 

The authors in The Writer’s Library are:

Russell BanksT.C. BoyleMichael ChabonSusan ChoiJennifer EganDave EggersLouise ErdrichRichard FordLaurie FrankelAndrew Sean GreerJane HirshfieldSiri HustvedtCharles JohnsonLaila LalamiJonathan LethemDonna TarttMadeline MillerViet Thanh NguyenLuis Alberto UrreaVendela VidaAyelet WaldmanMaaza MengisteAmor Towles

The Violence Inside Us: A Brief History of an Ongoing American Tragedy by Chris Murphy

In 1764, my sixth great-grandparents were murdered and scalped by Simon Girty and a group of Native Americans whose reign of terror was waged to scare settlers out of the Shenandoah Valley. The Rev. John Rhodes, a Swiss Brethren and a pacifist, was an early settler in the valley. 

Unable to defend themselves, the community built underground cellars, but eventually they were converted by a visiting Baptist. One advantage of this change in faith was that they were allowed guns for self-protection.

Our immigrant ancestors employed guns for hunting game and to defend themselves against the people whose lands they stole. Guns were safeguards in far-flung lawless frontiers and they were needed by state militias before a centralized government created the first American army. 

American has long embraced gun ownership. In The Violence Inside Us, Senator Chris Murphy notes that the Pilgrims required every man to have a gun.

Murphy's life was changed with the shooting of school children in Newtown. As a newly elected senator, he saw the pain close up. Gun violence became his bailiwick.

Our son was in junior high at the time of the Columbine shooting. A student at his school talked about bringing a gun to school. Our son insisted he stay home the next day. The threat was investigated and the student punished. But our son never again felt safe at school.

Years later, and many school shootings later, we still can't guarantee our children that they will be safe in their classrooms.

This passionate and well-thought out book addresses the central questions behind violence. Is it human nature to be violent? Why is America the most violent nation in the industrialized world? What can we do to alter the violence? Why are our political leaders loathe to pass legislation that protects innocent victims of gun violence? He looks beyond our borders to how America has taken violence abroad through war and weapons sales.

Carefully building an understanding of the use and misuse of guns as rooted in human nature and American society, Murphy argues for reasonable legislation, on which the majority of Americans agrees, and explains the forces that prevent that legislation from passing.

Murphy's personal transformation makes a connection and the stories he shares grabs you by the heart.

Hear an audio excerpt here.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

The Violence Inside Us: A Brief History of an Ongoing American Tragedy
by Chris Murphy
Random House Publishing Group - Random House
Pub Date: September 1, 2020
ISBN: 9781984854575
hardcover $28.00 (USD)

from the publisher

In many ways, the United States sets the pace for other nations to follow. Yet on the most important human concern—the need to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe from physical harm—America isn’t a leader. We are disturbingly laggard. Our churches and schools, our movie theaters and dance clubs, our workplaces and neighborhoods, no longer feel safe. To confront this problem, we must first understand it. In this carefully researched and deeply emotional book, Senator Chris Murphy dissects our country’s violence-filled history and the role that our unique obsession with firearms plays in this national epidemic. 

Murphy tells the story of his profound personal transformation in the wake of the mass murder at Newtown, and his subsequent immersion in the complicated web of influences that drive American violence. Murphy comes to the conclusion that while America’s relationship to violence is indeed unique, America is not inescapably violent. Even as he details the reasons we’ve tolerated so much bloodshed for so long, he explains that we have the power to change. Murphy takes on the familiar arguments, obliterates the stale talking points, and charts the way to a fresh, less polarized conversation about violence and the weapons that enable it—a conversation we urgently need in order to transform the national dialogue and save lives.

Superman's Not Coming: Our National Water Crisis and What We the People Can Do About It by Erin Brockovich

Erin Brockovich warns us that we the people are the only ones who can save us. Grass roots efforts by moms have stood up to power to save their children. Lois Gibbs, the Love Canal mom, and Leeann Walters of Flint, Michigan are two of the most recognized citizens who have stood up to power in defence of families. For change to happen, more ordinary people need to become involved.

Superman's Not Coming describes the problem of providing clean water under a dysfunctional EPA and climate change. Brockovich offers resources to empower Water Warrior wannabes.

I have spent a good deal of my life a few hours drive (or less) from one of the Great Lakes, the largest freshwater source in the world. I grew up boating on the Niagara River, and later vacationed at Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, and Lake Huron.

I also remember in the 1970s seeing yellow foam at the base of Niagara Falls. I remember algae blooms poisoning Toledo's water, Love Canal, and the Flint Water Crisis. I have lived near lakes made toxic by industrial waste. My state is dealing with PFAS contamination.

Across the country, Americans--today--discover their water isn't safe to drink. And they endure limits on water use because it is in short supply.

It's only going to get worse as temperatures rise.

Brockovich presents her information and argument with passion. The book is upsetting but it is also empowering. If we have the will, we can create change. It starts with people like us.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

from the publisher

From environmental activist, consumer advocate, renowned crusader, champion fighter-maverick, whose courageous case against Pacific Gas and Electric was dramatized in the Oscar-winning film--a book to inspire change that looks at our present situation with water and reveals the imminent threats to our most precious, essential element, and shows us how we can each take action to make changes in our cities, our towns, our villages, before it is too late.

In Erin Brockovich's long-awaited book--her first to reckon with conditions on our planet--she makes clear why we are in the trouble we're in, and how, in large and practical ways, we each can take actions to bring about change.

She shows us what's at stake, and writes of the fraudulent science that disguises these issues, along with cancer clusters not being reported. She writes of the saga of PG&E that continues to this day, and of the communities and people she has worked with who have helped to make an impact. She writes of the water operator in Poughkeepsie, New York, who responded to his customers' concerns and changed his system to create some of the safest water in the country; of the moms in Hannibal, Missouri, who became the first citizens in the nation to file an ordinance prohibiting the use of ammonia in their public drinking water; and about how we can protect our right to clean water by fighting for better enforcement of the laws, new legislation, and better regulations. She cannot fight all battles for all people and gives us the tools to take actions ourselves, have our voices be heard, and know that steps are being taken to make sure our water is safe to drink and use.

Superman's Not Coming: Our National Water Crisis and What We the People Can Do About It
by Erin Brockovich
Pantheon/Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Pub Date: August 25, 2020
ISBN: 9781524746964
hardcover $28.95 (USD)

Once Upon a Time I Lived on Mars: Space, Exploration, and Life on Earth by Kate Greene

Kate Greene was one of six people who spent four months living in a geodesic dome in Mauna Loa, Hawaii, simulating a Martian environment. The 'almost' astronauts were human guinea pigs in the Hi-SEAS project focused on the domestic challenges of privacy, food, and shared resources in space.

This book is the result of Greene's struggle to find a way to talk about those months and how they changed her.

Greene travels across a broad range of philosophical questions that arose from her experience, discussing food, finding a balance between solitude and sociability, boredom, and isolation, applying her insights to daily life.

I appreciated her thoughts on the privatization of space technology and the lack of oversight in the data collection and use of social media by tech companies, influencing users without their knowledge or consent.

The Space Race arose from a quest for military and political dominance. Greene asks, is it possible for space exploration to transcend "nationalist pride, capitalist power, and ordinary ego?"

"I've come up with more questions than answers," Greene writes.

Entertaining and informing.

I received a free egalley from the publisher in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Once Upon a Time I Lived on Mars: Space, Exploration, and Life on Earth
by Kate Greene
St. Martin's Press
Pub Date July 14, 2020
ISBN:9781250159472
hardcover $27.99 (USD)

from the publisher

When it comes to Mars, the focus is often on how to get there: the rockets, the engines, the fuel. But upon arrival, what will it actually be like?

In 2013, Kate Greene moved to Mars. That is, along with five fellow crew members, she embarked on NASA’s first HI-SEAS mission, a simulated Martian environment located on the slopes of Mauna Loa in Hawai'i. For four months she lived, worked, and slept in an isolated geodesic dome, conducting a sleep study on her crew mates and gaining incredible insight into human behavior in tight quarters, as well as the nature of boredom, dreams, and isolation that arise amidst the promise of scientific progress and glory.

In Once Upon a Time I Lived on Mars, Greene draws on her experience to contemplate humanity’s broader impulse to explore. The result is a twined story of space and life, of the standard, able-bodied astronaut and Greene’s brother’s disability, of the lag time of interplanetary correspondences and the challenges of a long-distance marriage, of freeze-dried egg powder and fresh pineapple, of departure and return.

By asking what kind of wisdom humanity might take to Mars and elsewhere in the Universe, Greene has written a remarkable, wide-ranging examination of our time in space right now, as a pre-Mars species, poised on the edge, readying for launch.

Underwater: How Our American Dream of Homeownership Became a Nightmare by Ryan Dezember

My brother tells the story of a friend and his wife who in the early 2000s built their dream house in an upscale part of Oakland County, Michigan. After a few years they decided to relocate. They owed more than the house's market value.

Is real estate still a good investment? Perhaps if you are in it for the long run.

My folks bought a modest house in 1972 for $33,900. Between 2004 to 2005 it's value shot up by 72%. By 2009 when I inherited the house it's value had plummeted by 50%.

We weren't selling. It was our retirement home. Today the value has risen again, neighboring houses selling in the range of their high back in 2005.

Perhaps the house's value will plummet again. Who knows what will happen in ten or twenty years? But if we had not inherited a home, we would be renting. That $1500 a month expense would have made us penny-pinchers in our golden years, just as we were when we were starting out. Living without mortgage or rent has made all the difference.

Ryan Dezember was a journalist covering real estate for an Alabama newspaper when he and his wife purchased a modest home in 2005. Within years the marriage was over, the house up for sale. The house would not sell for what he owed. The housing market had collapsed.

It took ten years before Dezember could unload the house. He figures it cost him $60,000. He understood the real estate business, the deals and flipping that made billionaires overnight--selling housing that didn't even exist yet. Still, he was a sucker for the American Dream of homeownership.

Underwater explains the whole messy, disgusting process that ruined the lives of so many. People like my brother's friends who ultimately told the bank, accept the buyer's offer or we are walking away and you'll get nothing. (The bank opted for nothing.)

After we inherited my folk's house, we spent our days off doing yard work and upgrading the electric and appliances. We walked the dog in our so-to-be-neighborhood, noting the foreclosure signs and sale signs. It was heartbreaking. These same houses are now so hot, realtors are clambering for houses to sell.

Dezember's book is full of real estate details of the transactions in the Alabama beach community he covered. It can be overwhelming! The book is humanized by his personal story. The environmental impact of building on the white sand shore of Alabama is distressing to read.

Dezember notes that 55% of owner-occupied home in the US are filled with people like me--seniors who will swamp the market in the 2030s as they downsize or die. That means our home will fetch far less than it does today.

Should we sell when the value is high and rent?

Since the stock market is also unreliable, selling and investing the money could also be risky.

Underwater explains the real estate game and how people like you and me find our investments gutted overnight. "Banks are amoral," Dezember reminds us. It's all about profit.

I was given a free ebook by the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

Underwater: How Our American Dream of Homeownership Became a Nightmare
by Ryan Dezember
St. Martin's Press
Thomas Dunne Books
Pub Date  July 14, 2020
ISBN: 9781250241801
hardcover $28.99 (USD)

from the publisher:

His assignment was to write about a real-estate frenzy lighting up the Redneck Riviera. So Ryan Dezember settled in and bought a home nearby himself. Then the market crashed, and he became one of the millions of Americans who suddenly owed more on their homes than they were worth. A flood of foreclosures made it impossible to sell. It didn't help that his quaint neighborhood fell into disrepair and drug-induced despair. He had no choice but to become a reluctant and wildly unprofitable landlord to move on. 

Meanwhile, his reporting showed how the speculative mania that caused the crash opened the U.S. housing market to a much larger breed of investors.
In this deeply personal story, Dezember shows how decisions on Wall Street and in Washington played out on his street in a corner of the Sunbelt that was convulsed by the foreclosure crisis. 

Readers will witness the housing market collapse from Dezember’s perch as a newspaper reporter. First he’s in the boom-to-bust South where a hot-air balloonist named Bob Shallow becomes one of the world’s top selling real-estate agents arranging condo flips, developers flop in spectacular fashion and the law catches up with a beach-town mayor on the take. Later he’s in New York, among financiers like Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman who are building rental empires out of foreclosures, staking claim to the bastion of middle-class wealth: the single-family home.

 Through it all, Dezember is an underwater homeowner caught up in the mess. 

A cautionary tale of Wall Street's push to turn homes into assets, Underwater is a powerful, incisive story that chronicles the crash and its aftermath from a fresh perspective—the forgotten, middle-class homeowner.

Democracy, If We Can Keep It: The ACLU's 100-Year Fight for Rights in America

In 2016 my husband was one of a million people who donated to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) as a reaction to the election of Donald J. Trump. He told me he didn't always agree with them, such as supporting hate groups rights to free speech, but he did believe in their mission of protecting civil liberties.

I had read about Ruth Ginsberg's work with the ACLU in Conversations with RBG. I wanted to know more about the history and legacy of the ACLU.

Democracy, If We Can Keep It  by Ellis Cose was often fascinating, especially when dealing with the landmark cases, but some places I speed read.

Throughout American history, the federal government has enacted laws that reflected popular anxiety but threatened civil rights. As this history shows, the limiting of civil liberties has not been relegated to one time or one side of the political spectrum. Democracy is an ongoing experiment.

The ACLU has continually developed and honed its mission in response to a changing world. Its history is a history of America and the continual fight for the freedom of speech and dissent.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Democracy, If We Can Keep It: The ACLU’s 100-Year Fight for Rights in America
by Ellis Cose
The New Press
Pub Date July 7,2020
ISBN: 9781620973837
hardcover $38.99 (CAD)

from the publisher

Published to coincide with the ACLU’s centennial, a major new book by the nationally celebrated journalist and bestselling author

For a century, the American Civil Liberties Union has fought to keep Americans in touch with the founding values of the Constitution. As its centennial approached, the organization invited Ellis Cose to become its first ever writer-in-residence, with complete editorial independence. 

The result is Cose’s groundbreaking Democracy, If We Can Keep It: The ACLU’s 100-Year Fight for Rights in America, the most authoritative account ever of America’s premier defender of civil liberties. A vivid work of history and journalism, Democracy, If We Can Keep It is not just the definitive story of the ACLU but also an essential account of America’s rediscovery of rights it had granted but long denied. Cose’s narrative begins with World War I and brings us to today, chronicling the ACLU’s role through the horrors of 9/11, the saga of Edward Snowden, and the phenomenon of Donald Trump.

A chronicle of America’s most difficult ethical quandaries from the Red Scare, the Scottsboro Boys’ trials, Japanese American internment, McCarthyism, and Vietnam, Democracy, If We Can Keep It weaves these accounts into a deeper story of American freedom—one that is profoundly relevant to our present moment.

The Next Great Migration: The Beauty and Terror of Life on the Move by Sonia Shah

Our teenage son volunteered at a local nature center every summer. One of the activities the counselors in training participated in was pulling up Purple Loosestrife. It is an considered invasive species that thrives along Michigan's lakesides.

So, I was shocked to read that Canadian researchers concluded "there is certainly no evidence that purple loosestrife 'kills wetlands' or 'creates biological deserts'!"

Investigative journalist Sonia Shah's book The Next Great Migration is filled with such iconoclastic insights, smashing prevalent notions contending that ecosystems were meant to be unchanging, pristine, and unadulterated.

Instead, she systematically argues that no place on Earth has remained untouched by the migration of species. Including human migration.

Shah takes readers through the entire history of the migration of species and the ideas humans have held about migration. Bad science and ingrained beliefs have lead to false assumptions that impact the political landscape to this very day. Most disturbing is the rise of Eugenics and categorization of human groups to justify our fearful reaction to newcomers.

Building walls, Shah contends, cannot stop or solve the reality of migrating human populations. She writes, "Over the long history of life on earth, its (migrations) benefits have outweighed its costs." Embracing migrants can be a solution to the problems we face.

Shah's book was an engrossing read that shed light on how we 'got to here'.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

from the publisher: 

A prize-winning journalist upends our centuries-long assumptions about migration through science, history, and reporting--predicting its lifesaving power in the face of climate change. 

The news today is full of stories of dislocated people on the move. Wild species, too, are escaping warming seas and desiccated lands, creeping, swimming, and flying in a mass exodus from their past habitats. News media presents this scrambling of the planet's migration patterns as unprecedented, provoking fears of the spread of disease and conflict and waves of anxiety across the Western world. On both sides of the Atlantic, experts issue alarmed predictions of millions of invading aliens, unstoppable as an advancing tsunami, and countries respond by electing anti-immigration leaders who slam closed borders that were historically porous. 

But the science and history of migration in animals, plants, and humans tell a different story. Far from being a disruptive behavior to be quelled at any cost, migration is an ancient and lifesaving response to environmental change, a biological imperative as necessary as breathing. Climate changes triggered the first human migrations out of Africa. Falling sea levels allowed our passage across the Bering Sea. Unhampered by barbed wire, migration allowed our ancestors to people the planet, catapulting us into the highest reaches of the Himalayan mountains and the most remote islands of the Pacific, creating and disseminating the biological, cultural, and social diversity that ecosystems and societies depend upon. In other words, migration is not the crisis--it is the solution. 

Conclusively tracking the history of misinformation from the 18th century through today's anti-immigration policies, The Next Great Migration makes the case for a future in which migration is not a source of fear, but of hope.

The Next Great Migration: The Beauty and Terror of Life on the Move
by Sonia Shah
Bloomsbury Publishing
Pub Date June 2, 2020 
ISBN: 9781635571974
hardcover $28.00 (USD)

The Poisoned Water by Candy J. Cooper

Every book I read about the Flint Water Crisis makes me sad and angry. The stories of the suffering of the citizens of Flint are horrifying. It is revolting to know that governing officials made the economic decision that lead to this suffering, then covered it up.

Candy J. Cooper saw that the excellent books already written about the crisis, including The Poisoned City by Anna Clark and What the Eyes Don't See by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, left some stories untold. In Poisoned Water, Cooper shares the stories of the primarily African American Flint citizens who alerted authorities and politicians that there was something wrong with the water. The crisis is an example of racist policies.

General Motors plants brought a migration of workers to the city who fought for a union and fair wages. When GM closed plants, those who could left the city. With the tax base decimated, Governor Snyder sent in an Emergency Manager [EM] to balance Flint's budget, disenfranchising elected officials.

Detroit water was expensive and the EM opted to use Flint River water while the city developed a new source. They sidestepped the use of anti-corrosives and added chemicals. The river water corroded the natural buildup in the pipes that had previously kept the lead from leaching into the water. The discolored, foul smelling water caused rashes, hair loss, and illness. People complained and were lied to by authorities who insisted the water tests showed no problems.

It took years before the people were heard, the water investigated, and officials admitted there was a problem.

"Who, then, were the heroes?" Cooper asks. Yes, the media "latched" on to some important folk. But left behind the grassroots activists and mothers and citizens without who stood up to power to demand justice.

The book is promoted for Middle Grade, and perhaps some young people that age will be able to handle it. I would recommend it for older teens and adults seeking a shorter history.

I was given a free ebook by the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

“Poignant . . . This detailed offering, the first specifically intended for young audiences, has multiple curriculum applications.” –  Booklist, starred review 

“Thoroughly sourced and meticulously documented, this stomach-churning, blood-boiling, tear-jerking account synthesizes a city's herculean efforts to access safe, clean water. . . . This compulsively readable, must-buy narrative nonfiction serves as the ultimate antidote to civic complacence.” –  School Library Journal, starred review

Poisoned Water: How the Citizens of Flint, Michigan, Fought for Their Lives and Warned the Nation
by Candy J Cooper; Marc Aronson
Bloomsbury USA Children's Books
Pub Date May 19, 2020
ISBN 9781547602322
PRICE $18.99 (USD)

The King of Confidence by Miles Harvey

When we lived along Lake Michigan people would ask me if I knew about the King of Beaver Island. I had never heard of him. All I knew was that quilter Gwen Marston lived on Beaver Island. I had seen photos of her home and studio and the classes she held there. A lovely place.

Then along comes Miles Harvey's The King of Confidence: A Tale of Utopian Dreamers, Frontier Schemers, True Believers, False Prophets, and the Murder of an American Monarch, finally my chance to learn about this Michigan king.

I'll cut to the chase: Harvey's book is rollicking, page-turning, riotous good fun...and a sobering reminder of the American penchant to be taken in by quacks, con-men, and self-aggrandizing wannabes.

As a boy, J. J. Strang dreamed of the big achievements awaiting him--like marrying the girl Victoria who was destined to become queen of England. He wanted to be king.

Over his lifetime, Strang reinvented himself, from teacher to lawyer, from atheist to the heir to Mormon founder Joseph Smith, from self-proclaimed king to pirate to legislator. And from husband to one wife to husband to a harem.

Harvey could have given us a somber, and perhaps tedious, exploration of Strang's place in American history, with insights into our current political craziness as well as Strang's antebellum  social, economic, and political craziness.

OK; he did cover these themes. But with pizazz and ironic fun to create an entertaining narrative that makes one want to keep reading.

Chapters have lively titles and chapter quotations. Such as,"In which one charlatan is run out of town, only to be replaced by an even greater scoundrel", the following quote being a discussion between the Duke and the King from Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. 

Yes, this is a book that Michiganders must read, but also those interested in how Americans gravitate to extremes during troubled times. Harvey's insights into human nature and society transcends time and place.

I was given a free ebook by the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

from the publisher:In the summer of 1843, James Strang, a charismatic young lawyer and avowed atheist, vanished from a rural town in New York. Months later he reappeared on the Midwestern frontier and converted to a burgeoning religious movement known as Mormonism. In the wake of the murder of the sect's leader, Joseph Smith, Strang unveiled a letter purportedly from the prophet naming him successor, and persuaded hundreds of fellow converts to follow him to an island in Lake Michigan, where he declared himself a divine king. 

From this stronghold he controlled a fourth of the state of Michigan, establishing a pirate colony where he practiced plural marriage and perpetrated thefts, corruption, and frauds of all kinds. Eventually, having run afoul of powerful enemies, including the American president, Strang was assassinated, an event that was frontpage news across the country.

The King of Confidence tells this fascinating but largely forgotten story. Centering his narrative on this charlatan's turbulent twelve years in power, Miles Harvey gets to the root of a timeless American original: the Confidence Man. Full of adventure, bad behavior, and insight into a crucial period of antebellum history, The King of Confidence brings us a compulsively readable account of one of the country's boldest con men and the boisterous era that allowed him to thrive.

The King of Confidence: A Tale of Utopian Dreamers, Frontier Schemers, True Believers, False Prophets, and the Murder of an American Monarch
by Miles Harvey
Little, Brown and Company
Publication: May 12, 2020 
PRICE: $29.00 (USD)
ISBN: 9780316463591

Pelosi by Mary Ball

Today I finished Molly Ball's fantastic biography of Nancy Pelosi then watched the Speaker of the House being interviewed about the Senate hashing out the COVID-19 stimulus package. I kinda had chills watching.

Pelosi covers the life and career of the Speaker, set against the tumultuous series of challenges and division America has endured. I always appreciate a book that offers perspective and insight into events I have lived through, which Ball accomplishes.

I love a good biography, especially of remarkable women.

But perhaps what I appreciated most from Ball's book is an understanding of how power works in Washington.

Sometimes--rarely, anymore--there is compromise. Other times a party digs in its heels and won't budge. How does anything get done, especially in the hostile political climate of the last several decades?

Pelosi is a study in the use of power. How one gains it and loses or keeps it. Pelosi has endured while others have failed, given up, faded away. Pelosi is pragmatic, determined, organized, and workaholic, with a hefty dose of Mom-sense and faith.

Pelosi was a volunteer for Democrats in San Francisco and a mother and wife. How she became a force who could stand up to Washington's most powerful men is a riveting story. Pelosi learned from her failures, only becoming stronger.

Ball's respect for Pelosi is evident, but she has no political slant. She isn't afraid to show the weaknesses of Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama. Trump, well, he gets the treatment he deserves.

"If this book has a thesis, it is that you needn't agree with Nancy Pelosi's politics to repsect her accomplishments and appreciate her historic career," Ball writes in the "Afterward". "I didn't expect to find her particularly compelling," she admits. In a compelling narrative, Ball's book achieves making Pelosi an iconic heroine.

I was given access to a free ebook by the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

Pelosi
Molly Ball
Henry Holt and Co.
Publication Date May 5, 2020
ISBN: 9781250754974 $26.99 digital audio
ISBN: 9781250252852 $14.99 ebook
ISBN: 9781250252869 $27.99 hardcover

from the publisher

An intimate, fresh perspective on the most powerful woman in American political history, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, by award-winning political journalist Molly Ball. 

She’s the iconic leader who puts Donald Trump in his place, the woman with the toughness to take on a lawless president and defend American democracy. Ever since the Democrats took back the House in the 2018 midterm elections, Nancy Pelosi has led the opposition with strategic mastery and inimitable elan. It’s a remarkable comeback for the veteran politician who for years was demonized by the right and taken for granted by many in her own party—even though, as speaker under President Barack Obama, she deserves much of the credit for epochal liberal accomplishments from universal access to health care to saving the US economy from collapse, from reforming Wall Street to allowing gay people to serve openly in the military. How did an Italian grandmother in four-inch heels become the greatest legislator since LBJ? 

Ball’s nuanced, page-turning portrait takes readers inside the life and times of this historic and underappreciated figure. Based on exclusive interviews with the Speaker and deep background reporting, Ball shows Pelosi through a thoroughly modern lens to explain how this extraordinary woman has met her moment.

about the author

Molly Ball is TIME Magazine's national political correspondent and appears regularly as an analyst on NBC’s Meet the Press, CBS’s Face the Nation, PBS’s Washington Week, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and NPR. She formerly covered U.S. politics for The Atlantic and Politico. She is the winner of the Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize and the Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting, among others, and lives in Washington, D.C.

Square Haunting: Five Writers in London Between the Wars by Francesca Wade

These five women...all pushed the boundaries of scholarship, of literary form, of societal norms: they refused to let their gender hold them back, but were determined to find a different way of living, one in which their creative work would take precedence.~ Francesca Wade, Square Haunting

Square Haunting: Five Writers in London Between the Wars by Francesca Wade links writers H.D., Dorothy Sayers, Virginia Woolf, Eileen Power, and Jane Ellen Harrison through their time residing in London's Mecklenburgh Square. They were born in the late 19th c. and by full adulthood saw a changed world that allowed women to vote and the opening of professions to women.They defied the narrow role assigned to women to become masters of their craft.

Each woman's life and career is illuminated through their shared experience in one place. Their time in Mecklenburgh Square was pivotal to their development.

I was familiar with Woolf, knew the work of Sayers and a bit about H.D., but Power and Harrison were unfamiliar. How sad! Harrison broke through the gender barrier to become a professional scholar.  Her research impacted the Imagist writers and T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land. Power was a fashionable and attractive academic of economics. I realized that I had read her book Medieval People several times!

I was fascinated by these women and their stories. Wade delivers a compelling narrative that combines insight and significance and good story-telling.

...real freedom entails the ability to live on one's own terms, not to allow one's identity to be proscribed or limited by anyone else.~ from Square Haunting by Francesca Wade

I was given a free ebook by the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

from the publisher:

In the early twentieth century, Mecklenburgh Square—a hidden architectural gem in the heart of London—was a radical address. On the outskirts of Bloomsbury known for the eponymous group who “lived in squares, painted in circles, and loved in triangles,” the square was home to students, struggling artists, and revolutionaries. 

In the pivotal era between the two world wars, the lives of five remarkable women intertwined at this one address: modernist poet H. D., detective novelist Dorothy L. Sayers, classicist Jane Harrison, economic historian Eileen Power, and author and publisher Virginia Woolf. In an era when women’s freedoms were fast expanding, they each sought a space where they could live, love, and—above all—work independently. 

With sparkling insight and a novelistic style, Francesca Wade sheds new light on a group of artists and thinkers whose pioneering work would enrich the possibilities of women’s lives for generations to come.

Square Haunting: Five Writers in London Between the Wars
by Francesca Wade
Crown Publishing
Tim Duggan Books
Pub Date April 7, 2020
ISBN: 9780451497796
hardcover $28.99 (USD)

What the Eyes Don't See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City by Mona Hanna-Attisha

This is the story of the most important and emblematic environmental and public health disaster of this young century. Most bluntly, it is the story of a government poisoning its own citizens, and then lying about it. [...]this is also a story about the deeper crises we're facing right now in our country: a breakdown in democracy; the disintegration of critical infrastructure due to inequality and austerity; environmental injustice that disproportionately affects the poor and black; the abandonment of civic responsibility and our deep obligations as human beings to care and provide for one another. Along with all that--which is a lot already--it's about a bizarre disavowal of honesty, transparency, good government, and respect for scientific truth. ~from What the Eyes Don't See by  Mona Hanna-Attisha

What the Eyes Don't See is a riveting read. Hanna-Attisha is a pediatrician at Hurley Hospital in Flint, MI. Her narrative of how she discovered rising levels of blood in her pediatric patients and her battle to bring justice to the disenfranchised people of Flint is inspiring and maddening.

She describes her anguish and determination to save the children of Flint, how it disrupted her private and family life, and the brick walls and rejection she faced. Thankfully, she was stubborn and determined.

The callousness of political leaders toward the people of Flint as unimportant and expendable is despicable.

Flint falls right into the American narrative of cheapening black life.~from What the Eyes Don't See by Mona Hanna-Attisha

Readers are given a history of Flint's rise as an automotive manufacturing hub, and when jobs left, its decline to becoming one of the state's most impoverished cities.

The budget-cutting changes implemented under an appointed Emergency Manager explains how the lead-poisoned water came to be and how officials lied about the poisoned water.

If I had to locate an exact cause of the crisis, above all others, it would be the ideology of extreme austerity and "all government is bad government".~from What the Eyes Don't See by Mona Hanna-Attisha

Dr. Hanna-Attisha called out Senator Debbie Stabenow as an early and important supporter of her goals. The daughter of a nurse, and a former social worker, Senator Stabenow has a commitment to public health. She was part of a team that brought federal aid to Flint and the availability of premixed infant formula so Flint mothers did not need to use the lead-contaminated water.

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha is a local heroine. I am proud to say that she was a graduate of Royal Oak Kimball High School, my alma mater. Her family came to Michigan for education but remained in exile from their homeland after the takeover by Saddam Hussein and the Iraq wars. Dr. Hanna-Attisha first became an activist with a Kimball environmental group.

I read an ebook through the local public library.

John Adams Under Fire; The Founding Father's FIght for Justice in the Boston Massacre Murder Trial by Dan Abrams

250 years ago the Boston Massacre marked the beginning of the American Revolution. The mythos handed down tells how British Redcoats fired into a crowd of Americans, resulting in the death of freeman Crispus Attucks and other men.

The soldiers and their superior were put on trial separately. Samuel Adams wanted to capitalize on the incident to inflame anti-British sentiment and support the Sons of Liberty.

John Adams was part of the team to defend the Redcoats. He wanted to keep politics out of it and to prove the fairness and impartiality of American justice.

I knew it was a pivotal trial in American judicial history and I thought it would be interesting to learn more.

Dan Abrams' book John Adams Under Fire follows the incident and the testimonies at the trials in meticulous detail. The trials set new precedents in the length of the trials, extending over days, and in the judge's warning of 'reasonable' doubt' tending toward a verdict of not guilty.

I have to admit that with pages and pages of testimony reproduced in the book I scanned over many pages without a thorough  reading. It was...frankly, boring...

But I am not a scholar or a lawyer.

I appreciated many aspects of the book including a deeper understanding of the roots of the riot.

British soldiers stationed were in Boston, one lobsterback to every three citizens. Bostonians resented their presence and their conduct toward the colonists. Some soldiers took jobs to supplement their meager income, and some courted young women, but they also pushed their weight around harassing Bostonians and raped women.

Young Bostonian men decided to give the sentries a hard time, taunting them to lash back and fire their guns. The youth threw ice balls and carried clubs and struck the guns. They knew the soldiers could not fire in anger.

Propagandistic rendering of The Boston Massacre
By Henry Pelham (American, 1749–1806) - New York Public Library, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12960467

Until they did.

Since Americans did in the end sent the Brits back across the pond, our history is biased. Paul Revere's picture of soldiers firing and citizens dying shows Americans as victims. Crispus has become a hero, even if he was likely one of the men out to stir up trouble in the first place.

A book not for the reader who prefers narrative nonfiction that reads like a novel, I am still pleased to have increased my understanding of this pivotal moment in America history.

I was given access to a free ebook by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

John Adams Under Fire: The Founding Father's Fight for Justice in the Boston Massacre Murder Trial
by Dan Abrams; David Fisher
HARLEQUIN – Trade Publishing
Hanover Square Press
Pub Date: March 3, 2020
ISBN: 9781335015921
$28.99 (USD) hardcover

The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson

The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson was this month's book club pick. I enjoyed reading this book and found it interesting.  

I am not into fishing or fly tying, and although it is about the theft of rare feathers from a museum to be used in salmon fly tying, that's not the whole point of the book. What is fascinating is the obsessive aspect of fly tying and its roots in a crazy but popular 19th c writer who insisted that rare and beautiful birds needed to be harvested to create perfect flys to attract specific fish in specific streams.

The book also talks about the obsession for birds and feathers in 19th c fashion and how millions of birds were killed for the sake of their feathers.

This book is about obsession and the crazy things we become obsessed with. The obsession of a 19th c naturalist to collect rare birds. The obsession of a man who stole the rare birds from a museum, justifying his action. The obsession of the author who needed to understand the thief and to find what happened to all the birds.

And, there is the obsession of us readers who want to know how the story ends.

Most of our book club readers did not finish the book or were disappointed by the ending. Some parts interested others. One was emotionally upset by the killing of birds. It was the lack of an ending that gave closure that most disappointed the readers. Even if the 'mystery' was not solved, the 'truth' revealed, they wanted the author to offer something to wrap the story up. Two of us did enjoy the book.

I purchased an ebook.

Father of Lions by Louise Callaghan

Ordinary people in extraordinary times can accomplish the heroic. 

Father of Lions: One Man's Remarkable Quest to Save the Mosul Zoo by Louise Callaghan tells the story of the people who worked to save the Mosul Zoo animals under unimaginable circumstances. The privations of wartime, the societal and political shifts under ISIS, and the extraordinary measures taken to extract the animals are vividly rendered. 

Abu Laith loved animals. As a boy, he brought home two dogs who became his constant companions, which set him apart in a society that condemned dogs as unclean. He learned everything he could about wildlife from National Geographic and dreamed of creating his own zoo where the animals had open spaces instead of cages. 

Upset by the neglect of the zoo animals across the street from his Mosul home, he contacted the distant zoo owner and became the zookeeper. He hand-raised a baby lion he called Zombie. He loved the lions and bears and monkeys and took great pride in their care.

When ISIS took over Mosul and set up camp in the zoo, Abu Laith went into hiding with his family. He fretted over his beloved animals' neglect, but under threat from ISIS was unable to leave his home. He hired a man out of his own pocket to care for the zoo. 

And then the Iraq war came.

For over two and a half years, Abu Laith endeavored to keep his beloved animals alive. At the end of the ISIS occupation of the zoo, there were only a few starving animals left. A former government scientist became involved and contacted an Austrian charity that rescued animals. Egyptian veterinarian Dr. Amir risked everything to bring the remaining animals out of Mosul.

Life in Mosul before and during ISIS occupation is central to the story. One of the most difficult scenes involved Abu Laith's wife giving birth--unable to even raise the veil covering her face! 

During the war, families squeezed into one room while under bombardment, enduring long hours of boredom and isolation. It was a struggle to find food and dangerous to even prepare it.

After the war, women lifted their unveiled, pale faces to the sun for the first time in years. The streets once again were filled with people. Zombie was repatriated to his native element. And readers rejoice with their reclaimed freedom.

I received an ARC through Bookish First in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Father of Lions
by Louise Callahan
Forge Books
On Sale: 01/14/2020
$27.99 hardcover; $14.99 ebook
ISBN: 9781250248947

Labyrinth of Ice: The Triumphant and Tragic Greely Polar Expedition by Buddy Levy

In 1881, American Lt. A. W. Greely and a team of scientists went on a journey to pass the record of reaching furthest North. Buddy Levy's new book Labyrinth of Ice takes readers on their journey of glory and horror. The men accomplished their mission of reaching furthest North and contributing important scientific data. They were also stranded over two winters with dwindling supplies.

Anyone who knows me or follows my book reviews will know that I am a life-long fan of Polar expedition literature. It started with reading The Great White South by Herbert Ponting when I was eleven years old. I read and reread the tattered, discarded library book  about the failed Scott Expedition to the South Pole. Scott and his team were such romantic, tragic heroes.

In recent years I have enjoyed the opportunity to continue reading outstanding books sharing the tales of Arctic and Antarctic expeditions, an armchair adventurer. Before the astronauts and space exploration, men of courage and vision took on the vast frozen spaces of ice, seeking fame, glory, short-cut passages, and scientific knowledge. They were the heroes of their day.

Labyrinth of Ice was a bone-chilling read. I felt I knew these men and suffered with them. The bravery and selflessness of some were offset by a self-seeking thief. Madness and despair were found alongside clear-thinking and innovative thinkers. When their supply and rescue ships failed to arrive, Greely struggled to keep the team disciplined, in good spirits--and alive as they suffered life-threatening conditions and starvation. Lady Greely, extremely self-educated in Arctic literature, pressured the government to send out rescue ships.

Eleven men had died before they were finally found. Public opinion turned from adulation to revulsion when rumors of cannibalism circulated the newspapers. The survivors went on to illustrious careers.

I was given access to a free ebook by the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

Labyrinth of Ice: The Triumphant and Tragic Greely Polar Expedition
by Buddy Levy
St. Martin's Press
Pub Date 03 Dec 2019
ISBN: 9781250182197
hardcover $29.99 (USD)

Broke: Hardship and Resilience in a City of Broken Promises by Jodie Adams Kirshner

My family moved to Metro Detroit in 1963 for a better life. My folks did achieve their dreams--a blue-collar job, a home of their own, medical insurance, a decent income, and a pension to retire on. Dad loved his job at Chrysler.

Just a few years later my friends and I watched as planes with National Guard troops flew overhead and tanks lumbered along Woodward Ave., heading to Detroit. The city's legacy of racist policies had birthed rebellion.

Over my lifetime the once-great city plummeted into bankruptcy and stretches of 'urban prairie'.

Why do we remove people from homes, leaving the houses empty to scrappers and decay and the bulldozers? Isn't it better for all to have the houses occupied, assist with their improvement, to have neighborhoods filled?

Jodie Adams Kirshner's Broke relates the series of events and decisions that brought Detroit from vibrancy to bankruptcy. But Kirshner doesn't just give a history of racist housing discrimination and government policy decisions. We experience Detroit through the stories of real people and their struggles to achieve their dreams.

Homeownership is the American Dream. Detroit's homeownership rate was once one of the highest in the nation. Then, African American neighborhoods were razed for 'urban renewal' projects while redlining curtailed housing options.

Kirshner shows how governmental decisions on the federal, state and local level disenfranchised Detroit residents who valiantly endeavor to remain in their homes and neighborhoods.

Bankruptcy, we come to understand, is not just a fiscal issue but hugely impacts individuals' lives.

These six people's stories are moving and devastating. They dream of owning the home in which they live. They purchase houses, repair them, and discover back taxes and water bills follow the house, not the resident, and they can't pay them. Investors purchase houses and let them stand empty while the family who had been living there are forced out.

They can't afford the $6000 a year car insurance they need to work--and to get their kids to school as Detroit has no school buses.

Some are native Detroiters but others were drawn to Detroit's atmosphere and sense of possibility. They are unable to obtain mortgages to purchase empty buildings for development.

They are never sure if rent payments are actually getting to the landlord, or if the discount car insurance they purchase is legit.

House damage remains unrepaired by distant landlords, jeopardizing the safety of a woman and her child.

Meanwhile, Midtown and Downtown development draws suburbanites at the price of huge tax breaks while neighborhood needs are ignored.

Kirshner is a journalist and bankruptcy lawyer and teaches at Columbia Law School. Broke offers deep insight through compelling narrative writing that illuminates and reaches our hearts.

I was granted access to a free egalley by the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

Read how Kirshner came to write this book here.

“As a resident and business owner in Detroit, I think Broke captures the complexity and heartbreak here. Clear, accessible, and to the point, it’s so readable that I sped through it and then read it again to take notes.” —Susan Murphy, Pages Bookshop, Detroit

Broke: Hardship and Resilience in a City of Broken Promises
by Jodie Adams Kirshner
St. Martin's Press
Pub Date 19 Nov 2019
ISBN 9781250220639
PRICE $28.99 (USD)

*****

Read More:

Detroit 1967
https://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2017/06/we-hope-for-better-things-detroit-1967.html
Once in a Great City by David Maraniss
https://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2015/09/once-in-great-city-detroit-story-by.html
The $500 House in Detroit by Drew Philp
https://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2017/04/building-new-world-order-500-house-in.html
Arc of Justice by Kevin Boyle
https://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2012/03/legacy-of-racism.html
Lost Detroit: Stories Behind the Motor Cities Majestic Ruins by Dan Austin and photos by Sean Doerr
https://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2014/01/detroit-city.html
The World According to Fannie Davis by Bridgitt M. Davis
https://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-world-according-to-fannie-davis-my.html

The Queens of Animation by Nathalia Holt

It was the 1956 rerelease of Fantasia that rocked my world. I was four years old and Mom took me to a Buffalo, NY theater to see my first movie. The images and the music made a lasting impression, driving a lifelong love for symphonic music.

I already was in love with illustrative art, thanks to the Little Golden Books that my mother brought home from her weekly grocery shopping trips. My favorite was I Can Fly, illustrated by Mary Blair. And on my wall were Vacu-Form Nursery Rhyme characters including Little Bo Peep, Little Boy Blue--which I later discovered were also designed by Mary Blair! And even later in life, I learned that Mary Blair had worked for Walt Disney. And of course, growing up in the 1950s, anything Disney was a favorite.

Especially the 1959 release of Sleeping Beauty. I was still in my 'princess' phase, which came after my 'cowboy gunslinger' phase. Mom took me to see the film. I had the Disney Sleeping Beauty coloring book. I had the Little Golden Book. And I had the Madame Alexander Sleeping Beauty doll! Sadly, my dog chewed it up but in my 40s I purchased one on eBay to satisfy my inner child.

Fast forward to the late 1980s and my husband and I were buying up Disney videotapes for our son, raising another generation of Disney fandom. His first theatrical movie was The Little Mermaid.

My fandom never took me as far as to read books about the Disney franchise or Walt. Until The Queens of Animation: The Untold Story of the Women Who Transformed the World of Disney and Made Cinematic History. I remembered my love of Mary Blair and thought, Nathalia Holt has something here. I wanted to know the names and the contributions of these unknown women.

It was a joyful read, at once a nostalgic trip into the films that charmed and inspired my childhood-- and our son's --and a revealing and entertaining read about the development of animation and the rise of women in a male-dominated culture. I put aside all other books.

Holt concentrates on the women's careers but includes enough biographical information to make them real and sympathetic. I was so moved to read about Mary Blair's abusive marriage.

Holt also does a stellar job of explaining the rising technologies that would impact animation, eventually eliminating the jobs of hundreds of artists. We learn about Walt's interest in each story that inspired the animated movies and the hard work to develop the story, art, and music, along with the conflicts and competition behind the scenes.

I learned so many interesting facts! Like how Felix Salten's novel Bambi: A Life in the Woods was banned in Nazi Germany because it was a metaphor for Anti-Semitism! How Mary Louise Weiser originated the grease pencil, one of the many technologies Disney developed and perfected or quickly adapted.

And I loved the story of Fantasia. Bianca Majolie presented the music selections to Walt, including The Nutcracker Suite's Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Waltz of the Flowers. Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker ballet had never yet been produced in the United States at the time! The male animators did not want to work on illustrating fairies (they instead created the Pastoral Symphony's centaurs and oversexualized centaurettes, including an African-American servant who was part mule instead of horse).

Choreographer George Balanchine was touring the studio with Igor Stravinsky, whose The Rite of Spring was included in Fantasia, and he loved the faires in the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies. Fifteen years later he debuted The Nutcracker at the new Lincoln Center and it became a Christmastime annual tradition.

I just loved this book for so many reasons! Thank you, Nathalia Holt!

I was given access to a free egalley by the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

The Queens of Animation: The Untold Story of the Women Who Transformed the World of Disney and Made Cinematic History
by Nathalia Holt
Little, Brown and Company
Pub Date 22 Oct 2019
ISBN 9780316439152
PRICE $29.00 (USD)

The Winter Army by Maurice Isserman: The WWII Odyssey of the 10th Mountain Division

Over twenty years ago I met Floyd Erickson, born in the Upper Penninsula Michigan. During WWII Floyd served in the 10th Mountain Division. His life-altering experience under fire on Mt. Belvedere was legendary; everyone knew of his bargain with God which led to his becoming a well-beloved patriarch of the church.

I recall how Floyd, still trim, proudly donned his uniform to join his fellow soldiers at a reunion. And the stories his wife Elizabeth told of how Floyd supported his large U.P. family and the alteration in his character when he returned from war.

Maurice Isserman quotes Floyd in his history of the 10th Mountain Division, The Winter Army, in the chapter concerning the Allied invasion of Kiska. After months of training in extreme conditions, the Army was uncertain of what to do with this 'winter army' of men trained for mountain snow and ice. Their first deployment was to oust the Japanese from Kiska in the Aleutian archipelago.

"It was a terrible night, that first one," Floyd said, recalling the twelve-hour ascent carrying his gear and machine gun ammunition, then digging a foxhole in the pouring rain. The Americans did not know that the Japanese army had already abandoned Kiska. Nineteen mountain troopers died from 'friendly fire'. It was a demoralizing blow.

Floyd Erickson in Italy

Isserman narrates the history of this legendary division with details drawn from oral histories that bring the story to life.

Toward the end of the war, the 10th Mountain was sent to the Italian Alps. They were there to keep the German army busy. Climbing the iced mountains, crossing the open Po Valley the Po River, and the final battle was horrific.

Floyd saw his best friend killed in action and suffered permanent hearing loss from a blast.

Isserman's book focuses on the extraordinary men, the "mix of Ivy League students, park rangers, Olympic skiers, and European refugees," who "formed the first specialized alpine fighting force in US history."

After the war, these men impacted the ski industry. One became the first executive director of the Sierra Club; another co-found The Village Voice. One co-founded Nike; another became a renowned historian. And there was Bob Dole, US senator, and presidential candidate.

And there were men like Floyd, an ardent skier from a small town with a large impoverished family, a good man whose life was dedicated to his family and church and community.

I was given access to a free book by the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

The Winter Army: The World War II Odyssey of the 10th Mountain Division, America's Elite Alpine Warriors
by Maurice Isserman
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Pub Date 05 Nov 2019 
ISBN:9781328871435
hardcover $28.00 (USD)

Irving Berlin, New York Genius by James Kaplan

I sped through this delightful biography of Irving Berlin in two days.  From the Preface to the end, I was totally captivated.

James Kaplan presents the iconic composer's nine-decade contribution to the Great American Songbook through Berlin's work, personal experience, and as a Jewish immigrant. It's a rags-to-riches story based on Berlin's intense work ethic, but he was also helped along by friends and peers.

Everyone knows Berlin's God Bless America. It was written during WWI but was set aside until WWII when Berlin dusted it off and finally shared it with the world.  It was the right song at the right time. White Christmas is another well-beloved Berlin song that matched its time, resonating with WWII troops across the world.

Berlin was criticized for his patriotic song--because he was an immigrant. The Beilin/Baline family fled Russia's pogroms to settle in New York City. Berlin's father was a cantor, usually unemployed. After his father's early death, Berlin left home to fend for himself. The story of Berlin's years on the street, selling newspapers and busking Tin Pan Alley songs, exemplifies his life-long work ethic, pluck, and luck. 

Unable to read or write music, Berlin worked with a series of pianists who brought what Berlin heard in his head to the page.

As a Jew, Berlin encountered the rampant anti-Semitism leading up to WWII.

Berlin created a Christmas song without religion and his Easter Parade brought a secular vision of the most important Christian celebration. 

I was familiar with many of Berlin's hits because I have been a sheet music collector for forty years. 

1909

I wrote about My Wife's Gone to the Country Hurrah! Hurrah!; read it here.

1911

Berlin revived Rag Time with his megahit march Alexander's Ragtime Band which George Gershwin considered "the first real American musical work."

1911

1912

1913

WWI found Berlin conscripted, supporting the troops with a traveling revue, Yip Yip Yaphank. Actual soldiers performed. His song Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning resonated with millions. I wrote about it previously here.

1918

The musical revue was Berlin's favorite venue to write for.

1920

Berlin opened the Music Box Theatre to present his revues.

1921

1928

1928

Berlin wrote for Hollywood, including the music for the Marx Brother's first film The Cocoanuts. 

1929

1930

1937

During WWII, Berlin revived his revue Yip Yip Yaphank, taking the show on the road to soldiers at both fronts of the war. A movie version of the revue was released as This Is The Army.

During the war, other songwriters had successful shows on Broadway. Berlin chose to support the troops over advancing his career. He was exhausted and personally broke by war's end, struggling to adapt to peacetime.

1942

Berlin came to write Annie Get Your Gun after the death of Jerome Kern and he was offered to replace his dear friend.

Berlin was exhausted from taking his revue across the world. He was worried about writing for a Western, female character. It was his biggest challenge and he excelled, creating his best work.

1946

Berlin did the remarkable: he asked for a lower share of royalty percentage and that the show's producers Rodgers and Hammerstein and librettists Dorothy and Herbert Fields share equal billing with him on all publicity and sheet music. 

His later work never met with the same success.

1950

Berlin lived to be 101 years old.

1952

Berlin's friends and peers populate the biography as well, including Harold Arlen, a fellow wordsmith and cantor's son. (Read my review of Arlen's biography, The Man Who Got Away by Walter Rimler, here.)

I was given access to a free ebook by the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

All sheet music pictured is from my personal collection.

Kaplan's book is a part of Yale University Press's series on Jewish Lives.

Irving Berlin: American Genius
by James Kaplan
Yale University Press
Publication November 5, 2019
Price: $26.00
ISBN: 9780300180480

from the publisher:

Irving Berlin (1888–1989) has been called—by George Gershwin, among others—the greatest songwriter of the golden age of the American popular song. “Berlin has no place in American music,” legendary composer Jerome Kern wrote; “he is American music.” In a career that spanned an astonishing nine decades, Berlin wrote some fifteen hundred tunes, including “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” “God Bless America,” and “White Christmas.” From ragtime to the rock era, Berlin’s work has endured in the very fiber of American national identity.

Exploring the interplay of Berlin’s life with the life of New York City, noted biographer James Kaplan offers a visceral narrative of Berlin as self‑made man and witty, wily, tough Jewish immigrant. This fast‑paced, musically opinionated biography uncovers Berlin’s unique brilliance as a composer of music and lyrics. Masterfully written and psychologically penetrating, Kaplan’s book underscores Berlin’s continued relevance in American popular culture.