I am a few years older than the author and grew up in the suburbs of Boston, three towns away from his childhood home. The childhood he describes completely mirrors my own.
Like McKibben, I have witnessed the same disturbing changes happening in our country over the past 50 years. I, too, have shaken my head in disbelief at the transformations and asked, “How can this be happening?”
McKibben’s fierce curiosity and detailed research explain this change by examining how the definition of patriotism has taken on a different meaning, how the role of religion has waned significantly, especially in younger people’s lives, and how our economic class structure has inverted.
All these changes add up to a major transformation in American culture and values. I could relate to every premise he offered, saying, “Wow, this all makes sense!”
Bill McKibben―award-winning author, activist, educator―is fiercely curious.
“I’m curious about what went so suddenly sour with American patriotism, American faith, and American prosperity.”
Like so many of us, McKibben grew up believing―knowing―that the United States was the greatest country on earth. As a teenager, he cheerfully led American Revolution tours in Lexington, Massachusetts. He sang “Kumbaya” at church. And with the remarkable rise of suburbia, he assumed that all Americans would share in the wealth.
But fifty years later, he finds himself in an increasingly doubtful nation strained by bleak racial…
I loved the quirky characters and the dog named Six Thirty, which the author created for this story. She does a great job of portraying the sexism inherently accepted in many workplaces during the 1960s.
As a child of that era myself, I experienced biases against my wanting to play the trumpet (a boys’ instrument), play little league baseball (begrudgingly given the task of keeping score), major in accounting (only female of 100 students in my advanced accounting class) and eventually working for a large CPA firm (only the 10th female professional ever hired in their office up until 1976).
I can commiserate with the main character, Elizabeth Zotts’ frustrations at not being taken seriously by far less intelligent or capable male coworkers.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK • Meet Elizabeth Zott: a “formidable, unapologetic and inspiring” (PARADE) scientist in 1960s California whose career takes a detour when she becomes the unlikely star of a beloved TV cooking show in this novel that is “irresistible, satisfying and full of fuel. It reminds you that change takes time and always requires heat” (The New York Times Book Review).
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, Oprah Daily, Newsweek, GoodReads
"A unique heroine ... you'll find yourself wishing she wasn’t fictional." —Seattle Times…
The author, Paul Doiron, a former editor of Down East Magazine and a Registered Maine Guide, has written an enjoyable series featuring a central character named Mike Bowditch, a Maine Game Warden.
Each of the novels is set in a different Maine county and in a different month of the year. His characters are very relatable; each mystery to be solved is unique.
I live vicariously exploring the nooks and crannies of my state as I tag along with Mike. In this book, he solves a hit-and-run boat murder in the Lakes region. As long as Paul keeps writing, I’ll keep buying his books.
On the evening of their engagement party, Maine Game Warden Investigator Mike Bowditch and Stacey Stevens witness what seems to be a hit-and-run speedboat crash on a darkened lake. When they arrive at the scene, their spotlight reveals a gruesome sight: a severed arm beneath the surface. As day breaks, the warden dive team recovers not one but two naked corpses: the dismembered man and the married woman with whom he was having an affair. Mike begins to suspect the swimmers' deaths were not a senseless accident but a coldly calculated murder.
Coerced by her boss and fellow rivers guides, Brenda Smith reluctantly embarks on a rafting trip through a vast Tanzanian game reserve. If she can survive twelve terrifying days on remote jungle rivers, then she must scale Africa’s tallest mountain.
She comes face to face with angry hippos, roaring lions, and stealthy crocodiles and struggles with the extremes of unbearable heat and hypothermia. Despite the harsh external threats she conquers, her greatest challenge is a profound inner journey - a courageous transformation as she uncovers the internal source of her fears and discovers the personal strength to do anything.
Becoming Fearless is an inspirational true story that showcases what is possible when you step out of your comfort zone into the wild.
