I adore anytime I can pick up a well-written, commercial book that teaches me something new about history. I had no idea that EMS services started with a handful of committed Black paramedics and their story was by turns inspiring, shocking, upsetting, and also deeply emotional. As with many parts of history, the real foundations of paramedic services have been erased. What an incredible gift this book was for me to get a much clearer picture of a slice of US history.
Until the 1970s, if you suffered a medical crisis, your chances of survival were minimal. A 9-1-1 call might bring police or even the local funeral home. But that all changed with Freedom House EMS in Pittsburgh, a group of Black men who became America's first paramedics and set the gold standard for emergency medicine around the world, only to have their story and their legacy erased-until now.
In American Sirens, acclaimed journalist and paramedic Kevin Hazzard tells the dramatic story of how a group of young, undereducated Black men forged a new frontier of healthcare. He follows a rich…
This coming-of-age novel was a bit slow to start, but it's deeply rooted in the author's own experiences and the deeper I went, the more connected I felt to the student protests and tense political climate of 70s China leading up to the student protests in Tiananmen Square. The twist at the end asks us all to question what we know, what the media shows us. and what the state hides. And I wept. It's absolutely worth pushing through some of the slower early pacing to dig into this important historical moment and the questions Lai Wen is asking us to ponder.
'An extraordinary book. Truly important' William Boyd
'Outstanding ... Intimate as well as epic' Sunday Times
'Poignant and powerful' Daily Mail
'Utterly gripping' The Spectator
'Beautiful and devastating' Irish News
Sunday Times Best Summer Reads 2024
A stunning, deeply moving novel about growing up in Beijing in the 1970s and 80s and taking part in Tiananmen Square protests
It is Beijing in the 1970s, and Lai lives with her parents, grandmother and younger brother in a small flat in a working-class area. Her grandmother is a formidable figure - no-nonsense and uncompromising, but loving towards her granddaughter - while her…
This a deeply important and difficult book. I have a special place in my heart for the history of the Congo, which was colonized brutally by Belgium and then exploited further by both Belgium and other western powers even once they "granted" independence. But I was not informed about the current realities of cobalt mining in Congo today - the very same cobalt that powers our batteries and is enabling me to write this review. If you want to know what's happening and what we can do to help the (largely children) in Congo who are being harmed by mining practices and the tech industry that turns a blind eye, this is a great place to start.
Cobalt Red is the searing, first-ever expose of the immense toll taken on the people and environment of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by cobalt mining, as told through the testimonies of the Congolese people themselves. Activist and researcher Siddharth Kara has traveled deep into cobalt territory to document the testimonies of the people living, working, and dying for cobalt. To uncover the truth about brutal mining practices, Kara investigated militia-controlled mining areas, traced the supply chain of child-mined cobalt from toxic pit to consumer-facing tech giants, and gathered shocking testimonies of people who endure immense suffering and even…
Step into this epic revenge tale a la The Count of Monte Cristo, based on the true story of France’s most notorious lady pirate. By the author of The Empress—as seen on Netflix.
It’s 1343 and Jeanne de Clisson is out for revenge.
At forty-three, her perfect life—a loving husband, three young children, and two castles in the French countryside—shatters when Phillip VI, the King of France, arrests and beheads her husband for treachery.
There’s no evidence and no trial—only the execution. The nobles are shocked. The paranoid king is relieved. And Jeanne…
Jeanne wants the king’s head on a pike.
To get justice, she’ll take to the sea with a pirate fleet. But while she’s burning castles to the ground and sinking merchant ships, the king is hunting her. And the closer she gets to her revenge, the closer the king gets to the people Jeanne loves most.
