Margaret Renkl,
who comes from a colorful southern family, interweaves her close observations
of nature with glimpses of her own autobiography. She uses her birthplace and
nature as her gauge, mirror, and touchstone, whereas I use my authors.
Renkl
writes a weekly opinion column for the NYT. “The Gift of Shared Grief” is my
favorite piece from her second book. I hope that you don’t need it right now,
but maybe it will be useful to you when you do. Renkl’s way of responding to
grief is wise, eloquent, and uplifting; however, when necessary, she can be
brave and fierce.
When Renkl says, “Every day the world is teaching me what I
need to know to be in the world,” she’s not talking about screaming
headlines.
Winner of the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay Winner of the 2022 Southern Book Prize An Indie Next Selection for September 2021 A Book Marks Best Reviewed Essay Collection of 2021 A Literary Hub Most Anticipated Book of 2021 A Country Living Best Book of Fall 2021 A Garden & Gun Recommended Read for Fall 2021 A Book Marks Best Reviewed Book of September 2021
For the past four years, Margaret Renkl's columns have offered readers of The New York Times a weekly dose of natural beauty, human decency, and persistent hope from her home in Nashville.…
As an author, editor, and woman of color, I celebrate stories that reflect a diversity of voices. Good storytelling allows us to catch a glimpse into lives that may be similar or different from ours, that champion what makes us unique while reminding us that we are not alone.
Originally published in 2002, Colonize This! brings together the voices of young women of color writing about their experiences of race and gender in America. The 2019 edition features essays by a new generation of feminists of color writing on issues such as police violence, transgender rights, and immigration. These fresh voices are intermixed with essays from the original 2002 publication, creating a poignant feminist dialogue.
It has been decades since women of color first turned feminism upside down, exposing the feminist movement as exclusive, white, and unaware of the concerns and issues of women of color from around the globe. Since then, key social movements have risen, including Black Lives Matter, transgender rights, and the activism of young undocumented students. Social media has also changed how feminism reaches young women of color, generating connections in all corners of the country. And yet we remain a country divided by race and gender.
Now, a new generation of outspoken women of color offer a much-needed fresh dimension…
I’ve been a comic book nerd forever and a comic book historian for the past fifteen years, specializing in the history of female superheroes and writing books about Wonder Woman, Lois Lane, Catwoman, and more. A lot of amazing heroines have been featured in adaptations that have introduced them to a larger audience, but there are so many other great characters still waiting to get their chance to shine. I’m excited to share a few of them that I really love with you here, as well as spotlight a diverse collection of creators and characters that deserve a closer look.
In recent years, DC has branched out into standalone YA graphic novels that reimagine their characters, and Nubia: Real One is my favorite one yet. In the mainline comics, Nubia was Wonder Woman’s long-lost twin sister, but here McKinney and Smith reimagine her as a teenager in the southern United States, dealing with her Amazon powers as she reckons with injustice and police brutality. The book was inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement and McKinney and Smith’s desire to create a heroine that resonates with the issues faced by young, Black readers, and they deliver a fantastic story.
Nubia has always been a little bit different. As a baby she showcased Amazonian-like strength by pushing over a tree to rescue her neighbour s cat. But despite her having similar abilities, the world has no problem telling her that she s no Wonder Woman. And even if she were, they wouldn t want her. Every time she comes to the rescue, she s reminded of how people see her: as a threat. Her moms do their best to keep her safe, but Nubia can t deny the fire within her, even if she s a little awkward about it…
I’m a middle grade author, and I believe so much in the power of books to help broker conversations between kids and the adults in their lives, especially if those conversations are about things that are often tricky and tough to talk about. I love how middle grade fiction will fearlessly tackle these difficult topics, but does so well with heart and humor.
A Good Kind of Trouble is the beautiful story that follows the main character, Shayla, as she learns to use her voice and speak up for things that matters to her. The book has everything I love in a middle grade novel like humor and heart (Lisa is a master at describing junior high friendships and crushes!), but also engages honestly with the reader about important things like racism and social justice. This book can serve as a fantastic conversation starter for kids and parents and kids and teachers.
From debut author Lisa Moore Ramee comes this funny and big-hearted debut middle grade novel about friendship, family, and standing up for what's right, perfect for fans of Angie Thomas's The Hate U Give and the novels of Renee Watson and Jason Reynolds.
Twelve-year-old Shayla is allergic to trouble. All she wants to do is to follow the rules. (Oh, and she'd also like to make it through seventh grade with her best friendships intact, learn to run track, and have a cute boy see past her giant forehead.)
But in junior high, it's like all the rules have changed.…
I’ve been thinking about and researching obscured narratives for a long time, now. As a lawyer, I learned about how systems and structures marginalize and hide important voices because of overt discrimination and implicit biases, and I took that knowledge with me while I earned a PhD in literary studies. I’ve learned — and am still learning! — that if we want to remedy exclusions from cultural histories, we’ve gotto learn to think about what voices are missing and why. I hope reading my book and those recommended here will give you a chance to learn with me. Let’s change the ways we think about so-called “definitive” histories of music.
This is a book about the power of one musician to reimagine the shapes of identity and power in the face of centuries-long violence and pervasive discrimination against Black individuals and communities, and the ability of song and text to create new histories and futures.
I don’t think my words could possibly be better than Stephanie Phillips’s, so I’ll quote from her book here: “To watch Solange is to see a version of unapologetic Blackness many Black people aspire to—one that doesn’t subscribe to previous notions of what it means to be Black, one aware of self-preservation, one that doesn’t give a f*** about what Becky in the back thinks Black people should do.”
Whether you’re a fan of Solange’s music or not, you’ll find Phillips’s writing completely inspiring.
The dramatic story of Solange: a musician and artist whose unconventional journey to international success was far more important than her family name.
'Why Solange Matters is a significant and sober treatise on popular music . . . This book is more than necessary.' THURSTON MOORE
'The author's prose sparkles . . . This is a book about what freedom could look like for Black women.' CALEB AZUMAH NELSON, OBSERVER
'Invigorating . . . much more than a dry thesis and at times something nearer to personal reverie.' IAN PENMAN,…
I am an author who also penned a novel during the pandemic, with a timeline that stretched into the first six months of the pandemic–against the advice of my agent and the publishing industry at large. I know many authors choose not to write about intense political and social happenings, but that “life will never be the same again” feeling was something I couldn’t avoid. The pandemic threw people together and kept us apart at the same time. I was intensely interested in its incubator effect as well as the silo aspect quarantining had on all of our lives.
This YA novel was the first I read set during COVID times, and it hit me with the urgency of The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas.
I loved the author’s unwavering courage in tackling the racial subject matter head-on. Heartbreaking and whip-smart, it taught me what teens were going through with regard to virtual friendship, classrooms, and pop stardom. Farley’s novel captures a moment in time during the pandemic while others were still processing it.
Like a photo album, I wasn’t quite ready to revisit, it portrays the importance of a difficult time in our nation’s history coupled with that uneasy age of adolescence. Entertaining, yes, but a historical artifact, definitely.
For sixteen-year-old Geth Montego, zero o’clock begins on March 11, 2020. By June, she wonders if it will ever end.
“An insightful, eye-opening, and inventive story. C.J. Farley has penned a novel that sheds an important light on real issues facing young people today.” ―Angie Thomas, author of The Hate U Give
In early March 2020 in New Rochelle, New York, teenager Geth Montego is fumbling with the present and uncertain about her future. She only has three friends: her best friend Tovah, who’s been acting weird ever since they started applying to college; Diego, who she wants to ask…
I’m an Associate Professor in the University of Alabama’s Department of Philosophy. I worked as an FBI Special Agent before making the natural transition to academic philosophy. Being a professor was always a close second to Quantico, but that scene in Point Break in which Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze fight Anthony Kiedis on the beach made it seem like the FBI would be more fun than academia. In my current position as a professor at the University of Alabama, I teach in my department’s Jurisprudence Specialization. My primary research interests are at the intersection of philosophy of law, political philosophy, and criminal justice. I’ve written three books on policing.
I love this book because it provides a unique perspective on the problems of policing.
It is certainly true that discrimination and socio-economic disparity are important explanations that are relevant to policing problems. However, Balko shows that the police institution’s warrior identity is an equally important problem.
This book provides an illuminating account of the ways that America's police officers have come to resemble an occupying military force that is in a faceoff against the communities they are supposed to protect.
The last days of colonialism taught America's revolutionaries that soldiers in the streets bring conflict and tyranny. As a result, our country has generally worked to keep the military out of law enforcement. But according to investigative reporter Radley Balko, over the last several decades, America's cops have increasingly come to resemble ground troops. The consequences have been dire: the home is no longer a place of sanctuary, the Fourth Amendment has been gutted, and police today have been conditioned to see the citizens they serve as an other-an enemy.
Today's armored-up policemen are a far cry from the constables…
Think you don't have cognitive biases? Think again. This book is a masterclass in understanding the human mind and our tendency to justify our actions. I was able to see where my self-justification could cloud my judgment and influence decisions.
The book contains many examples of cognitive biases from prosecutors, doctors, the #MeToo movement, spouses/partners, politicians, law enforcement, and more.
Basically....don't trust your own judgement!
Renowned social psychologists Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson take a compelling look into how the brain is wired for self-justification. This updated edition concludes with an extended discussion of how we can live with dissonance, learn from it, and perhaps, eventually, forgive ourselves.
Why is it so hard to say “I made a mistake”—and really believe it?
When we make mistakes, cling to outdated attitudes, or mistreat other people, we must calm the cognitive dissonance that jars our feelings of self-worth. And so, unconsciously, we create fictions that absolve us of responsibility, restoring our belief that we are smart, moral,…
I’m a historian at the University of Pennsylvania and an op-ed writer for numerous publications. I’m also a former Peace Corps volunteer and high school teacher. I’ve spent my adult life studying the ways that human beings imagine education, across space and time. Schools make citizens, but citizens also make schools. And we’re all different, so we disagree—inevitably and often profoundly—about the meaning and purpose of “school” itself. In a diverse nation, what should kids learn? And who should decide that? There are no single “right” answers, of course. I’m eager to hear yours.
In this day of “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” it’s easy to forget how our elite universities marginalized or simply excluded Black faculty and students. Stefan Bradley tells their stories for the first time, showing not just how African-Americans changed these institutions but also how their Ivy League experiences altered their own perceptions of America. We have a lot to learn from these “old heads”—about race, education, and much else—if we will simply stop for a moment, and listen.
Winner, 2019 Anna Julia Cooper and C.L.R. James Award, given by the National Council for Black Studies
Finalist, 2019 Pauli Murray Book Prize in Black Intellectual History, given by the African American Intellectual History Society
Winner, 2019 Outstanding Book Award, given by the History of Education Society
The inspiring story of the black students, faculty, and administrators who forever changed America's leading educational institutions and paved the way for social justice and racial progress
The eight elite institutions that comprise the Ivy League, sometimes known as the Ancient Eight-Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Penn, Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth, and Cornell-are American stalwarts that…
I am a sociologist with a longstanding interest in the social aspects of medicine and public health. I started with research on HIV/AIDS. Since then, I have written many books and conducted a multitude of studies on how people understand and experience health and illness and how they seek help when they are sick or feel at risk from disease. When COVID-19 hit the world in early 2020, it was not long before I started to think about what my research training and expertise could offer to understanding the social impacts of this new pandemic. I started to write about COVID and research on people’s everyday experiences.
The COVID Chronicles is an anthology of graphic fiction about COVID life. The dozens of contributors are mostly based in the US but also come from Australia, Canada, the UK, Europe, and Asia. There are a dizzying array of art styles and tones across the collection, from humorous to darkly grim. Together, all the graphic narratives reveal the ups and downs of pandemic life in the early months of COVID: from dealing with loneliness, unemployment, illness, and death, transitioning to working from home, racism, and the Black Lives Matter protests to seeking opportunities to show love, care, connection, and hope.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to its knees. When we weren't sheltering in place, we were advised to wear masks, wash our hands, and practice social distancing. We watched in horror as medical personnel worked around the clock to care for the sick and dying. Businesses were shuttered, travel stopped, workers were furloughed, and markets dropped. And people continued to die.
Amid all this uncertainty, writers and artists from around the world continued to create comics, commenting directly on how individuals, societies, governments, and markets reacted to the worldwide crisis. COVID Chronicles: A Comics Anthology collects more…
