Retelling the Past for Today's Young Readers
“Kids these days….” The phrase doesn’t need to be completed and usually isn’t. But the meaning is clear. Children have disappointed their parents. Or, if not their own, other parents’ kids have, with their ignorance, rudeness, and general misbehavior. The … Continued
Thomas Sowell published A Conflict of Visions thirty-five years ago, the first volume in a trilogy on the nature of political struggle. It was received with a yawn, by the establishment, at least. Sowell seemed to speak for no one … Continued
“He was buried in Hyde Park, his impact largely forgotten in the city and region that he loved enough to want to change.” [352] Thus ends Kerry Greenidge’s 2020 biography of the–yes–much neglected William Monroe Trotter. He was born in … Continued
We attend to data that support (confirm) our existing beliefs (biases). The phenomenon is so common it has a name: confirmation bias. I was aware of this process as I read Kerri Greenidge’s important new biography, Black Radical: The … Continued
I finished Ron Chernow’s definitive biography of Alexander Hamilton this month. It is easy to see how Lin-Manuel Miranda was inspired to write a musical about this overlooked “founding father without a father.” His life is truly operatic. I could … Continued
Another centennial arrives: the infamous Labor Day, 1921, blow-out at the St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco; or, as New Yorker’s Michael Schulman put it, Fatty Arbuckle’s “deadly pajama party.” (“Fatty Arbuckle and the Birth of Celebrity Scandal,” October 11, 2021) … Continued
Long Way Down, by Jason Reynolds, is a highly original novel in verse. It is clever, artful, provocative, and desperately important. Original: The story takes place in a single elevator trip from the eighth floor to the lobby of Will’s … Continued
Sorrow everywhere. Slaughter everywhere. If babies are not starving someplace, they are starving Somewhere else. With flies in their nostrils. Elizabeth Abbott’s “bittersweet” history of sugar is heavy on bitter, light on sweet. Slavery and exploitation dominate her compelling 400-page … Continued
I had a friend not so long ago who espoused a libertarian point of view. I enjoyed talking with him about politics, debating issues. His outlook was new to me. I learned a lot. Many of his ideas appealed. His … Continued
Susan Cheever’s Drinking in America is a strange book. It is interesting, entertaining, and informative, but it is also a bit odd. Deciding between it and Lender and Martin’s 1987 book of the same title, I opted with Cheever’s for … Continued