History & Politics from our 2017 Summer Newsletter

Rather than focusing on big guns and bravado, Roach sheds light on the less discussed aspects of the military and answers questions most of us would not think to ask. What makes the gadgets work and how are they tested? What do fashion designers look for when creating a military uniform? What advances have we made in genital reconstructive surgery? Her signature wit had me fascinating by topics I would never have otherwise explored. - Jade

In a time when it seems easier to joke about moving to Canada and watching Alec Baldwin’s Trump impressions on repeat, Radical Hope serves as a reminder that it is important to take action and think positively. This inspiring collection of letters from authors, artists, and activists offers perspective on our nation’s past, wisdom to cope with the present, and hope for the future. - Jade

A heartbreaking read about a small group of women whose tragic lives inspired the creation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The hellish road to their unplanned achievement was lit by glowing watch faces and radium-dusted lips, some of the dangers of which were unknown and others flat-out denied. The courage shown by these women is awe inspiring, and you’ll be surprised that you haven’t heard of them before. - Rachel

The Other Slavery is a masterful new picture of the Americas, unlike anything in a conventional history book. It is a sweeping story of how conquest, debt peonage, and bureaucratic sleight-of-hand were used to cover up a vast slave-trading network that began in the Caribbean and spread through Latin America, and New Mexico, California, and the rest of the American West, affecting millions of Native Americans. Written with a storyteller’s aplomb and a historian’s expertise, it kept my jaw dropping and my light on late into the night. - Tera

This is one of the best nonfiction books I have read in a long time. Part memoir, part investigative journalism, it is a riveting book of surprising depth. As a young law student, Marzano-Lesnevich came across a murder that she couldn’t let go of, as it brought up memories of her own past. Years later, now a journalist and writer, she went back to it, and using her investigative skills and compassionate curiosity, tried to understand the humanity that can still exist within brutal acts. This is an unforgettable read on the nature of forgiveness and the complexity of “fact” in the legal system, when truth is constructed from the intricacy that drives the human heart. - S.M.C.

Jesmyn Ward gathers a diversity of writers of color and writing to address the injustices and dangers of this country for its citizens of color. But while ignited by flames of rage and despair for the deaths that gave birth to #blacklivesmatter, these pieces burn with love—for family and friends, for writers and poets and the unnamed dead who came before, for communities under fire, for children and self and hope for the future. - Jocelyn

No one on Earth can see beyond political rhetoric and deliver such an unbiased analysis of the international theatre quite like the linguist and uber-intellectual Noam Chomsky. His latest book, although as sharp and piercing as any of his others, is written with an accessible tone perfect for anyone who is reading his work for the first time, and explores the tough world issues that most of us push to the back of our mind. - Aric

Miéville manages to take a chaotic and confusing moment in history and make it thrillingly present. On this, the hundredth anniversary of the Russian Revolution of 1917, it’s fascinating and instructive to look back at the revolution that continues to have such reverberations around the world. Written with brilliant, illuminating, and immersive prose, October will make you feel as though you jumped on the Trans-Siberian Express to experience the revolution yourself. - Jax