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History and Current Events May 2023 |
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| Poverty, by America by Matthew DesmondWhat it is: Pulitzer Prize-winning Evicted author and sociologist Matthew Desmond's incisive look at why America has more poverty than any other country in the developed world.
Topics include: affluent Americans' complicity in perpetuating poverty; the racial wealth gap; solutions for how to ameliorate poverty.
Try this next: Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream by Alissa Quart. |
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| A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman... by Timothy EganWhat it's about: In 1920s Indiana, Ku Klux Klan leader and presidential hopeful D.C. Stephenson exerted a terrifying control over the state and local governments -- until he kidnapped, raped, and murdered his one-time employee, a young woman named Madge Oberholtzer.
What happened next: Oberholtzer's courageous deathbed testimony led to Stephenson's murder conviction and effectively ended Klan influence in Indiana politics. |
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| Walk the Walk: How Three Police Chiefs Defied the Odds and Changed Cop Culture by Neil GrossWhat it's about: how three police departments in Stockton, CA, Longmont, CO, and LaGrange, GA implemented institutional reforms by replacing aggressive policies with ones that prioritize community building, racial justice, and de-escalation.
Author alert: Colby College sociologist Neil Gross is a former Berkeley, CA police officer.
Read it for: a hopeful look at how to address ongoing issues of police brutality. |
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| Emotional Labor: The Invisible Work Shaping Our Lives and How to Claim Our Power by Rose HackmanWhat it's about: how gendered expectations of managing emotions for the benefit of others burden and exploit women, particularly women of color.
Why you might like it: This inspiring call to action challenges readers to acknowledge and celebrate the undervalued work women perform in their personal and professional lives.
Further reading: Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (and More Life to Live) by Eve Rodsky. |
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| Ghosts of the Orphanage: A Story of Mysterious Deaths, a Conspiracy of Silence, and a Search... by Christine KenneallyWhat it is: a sobering exposé spotlighting how children in orphanages throughout North America, Europe, and Australia in the 19th and 20th centuries were subjected to horrific abuse and murder.
What's inside: firsthand accounts, court transcripts, and other documents that illuminate long-buried secrets.
Reviewers say: "A powerful work of sociological investigation and literary journalism" (Kirkus Reviews). |
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| Seventy Times Seven: A True Story of Murder and Mercy by Alex MarWhat it's about: In 1985 Gary, IN, four Black teenage girls stabbed 78-year-old white woman Ruth Pelke to death in her home. Fifteen-year-old Paula Cooper was the only one sentenced to death for the crime, becoming the youngest woman ever sentenced to death row.
What happened next: The case attracted global attention, with appeals made by Pelke's grandson and Pope John Paul II to not execute Cooper.
Read it for: a powerful story of advocacy, justice, and reconciliation. |
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Anatomy of 55 More Songs: The Oral History of Top Hits That Changed Rock, Pop and Soul
by Marc Myers
What it is: music journalist Marc Myers' follow-up to 2016's Anatomy of a Song, which provides insightful context behind popular songs released from 1964-1996 and features interviews with the artists involved.
Tracklist includes: Dionne Warwick's "Walk on By;" Redbone's "Come and Get Your Love;" Journey's "Don't Stop Believin';" Sheryl Crow's "If It Makes You Happy," and more.
Try this next: The Number Ones: Twenty Chart-Topping Hits That Reveal the History of Pop Music by Tom Breihan.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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