PositiveLibrary JournalMagisterial ... A massive history that captures a pivotal moment in Asian history that would affect the latter half of the 20th century.
Will Grant
PositiveLibrary JournalMore than a historical reenactment, the author’s exploration captures the daily lives of the people who today reside in some of the most desolate areas in the U.S.
Helen Rappaport
PositiveLibrary JournalRappaport brings Mary Seacole to life on the page and provides the real story of the woman who was voted the greatest Black Briton in 2004 ... Rappaport digs deeply into often spotty and confusing records to uncover the life of a nurse who became salvation for soldiers fighting in Crimea.
Buzz Bissinger
RaveLibrary JournalFans of Bissinger’s previous books will find a rich character-driven narrative about two of the dirtiest and deadliest battlefields of World War II ... Bissinger has found a way to merge sports with World War II to give readers a heartbreaking narrative of what many young men went through in the last days of World War II. Highly recommended.
Dawn Chmielewski and Dade Hayes
PositiveLibrary JournalThe book provides an early history of how traditional media companies attempted to take on Netflix and Amazon only to hit technological and cultural snags. The book places the launch of streaming services within the larger context of the mergers and acquisitions that have been happening within the entertainment industry. Hayes and Chmielewski’s coverage of AT&T’s streaming strategy, which ends with a jumble of HBO-branded services, provides an incisive case study. This book provides insight into the rationale and corporate strategy that caused five major services launches within a seven-month span ... This will appeal to readers of business and media books as it reports on the difficult launches of several streaming services. Recommended.
Phoebe Zerwick
PositiveLibrary JournalThe book’s reconstruction of Hunt’s last days is a powerful reminder of incarceration’s effects on the large numbers of Black Americans who have spent time behind bars ... Zerwick’s portrait of Hunt is a reminder of the trauma caused by the American justice system and offers an essential narrative of the lasting impacts of incarceration.
Garrett Hongo
PositiveLibrary JournalHongo’s memoir mixes audiophile obsession and cultural history to provide a warm resonance of human relationships to recorded music and voices; will find an eager audience.
Tomiko Brown-Nagin
RaveLibrary JournalBrown-Nagin’s biography not only shines a light on a forgotten civil rights pioneer but also asks insightful questions about the relationship of power, gender, and social justice. This is an important addition to any collection on law, social justice, or the civil rights movement.
Sheryll Cashin
RaveLibrary JournalIn contrast with the spate of books that address racial segregation with only a dispassionate academic focus on statistics and data, Cashin fills her book with personal stories from the Black Americans who have effectively fought the residential caste system. This book covers territory that will be familiar to readers of Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste and Richard Rothstein’s The Color of Law, to which Cashin adds potential solutions rooted in respect and humanity ... Cashin’s study of the racial foundations of residential castes is an accessible and compelling read that balances historical documents with personal narratives. Highly recommended.
Jay Caspian Kang
PositiveLibrary JournalHis cultural criticism adds a much-needed perspective to the growing body of literature by the children of Korean immigrants in the United States ... Kang\'s book adeptly blends history, memoir, and current affairs in an attempt to make sense of the individual\'s place in the current map of the United States.
Theodore R Johnson
PositiveLibrary JournalJohnson, a doctor of law and policy and former U.S. Navy commander, weaves his personal history with that of the nation to show that the personal and political are intertwined for all of us. His book builds a solid foundation for his call for a national solidarity that mixes deliberate democracy, national service, and civic education ... Johnson supports his argument with a mix of stories, both personal and historical, which brings a personal aspect to a work that can be academic at times. While the book covers the same territory as recent works by Isabel Wilkerson and Ibram X. Kendi, Johnson’s particular point-of-view makes his call to action feel like a patriotic duty.
Daniel James Brown
PositiveLibrary JournalCombining social and military history, Brown’s latest book gives readers a heartbreaking picture of all that Japanese Americans sacrificed for their country during World War II.
Jonathan Levy
PositiveLibrary JournalLevy has given us a textbook on America that successfully explains history through an economic perspective ... This massive tome provides a clear narrative of how economic power in America has always resided with those rich enough to invest. An understanding of economic principles is helpful but not essential to following Levy’s analysis ... Levy makes a cohesive argument that provides a new perspective on the trajectory of the U.S. but will still feel familiar to any student of history.
Mike Konczal
PositiveLibrary JournalThis well-researched book provides a detailed history of the regulations and their ultimate benefit to both the American public and the free market ... Providing solid cases where government regulations helped to give Americans a better life, this will appeal to progressives looking for a history of their movement.
V. P. Franklin
PositiveLibrary Journal... authoritative ... Franklin provides a richer history of the young activists who marched in the South and provides an unflinching look at the brutality they faced. He also looks at the students who pushed for education reform and youth involvement in Black Power. It’s an empowering history of the work young activists have done throughout the 20th century ... Franklin’s history of student involvement in protest provides a rich historical perspective on the ongoing struggles for equality in the United States. Highly Recommended.
Charles M Blow
MixedLibrary JournalWhile the account evades some of the tougher questions on economic development and the dismantling of entrenched voter suppression, Blow does provide a compelling argument on how a second migration back to the South could prove a way forward for Black America ... Blow, who has followed his own advice and moved to the South, will find a readership in like-minded individuals who are seeing his argument play out in Georgia.
Jill Watts
PositiveLibrary Journal... thouroughly researched ... A dramatic piece of nonfiction that recovers the history of a generation of leaders that helped create the environment for the civil rights battles in decades that followed Roosevelt’s death.
E. J. Koh
PositiveLibrary JournalA poignant transgenerational story of trauma and recovery in South Korea, Japan, and America.
Richard Snow
PositiveLibrary Journal... accessible and well-researched ... fans of Disney and amusement park history will find compelling accounts of the work and innovation that resulted in a park that was organic in its creation. Readers of Chad Denver Emerson’s Project Future and Martin Sklar’s Dream It! Do It! will relish the stories from the cast of characters who worked long hours under extreme pressure to open the happiest place on Earth ... Much has already been written about Disney’s theme parks, but Snow’s readable business history explores the work and innovation that went into launching the park.
Mary M. Lane
MixedLibrary JournalWhat could have been an exploration of the continued ethical problems with the art world’s handling of these items instead becomes an overly simplistic cultural history of German artists and Hitler’s rise to power that covers the same ground as Susan Roland’s Hitler’s Art Thief. And while the Gurlitt family’s story provides a new view on culture in Nazi Germany, the author overall relies too much on well-trod history.
Dave Tell
MixedLibrary JournalThese tales provide a new view of civil rights but can get weighed down with academic detail. The book will mostly appeal to historians interested in civil rights, especially those looking at the intersection of ecology and memory
