PositiveLibrary Journal\"The memoir shares plenty of juicy stories about big-name stars and Hollywood execs, but they aren’t there for mere titillation; Zwick focuses instead on how the stressors of filmmaking impact both the creative process and a filmmaker’s personal well-being. He has a disarming way of relating the most glamorous highs of his career, followed by setbacks, disappointments, and lingering self-doubt. Although Zwick’s accomplishments are numerous, he eschews self-congratulation in favor of arguing for the power of storytelling to enrich the lives of both audiences and creators. His disappointment with the current Hollywood preference for profit over artistry is palpable and affecting.\
Simon Parkin
RaveLibrary JournalParkin illuminates the long ignored injustices of Britain’s World War II concentration camp policies by focusing on some of the prominent individuals confined at Hutchinson Camp on the Isle of Man ... The author’s choice to center the narrative on Fleischmann allows him to highlight both the cruel absurdities of the concentration camp and the resiliency of those imprisoned ... A deeply effective look at an important but rarely discussed aspect of World War II history.
Matthew Green
RaveLibrary JournalGreen’s haunting travelogue through Britain’s disappeared places is both an examination of the historical forces that led to their abandonment and a meditation on the presence of absence in physical and emotional landscapes ... In each case, Green evokes the deep loss felt by the displaced as livelihoods, traditions, and cultures disappeared along with the communities that supported them ... Through these slices of British history, Green has woven a moving exploration of impermanence, memory, and the hypnotic allure of the past.
David Roberts
RaveLibrary Journal... superb ... Balancing a suspenseful account of the expedition with an overview of Watkins’s life, Roberts searches for the key to the explorer’s prodigious resolve, ultimately finding the contrast between the London bon vivant and the daring leader as compellingly mysterious as did Watkins’s contemporaries ... Placing Watkins and his team among the esteemed ranks of polar heroes like Shackleton and Scott, this is an essential read for enthusiasts of Arctic exploration and survival.
Keith Thomson
RaveLibrary JournalRollicking ... Thomson fleshes out each audacious attack and narrow escape with wit and insight, delving into seafaring terminology and the customs of piracy as he relates the buccaneers’ brushes with mutinies, storms, and deadly flora and fauna. By focusing on the individuals who kept accounts of the adventure, Thomson humanizes the \'Brethren of the Coast,\' shedding light on their motivations, histories, and relationships ... Every action-packed page is certain to thrill connoisseurs of piracy and seafaring history.
Nicholas Guyatt
RaveLibrary Journal... engrossing ... With great sympathy, Guyatt depicts the daily deprivations and mounting tensions inside the prison as the sailors’ imprisonment stretched beyond the end of the war, thanks to an ineffectual consul in London and a government that turned a blind eye to their suffering. The inevitable result, Guyatt argues, was an explosion of violence that cost nine American POWs their lives ... A powerful depiction of race relations, international politics, and governmental neglect in the early years of the American republic.
Ann McCutchan
PositiveLibrary Journal... both an exploration of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’s life and inspirations and an insightful look at the ups and downs of the creative process ... Drawing upon Rawlings’s abundant surviving correspondence, McCutchan doesn’t shy away from exposing the temperamental behavior that often strained her subject’s relationships with friends and lovers, or the frequent mood swings—exacerbated by illness and excessive drinking—that complicated her work habits ... A comprehensive, well-researched portrait of the life of Rawlings and her creative struggles that will engage a variety of readers.
Laurence Bergreen
MixedLibrary JournalElizabeth is as much a force in the narrative as Drake, with Bergreen recounting the machinations of her court to give full historical context to Drake’s marauding. Unfortunately, the book as a whole is marred by inconsistencies in chronology and repetitions that detract from an otherwise compelling story ... An intriguing-but-flawed exploration of an often-overlooked aspect of Elizabethan history.
Jess Zimmerman
PositiveLibrary Journal... powerful ... While the personal experiences Zimmerman draws on are by no means universal, there is plenty here for any woman to relate to. Her wit and eloquence, as well as her understanding of these myths, make for persuasive and empowering reading that will have women embracing their inner monsters.
Chris Gosden
RaveLibrary Journal... [an] enlightening history ... Rather than forming successive trends of increasing rationality, Gosden persuasively argues that magic, religion, and science have always existed in tandem ... In light of the current climate crisis, and inspired by the discoveries of quantum physics, Gosden furthermore makes a compelling case for a return to the kind of interconnected perspective central to most magical traditions ... A fascinating exploration of magic’s hold on the human imagination.
Amanda Leduc
PositiveLibrary Journal... a remarkable exploration into the ways disability has been portrayed in fairy tales and, consequently, how those portrayals have shaped society’s treatment of the disabled ... Leduc persuasively illustrates the power of stories to affect reality in this painstakingly researched and provocative study that invites us to consider our favorite folktales from another angle.
Dovey Johnson Roundtree and Kate McCabe
RaveLibrary JournalThroughout, Roundtree relates her triumphs and personal tragedies with an honesty and optimism borne of the religious faith that inspired her to add ordination as a minister to her long list of attainments. Readers will find her dogged certainty in the inevitable triumph of justice in times of social upheaval both timely and inspiring ... This superb work should ensure that Roundtree receives the recognition she richly deserves.
Mira Ptacin
PositiveLibrary Journal...this is as much a meditation on healing as a history of a spiritualist camp. With great empathy and insight, Ptacin shows how spiritualist practices have aided the healing process in the lives of its practitioners, followers, and in Ptacin herself ... A colorful, quirky, and ultimately moving look at a misunderstood faith and the iron-willed women who continue to sustain it.
