Book Review: &amp;quot;The Underground Railroad&amp;quot;

Real Change

Book Review: “Half the Truth"

by Joe Martin | February 22nd, 2017

Former Seattleite John Paul O’Connor’s first book of verse is about the journey

“Perhaps no wrong is done and no temple of human justice violated in pointing out that each authentic poet makes a style of his own... In the spacious highways of books major or minor, each poet is allowed the stride that will get him where he wants to go if, God help him, he can hit that stride and keep it.” — Carl Sandburg from the preface to his “Complete Poems”
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Book Review: “The Rise and Fall of American Growth”

by Megan Wildhood | February 15th, 2017

I took on Robert Gordon’s two-pound tome, “The Rise and Fall of American Growth,” because of its thesis: America’s economy was based almost entirely on one-time inventions “subject to a long succession of subsequent incremental improvements” that gave us a century (1870–1970) of unprecedented growth that, according to author Robert Gordon, cannot be repeated. I had questioned the concept of infinite economic growth from the perspective of an environmentalist: How can you have infinite growth on a finite planet?
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Book Review: "Ugly: A Memoir"

by Susan Storer Clark | February 8th, 2017

Life isn’t always pretty. Robert Hoge’s memoir of growing up with massive birth defects is a triumph of spirit.

He was born ugly. How ugly was he? Maybe that sounds like the setup to a joke, but the punch line isn’t funny.

He was so ugly his mother wanted to abandon him in the hospital. She said to his father, “Perhaps he’ll die.”
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Book Review: "Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In"

by Mike Wold | February 1st, 2017

How Sen. Sanders turned a grassroots campaign into an influence machine

If there was one bright spot in 2016’s slow electoral train wreck, it was the unexpected and inspiring candidacy of Bernie Sanders, who proved that there’s still a place in national politics for unadulterated progressivism — that a belief in a caring, communitarian society can actually motivate millions of people. As one observer put it, Sanders wasn’t just getting people to vote for him, he was influencing the politics of a whole generation. The bulk of his support was among the young, while the boomer generation, to the embarrassment of many, mostly went for Clinton or Trump.
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Book Review: "Struggling for the Soul of Our Country" and "Demand the Impossible!, A Radical Manifesto"

by Joe Martin | January 18th, 2017

President Donald Trump. Yikes! Dark lies the uncertain road ahead. Two timely volumes reviewed here are recommended for clarifying personal focus and collective dedication sure to be required of all progressive and democratically minded citizens for confrontations ahead.
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Book Review: "This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto against Ageism"

by Mike Wold | January 11th, 2017

Ageism for the baby boomers is a real thing according to Ashton Applewhite's manifesto, though some might say the chickens have come home to roost for the 'don't trust anyone over 30' generation

The oldest baby boomers turned 71 in 2016. Since boomers have a reputation for being involved with social movements, it’s not at all surprising, as they hit retirement age, that they’ve rediscovered a form of oppression, ageism, that was first named when they were in their 20s. What’s surprising, actually, is that it’s taken this long for the fight to be revived. Perhaps that’s because the quintessential boomer subculture was the youth subculture with its explicit revolt against “olders,” as Ashton Applewhite calls them.
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Book Review: "Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City"

by Adam Hyla | January 4th, 2017

Matthew Desmond anecdotally analyzes the exploitation of urban poor by rich landlords

Sherrena and Quentin, husband-and-wife owners-managers of rental property on the near north side of Milwaukee, built their business with the faith that they could make it on their own. Still, Sherrena feels for those she rents to — and usually regrets it. Nobody feels her pain, so why feel for others? “So, Arleen,” says Sherrena to a mother of two whose eviction she’s just pursued in court, and who’s catching a ride home with her afterwards, “if you ever thinking about becoming a landlord, don’t. It’s a bad deal. Get the short end of the stick every time.”
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Book Review: "I'm Supposed to Protect You from All This"

by Katherine Luck | December 28th, 2016

Nadja Spiegelman’s memoir reveals the conflicts between mothers and daughters

Glancing through the opening pages of “I’m Supposed to Protect You from All This” by Nadja Spiegelman, the reader will be forgiven for wondering who Nadja Spiegelman is and what this conspicuously average 29-year-old from New York City has done to merit a memoir.
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Book Review: "The Trees"

by Susan Storer Clark | December 21st, 2016

Late one night, the trees came.

“The forest burst full-grown out of the earth, in booming uppercuts of trunks and bludgeoning branches. It rammed through roads and houses alike, shattering bricks and exploding glass.”

Everything changes with the coming of the trees. Is it only in this quiet English town, or worldwide? The people in the town can’t tell. All communication is cut. People and animals have been impaled or bludgeoned to death by the trees. The electricity is gone.
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Book Review: "The Underground Railroad"

by Elliott Bronstein | December 14th, 2016

In 'The Underground Railroad’ Colson Whitehead provides a horrific journey to the bottom of our soul

“The Underground Railroad is bigger than its operators — it’s all of you, too. The small spurs, the big trunk lines.”

The story goes that when Colson Whitehead was a child, he thought the Underground Railroad was an actual train that ran underground. Funny how those childhood confusions stick around: decades later, the author of “The Intuitionist” and MacArthur Fellow returned to that childhood fantasy to tell a fable of life in hell.
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