The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself: Racial Myths and Our American Narratives by David Mura
The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself: Racial Myths and our American Narratives by David Mura should be required reading in all high school and college classrooms – and for all Americans. Mura presents a cohesive, comprehensive, and uncompromising look into how white stories about race erase our true historical narrative and foster racism in the present.
Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask by Anton Treuer
Living on the North Shore of Lake Superior, a mere twenty miles from the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, commonly known as the Grand Portage Anishinaabe, I have a responsibility to learn and understand more about the first people that inhabited this area. They are my friends and neighbors, and I often don’t verbalize the questions I have because I don’t want to say anything offensive or reveal my ignorance. Treuer’s book is a straightforward path through what could be a minefield, one that to be honest, creates anxiety and for me and impairs genuine connection and communication.
Violeta by Isabel Allende
During a time when laws protecting a woman’s body autonomy are being threatened, reading Allende’s book reminds me that throughout history, women have exhibited great strength and resolve, and when banded together, are a force to be reckoned with.
Seven Aunts by Staci Lola Drouillard
Reading SEVEN AUNTS, I was overwhelmed with gratitude for these women and the author’s commitment to truth telling. Drouillard writes with such integrity. I cared deeply about the aunties, and I didn’t want to leave them. Extraordinary women leading ordinary lives; they lived in a world that did not recognize their contributions, but the lessons of their lives changed the world for future generations.
The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett
Ken Follett is the massively successful author of 36 books – selling over 178 million copies worldwide. He writes thrillers and mysteries but his most popular books are the Pillars of the Earth Trilogy. That first book, PILLARS OF THE EARTH, was published in 1989 was about the building of a medieval cathedral. It was number one on best-seller lists everywhere and turned into a major television series in 2010. Full disclosure: I have not read the trilogy – HOWEVER, I did just read the prequel to the Pillars of the Earth that came out in September 2021: THE EVENING AND THE MORNING. The prequel is set in the Dark Ages, which may explain my following comments.
There's a Revolution Outside, My Love, Letters from a Crisis, Edited by Tracy K. Smith and John Freeman
The stories, poems, essays, and letters in this collection are a battle cry -- beaten down by a pandemic, police brutality, political divisiveness, and an armed insurrection – the writers question whether America has the stuff it takes to make the changes required. “As long as socio-racial segregation and discrimination persist, and as long as the presence of the state is limited to the increasingly armed police force, then neither the biggest smile nor the use of any hollow expressions of “American Nice” is going to remedy what for a very long time most people of color have lived as a daily experience of injustice in this country,” writes Sofian Merabet.
A Promised Land by Barack Obama
Obama is a gifted storyteller; rather than letting the narrative get bogged down with rote policy and timelines, he leavens it with personal reflection. It would be easy to lose sight of oneself when you are the ruler of the most powerful nation in the world, but Obama is not afraid to look sideways at himself.
Caste: The Origins of our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
One of the most startling revelations in Caste is that the Nazi’s wrote their Nuremburg Laws using the Jim Crow South as their model. Wilkerson quotes Yale legal historian James Q. Whitman: “In debating how to institutionalize racism in the Third Reich, they began by asking how the Americans did it.” Hitler praised the United States’ near genocide of Native Americans and the Nazi’s were impressed by the American custom of lynching its subordinate caste of African Americans and the American “knack for maintaining an air of robust innocence in the wake of mass death.”
A Woman of No Importance, The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purnell
Purnell meticulously researched the book, scouring archives for long lost documents, reading correspondence, and interviewing Virginia’s niece. The narrative is dense, full of timelines, facts, and the names and code names of Virginia’s operatives, who were often to her great frustration ill-suited to the work and reckless, putting herself and others at great risk. The book reads like an adventure story, and Virginia’s winning personality, charm, ability to change her appearance – and most of all her complete fearlessness – left an indelible mark on the course of history. Following the war, Virginia was one of the first females hired by the newly formed Central Intelligence Agency.
After Such Knowledge: Where Memory of the Holocaust Ends and History Begins by Eva Hoffman
Some books are meant to be re-read, and it seems that for me the time was now to reread Eva Hoffman’s After Such Knowledge: Where Memory of the Holocaust Ends and History Begins. With everything going on in the world today, with global politics tipping right and an election bearing down on us, reading it again was a poignant reminder of that old trope, we must remember and understand history or we are destined to repeat it.
Night Flying Woman by Ignatia Broker
I read Night Flying Woman after reading Staci Drouillard’s Walking the Old Road and Louise Erdrich’s The Night Watchman. This trifecta of books left me feeling ashamed of this part of our American history, yet in awe of the spirit and resilience of the Anishinaabe people. If you are interested in Native American history, I recommend reading these companion books for a deeper experience.
Alice Paul, Claiming Power by J.D. Zahniser and Amelia R. Fry
Alice Paul reshaped the suffrage landscape, changing the course of the American suffrage campaign and subsequent efforts to secure women’s rights. She was the soul and guiding spirit of the final years of the American suffrage movement. Alice Paul, Claiming Power, by J.D. Zahniser and Amelia Fry documents Alice Paul’s legacy as the President of the National Woman’s Party.
Walking the Old Road, A People's History of Chippewa City and the Grand Marais Anishinaabe by Staci Lola Drouillard
In Walking the Old Road, A People’s History of Chippewa City and the Grand Marais Anishinaabe, author Staci Lola Drouillard tells the stories of a community of 200 Anishinaabe families at the turn of the century. Beginning in 1987, Drouillard had the prescience to begin interviewing Chippewa City elders preserving for future generations what would have certainly been a lost history. Through these first-person accounts, Drouillard evokes the place, the people, and the way of life that formed the spirit of our community.
