Social justice book reviews
My views are my own.
I am voting third party in the 2024 presidential election. I have as little faith in the Democratic Party as I do in the Republican Party: none.
I am a pro-Palestine socialist. I am against genocide, capitalism, American imperialism, and Israeli apartheid.
A vote for Kamala Harris, like a vote for Donald Trump, is a vote for genocide, capitalism, American imperialism, and Israeli apartheid.
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In Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives, American journalist Siddharth Kara takes us into the Congo’s child-filled mines between 2018 and 2021—at least, as far as the Congo’s military will allow him. Kara encounters numerous obstacles in accessing mines to document and miners to interview. Government and mining company officials do not even try to hide the fact that journalists are not welcome there. If word were to get out—if someone were to, say, write a book about the conditions in the Congo’s mines—increased attention on the mines’ deadly conditions could jeopardize the capitalists’ monopoly on all the region’s resources and on its inhabitants’ lives.
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A chill wind blows. For most, fall is about soft sweaters, delectable candles, and pumpkin treats. Here in the book blogging community, it certainly is about all of those things, but there is one most special event in the forecast every autumn. For us, the fall breeze brings Nonfiction November!
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Book reviews have been my focus for a couple of years, but this year I haven’t had the time or energy to read, and when I do, I definitely don’t have the time or energy to write reviews. The books I’ve been reading are largely about Palestine, or socialism—both of which I’m new to and find politically dense and hard to read. (Most of what I read is usually new to me, because I can never stick with one topic for very long before I find another new and exciting hyperfixation. Such is life.)
For example, I’ve actually read three books about Palestine beyond just Light in Gaza in 2024.
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Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire, edited by Jehad Abusalim, Jennifer Bing, and Mike Merryman-Lotze, is the hardest-hitting book I’ve read on Palestine so far. I wish I’d started with it, rather than Palestine: A Socialist Introduction and Except for Palestine. Unlike those, Light in Gaza didn’t wade through the political history of the region, which can be overwhelming for uninitiated readers like me. Instead, 15 authors each spend a chapter telling their own stories. How has the occupation impacted them? How have their families survived? What do they want readers around the world to take away from their stories?
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I spend my waking days fighting against the Christian Nationalist movement that plagues the United States. Christian Nationalists weaponize the idea of religious freedom to justify stripping away the rights of Black, queer, disabled, and poor people, as well as women and anyone who is capable of pregnancy. Their attempt to overturn the 2020 election is the clearest indicator that they intend to put an end to our world-famous democracy.
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Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson took readers by storm in late 2020, so I was fashionably late reading it at the end of 2023. While something about its ubiquity made me hesitate to read it, it’s intrigued me for years.
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Palestine: A Socialist Introduction by Sumaya Awad and Brian Bean was an easy choice for me when looking to begin reading about Palestine and the Israeli settler occupation. I’m new to both Palestine and socialism, and the road of social justice seems to lead inevitably to both.
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This year’s Nonfiction November has left me feeling inspired by the book community, and it’s left my bookshelf overflowing! I can’t wait to share my new towering TBR with you. Luckily Lisa at Hopewell’s Public Library of Life has this week’s prompt, New To My TBR:
Read moreIt’s been a month full of amazing nonfiction books! Which ones have made it onto your TBR? Be sure to link back to the original blogger who posted about that book!
Nonfiction November 2023 continues with Week 4: Worldview Shapers, which I am proud to host!
Here’s your prompt:
One of the greatest things about reading nonfiction is learning all kinds of things about our world which you never would have known without it. There’s the intriguing, the beautiful, the appalling, and the profound. What nonfiction book or books have impacted the way you see the world in a powerful way? Is there one book that made you rethink everything? Do you think there is a book that should be required reading for everyone?
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