nonfiction book review Archives

What White Male Supremacy Means for the Rest of Us: A Review of Mediocre

December 18, 2022March 17, 2024Rebekah Kohlhepp

I should have liked Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America by Ijeoma Oluo. I loved Oluo’s first book, So You Want To Talk About Race, and I always learn so much from similar books on racism and feminism.

The White Power of the Damsel in Distress: A Review of White Tears/Brown Scars

December 4, 2022December 2, 2022Rebekah Kohlhepp

Ruby Hamad’s 2020 book White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color is a paradigm-shifting work that combines history, personal experience, and media analysis to show how the tears of white women are far from harmless. If you think you know feminism—or even if you think you know intersectional feminism—you must read this book.

Does Abortion Harm Women? A Review of The Turnaway Study

November 6, 2022November 5, 2022Rebekah Kohlhepp

In 2007, Supreme Court justice Anthony Kennedy, writing the majority opinion upholding a ban on one abortion procedure performed later in pregnancy, seized an opportunity to weigh in on the emotional and mental state of women who have abortions. He wrote, “While we find no reliable data to measure the phenomenon, it seems unexceptionable to conclude some women come to regret their choice to abort the infant life they once created and sustained. Severe depression and loss of esteem can follow.” Clearly, in 2007, there was a serious need for reliable data on the consequences of abortion.
Diana Greene Foster, The Turnaway Study, p. 4

When Christian Nationalists Control the Court: A Review of American Crusade

October 23, 2022October 22, 2022Rebekah Kohlhepp

If I could summarize Andrew Seidel’s new book American Crusade: How the Supreme Court is Weaponizing Religious Freedom in one word, I would say it is difficult. At times it is difficult to comprehend due to legal jargon (even after the author purposely trimmed the fat, so to speak) but it is immensely difficult to stomach. This was a book I had to read slowly and take plenty of breaks from. It wasn’t a fun book, and it wasn’t intended to be.

It’s Almost Nonfiction November, the Best Time of Year

October 9, 2022April 8, 2023Rebekah Kohlhepp

I am so beyond excited to announce that in a few short weeks, Nonfiction November will be back, and with a brand new host: me!

I participated in Nonfiction November last year in my own quirky way by completing all of the though-provoking prompts in a single post, but in 2022 I’m doing it the way it’s meant to be done, one week at a time. And more than that, I’m hosting week 4!

Book Review: Jesus and John Wayne by Kristin Kobes Du Mez

September 25, 2022August 25, 2025Rebekah Kohlhepp

Since its release in June 2020, Kristin Kobes du Mez’s Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation has been required reading for anyone seeking to gain a full perspective on the Christian Nationalist movement in the United States and how it got this way.

Book Review: Bodies on the Line by Lauren Rankin

August 7, 2022August 6, 2022Rebekah Kohlhepp

If there is one good thing that has come out of the fight for abortion rights this year, it is that there are so many great books coming out which tell the story from every angle. Published in April 2022, Lauren Rankin’s Bodies on the Line: At the Front Lines of the Fight to Protect Abortion in America is the go-to book to learn about the unsung heroes of the abortion access movement: clinic escorts.

Book Review: Wrath of Angels by James Risen and Judy Thomas

July 31, 2022July 30, 2022Rebekah Kohlhepp

In the last month, we have heard countless Republicans and anti-abortion advocates trying to use the recent uptick in vandalism against crisis pregnancy centers as proof that the pro-abortion side is the side of violence. James Risen and Judy Thomas’s 1998 book Wrath of Angels: The American Abortion War blows that entire argument out of the water.

Book Review: Reproductive Justice: An Introduction by Loretta J. Ross and Rickie Solinger

May 8, 2022July 2, 2022Rebekah Kohlhepp

Everyone knows that access to abortion is a critical human rights issue. The potential overturning of Roe v. Wade is more than unconstitutional, it’s inhumane. An unjust human rights violation. But the worst part? As many activists have said, it’s the floor, not the ceiling, of reproductive justice. That’s where Loretta J. Ross and Rickie Solinger’s Reproductive Justice: An Introduction becomes crucial to understanding what that ceiling might look like.

Book Review: The Making of Biblical Womanhood by Beth Allison Barr

March 20, 2022September 4, 2023Rebekah Kohlhepp

For the past few years, I have been inching closer to Progressive Christianity. Before you ask, I’m not going to become a Christian. However, since exiting my Angry Atheist phase, I’ve felt confident and curious enough to explore who Progressive Christians are and what they believe.