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Powell's Staff:
Five Book Friday: In Memoriam
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Every year, the booksellers at Powell’s submit their Top Fives: their five favorite books that were released in 2023. It’s a list that, when put together, shows just how varied and interesting the book tastes of Powell’s booksellers are. I highly recommend digging into the recommendations — we would never lead you astray — but today...
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Brontez Purnell:
Powell’s Q&A: Brontez Purnell, author of ‘Ten Bridges I’ve Burnt’
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Rachael P.:
Starter Pack: Where to Begin with Ursula K. Le Guin
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Customer Comments
Ashley Bowen-Murphy has commented on (25) products
Men We Reaped: A Memoir
by
Jesmyn Ward
Ashley Bowen-Murphy
, July 23, 2016
Everyone told me this book was beautiful and gutting but I still wasn't prepared for Ward's incredible memoir. I'd planned to read for just a half hour or so and found myself unable to break away from her story of grief and race, the south and home, growing up and forming connections in the world. While this is, absolutely, a book about several men in Ward's life that died between 200-2004, it's also a memoir of female survival. It's as. Much about losing men as it is about becoming a woman left in their wake (for good or ill). This is a fantastic book to read in conjunction with "Between the World and Me" because it tackles similar themes about black men and black bodies in the world. This book came out a few years ago but it feels like a great book to read in light of #BlackLivesMatter. Just be prepared: it's so beautiful and engrossing that even if it makes you cry, you won't want to put it down.
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The Heavenly Table
by
Donald Ray Pollock
Ashley Bowen-Murphy
, July 23, 2016
I DNF'd this book at about 1/3 of the way through and that's a shame-- I really, really wanted to love it. I'm a huge fan of Southern Gothic and/or American noir and stories about the ways that lives intersect in large and small ways. Still, this book felt so masculine (that's the only word I can think of to describe it). All the characters with any heft to them were men, the women seemed to exist only on some virgin-whore binary, and there is an honest-to-god conversation about p*nis size (and I don't think it's ironic). Pollock's writing is beautiful which is the only thing that kept me reading beyond the conversation about the "well endowed" sanitary inspector finding dead babies in latrines. Ultimately, it just wasn't enough and I decided to move on to another book. Apparently, the book is a satire but the tone just missed for me... Utterly and completely.
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Born Losers: A History of Failure in America
by
Scott A. Sandage
Ashley Bowen-Murphy
, June 30, 2015
This is one of those phenomenal books that gives me faith that academic writing can also be beautiful and moving. For what is essentially an economic history, "Born Losers" is a delight to read. Sandage deftly blends literature and poetry with economic concepts and bankruptcy law. The book closes with a wonderful meditate on failure in 20th century popular culture. Sandage's book unpacks the idea of failure in the United States from about 1810 through the middle of the 20th century. The book is a cultural history of economics that foregrounds how identities shape and are reshaped by both social and economic forces. Sandage tells the reader that failure stories are everywhere and his source material certainly suggests that is true. He pulls on literature, diaries, credit reports, slang dictionaries, charity records, suicide letters, begging letters, and court records! "Born Losers" identifies how white men failed in America and the ways in which only white men could fail: women and people of color formed the inherent unsuccessful base on which white men's possibility of success (and, in turn failure) was based. As the only people who could enter into contracts of own property before the Civil War, white men's ability to go into debt/fail paradoxically proved their independence. The book begins by outlining how the market revolution moved failure from an event outside the person into a personality trait. The book then discusses how failure is an essential part of the United States. For a nation founded on the promise of a merit-based system, someone has to fail. Even "not failing" becomes a kind of mark on a person's character because it suggests that under-achievement also reflects a lack in the person's character. A large portion of the book discusses early credit rating agencies and the ways in which these firms created new forms of surveillance. The credit report turned identity into a commodity through the process of collecting and narrating facts. Next, Sandage discusses how begging letters allowed men and women to narrative their own failure story. He stops short of suggesting this was an act of reclamation but his arguments about sentimentalism as a kind of capital suggest that people did not capitulate to the new order as quickly as economic histories may indicate. Throughout the book Sandage attends to issues of gender and race. Readers familiar with The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class will find his arguments about race at once familiar and fascinating. Likewise, if you are familiar with From Bondage to Contract: Wage Labor, Marriage, and the Market in the Age of Slave Emancipation I think you will find his discussion of failure as a concept that inherently challenged the 19th century's "separate spheres" ideology interesting. I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in the 19th century, economic history, or social history
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Story of Jane The Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service
by
Laura Kaplan
Ashley Bowen-Murphy
, June 15, 2015
To love this book like I did, you must be down with its politics: women have the right to access abortion. Full stop. The women profiled in "The Story of Jane" took on an incredible amount of risk to help women exert control over their lives at a time when both law and culture prevented them from accessing abortion. I fully support that, so I loved this book. It's an inspiring. moving, and terrifying account of how a group of dedicated women came together to challenge laws by arranging and performing abortions in the years before Roe v. Wade. Kaplan isn't a professional academic, so at times the history isn't as clear as it could be or some information is repeated much more than needed. Those are minor shortcomings, however. The book as a whole is an inspiring portrait of women who figured out what needed to be done and did it-- imperfectly and with a tremendous amount of risk. As someone born and raised after Roe, I was astounded by the risks that the women of Jane took on! Arrest! Performing abortions without a medical license in apartments! Without an autoclave! I was amazed and moved all at once. In addition to the stories of individual women, "The Story of Jane" includes a stinging critique of the limitations of Roe v. Wade. Focused as it is on the rights of physicians, the decision failed to bring forth the kind of woman-centered medical practice that Jane envisioned. It probably goes without saying that the decision also allowed states to continue to restrict abortion access in the decades to come. This book is a must-read for anyone who is pro-choice or an activist for justice and equity. This is especially true given the ways in which the book demonstrates the value of doing work while ALSO working on ideology and political perspectives. As Julia, profiled in the book says, "the practical level was another level down [from the 1960s social movements] and not so interesting. I don't know much about organizing, but I feel as though, if the reality of the situation doesn't change people's heads, then nothing's going to change their heads. Marches and those things are not the work of it. The work of it is whatever the work is" (209). Amen.
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World Before Us A Novel
by
Aislinn Hunter
Ashley Bowen-Murphy
, May 07, 2015
This is a beautiful book that spoke to me deeply. I am currently at work on a dissertation that makes use of asylum records and found that Hunter conjured the sense of being pleasantly haunted by the past in beautiful, moving prose. The book also captures some of the magic of archival work, tedious though it can be. The plot concerns Jane, a woman in her mid-30s, haunted by her own past while she studies the past of a century or so ago. While babysitting at age 15, Jane loses her young charge in the woods near an asylum. 150 or so years before, another young woman went missing in those woods. "The World Before Us" finds at least one of those women. Beyond the plot, however, the book asks the reader to consider what it means to die, to witness the recovery of the past (in both senses of recover), and to haunt or to be haunted. I cannot recommend this book highly enough to anyone who has a fondness for museums, has done archival research, or feels a strong pull to study the past. There are so many moments when Hunter deftly sums up the process of putting history together and how it requires not only facts but assumptions about real, messy lives that existed between the documentation.
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The Burglary: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover's Secret FBI
by
Medsger, Betty
Ashley Bowen-Murphy
, January 18, 2014
I feel deeply conflicted about this book. It's an *important* book that raises deeply unsettling, important questions about liberty, resistance, privacy, and the nature of government. That said, Medsger's writing left me frustrated and annoyed. I've rarely encountered a book as desperately in need of an editor as "The Burglary." Not only does the published book (from Knopf, no less) have typos in it, there are some grammatical errors and awkward (though not incorrect) sentences. It is also over 500 pages long-- much longer than needed-- because there is a substantial amount of repetition and "filler" material. These limitations to the writing are doubly a shame because the story of the Media, PA burglary and the resulting changes to the FBI is as relevant today as it was in the 1970s. Medsger's book blends biographies of the people who participated in the burglary with a broad history of the FBI from its creation through 9/11 and the Edward Snowden-NSA leaks. The book is absolutely at its strongest when she writes about the burglary, her own history at the "Washington Post," and the overall concept of "resistance" as it was understood in the 1960s-1970s. Medsger's deep knowledge of the Catholic Peace Movement and Philadelphia-area peace activists makes these portions of the book especially interesting. Unfortunately, Medsger did not confine her work to the burglary and the period of reforms it ushered in. The last section of the book pivots to the 9/11-era FBI and NSA. While the issues raised by the Media, PA burglary obviously relate to Manning and Snowden's leaks, Medsger fails to directly compare the issues. At best, she alludes to the acts of resistance by Snowden and Manning without really delving into them. As a result, these portions of the book feel shallow-- almost as though Medsger backed away from the really juicy aspects of resistance in the digital age. Left unanswered, too, is the question of "getting caught." Medsger approves of what the Media, PA burglars did-- but is part of that success the result of not getting caught? She acknowledges the difficulty that each burglar had with keeping their action a secret (emotional, personal, and political). However, she does not address why secrecy offers a kind of protective shield not afforded to, say, Edward Snowden. I think this would bother me less if the book did not close with a lengthy (though, again, fairly shallow) discussion of the NSA. This is a story worth reading. I felt inspired by the Media, PA resistors and awed at the kinds of risks they accepted. Their actions forced me to think about the limits of dissent, resistance, and law. Medsger's book is frustrating. Ultimately, though, the importance of the story outweighed my own irritation with the book.
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Beautifully Unique Sparkleponies On Myths Morons Free Speech Football & Assorted Absurdities
by
Chris Kluwe
Ashley Bowen-Murphy
, November 26, 2013
This is a strange and wonderful collection of (short) essays. I'd recommend keeping it by your bedside and dipping into it rather than reading it strait through. It's not bad that way, just no real reason to go from start to finish. Kluwe's tone is Internet posting meets education cut with a bit of nerd. This is the kind of book that I wish someone had given me at 15 or 16-- it's clearly written by a smart kid (er, now adult) who understands the limits of adult life. There's not a lot of *new* information here, anyone who follows Kluwe on Twitter will already know his politics and nerdiness. Instead, the book reads a bit like getting drunk with your nerdy best friend from high school-- it's all time travel and good, "golden rule" politics. It's a fun, quick read.
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Do You Believe in Magic The Sense & Nonsense of Alternative Medicine
by
Paul A Offit
Ashley Bowen-Murphy
, November 15, 2013
"Do You Believe in Magic" is a rapid spin through medical history and quackery. Offit begins with ancient history, comes up to the 19th century's snake oil salesmen, and ends with the likes of Dr. Oz. It's clear that Offit is tired of people who believe that herbs will cure cancer or that modern medicine is nothing but curely masking "pure" or "natural" knowledge of the body. A great deal of the book focuses on the kinds of horror stories that would send anyone running to their local MD-- chiropractors that break bones, acupuncture needles in lungs, children who die after their parents reject chemotherapy. It is also clear that he does not think it is appropriate to charge people thousands of dollars for treatments that have not been scientifically evaluated. I do wish the book had spent a little more time talking about why insurance now covers things like acupuncture, massage, or chiropracty. At some point, insurance companies did some kind of calculation about value v. cost v. effectiveness. Offit leaves this particular form of medical endorsement fully undiscussed. Offit does acknowledge that at least some traditional, alternative, or 'eastern' medicine has value-- as a placebo. His chapter on the placebo effect is interesting but limited. This is the kind of book that's worth reading if you're surrounded by people who oppose vaccination, visit chiropractors, and reject "modern medicine." It will make you feel good that you believe in science and facts. However, if you want a more in-depth look at why the placebo effect works or what it is about alternative medicine that is so powerfully appealing, you'll need to look elsewhere. Offit is very focused on what alternative medicine gets wrong and less focused on what it is about modern/western medicine that is so deeply off-putting.
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Woman Rebel
by
Peter Bagge
Ashley Bowen-Murphy
, November 15, 2013
A wonderful, concise account of Margaret Sanger's life. The short research notes in the back offer suggestions for further reading and elaborate a bit on the events and people included in the text. This book is a lot of fun and a solid introduction to Sanger. However, it's brevity means that it really only hits the highlights. Fine for a graphic novel but a little unsatisfying for a reader in search of a full biography. Still, I strongly recommend it!
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Dallas 1963
by
Bill Minutaglio, Steven L Davis
Ashley Bowen-Murphy
, November 15, 2013
I was so disappointed in this book. I grew up in the Dallas area, and my father was actually a high school student in Dallas when Kennedy was shot. I thought that this book would shed some light onto the political climate in my home city. The book does do this... a little. I think that the style was perhaps what turned me off about the book. The authors write in the present but passive voice and suggest the emotional state of many key players. While I believe that it is possible to know an historical actor's emotional state from the primary sources they leave behind, I do not appreciate authors that narrate history as though they are inside the heads of players. Likewise, the book shifts rapidly between different, unrelated politicians, activists, pastors, etc. This contributes to the book's overall meditative tone, but also leaves the story feeling disjointed. It's possible that was the intent-- to suggest that the past is unknowable and that, ultimately, the Kennedy assassination is a tragic confluence of a bunch of unrelated people and political ideologies. However, the refusal to provide some kind of coherent narrative structure beyond chronology was deeply frustrating for me as a reader. For folks interested in Dallas, the book is worth reading-- the authors explain the city's unique political and social climate in the 1960s (traces of which are, I think, still around today). However, if you're interested in how political ideologies can generate violence or an extended discussion of Oswald and Ruby, two otherwise unremarkable men who seared themselves into American history, you'll want to look elsewhere.
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Disowning Slavery: Gradual Emancipation and Race in New England, 1780-1860
by
Joanne Pope Melish
Ashley Bowen-Murphy
, January 29, 2013
This is a fantastic exploration of the construction of race, New England's abolition movement and process, and regional nationalism. I appreciated that Melish explored the creation of "whiteness" and "blackness" from the perspective of both white New Englanders and Black slaves, freemen, and activists. She also does a nice job pushing back against New England's self-styled moral superiority over the South on the question of slavery and racism. (Importantly, she does this without suggesting that Southern slavery was somehow the same as it was in New England). It's an academic text but is written in an accessible fashion. It's worthwhile reading for anyone interested in New England history, the history of slavery and abolition, and folks interested in getting past the simplified North = good, South = bad study of slavery in the United States.
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Gone Girl
by
Gillian Flynn
Ashley Bowen-Murphy
, January 03, 2013
Flynn's "Gone Girl" takes the unreliable narrator to the next level. Everyone in the novel is deeply un-likeable, untrustworthy, and profoundly flawed. Even after reading the "twist," Flynn kept me unsure of who to believe up until the very, very end. It's not a light book but it's fantastically engrossing.
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War's Waste: Rehabilitation in World War I America
by
Beth Linker
Ashley Bowen-Murphy
, January 03, 2013
This is a fantastic, thought-provoking book. On a fundamental level, it asks us to consider what a soldier is: workman or hero. At the turn of the last century, several different political and social factions had a stake in defining his role. If the nation considers soldiers "employees" in the military, then the government's obligations change. I appreciated the way that Linker drew connections between Progressive Era military/veterans' legislation and the emerging workmen's compensation laws (see 27-30). According to Linker, President Wilson wanted to "build a veterans' compensation system... that would treat soldiers more like laborers than valorized men of the military" (28). Reconfiguring the military as an employer, rather than a "calling," works on a few different levels. For one thing, it does not threaten the equation of work and manhood so important to the Progressives. Second, it allows the military to cover only those injuries that a soldier sustains "on the job" (although, as all the authors we've read point out, defining "on the job" when it comes to the military is incredibly difficult). Third, it implicitly sanctions criticizing veterans and their behavior in a way that the heroic construction precludes. Linker's text explains the historical roots of the amputee as "ideal" veteran. Although she could have gone into more detail, War's Waste highlights the traits that make for "good" and "bad" wounded soldiers. For our purposes, it might be interesting to consider the traits today that make for a "good" veteran and which ones make for a "bad" veteran. As I thought I about this in light of the Civil War and World War I history in Linker's book, I realized that little has changed since the Civil War. Visible wounds are still "easier" to process and a clear recovery, measured in easy metrics like employment and a heterosexual partnership, still indicate a "return to normal." Plus, it seems like American culture still has not really reconciled the soldier as employee or the soldier as hero. American public discourse still oscillates madly between valorizing the veteran and an obsession with the deficit/federal budget. It occurs to me that perhaps American culture still has not reconciled the soldiers' multiple roles.
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Confederate Reckoning: Power and Politics in the Civil War South
by
Stephanie McCurry
Ashley Bowen-Murphy
, January 03, 2013
Despite the Confederate States of America’s (CSA) efforts to enshrine an exclusively white, male citizenship in its founding documents, southern women and slaves emerged as powerful political actors during the course of the Civil War. Stephanie McCurry’s well-researched, easily readable Confederate Reckoning: Power and Politics in the Civil War South, traces this development and argues that military necessity often augmented the growing political power of slaves and women. As “soldiers’ wives,” poor women embraced an identity that bound their “politics of subsistence” to the state’s obligation to its citizen-soldiers. Slaves, who formed their own understanding of the war long before emancipation, employed a variety of tactics to negate the instrumental view of slave labor enshrined in the CSA Constitution. Even though soldiers’ wives and slaves did not consider themselves allies, the persistence with which both groups entered the political sphere raised similar sets of complex questions about citizenship, consent of the governed, and the reciprocal obligations between a state and its citizenry. The CSA’s response to soldiers’ wives and slaves eventually undid the very logic of the state itself. It was precisely the official recognition of women and slaves as political actors, coupled with the implicit acknowledgement of the Confederate political system’s failure, that constitutes the “reckoning” at the heart of McCurry’s text. McCurry's book will appeal to Civil War buffs and folks interested in women's or African American history.
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Monument Wars: Washington, D.C., the National Mall, and the Transformation of the Memorial Landscape
by
Kirk Savage
Ashley Bowen-Murphy
, July 04, 2012
A fantastic overview of the politics, emotion, and philosophy behind DC's monumental core. Savage provides a comprehensive account of the development of the National Mall in the late 19th century. He spends a decent chunk of the book exploring L'Enfant's plan for the city and the Washington Monument while breezing through monuments built after the mid-1930s. Although initially disappointed that the Washington Monument, kind of a dull fixture in the DC skyline compared to the Jefferson or Lincoln memorials, formed a central part of the book, Savage's analysis convinced me of its incredible importance to the Mall's appearance today. The book is well illustrated (although entirely in black and white), important given that many of the statues he discusses are not particularly famous. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in urban planning, memorial practices, 19th and 20th century history, or museum studies.
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Element of Lavishness Letters of Sylvia Townsend Warner & William Maxwell 1938 1978
by
W M Maxwell
Ashley Bowen-Murphy
, March 01, 2012
Although I had not read either author's fiction, I found myself instantly in love with Maxwell and Warner. Their letters were deeply personal without being too obscure for somebody else to jump into. I've actually purchased two copies of this book for some friends, which is something I rarely do. But seriously, this is such a wonderful correspondence-- everyone will find themselves or their inner self in these letters, I believe that 100%. I slowed down reading it after the first 2/3... only because I didn't want it to end! The thought of their correspondence stopping was too much for me. I did finish, but now have no idea how to follow this book up.
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The Legacy of the Civil War
by
Robert Penn Warren
Ashley Bowen-Murphy
, March 01, 2012
I love nearly anything Robert Penn Warren ever wrote-- everything. This book is no exception, Warren talks about the war's impact on American life and our psyche with his trademark prose and acuity. If you are interested in reading about the social memory of the Civil War this is absolutely the book to turn to. Not only is it fairly short and easy to read, Warren sums up what anthropologists and historians can't say in a lifetime in about 100 pages. This book is a wonderful addition to any Civil War buff's library. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
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Posting It: The Victorian Revolution in Letter Writing
by
Catherine J. Golden
Ashley Bowen-Murphy
, March 01, 2012
I enjoyed this book. Catherine Golden offers an incisive history of the UK's penny post (dating only from 1840) and the far-reaching impact it had on British society. For me, Part II was the most interesting-- she examines the material objects that the Victorians produced as a response to this new communication medium. An all around fascinating read if you are interested in the history of communication, philately, postal history, or mail art. Throughout the book Golden uses examples from literature, art, and historical documents to create a solid evidence base. However, as someone not familiar with Victorian literature found the information about authors, plots, etc to be a bit confusing at times. Unfortunately, Golden's publisher chose not to reproduce the paintings she discusses in color. I understand that from an economic standpoint, but this book is not cheap and, given how central the paintings are, it is frustrating not to see them in color. It also seems a bit random which images are reproduced in full page and which just get half or quarter page segments. I hope a future edition will include color plates. Nevertheless, Golden's book is worth picking up to get a sense of the history of the postal system in the UK-- a forerunner to the US system.
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Chasing the White Dog An Amateur Outlaws Adventures in Moonshine
by
Max Watman
Ashley Bowen-Murphy
, March 01, 2012
I loved this book-- but, I went onto it expecting a meditation on Moonshine in America. Parts of the book could have used diagrams, especially the technical discussions about still construction. On the whole, though, I really enjoyed the way the author wove together folklore, ethnography, history, law, and a little DIY spirit (pun intended). This book is a quick read, full of interesting trivia, and well worth the read for any amateur booze hound.
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Newjack Guarding Sing Sing
by
Ted Conover
Ashley Bowen-Murphy
, March 01, 2012
Ted Conover's "Newjack" feels dated now, but I am sure that when it came out nearly 10 years ago the book must have been shocking. Although some of the political insights were not new to me and at times the book felt like it just skimmed the surface of America's prison culture, I read the whole thing in about two days. The parts of the book I most enjoyed, sadly, were some of the shortest-- the parts when he reflects on how working as a prison guard strains his life outside the gates, his relationship with his wife, and how it changes his interactions with his children. Generally these sections felt like they illuminated the reality of being a prison guard more than the parts about training or getting hazed by older guards. These sections also make prison guards seem the most human, troubled by their own backgrounds and demons. Some of Conover's insights into the prison system feel shallow today. Yes, the US incarcerates too many young men, yes they are mostly men of color, yes we do not emphasize reform or poverty alleviation. However, I have the sense that it was Conover's book that made these critiques move from activist circles to mainstream media coverage. I appreciate that he worked so hard to chronicle this experience and humanize a group often stereotyped as white, racist, toughs. This book alone is not enough to understand prisons or their culture, but it is an excellent addition to the genre.
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Panic Virus A True Story of Medicine Science & Fear
by
Seth Mnookin
Ashley Bowen-Murphy
, March 01, 2012
This book offers a great overview of how 1 researcher with questionable motives and qualifications but great PR skills can change the course of public health. Mnookin's prose is easy to read for those who do not have a background in medicine or public health while still using the vocabulary of vaccine science, autism specialists, and CDC representatives. His list of citations and footnotes are extensive and make his central claims nearly impossible to dispute. "The Panic Virus" is especially critical of the media and non-experts who make for good TV. I worried that Mnookin would assign all the blame to the internet. Happily, his argument is more nuanced and acknowledges the frustration and isolation that parents of special needs children often feel. He is also willing to criticize the medical profession for not responding to the emotional needs of these parents. I wish he'd spent a bit more time on how important "herd immunity" is and how theUSis seeing outbreaks of diseases once thought more or less extinct. That. Said, this is a story about HOW we got to this point-- not what will happen if the trend not to vaccinate continues. It's a cautionary tale for us all-- with or without children.
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Black Lung
by
Alan Derickson
Ashley Bowen-Murphy
, March 01, 2012
I wanted Derickson's book to be a little bit more "on the ground" than it was. Instead, it's a great examination of the medical establishment's response to the new disease and their debates about naming and diagnosing it. Unfortunately, Derickson refrains from explaining what it all means. In that sense, it's a fairly traditional history of the disease. Perhaps its unfair to judge the book against the book I wish he'd written, but it just didn't seem to capture the importance of black lung in WV and KY, even in the late 1960s when legislation passed.
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Miraculous Fever Tree Malaria & the Quest for a Cure That Changed the World
by
Fiammetta Rocco
Ashley Bowen-Murphy
, January 03, 2012
Perhaps this is a case of expecting a different book than the one the author wrote. I thought that "The Miraculous Fever-Tree" felt incomplete, poorly structured, and thinly researched. Rocco's first chapter made me think this would be part memoir, but I couldn't figure out why her family's history was especially relevant to the story of malaria and/or quinine. That information, presumably included to indicate that she's an "authentic" voice on the topic, should have been included in a forward or preface. The rest of the book moves unevenly through 400+ years of history and shifts between telling the story of quinine and the story of malaria. While I recognize that one is meaningless without the other, I felt that Rocco could have done a better job organizing these two parallel stories. She also doesn't explain the biology and pathology of malaria until the last chapters-- and never *really* explains how quinine works. She's clearly more comfortable in the history than the medicine/science portions of the story. Finally, the book fails to problemitize colonization and the relationship between European scientists and colonial subjects. This oversight obscures an enormous component of the 18th and 19th century malaria research and motivation to find a cure.
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Midnight Rising John Brown & the Raid That Sparked the Civil War
by
Tony Horwitz
Ashley Bowen-Murphy
, January 03, 2012
"Midnight Rising" provides an excellent introduction to John Brown and the era immediately prior to the Civil War. Tony Horwitz tells Brown's story in ways that are half-history and half-adventure chronicle. I was impressed that Horwitz made the 300+ page account of abolitionists, failed military campaigns, and strange (to say the least) personality a page turner... but he did! Horwitz also manages to avoid caricaturing Brown as either outright crazy or pure hero. Instead, the reader gets a near-journalistic look at a man whose raid certainly contributed to the start of the Civil War. More than just an account of the raid's events, though, Horwitz uses the raid as a jumping off point for several interesting themes and issues. Among these, John Brown's raid presents fodder to reflect on the nature of martyrdom and the role/nature of failure in service to a political cause. Ultimately, "Midnight Rising" doesn't really delve deeply into these themes. Unlike many of Horwitz's other titles, it focuses exclusively on the events of the past. As a result, that may limit his ability to reflect on these larger themes that the text suggests. It's nevertheless a fantastic read (much, much better than Robert Penn Warren's "John Brown: The Making of a Martyr" and I say that as someone who ADORES Robert Penn Warren's writing). This book is also very well illustrated, always a plus when there are lots of names to remember.
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Between the Devil & the Deep Blue Sea Merchant Seamen Pirates & the Anglo American Maritime World 1700 1750
by
Marcus Rediker
Ashley Bowen-Murphy
, September 30, 2011
In "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea," historian Marcus Rediker argues that the “wooden world” of the common 18th century merchant seamen, “Jack Tar,” more closely resembled an industrial factory than a workshop (200). As a result, seamen serve as an example of one of the earliest free wage workers whose life was fully subordinated to his labor. The harsh realities of life at sea, explains Rediker, “left little room for belief in the ‘dignity of labor’”. Although Rediker spends a great deal of time discussing wage structures and admiralty courts, methods of resistance and mutiny employed by seamen, and the actual labor required on a ship, the book is at its most rich when he moves to a discussion of what Jack Tar did “for [himself]” and his influence on an emerging working-class culture. Rediker employs a Marxist framework for his analysis and pulls methods from several disciplines, including history, anthropology, linguistics, and economics. By employing methods from a variety of fields and drawing from a rich collection of primary sources he is able to move away from a strictly “labor history” of the seaman’s life to a more nuanced “working class history”. Between the man-made and natural dangers that shaped Jack Tar’s life, the seaman developed a culture that foreshadowed the collective, anti-authoritarian, and oppositional working class culture in the industrial era. Rediker spends the majority of the book examining life inside Jack Tar’s isolated “wooden world.” However, the case for seamen as leaders in an emerging, and at least somewhat organized, working class culture depends on their presence in harbors, taverns, and other public spaces where he interacted with his fellow wage-laborers. Future scholars examining the growth of an industrial working class culture ought to explore zones between the “wooden world” and the factory floor. Samuel Adams’ admiration for Jack Tar’s role in the Knowles Riot is a particularly intriguing example of the influence that the seaman’s culture had on emerging conceptions of “rights” and “liberty” that would have a major impact on land (252-3). A deeper investigation of just how visible Jack Tar was in 18th century working class struggles, with particular attention to how his peers perceived him, would help explain how an isolated work culture came to serve as a model for resistance on land. Piracy, in Rediker’s view, ought to be viewed as the ultimate form of the common seaman’s culture. Using Eric Hobsbawm’s definition of “social banditry,” Rediker positions pirates as men cooperating to seek revenge against organized capital (269). Pirates, stripped of romance and myth, emerge as collectivist, democratic, and egalitarian sailors consciously opposed to the systems of power and authority they left behind (267). This conception of piracy may swing too far away from both the storybook conception of pirates as sea-bound Robin Hoods and the admiralty courts’ view of pirates as criminals. Despite their egalitarian impulses, pirates were extremely violent (271), capable of handing down discipline on par with a merchant captain (265), and apparently absent from the political and cultural exchanges between the land and sea-based working class. As an extreme on the working-class culture continuum, pirates would have been especially threatening to the establishment. That, perhaps more than their egalitarian social system, may have contributed to their appeal as heroes of wage laborers. Scholars should investigate how land-based wage laborers discussed pirates and piracy to add nuance to Rediker’s arguments about the pirate’s influence on maritime and political culture.
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