[This week I’ve
offered another entry in my biannual
series on interesting and impressive new
releases in AmericanStudies. This reading list is drawn from the responses
and recommendations of fellow AmericanStudiers—add yours in comments, please!]
First, an
addendum to the series: here’s my review of Allyson Hobbs’ wonderful A Chosen Exile: A History of Racial Passing
in America in the current issue of the American Book Review!
Nancy
Caronia writes, “Although not brand new, my students are LOVING Adichie’s
Americanah. They find it smart,
funny, and incisive with regards to the critique of American culture. Memoir—Daisy
Hernandez’s A Cup of Water Under My Bed
for its third wave feminist intersectionality. The memoir is a poignant look at
gender fluidity, immigraition, bilingual education (or not).”
DeMisty
Bellinger-Delfeld agrees with Nancy about Hernandez, noting, “I just read
with Daisy last weekend! It was such a wonder to meet her and yes, A Cup is great. I am reading Mr. and Mrs. Doctor by Julie
Iromuanya. So far, so good.” Later DeMisty does double duty, Tweeting out another rec, Seedlip
and Sweet Apple by Arra Ross.
Emily Lauer Tweets that she’s
“talking about the graphic
novel Americus at a conference
this week. It’s YA, about a small town book banning.”
Patricia Ringle
Vandever notes that she “just finished Rachel Joyce’s The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
and loved it!”
Erin Fay writes, “My favorites this
year have been I
Am Malala, The
Grapes of Wrath, and Quiet:
The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking.”
Grace Connor
shares, “I’m working on the truly massive (14 and counting, all 900ish pages…) Realm
of the Elderlings series by Robin
Hobb. I almost hoped starting out that it wouldn’t be worth committing to
the full series, but it has some of the most innovative fantasy characters
ever!”
My student
Andrew DaSilva highlights, “Although not new by any means, might I suggest The Jesuit
Relations, or The New American Economy if one might have an
interest in the US and its economic policy shapers. And for fun novels that
take place in America Trauma by Patrick McGrath or the slightly older novel The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. I almost forgot to include Coolidge by Amity Shales and True Compass by Ted Kennedy along with Pat & Dick by Will Swift if you're into memoirs and
biographies. I've read or plan to read all the suggested above if ya have any
questions or comments. All cover a variety of topics and genres.”
Sam Southworth writes, “Seems that Mr. Kissinger's last tome
and that French income inequality economist guy are the ones that pop up most
often in written sources. I personally have been drawn into David Rothkopf's
2014 volume entitled National Insecurity: American Leadership in an Age of Fear, particularly
Chapter 7 ("Eyeball to Eyeball Again") concerning the nefarious
machinations of Mr. Putin. These sorts of books can be stunningly dull with a
rare pearl among the analytical chowder, but this guy has some insight due to
his research on the NSC, and a fairly good writing style, which blessed
scholarly trait seems to grow more rare with each passing season. Almost one
hundred pages of notes invites wing-nuttery source-checking, and I am inclined
to agree with him when he says we cannot entirely turn our backs from dismal
and strife-torn areas, whatever our weariness and incomprehension of the
essential underlying forces at work in the Middle East and elsewhere, but, dear
God, who among us would wish for more foreign adventure and warfare as the
over-riding motif of the Twenty-First Century? The very best of these sorts of
strategic thinkers can help us shift our thoughts beyond mere tawdry political
considerations, wherever we find ourselves on the spectrum, and introduce
welcome reference points in the past that can perhaps, by dint of herculean
heavy lifting and good leadership, point the way to some future worth the
having, and not the zombie apocalypse that our culture seems fascinated with.”
Next series
starts Monday,
Ben
PS. What books
would you add to this list?
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