Muñeca by Cynthia Gomez - A Gothic Tale set in 1968

Muñeca by Cynthia Gomez

Muñeca book cover

Author Cynthia Gomez

Big thanks to G. P. Putnam’s Sons and NetGalley for sending an advanced copy of Cynthia Gomez’s spellbinding Gothic tale Muñeca. I’m so glad that I read this book, as it came after reading a deeply serious and complicated book about race and politics. While Muñeca is a short and highly engaging read, it also features some interesting commentary on race, class, gender and sexuality, as well as detailing California’s complicated history with the indigenous people, Spanish land grants and white settlement right before statehood. In fact, I was amazed at how subtly and deftly Gomez is able to include these complicated historical elements in a novel that was also fun to read. It’s a testament to her knowledge and skills as a researcher and writer. Furthermore, it’s one of the reasons that Muñeca operates on different levels and transcends typical boundaries in genres. The book was not what I was expecting, but I ended up loving the character of Natalia, or Nati, Fuentes. Although the book takes place in 1968 around the Bay Area, when young people flocked to San Francisco, leaving flowers in their hair, Nati searches for her own tribe, seeking to define herself through the women in her life. Plus, she’s got such great taste in music, especially soul and R & B, which features prominently throughout the book. Furthermore, I loved that as she’s taken on the job of caretaker for Violeta Miramontes, a young heiress who seems to be locked into a kind of paralysis that prevents her from speaking or moving, Nati secretly reads her The Autobiography of Malcolm X  covering it up with a copy of Rebecca, a book about a husband who harbors a secret from his new wife, while Malcolm X speaks to the kind of revolutionary spirit that Nati brings to the Miramontes’ estate, seeking to empower and transform those who are trapped by the oppressive forces of the house. I really loved Gomez’s subtle signaling about Nati’s character, whether it was through these book choices or her awesome musical taste in Aretha, Otis, and Carla Thomas. She just seemed like the kind of character I’d want to hang out with and listen to records.

Nati is not only really cool, but she’s also thoughtful and strategic. She takes the job as Violeta’s caretaker because her mother previously worked for the Miramontes, one of the various Mexican American housekeepers who populate and maintain the estate. However, as we learn, Nati’s mom also worked in a factory, organizing her co-workers for better conditions, but ultimately developed lung cancer, like so many of her co-workers. Through Nati’s reflections on her mother, we learn that she also considered becoming a teacher but ultimately worked for the Miramontes to help secure opportunities for Nati. We see her striving for a better life. Nati’s mom, though, differs from Nati in other ways. As we learn, Nati’s grandmom is a spiritual healer who has used her ability to make spells and potions to make money. As a young mother emigrating from Mexico who struggled to work and care for 2 daughters, she found the spells and potions a means to an end, not really caring or considering the impact they might have or how they might be used. Nati’s mother, recognizing that some of these spells are misused or end up harming others, rejects this way and ultimately distances herself from her mother. Nati, on the other hand, seeks out her grandmother as she gradually discovers her own skills and abilities with spell casting. As Nati begins to explore her newfound sense of self and seeks her grandmother’s knowledge and insight, her mother finds out and puts a stop to it. Yet Nati recovers the magic box she threw away and practices in secret. For Nati, magic and spells are not only a connection to her identity and culture, but they also serve as a means of empowerment in a society that deems Latinx women as only fit for work as maids and cooks. While Nati also pursues a college degree, she can only find work in a bank. Furthermore, Nati’s mother sought to fight this same system and worked to organize her colleagues in the factory, only to lose her job and end up working as a maid for the Miramontes, one of the more powerful landowning families in the Bay Area. And with Nati’s mother eventually contracting cancer, I couldn’t help but look at Nati’s pursuit of magic and spells as a means to power and identity outside of the system that defines and relegates women like her to pre-determined positions.

The other analogy that Nati’s life and pursuit of magic follow are the fact that Nati loves women. She never calls herself a lesbian or gay, which I’m not even sure these terms were used in the 1960s, but her language to describe her love of women and the kinship she seeks in the house parties and bars points to something more meaningful than just sexual attraction. It was really moving to see how powerful and deep her attraction to women is, and how she realized this from an early age. Similar to the magic, it’s something that she feels is deeply a part of her identity, but also something that she feels she needs to keep discrete and somewhat hidden from others who might not understand. Nevertheless, Nati moves in with Doris, and they frequently host other women whose families kick them out for their sexuality. Not only does this subtle example speak to the kind of discrimination and challenges that people identifying as LGBTQ faced in the 1960s, but it also speaks to the kind of community they established to support one another. It’s another brilliant, subtle detail of the book that I found packed in to this brief book, and I was amazed at how much it conveyed about Nati’s life and character.

The main challenge of Muñeca, though, is focused on Nati’s care of Violeta and her attempts to break Violeta out of her paralysis, which Nati believes was induced by a spell. Thus, she uses her own magic in various attempts to bring Violeta back, enabling her to walk and talk. First, though, Nati discovers a way to communicate with Violeta through blinking, something neither Violeta’s mother nor Violeta’s husband, Andrès. We later learn that Andres’ family fled Cuba during the revolution, leaving their wealth in Cuba, and ending up in California. As a result, we learn that Andrès married Violeta for her land and family’s wealth, and not for love. Furthermore, Andrès continues the bad behavior of these kind of wealthy, landowning men who seek out fortune and other women, while they know their wives must remain silent and faithful at home, seemingly powerless to divorce or alter their husband’s behavior. We see this with Mrs. Miramontes, and the cycle repeats with Violeta and Andrès, and even though Mrs. Miramontes understands the pain and suffering this causes, she continues to allow Andrès to treat her daughter harshly. Again, Gomez packs so much into brief reminiscences or memories that not only serve important plot points but also highlight the kind of gender, social, or class inequalities that existed at this time and continue to persist in some ways. Despite being a relatively short book, it’s filled with meaningful events and exchanges that operate beyond plot points.

Although Nati’s first attempts at reviving Violeta fail, she finds a way to transfer Violeta’s spirit temporarily to the body of a doll, which seems is partly where the title of the book comes from (Muñeca is Spanish for doll). I also wondered if the title was partly a reference to the roll of dolls, and how they are often silent toys who represent ideals of beauty and dress for women. They can often be shaped and altered to fit the owner’s desires and goals but have no autonomy or agency of their own. Similar to her work to free Violeta, Nati gives new power and life to the doll, bringing some sense of agency and the ability to communicate to someone who was largely ignored and relegated to a room of her own. We also learn that part of Nati’s concern for Violeta is that she is in love with Violeta. As Nati experiments with different ways to attempt to break the spell, she finds new ways for Violeta to experience the freedom of inhabiting different bodies, one of which is Nati’s. Nati develops a spell to switch bodies temporarily. I loved this kind of creativity, and how Violeta leaves Nati letters and notes before she returns to her paralyzed self. It’s an inventive element of the story and creates both tension and romance as the two women briefly become one, enabling each to inhabit the lived life of the other.

I loved this book and couldn’t put it down. The chapters are short, and this kept me reading, wanting to find out more about how Nati’s plan to rescue Violeta was going. This book was recommended to me based on my interest in Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s other books, most notably The Bewitching. I can see how Muñeca shares some similar themes with The Bewitching, including strong Latinx female protagonists willing to challenge male dominated and aristocratic, traditional families who seem to control large portions of society. Both books also feature elements of spells and magic used to gain power and access. However, I also kept thinking of Isabel Cañas’s book Vampires of El Norte, which also contains strong Mexican female protagonists who are seeking to challenge land rights that largely prevented women from being landowners at the time. Muñeca is a great book to add to growing collection of books by writers like Garcia-Moreno and Cañas, yet it’s also unique and beautiful. Although it’s a relatively short book with brief chapters, it will keep readers engaged, and there’s so much depth and meaning to the various details in the story. It’s also steeped in wonderful Gothic details and decay, and some really amazing magic spells. It’s a wonderful, fun, and exciting read, and something that should appeal to a broad range of readers, but especially those who like a good Gothic story featuring magic. Highly recommended! 

Cosmic Dread and Body Horror in Gruesome Comic Event Horizon: Dark Descent

Event Horizon: Dark Descent by Christian Ward; artwork by Tristan Jones

Event Horizon: Dark Descent book cover

Author Christian Ward

Artist Tristan Jones

Many thanks to IDW Publishing and NetGalley for the advanced copy of Event Horizon: Dark Descent by Christian Ward with artwork by Tristan Jones. This comic is based on the original film Event Horizon and serves as a prequel to understand how the abandoned ship The Event Horizon was initially left floating in space sending out distress signals. While I’ve heard of the film, I’ve never seen it. It’s not necessary to see the film to understand the basic storyline of this comic, but it might be more interesting if you are familiar with the events of the film. You’ll be able to pick up on a few key details (that I ended up googling while reading this). Nevertheless, as someone who was not really familiar with the film, I absolutely loved this comic. The story and artwork are dark and dread-inducing. It’s bloody, gory, and gross, and the pages are filled with the kind of cosmic horror that can truly tout the term Lovecraftian. I loved how the story combines elements of sci-fi, quantum physics and space travel with occult and demonology, and doing so in a creative and unique manner that synthesizes these two genres.

The story begins with Dr. Will Weir, who is in the original film. Dr. Weir is the designer of the ship, but he is grieving over the loss of his wife. His grief seems to induce strange dreams about his wife who is calling for him to find her. In some of the dreams, he envisions her bloody and eyeless, among other graphic scenes in the Event Horizon. We then learn about the crew of the ship who are preparing to fulfill the main objective of their mission: an interdimensional jump facilitated by a gravity drive, allowing the ship to fold space time and move between vast distances in a matter of minutes as opposed to millions of years. The ship has staffed a crew of expert scientists, physicians, engineers, and navigators to facilitate this monumental experiment. However, as we learn in the first act, all of the crew members are escaping their own personal traumas and pain they experienced on earth, whether it was recent or from their pasts. In a way, they all seemed to see the journey in space as a means of escaping their past pain; however, as we will soon find out, hell is inside of them, and their pain and trauma will reemerge as their worst nightmares.

As the crew gets ready to engage the gravity drive, the communications officer receives a notice from Earth about one the crew members’ whose escape involves a death he tried to cover up. When Nia Atwell, the coms officer, attempts to inform the captain about their navigator Devlin Conners’s warrant, Conners ends up killing Atwell. It was a little unclear if this prevented these two crew members from being at their posts and prepping for the jump, but in any event, when the gravity drive is engaged, something strange happens, and it seems to have opened a portal to hell, bringing in Paimon, the sightless king of hell. Paimon recognizes the desperation and violence in Conners and uses him as a kind of soldier to inflict his torments and violence on the crew, killing them in gruesome and gory ways. I won’t get into the details here, but the story takes on a kind of occult slasher feel, as the crew, unaware that a portal to hell has been opened, try to make sense of the uncertainty and dread that seem to be plaguing all of the crew. Furthermore, each of the crew members begin to hallucinate about their traumas, re-living them and experiencing the pain and tumult of these traumatic experiences that they sought to escape.

I couldn’t put this edition down, reading through the story in nearly one sitting. The story really picks up once Conners kills Atwell and the portal to hell is breached, allowing Paimon to enter the Event Horizon. Furthermore, Jones’s dark, gory artwork contributes to the feeling of dread and cosmic horror that permeates this book, like a lurking fear or creeping death. His artwork emphasizes not only the uncertainty of unexplored dimensions but also features examples of gruesome body horror and a gory ghoul that seemed to be constructed from the bodies of the dead crew members. It’s totally gross, and I loved it. This was a fun and wild comic, although it’s definitely a downer. Nevertheless, I recommend this for fans of dark sci-fi, and the kind of Lovecraftian cosmic and body horror that Stuart Gordon would be proud of. Highly recommended!

 

The Fire This Time: Eddie S. Glaude Jr's America, U.S.A.

 America, U.S.A.: How Race Shadows the Nation's Anniversaries by Eddie S. Glaude Jr. 

America, U.S.A. book cover

Author and professor Eddie S. Glaude Jr. 

Many thanks to Crown Publishing and NetGalley for sharing an advanced copy of the urgent and necessary new book America, U.S.A.: How Race Shadows the Nation’s Anniversaries by Princeton professor Eddie S. Glaude Jr. I read and thoroughly enjoyed Glaude’s book Begin Again about 5 years ago. I found that book, which uses James Baldwin’s works and ideas as a way to examine race and injustice in America in the 21^st century, to be both critical and hopeful in making the case that America has continuously faced issues of racial injustice, but that Baldwin’s writings and ideas can provide useful insight to examine these issues. Glaude never presents the ideas as solutions, but rather uses Baldwin’s life and experiences as like a lens for seeking understanding and contextualizing issues of race, injustice, violence, and inequality that we’ve experienced during the 21^st century. I really appreciated how hopeful the book is while maintaining a critical eye on the injustice. Furthermore, I loved how Glaude revisits Baldwin, using literature, essays, and criticism to explore how other great thinkers and writers have navigated challenging times. I wasn’t necessarily expecting the same thing, but America, U.S.A. takes on an entirely different tone and approach in examining the existential questions surrounding the coming semi-quincentennial (250^th anniversary) of the founding of the country. Nevertheless, like Begin Again, Glaude turns to other writers, thinkers, and activists, as well as the history of other celebrations of America’s founding, to examine how ideas of history and race have been co-opted, revised, or excluded in order to redefine the idea of America. Although this is a challenging and difficult book to read, it felt like the book I needed to read at this time, as I’ve been inundated with images of flags, stars, stripes, and Uncle Sams presented in a celebratory manner that don’t always seem to reflect my own complicated feelings about the country.

Glaude’s writing is clear and dynamic, not overwrought or dense. It’s not the prose of the book that is challenging, and if anything, the challenge and my own struggles with the book are necessary and contribute to a kind of growth and understanding. One of Glaude’s premises is that 250^th celebration of America has been taken over, and with executive orders demanding a fictionalized history that fails to acknowledge the role of racism in the country’s founding, Glaude questions what kind of history and celebration will take place this year. It’s his call to interrogate the past, to reckon with the injustices of slavery that continue to be pushed aside or swept under the rug that plague America, creating a kind of storybook nation that only exists for certain groups of people. To quote spoken word pioneer Gil Scott Heron, this hagiography of history “ain’t no new thing”; it’s been happening since America’s first celebration in 1826, when African Americans couldn’t vote or even petition their representatives, for those who were not enslaved. Glaude examines how America celebrated these varying anniversaries, and how often African Americans and their contributions to the country were often excluded from these celebrations.

Glaude examines the history of these celebrations in Philadelphia, which I found fascinating since I’ve lived in the Philadelphia region my whole life and did not know about some of the events and instances he discussed in the book. Furthermore, it’s important to note that much of Glaude’s analysis examines Frederick Douglass’s seminal speech in 1852 “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” to further interrogate how history and celebrations of the ideals of America ring hallow. Douglass is an important figure to me. I graduated from the school where Douglass gave his last speech, and when I returned there a few years ago, I was excited to see a statue on campus memorializing not only his speech, but his contributions to society and Pennsylvania in particular. Glaude’s chapters not only present Douglass’s most famous speech as a reminder of how exclusionary the fourth can be, but also as a way to encourage readers to further interrogate history and the symbolism and meanings of what we sometimes take for granted as a day off to spend with friends and family at a barbecue or down the shore. Both Douglass and Glaude remind readers of how the “more perfect union” has failed to live up to its lofty standards set forth in the Declaration of Independence, where its initial lines clearly state that all men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, including Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Glaude also presents a story about how Douglass was denied a seat at the centennial dais in Memorial Hall during the centennial celebration in Philadelphia. Apparently police did not believe that a Black man would have anything to contribute to the celebration. Although he was later allowed to enter the exposition, he was never allowed to speak at the centennial celebration. Glaude presents this story to explore how it is emblematic of how African Americans are often silenced or pushed to the side during these celebrations of America, U.S.A. He later notes instances when Dr. King petitioned Kennedy for more recognition of the contributions of Black Americans, but he and A. Philip Randolph only received an invitation to dinner.

It was also fascinating to learn more about the 1926 celebration in Philadelphia. I’ve visited Memorial Hall, and spent time in the Please Touch Museum’s exhibit about the centennial celebration, but I wasn’t really aware of the 1926 celebrations, probably because, according to Glaude, these were plagued by lower interest and attendance and more funding problems, often related to graft and corruption. Nevertheless, as Glaude documents, it provided an opportunity for A. Philip Randolph to speak, which Glaude notes is an interesting choice since Randolph was the President of the Sleeping Car Porters, who helped to organize key Civil and Labor Rights events. The chapters between these “celebrations” focus on interludes, demonstrating key events that continued to represent the conflict between inclusion and exclusion of African Americans in the portrayal of the history of America. It’s fascinating and important to think about the different ways in which American continued to promote its ideals as it grew to be a global power, yet failed domestically to live up to its standards of liberty and justice for some, but not all. There’s much to unpack here, and I learned much from reading these chapters. However, I think that the book also made me feel so many complicated emotions, and that is even more a reflection of how important and necessary this book is today, especially as we approach a “celebration” that feels so dour and funereal. The last few chapters that focus on the last 50 years are fascinating to read, and I could not put the book down. Part of it is that these are the years which I’ve lived through and learned about through experience. It’s fascinating to learn the different battles and conflicts that have emerged and shaped the ways in which history and our own understandings of the country have been shaped and evolved over time. For me, it was important to know the myths and fairytales we tell about the founding of the country are continuing to erode, and that there are many who are interested in continuing to learn more about and reshape the truth we present to students and others. Yet, it’s also disheartening to know that there are many others who wish to grasp onto the myths and fairytales that we learned as children, and that when confronted with the facts of history, continue to pervert the truth and perpetuate the lies, choosing comfort and complacency over the struggles and challenges of learning and change. Glaude’s book is an important book for many people, but I think that this book is especially important for educators and others working with young people. It’s not only important to learn about the complicated feelings about this nation’s history and why “celebrating” it comes with its own complications and contradictions, but it’s also necessary to learn the kind of propaganda war that is being waged by those with positions of authority and voice in our government and media. It’s important and necessary to recognize the kind of whitewashing they intend in bad faith and disinformation they continue to spew about the diversity in America. Glaude frames this battle as one of consensus versus conflict, where over the past century, America has moved to an idea of consensus about the role of African Americans, and this consensus often neglects the more radical or revolutionary voices, who more often than not, reflect the kind of revolutionary spirit that won freedom from England. Again, it’s part of the complex and complicated nature of our country. However, as Glaude notes, Trump has moved from an idea of consensus that presidents from Reagan to Obama exerted about African American history, to one of imposition and erasure. In the past year, the Trump administration has authored executive orders that sought to erase Black, Indigenous, and other non-white voices and contributions from museums, parks, military libraries, websites, and classrooms. Not only is it a way to shape the history that students learn, but, as Glaude notes, it’s a way to indicate who deserves freedom and citizenship in society. Although Glaude ends the book with the annoyingly whiny words of VP Vance, he also ignites a call for resistance and change, to not only reclaim history, but also to continue to push against the untruths and the unserious and unsettling presentation of the storybook version of America, U.S.A.

There’s more that I need to unpack and examine from this book as it really made me experience a lot of different emotions. There’s much to learn from the book, but I wanted to mention Glaude’s references to DuBois throughout the book as well. Glaude not only includes music to begin each chapter, like DuBois did in Souls of Black Folk, but he also shares DuBois’s acknowledgement that the problem of the 20^th century and beyond. DuBois declared that the color-line was the problem of the 20^th century, and Glaude acknowledges that this continues to be a problem in the 21^st century. It’s also important to call attention to Glaude’s references to DuBois, and that DuBois didn’t frame this as a problem of White people or Black people, but rather the division based on skin color and the oppression that results from this division. However, Glaude notes how DuBois’s color-line problem has evolved to the “desperate avoidance of self-awareness- its refusal to know itself fully, and the deadly consequences for people and the world that follow from that refusal. Ours is a time of shattered mirrors.” This line, and the shattered mirror reference from Baldwin at the end of the book, really resonated with me, and I felt like this demonstrated not only Glaude’s scholarship and references, but also his astute analysis at the ways in which the avoidance of race, injustice, and inequality continue to haunt us, leaving our homes with shattered mirrors that fail to reflect who we really are. Highly recommended and important book!  

More Morbid Mayhem with EC's Catacomb of Torment Vol. 1

 EC Catacomb of Torment Vol. 1 

EC Catacomb of Torment Vol. 1

Big thanks to Oni Press and NetGalley for sharing an advanced copy of the latest EC installment EC Catacomb of Torment Vol. 1. This volume cranks up the gore, torment, and cosmic irony to 11 by not only having excellent stories with a graphic and fun twist but also introducing a new narrator -The Tormentor- who introduces a few of these terrifying tales of torment. I loved this collection, and I really appreciated the timely and contemporary focus on issues and topics of today. The first two stories focus on privileged younger people, and present a hilarious twist on politically correct speech and cancel culture (“What’s the Deal with Voodoo?”), while “Quintana Roo” was a quick tale of some spoiled Americans experiencing the native foliage of Mexico, and if you’ve ever seen or read The Ruins, this story is somewhat similar but with some shockingly gory artwork. I also loved “Garden Variety” which tells the tale of a mycologist/chef who uses a special fertilizer to grow his fabulous fungi. It’s a wild trip of a story with some gory body horror. In fact, this was not the only story that featured a kind of blending of human remains as compost or ending up in the food supply. “Mary, Mary How Does Your Garden Grow?” and “Red Blend” both feature gory garden stories with perfect plotting. “Hostile Architecture” examines the issue of how design is used to prevent homelessness, and how violence and pain serve as reinforcers to prevent this kind of behavior when taken to this logical end point. It was an interesting premise to think about how so many policies today operate on a kind of pain, humiliation, and suffering rather than really addressing the root causes. A few of the stories also examine issues like post-partum depression, spousal abuse, and gaslighting, and provide some perspective of how women are impacted by these issues, and how they might get revenge. I was actually pleasantly surprised by how these stories took on misogyny and presented women characters who fight back (“Intrusive Thoughts”, “Mary, Mary, How Does Your Garden Grow?”, “The Dressmaker”). One other story, “Movie Night at the Marigold Inn,” was an interesting tale that left me haunted and still thinking about its implications. It’s not only a meditation on violence and evil, but also left me thinking about things like the kind of desensitization to violence that we may experience through continued screentime, and how our access to entertainment and screens can gradually lead us to accept the violence we see on these screens. I’m not even sure if that is the theme of the story, but it is an eerie story that has multiple layers.

I loved this collection, and it was great to see this EC collection getting back to the irony, dark humor and tormented twists that made other collections like Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror so great. Everything about this collection from the writing and stories to the artwork and visuals is excellent. I highly recommend this, especially if you are a fan of Tales from The Crypt, The Vault of Horror, Creepshow and the like. 

 

 

Mysterious Creatures: The Truth Behind the Legends by Alderton and Heart

 Mysterious Creatures: The Truth Behind the Legends by David Alderton and Akara Heart

Mysterious Creatures book cover

Author David Alderton

Author Akara Heart

Big thanks to Bloomsbury Academic and NetGalley for sharing an advanced copy of David Alderton and Akara Heart’s Mysterious Creatures: The Truth Behind the Legends, a great new compendium that investigates mysterious and legendary creatures like Bigfoot, vampires, werewolves, unicorns, and dragons. I love books like these that provide an overview of legends, myths, and other mysteries of the unknown, and have been reading these kinds of collections since I was younger. There’s been some recent great books that focus more on cryptids and urban legends (The United States of Cryptids by Ocker, Fairylore by Wallman and Cleto, and Tales of the Dark Feminine by V. Castro), and I love that so many of these books go beyond mere definitional entries in a kind of brief encyclopedia. While my younger self would have enjoyed Mysterious Creatures, it is a book that engages the wonders and mystery of these legendary creatures, but also presents some evenhanded investigations and science into working to find a rational explanation for these creatures and legends. It’s not quite a book I could recommend for children, but it remains a fascinating and entreating read that I could not put down.

Alderton and Heart have done considerable research to not only investigate the origins and incidents involving many of these legendary creatures, but also to provide some plausible explanations and ideas as to why or how these legends have entered our belief systems and why they have persisted for so long. Many of the legends appear throughout history and cut across different cultures. For example, the unicorn may have first appeared in ancient Babylonian times as a seal for official documents, yet over time the idea of the unicorn has transformed from a fierce, yet elusive beast with magical powers, to something more delicate and unique. Alderton and Heart trace the ways in which this legendary creature has changed to mean different things to various cultures and time periods, as well as how many people in the middle ages profited off of the supposed powers of unicorn horns by selling ground up powders to unwitting customers. Similarly, we learn how mermaids have been a part of legends and myths since people began sailing, yet the idea of a siren has changed over time. Nevertheless, scammers took advantage of the willingness to believe and the lack of skepticism (or education or information at the time) to make some money with well-crafted hoaxes, most notably the Feejee (or Fiji) mermaid. I was shocked to learn how much someone paid for what was ostensibly a monkey carcass sewed to a fish tail. Nevertheless, I loved learning about the mythical origins of these creatures, and how they have appeared in stories, legends and literature, eventually making their way to books and films, and becoming somewhat iconic and meaningful symbols of for different cultures and generations. These chapters explore the history, but tend to focus in on some of the more iconic or important stories that helped to propel these myths to the mainstream and explain how they eventually have shaped our current beliefs and ideas about these creatures. My favorite chapters were about vampires and werewolves and dogmen. I loved learning more about the history of these creatures and finding out about some strange cases and the possible medical or mental health reasons behind these phenomena. The last two chapters on Sasquatch and Thunderbirds (or giant birds) were interesting; however, I wish there was more about the indigenous beliefs about these creatures. The authors mention some ideas, but don’t get too in depth about the cultural myths and stories related to them. Nevertheless, they provide some interesting modern instances of Bigfoot and giant bird sightings in the US, and provide some compelling and rational suggestions about what these creatures could possibly be. The other chapters on dragons and phoenixes were also interesting, especially since both chapters explored cross cultural beliefs and examined the cultural significance and differences of both creatures in European and Asian (China, Korea, Japan).

I really enjoyed this book, and it’s one that I would definitely recommend, not only because it’s so informative, but I also loved the way that the authors present some plausible suggestions to explain how and why the belief in these creatures has persisted for centuries, and how they have often become culturally significant for different groups of people over the course of history. While not a book for younger kids, I think this book offers a great introduction to exploring skepticism and formulating counter-arguments to provide reasonable explanations. While I always want to believe in these mythical and mysterious creatures, I think it’s important to learn these kinds of skeptical skills and to examine more scientific explanations, especially as we find more and more technology being deployed to advance more complex hoaxes and ideas. While we have access to more and more information and education than previous generations, it still doesn’t prevent people from trying to exploit our willingness to be amazed and our desire to believe in the unexplained. Alderton and Heart’s book allows us to explore and question, but also offers us important lessons in looking for more reasonable and logical explanations. My only wish is that they included more images throughout the book—whether they are illustrations or other examples of these creatures throughout history and different cultures. Nevertheless, this is a book I highly recommend!

The Battle of Little Bighorn retold in Tom Clavin's Vengeance

 Vengeance: The Last Stands of Custer, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull by Tom Clavin

Vengeance book cover

Author Tom Clavin

A corrupt government is populated with friends and relations of the president who seem to plunder and take advantage of lax oversight in the bureaucracy. The government displays animosity and weaponizes the military towards a disempowered minority, attempting to silence critics and minority factions that resist attempts at command and control. American society has been torn apart by serious issues of race, identity, and the economy, while politicians and people grapple with the future direction of the country.

Although these events seem like they may be ripped from today’s salacious headlines, it’s really a summary of some of the events that gripped America nearly 150 years ago 1876, as America grappled with westward expansion and removing the indigenous plains Indians from their roaming ways and proposing a more farmer like existence for these nomadic people. Tom Clavin’s excellent new book, Vengeance: The Last Stands of Custer, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull, captures much of the turmoil and resentment that festered between the government and the Plains Indians, resulting in one of the most stunning military defeats in American history.

I’m generally fascinated by this time period, and have read some other books about Indigenous People, but Clavin’s book was one of the more compelling and engaging books I’ve read about the frontier expansion. Maybe because he focuses on three of the primary characters in the Battle of Little Bighorn, Clavin is able to create a story where three distinct individuals collide in a violent fashion in this epic battle of the plains when America was still expanding its western territory, frequently making and breaking treaties. Clavin acknowledges that he’s not the first to write about this battle, and some of the other authors who he references throughout the book have wrote distinct and significant books outlining and analyzing the factors leading up to the battle and its aftermath. However, Clavin likens the story to a myth, where we recount the deeds of epic heroes, seeming to result in tragedy, whether through hubris or ignorance, and learn something new every time we recount the story. Thus, his contributions to this epic battle frame the battle by following the paths of Custer, Sitting Bull, and Crazy Horse, and how they all ended up converging in June 1876 on this field in the territory that would become Montana.

I loved how Clavin organizes the chapters to focus on each individual, and he keeps them brief, which kept me reading. The book is organized into 6 parts- The Invaders, The Defenders, The Expeditions, The Searchers, The Avengers, and the Last Stands. Each section focuses on events leading up to the battle, and Clavin’s keen eye for details limits overwhelming readers with too much information about how the Indian Plains Wars against the Sioux especially started. Nevertheless, he provides a fair amount of information to let us know about how Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse eventually came to power, as well as how Custer, a lackluster West Point graduate, leveraged some heroics and bravado during the Civil War to eventually become a general. Through Clavin’s recounting and analysis of the events, it seems like some of Custer’s meteoric rise and bravado created a kind of arrogance that brought about his violent end. Interestingly, I learned that Crazy Horse, while exalted as a great Lakota warrior, also experienced his own downfall in claiming the wife of another man before they were officially divorced. It’s these kinds of little details that provide a broader idea of the decisions and strategies that Custer, Sitting Bull, and Crazy Horse may have implemented during other events, giving us a sense of the kind of flawed heroes that our textbooks or high school history don’t always present to us for various reasons.

Clavin not only isolates these individuals but provides some important background in the policies of the US around the time of the Civil War, and how the focus was off westward expansion, during this time. When the war ended, it seemed like there was a large army in need of work and vast lands where gold and other resources were with people looking to move out of overcrowded cities for new opportunities and adventure. This led to threats and attacks on settlers, necessitating the building of forts and protection of the US Army on certain routes, like the Oregon Trail. It was fascinating to learn more about how these events and policies boiled tensions between different plains Indian tribes and the federal government. Along with broken treaties, reduced rations, and disease and illness, readers can also learn how the plains Indians were reduced in numbers and spirit, and yet leaders and warriors like Sitting Bull and Red Cloud arose to challenge the authority of the US government and the great father in DC.

Clavin’s recap of the battle alternates between the US forces, and the divisions of Custer’s men, who split up into separate groups, which ultimately led to their demise, and the warriors who followed Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. Clavin’s even-handed research presents much of the arrogance and mismanagement, including the drinking from Major Reno, and the friction with Captain Benteen, which also seemed to factor into the poor decisions and fractured strategy in this campaign. Although there were no survivors in Custer’s actual group, Clavin referenced other books and the Sioux and Cheyenne survivors who participated and provided accounts of what exactly happened. It presents an important recounting that challenges many of the myths and heroic portraits of Custer that were pumped out as propaganda after the battle. As Clavin notes, Custer was considered a potential presidential candidate and was set to speak in Philadelphia for the Centennial celebration about a week later. However, due to the vast distance and limited reporting at the time, people were unsure of where he was or what happened in the battle. This kind of limited access to information allowed the military and Custer’s widow, Libbie, to reshape the narrative, which ultimately painted Custer as a hero and victim, a view that persisted for many years.

The last section of the book went by quickly, and it moves from the summer of 1876 to the aftermath in the next few years, and how this led to the last stands of Crazy Horse shortly after and Sitting Bull more than a decade later. Clavin also frames this idea of the government and military continuing to seek and harass these tribes for the defeat at Little Bighorn. Sadly, it ends with the slaughter at Wounded Knee, where nearly 300 Lakota people, mostly women and children, were murdered by the military. Clavin notes like Little Bighorn, the limited information available at the time worked to the military’s advantage, allowing them to frame this as another battle like Little Bighorn, but that was ultimately prevented from major military casualties. In fact, there were several commendations and awards given. Tying these events to the present, Clavin notes that there have been recent attempts to rescind these awards and commendations, although the current administration has fought that, despite legislation that has authorized taking these awards away from the unjust murder of hundreds of Lakota women and children.

Clavin has written a compelling and important story detailing the history and facts of a inflection point in American history, one which has been mythologized and used to create a kind of narrative about American exceptionalism while denigrating the role of Indigenous people in American history, and has helped to educate and reframe the narrative. I learned a lot from this book. Furthermore, Clavin’s clear and engaging prose and his focus on the main protagonists in this tragedy, Custer, Sitting Bull, and Crazy Horse, creates a compelling story of three flawed men who converge on a hot battlefield in June of 1876. The story still resonates today, and it serves an even more important lesson in understanding the truth in history, and how events can be twisted and propagandized to either avoid accountability or to create American heroes. This is a really important and engaging read. Highly recommended! Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for sharing an advanced copy of Tom Clavin’s latest historical book Vengeance: The Last Stands of Custer, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull. 

Add It Up- Violent Femmes' Violent Femmes by Nic Brown (33 1/3)

 Violent Femmes' Violent Femmes by Nic Brown (33 1/3 series)

Violent Femmes cover

Author and musician Nic Brown

Big thanks to Bloomsbury Academic and NetGalley for making the latest entry into the 33 1/3 series available for preview. Nic Brown’s Violent Femmes’ Violent Femmes is a wonderful addition to the 33 1/3 series, hitting all of the right notes in providing the argument as to why this seminal 80s album is fit to be included in the series. Brown, whose experience as both a musician and writer, enables him to view the music and album from a critical perspective, still brings a relatable and engaging perspective for anyone who grew up listening to alternative music in the late 80s and early 90s. As Brown notes, the music on this album seemed to be everywhere in the days of Gen X’s adolescence, and its unique blend of punk, jazz, and folk music both made the album hard to classify, and yet so appealing and iconoclastic. I loved that Brown begins the book reflecting on hearing “Blister in the Sun” not on the radio or in a store, but rather interpreted by the organist in a baseball stadium, and that the crowd seemingly knows to how to respond to the organist’s call with a rhythmic double clap emulating the da-dum of the original’s snare intro. It’s a point for Brown to both reflect on the legacy of this song and album, but also to wonder how things got to this point where a song about big hands and stained sheets has made its way into the cultural consciousness. Furthermore, I could relate to Brown’s introduction to the album, via his friend’s older sister who was playing the tape while Brown was over. I remember being around the same age and spending the summer at a pool club where all the kids would bring boom boxes. While my box rocked PE and EMPD, there was competition from the Violent Femmes (and The Cure), who provided an alternative sound for that summer that definitely called to me. It would be another few years until I hit high school and eventually ended up buying the tape to play in my car. I’m not sure if it was Ethan Hawke singing “Add It Up” in Reality Bites, but I gradually got to love all of the songs on that album, playing it regularly in my car while driving around or heading to school or work. There was such an energy and freneticism to the music that wasn’t apparent in a lot of other alternative bands from the early 90s. However, since the internet wasn’t readily available in most homes at the time, there wasn’t a lot I knew about the Violent Femmes beyond this album and the song “American Music,” which was another track I loved from a compilation that was also in my car rotation.

Brown’s book helps to fill in most of the details about the band, its formation, and the recording and creation of the album. Like most of the great 33 1/3 books, Brown not only examines what makes the album great, but he also examines how the album came about, starting with the formation of the group and its background in experimental theater, jazz, and showtunes. Brown recounts a great story about how Gordon Gano, the lead singer and guitarist, met with Brian Ritchie and invited him to play at Gano’s National Honors Society event the next morning. It’s a great story and beginning for the band, and it also highlights how Gano had most of the songs written for the first few Violent Femmes’ albums. From there, Brown dives into exploring the instruments used on the album, which the acoustic bass and drum set up add to the unique and iconic sounds on the album. I’ve also appreciated Gano’s guitar work, which can be both percussive and somewhat improvisational in some solos. However, Brown’s experience as a drummer provides him with the unique ear and vocabulary to examine how the instruments lead to such a meaningful and engaging sound on the album. The main focus is on Ritchie’s acoustic bass, which as Brown notes throughout the book, may be one of the most prominent and distinct bass sounds in popular rock music ever. I really appreciated the consideration of how the bass functions not only as a drum/percussive sound, but that it also takes on solos and expands the nature of the instrument, taking the music to unique and interesting places. It’s a great review and analysis of what makes this album so great.

The next two chapters explore the studio set up and how the band gained access to the studio and worked within it, and then the track listing and exploration of the songs on the album. While I enjoyed learning more about how the band worked in the studio, the chapter that focuses on the songs was probably the best, and among some of the best writing in the 33 1/3 books. Like the author, I have fond memories of this album, and so I was familiar with the songs, but since I learned about this album pre-internet, I haven’t done much research about the songs, so it was cool to learn more about their background, how Gordon Gano wrote them or what he was thinking, and how Ritchie and Victor DeLorenzo contributed to the music, adding their experiences in the experimental theater and jazz scenes of early 80s Milwaukee. I learned a lot from this chapter and gained some new perspectives on some classic songs. The last two chapters were also engaging and fun to read. There’s a chapter on how the album eventually ended up on Slash Records and its release and gradual diffusion to cultural significance, and an Epilogue in which Brown considers his own nostalgia and appreciation for the album. As an aging white guy who can relate to the others Brown observes in the Cramps t-shirts and black jeans when going to see the Violent Femmes in Atlanta, I appreciated this consideration about whether to go see the band or not, and why their music is still meaningful to him. It’s a great reflection on aging and appreciating timeless art and music, and how art and music can make us not only appreciate our youth and the days gone by but also enable us to view ourselves in new ways. Plus, there’s a great reference to a Delmore Schwartz short story, “In Dreams Begin Responsibilities,” that apparently Lou Reed made journalists read before interviewing him. Brown provides a recap, especially after Gano recommends the story. I’m excited to check it out too, and I appreciate Brown’s recommendation. This was such a fun and engaging read, and I’m glad that Bloomsbury Academic added it up to their series, ensuring that it will go down on the permanent record. Highly recommended!