Personal Poems that Transform the Everyday to Extraordinary: Jane Wong's How to Not Be Afraid of Everything

 How to Not Be Afraid of Everything 

by Jane Wong

How to Not Be Afraid of Everything book cover

Poet Jane Wong

I was so excited to find Jane Wong’s collection of poems How to Not Be Afraid of Everything in my local library. A few years ago, I read Wong’s excellent memoir Meet Me Tonightin Atlantic City. Her memoir details her early years growing up as a daughter of Chinese immigrants who owned a restaurant in Atlantic City, and continues focusing on her education and scholarship, which have all influenced her art and writing. I was also excited to read this collection since I don’t get to read poetry as much as I used to. I’ve read a few collections over the past few years, but sadly, I don’t encounter poetry as much as I once did as an English major. I was intermittently feasting on Wong’s words over the course of a few weeks and was satisfied by this collection. I noticed many recurring themes in these poems and in Wong’s memoir. I think that my favorite element of Wong’s poems in this collection is her ability to recognize the beauty in ordinary items and daily activities. Maybe it was growing up in a restaurant and playing around the food, the appliances, and the leftovers, but some of the poems detail life in the restaurant kitchen and outback, finding joy and adventure in what many adults would overlook. It’s this ability to take a childlike eye and transform the everyday that makes these poems transcendent and enjoyable. It’s also a reminder for me that poetry has the ability to closely examine an object or event and transform it to something exquisite or extraordinary. I really enjoyed this aspect of her writing. Other poems reflect and honor her family, especially her relatives from China, focusing on both the foods that nourished them as well as the tragedies and hardships that eventually brought them to America. At the center of Wong’s collection is the longer poem “When You Died,” which examines both the Great Leap Forward, when China tried to revolutionize agriculture, which resulted in over 35 million dead, and Wong’s own relatives that she never met. Like the art installation she created, her poem seeks to nourish her family’s hungry ghosts, and she uses food imagery throughout to both honor and forge her own connection with her ancestors. It’s a striking, powerful poem that I will need to revisit to further understand. Another theme is the autobiographical nature of her poems where Wong explores both her vulnerability and her desire to “Put on My Fur Coat”, which was one of my favorite poems. It was kind of like the opposite of the poems that deal with the sadness and loss; or at least, it was more like a more determined response to the setbacks and sadness that life sometimes offers. I could see this poem being almost anthemic, like Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise”, offering readers reassurance and support in facing life’s challenges. Other poems around this one, like "The Cactus” and “What I Tell Myself After Waking Up With Fists” also deal with sadness, regret, fear, loneliness, and were poems that I could also relate to. In addition, Wong’s parents feature in both her memoir and her poetry, and the poems that deal with her father’s gambling and transient ways, and her mother’s persistence and determination to make a new life. After reading her memoir, I appreciated these poems as well, and they deal with the complicated emotions of having a parent with addictions. Although I need to return Wong’s collection of poems soon, I’m excited to find more of her work, both in print and online. 

Navigating A Brutal and Catastrophic World: The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica

 The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica

The Unworthy book cover

Author Agustina Bazterrica

Scene from Ken Russel's 1971 film The Devils, about madness within a cloistered convent. 

Bazterrica's book reminded me a little of this film. 

Many thanks to Scribner and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of Agustina Bazterrica’s new book The Unworthy. I was drawn to the nun on the cover and the story about a mysterious convent called the Sacred Sisterhood that borders on a cult. I was also curious about this book due to Bazterrica’s popularity from her book Tender is the Flesh. Although I haven’t read that book, I know that the book was widely popular especially during the early days of the pandemic. I was a little intimidate by the topic of cannibalism, but this book about fanaticism, religion, and cults seemed more up my alley. The first half of the book doesn’t disappoint either. The narrator is surreptitiously writing in her journal at night, detailing the arduous and tedious events of life in this mysterious convent. These early sections detailing the challenges she faces in trying to document the austerity and brutality of the convent are enthralling, but also hard to read. Along with translator Sarah Moses’s artful and descriptive language, Bazterrica creates a terrifying and gruesome world that seemed to exist in some medieval nightmare realm where madness, depravity and cruelty ruled people’s lives without much explanation or hope. I found the different levels of devotion fascinating as well—some members who seem to be pure and untouched are thoroughly mutilated, having their eardrums ruptured or their eyes shown shut to further feel the sacred and beatific emotions of the true god. These moments and their descriptions are brutal and horrific, and I was really amazed at the various methods that Bazterrica developed to further torture the members of the sect. I wondered whether these were invented or if they were based on research. Furthermore, the narrator describes the different areas in and around the Convent, and the mysteries they hold. Interestingly, she often crosses out words and phrases in the book, and I wasn’t completely sure why, especially if this journal is hidden from others, with no real hope of anyone reading it. This choice does create a sense of mystery, and I have my theories based on later events in the book. However, Bazterrica also creates a sense of both mystery and dread about the different areas in the convent, and we learn that she entered the convent, like many other women, as a wanderer. These are often strangers who have made it through the ravaged, apocalyptic landscape to this seeming refuge where there is shelter and seemingly those who could help. However, due to a kind of virus or plague, those wanderers often have to spend some time in the Cloister of Purification, where the members can see if these wanderers are carrying the plague. Other areas like the Creek of Madness or the Tower of Silence also offer some ominous warnings based on their names, and I loved how mysterious and dreadful these places seemed.

Yet, all is not as it seems, and the narrator also describes the kind of jealousy and tribalism that slowly boils within the confines of the convent. In particular, a new wanderer who arrives arouses something in the narrator, eventually forcing her to unearth her long-buried memories of her life before the Convent. While this second half of the book was compelling and created a kind of twist I didn’t expect, I also felt like it wasn’t as descriptive and developed as the kind of world building she did for the establishing the kind of frozen world of the Convent and the brutality that the initiates faced from the Superior Sister. I won’t detail the twists, but it was surprising and it did hold my attention. If anything, I think this book offers a powerful lesson for how we respond to both tragedies (or catastrophes) and authority, and sadly how these two things are often linked in our society. I also think that The Unworthy is a powerful reminder of how we often lose our freedom and sometimes even our will when catastrophic or tragic events occur. Whether we look for meaning and leadership or whether we retreat in fear and sorrow, the book is an important reminder of the need to persist. I also think there is an important message of love and connection, and how we need to maintain these kinds of relationships in these challenging and often brutal times. Reading and stories also play an important part in sustaining the narrator. She seems to feel a sense of relief in sharing her story, and when she recounts her past life before the convent, she shares how important other stories are to her and those she loves. I also really loved this aspect of the story, and how when we face tragedies, challenges, or catastrophes, we can find some solace in reading and writing. I know that this book is not for everyone, and in looking at reviews, I can see that the book is somewhat divisive. However, I appreciated the book, and I thought it was a compelling read. With the brutality and drudgery of the narrator’s life, it’s hard to say that the book was enjoyable, but I did engage with the book and found her story enthralling. Reading this book reminded me of the kind of brutal world that Ottessa Moshfegh created in Lapvona, where elements of folk horror are mixed with a cruel society and leadership that relies on brutality and fear. 

Sustained Success- The Franchise: Philadelphia Eagles: A Curated History of the Birds by Zach Berman

 

The Franchise: Philadelphia Eagles: A Curated History of the Birds book cover

Author Zach Berman

Wide receiver A.J. Brown

Franchise Quarterback Jalen Hurts

“‘Whenever you win like this, or have sustained success for a period of time, it takes a lot of people, a lot of departments and sectors doing their job, improving and getting better,’ longtime Eagles center Jason Kelce said before the Super Bowl in 2023.” (p 15)

“‘Be proactive and don’t just do what’s popular, but sometimes do what you think is right,’ Lurie said. “‘And I think that’s been the guiding principle really ever since I bought the team…. Stick to your principles, stick to what correlates with winning, and don’t worry that you’re at times making short-term unpopular choices. That should be the last thing you ever think about.’” (p 23)

During the Eagles’ 2024 Super Bowl run, I was filled with a lot of gratitude about this team, really appreciating their sustained success, especially when thinking about the operations and decisions for other teams. I also am old enough to recall some of the years when the Eagles had really good players, but didn’t experience this same level of success. These years that preceded Jeffrey Lurie’s ownership have caused considerable frustration in thinking about what could have been a great run of success. Zach Berman’s new book The Franchise: Philadelphia Eagles: A Curated History of the Birds takes readers inside the franchise and looks not only at the players, but also examines other integral members of the team that, in the words of Jason Kelce, have contributed to this kind of “sustained success.” This was a great book for any Eagles fan. I was reading it at the same time as my son, who not only read about some of the players he currently follows, but also learned more about the Eagles’ earlier great players and periods. It’s amazing to step back and consider how successful the Eagles have been over the course of the last 25 years. With the exception of a few down years, the Eagles have made the playoffs with consistency, and have been in the NFC Championship game almost a 1/3 of the time.

Berman, a Philadelphia sports journalist who has covered the Eagles, presents a comprehensive resource for the team, starting with portraits of the executives and moving on to coaches and quarterbacks. I loved reading the parts about the executives since I think they are often covered the least in the media. In particular, I loved reading about their philosophies towards not just football, but how other areas like education, engagement, and leadership all factor into their football decisions. It made me appreciate the team so much more, to understand that there are principles that they adhere to in making decisions about players, the facilities, and even community outreach. As someone whose kids have participated in Eagles camps and their holiday parties, I can say that their organization is incredibly forward-thinking and involved in communities. The Eagles really try to involve everyone in their team, and I think this was also apparent in many of the hype videos they created during their playoff run this year.

The other sections of the book focus on coaches and players. Although there are some repetitive parts of the book where content seemed to be re-used, I found these sections to be informative and entertaining. Berman makes the details interesting and adds some analysis to help readers understand and contextualize the contributions of these key players. I also really enjoyed that the book features “Icons” like Brian Dawkins, LeSean McCoy, and Fletcher Cox, as well as “Standouts” like Jeremiah Trotter, Brian Westbrook, and DeSean Jackson. In addition, there are some great moments recounted with a whole section on the Super Bowl (2017) and “The Moments” that reviews some of the best games/plays over the past 25 years.

Zach Berman has done a great job detailing not just the players and plays that have made the Eagles one of the teams representing the “gold standard” of the NFL over the past 25 years, but he also includes the coaches and front office members that helped to develop a philosophy and culture driven by core values. Furthermore, I loved seeing how this culture and these values have evolved over the course of Lurie’s ownership and Roseman’s stewardship. I think this shows how committed the team is to success, and not just chasing ticket sales or great players. They recognize the value in leadership and team work. Berman’s writing is clear and informative, and presents a fun narrative that traces the team’s success through the hiring of Andy Reid all the way to their recent success with Nick Siriani. Both my son and I loved reading this book, and he loved learning more about the players and teams from the early 2000s season that he never got to watch. Berman starts the book by sharing that this was initially planned to be a book documenting the Super Bowl run from 2022, which the Eagles lost to the Chiefs on a last minute field goal. Thus, his book took a different perspective, but I’m really glad that he was able to create this great reference and interesting narrative about the Eagles success. He ends the book speculating about a revised edition in 2050, but with the Super Bowl win this past year, I wonder if there will be a new edition coming out or whether he will embark on another book that documents the amazing championship season of 2024. In either case, this book is a winner that documents the winning ways of one of the elite teams of the NFL. Go Birds!

 

Examining the Influence and Philosophy of Permissive Parenting: Henry Jenkins's Where the Wild Things Were

 Where the Wild Things Were: Boyhood and Permissive Parenting in Postwar America 

by Henry Jenkins

Where the Wild Things Were book cover

Author and Scholar Henry Jenkins

Many thanks to NYU Press and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of Henry Jenkins’s excellent new book Where the Wild Things Were: Boyhood and Permissive Parenting in Postwar America. It took me a little while to get through this book, but it was well worth it. Jenkins’s scholarship focuses on the shift towards permissive parenting, which he defines as a shift from more strict discipline for children, or kind of like a view of children as little adults, to one that focused on parents being more attuned to the needs of their children. While there has always been debate about parenting styles and approaches, Jenkins’s definition and examples of permissive parenting are not necessarily absentee or devoid of any kind of discipline. Rather, it looked more like the kind of authoritative parenting style that is often touted as being high on responsiveness for white, middle class families. Jenkins credits the noted pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Spock and cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead as the two influential thinkers who helped to shift the parental paradigm towards this more responsive approach. However, Jenkins also provides some background in looking at developmental theorists like Freud, G. Stanley Hall, and later, Erik Erikson, who also helped shape this approach towards more responsiveness to children. I really loved learning about the Child Study Teams, and how Hall in particular recruited mothers to help serve as kind of observational scientists about their own children’s development. Jenkins notes that incorporating the mothers’ perspectives and observations allowed for more real data to verify some of the developmental trajectories that children experience. He contrasts these kinds of real-world applications with the more mechanical (and popular at the time) approaches of Watson and the early days of Behaviorism, which was the dominant mode of Psychological research at the time.

Beyond looking at theoretical and developmental differences, Jenkins real analysis examines the kinds of media and resources that parents and their children engaged in, and how the permissive or responsive approaches were incorporated into popular media, especially in books, films, and television. Although much of this was before my time, I still experienced many of the after-effects of this kind of approach to parenting, since my parents, especially my mom, were exposed to this style, and we can still see how influential children’s media like Sesame Street continues to influence children today. I also grew up watching Mr. Rodger’s Neighborhood and reading Dr. Seuss books, two topics that feature prominently in Jenkins’s analyses of permissive parenting and child development. It was fascinating to read about the thinking that went into some of these texts, shows, and films, since I often enjoyed them as a child, not really thinking about the educational or philosophical approaches to child development behind them. Yet, Jenkins’s detailed scholarship and analysis helps to provide an interesting perspective about the ideas and philosophies that helped to shape many of these cherished parts of people’s childhoods. I also loved how he frequently connected the media and resources to Spock and Mead, showing their influence on these books and shows.

While Jenkins primarily focuses on white, middle class baby boomers, he also brings in perspectives of Black and Asian boys, while also discussing how rigid Mead and Spock’s views of gender roles were. It’s interesting to consider, as Jenkins does, what their views might be like today, since it seemed like their perspectives, especially Spock’s, were continuously evolving. Jenkins brought up some other texts, like Ezra Jack Keats’ The Snowy Day and a strange Golden Book called Tootle that I’ve read with my own kids. I got Tootle for my son, and it became one of his favorite stories, but I’ve always been troubled by it. Jenkins seems to suggest that the story is more about obedience and conformity, but I also wondered whether there was something about sexuality in the book as well, as Tootle, a fast train who fails to stay on the tracks, is reprimanded for following his desires to be around flowers and play in the field, rather than work. Regardless of his take, I was glad to see that there was someone else questioning this message, and it also made me think about the larger issues of how powerful messages can be in children’s media and literature. This also resonated with me in why Jenkins’s book is so important today, as there are continued battles about which books children can access in schools. As Jenkins states in his Coda, a Vice Principal was fired for reading a popular and humorous book with his students. The book, titled I Need a New Butt, was a funny story about a boy discovering his body, something that happens with all kids. Yet, parents complained, and the Vice Principal was fired for sharing his love of reading with students. As Jenkins shows throughout the book and his research, children’s literature and media can be powerful ways to not only help children learn important life and interpersonal skills, but they can also be used to impart important cultural lessons and values. Furthermore, this kind of literature and media can be powerful tools for handling difficult times and challenging emotions, as Jenkins’s chapters analyzing Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood highlight. These were some of my favorite chapters and gave me a new appreciation and insight into this important show. It’s also emblematic of this kind of responsive approach to children, showing them that people are willing to listen to them and consider their ideas and needs seriously. Other chapters examine shows ranging from Dennis the Menace to Johnny Quest, which interestingly brings in an Indian character for multiculturalism. As Jenkins shows in his research, this also aligns with an increase in adoptees from Asian countries, so it was trying to be more representative of the changing demographics in American society. One of the more interesting shows that Jenkins analyzes also starred Jay North, of Dennis the Menace fame. It was a later show in the 60s, titled Maya, about a boy who traveled to India to find his father, but also goes on journeys with another Indian boy, discovering his own identity. I’ll try to seek this show out because it sounds like a fascinating story that was also examining different aspects of identity, culture, and the expanding global society. Another chapter examined Lost in Space, and how the boys in this story both represented elements of boyhood during this permissive approach to parenting but also created a kind of aspirational character that tried to showcase the importance of science.

As Jenkins notes in both the book’s Introduction and Coda, ideas about parenting approaches and philosophies are nothing new. We can see today how much pushback and blame this kind of responsive parenting gets for problems in society. There was also blame and consternation in the 60s, where many, including Spiro Agnew, the disgraced Vice President of the Nixon administration, blamed Dr. Spock and permissive parenting for social change. That’s what makes Jenkins’s book even more important today. His careful analysis and consideration of the different media, shows, movies, and texts that children experience in during their formative years also show the kind of thought and consideration that went into their development. In particular, it was reassuring (for me) to know that there was a conscious decision to show children that the world can be considerate and caring, and that emphasizing their importance and uniqueness in the world is important in helping them understand their own roles in the world, while also developing a sense of autonomy and independence. I know that I was thinking about my own children as I read this book, and how different their childhoods are from my own. Regardless, I still try to share books and movies with them that I think they might appreciate and learn something from. I’ve also tried to read more recent books like The Wild Robot that my kids really enjoy and are also somewhat pedagogical in teaching lessons and imparting values. With continuing challenges and battles about what students can access and even what and how people should parent, I feel like Jenkins’s book is not only enjoyable to read, but also necessary in understanding in the shifts in parenting styles. 

The Dangers of Media Demons: Clay McLeod Chapman's Wake Up and Open Your Eyes

 Wake Up and Open Your Eyes 

by Clay McLeod Chapman

Wake Up and Open Your Eyes book cover

Author Clay McLeod Chapman

Big thanks to Quirk Books and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of Clay McLeod Chapman’s terrifying new book Wake Up and Open Your Eyes. I have another Chapman book (Whisper Down the Lane) that I’ve been meaning to read, so I was excited to receive a copy of this book for preview. I also recently read an interview with Chapman that explains his interest in trying to publish this book before the election, and how the violence of January 6^th motivated him to write this horror story. The book is described as a possession story, but I felt like there were tropes from other horror genres including apocalyptic stories of survival (think The Road or Parable of the Sower), as well as a kind of zombie story where citizens are rendered mindless due to some strange kind of phenomenon. In this case, Chapman creatively uses mass and social media as the catalyst for transforming people into mindless and murderous vessels, meant to do the bidding of anchors from the not-so-subtly named Fax News. The indoctrination and transformation happens largely due to technology, including new, HD televisions, tablets, and social media apps on phones and laptops. Chapman’s description of the hypnotic colors and a kind of ooze or oil that emanates from these devices also created a kind of Lovecraftian mood, where these transformations led to a cosmic horror that the main character Noah experiences. I loved these various influences, and the mood of the story ranged from a kind of creepiness to despair, often a feeling I experience when reading these kinds of apocalyptic novels. Nevertheless, there was a lot I could relate to in Chapman’s book, and there were some truly humorous parts, but this is a book that will also challenge readers to think about how media affects us, and how a kind of unhealthy consumption of media can really affect not only our own mental health, but also how we interact with and treat others.

Noah, a husband and father living in Brooklyn, is receiving strange calls from his mother. After recent visits where he experiences political differences with his parents, Noah begins to worry about their well-being. He reaches out to his older brother, Asher, who lives closer in Virginia, to possibly check in on the parents, but Asher seems less concerned and sympathetic to Noah’s concerns about their parents. Noah eventually decides to visit his parents, and encounters a strange scene when he arrives. There are several televisions playing and the stench of rotten food fills the house, but there seems to be no sign of his parents. Eerie silences and signs of struggle fill the house until Noah eventually encounters his parents, but something is off. I won’t give too much else away about this scene, but Noah really struggles to take care of his parents. In a scene probably relatable to a lot of adults in the sandwich generation tasked with taking care of elderly parents and children, Noah finds the roles reversed where he has to manage his parents’ needs. And many of them are strange and disturbing, which adds both a sense of fear and comedy. I’m not sure if Chapman wrote it this way, but there are some absurd events throughout the book, and especially in this scene where Noah realizes how much his parents have changed. The other relatable element of this book, and it is something that Noah reflects on during his journey to Virgina to check in on his parents is the ideological/political battle that many adults face in dealing with older relatives indoctrinated by conservative media entertainment and/or gaslit by social media. Although it’s relatable, Chapman’s use of horror serves as an effective commentary about the dangers of not being a careful consumer of information in our current content-rich environment.

The second part of the book tells the story from Asher’s family perspective. Asher is Noah’s older brother, who also has a family, but remained in Virginia and lives a more conservative, traditional lifestyle. I found this section to be more disturbing and depressing, but equally powerful in conveying the message of the dangers of unchecked media consumption. What was also compelling about this section is that despite being somewhat unlikable characters, I felt sympathy for Asher and his family as they regressed into the degradation brought about by the demons behind Fax News. In particular Devon and Caleb, Asher’s wife and high-school aged son, were both sad, lonely characters who sought out social media connections to fill the voids in their lives. Asher, in contrast, seeks out comfort and companionship through Fax News and a recliner, which both end up taking on demonic qualities. Devon and Caleb both struggle with their loneliness, yet find friends and followers on social media who gradually influence them, yet also isolate them from any other kind of meaningful social contact with real people. I appreciated Chapman’s critique in these sections, and the extent that Devon and Caleb go to appease their followers is entertaining and horrific. Marcus, the younger son in the Fairfield family, is the only one who is not in contact with the demons from social media and Fax News; however, he is still affected and struggles to avoid the evil that inhabits his family. Yet, even Marcus is yearning for electronic connections, seeking out a tablet (or Pi-Pi, as he refers to it) to listen to his favorite song “Baby Ghost”, a not-so-subtle parody of another earworm about a family. Again, Chapman’s satire of modern infotainment and how we often use it to either avoid meaningful, substantive connections with others or to basically replace the real responsibilities we have to friends and family hits home and serves as an important reminder to readers.

The last section of the book returns to Noah’s perspective but also took a stylistic change as well. As Noah leaves his childhood home and goes to see his brother Asher, the story is mostly told in a second person direct address to the reader. I had mixed feelings about this aspect, but I also think that there was a kind of power to this narrative choice. In many ways it implicates the reader into the kind of outrage and powerlessness that Noah experiences (or at least, it made me feel somewhat angry and powerless with all of the chaos that is currently swarming around in daily headlines). It’s an interesting choice, and although I’m not exactly like Noah or his family, I kind of felt more of a connection with him. I think it also made me realize how despite a kind of liberal concern to create a safe and diverse world, there’s always a threat, especially when we maybe underestimate the threats or problems in society. The last section also chronicles Noah’s attempts to return to Brooklyn from Virginia while the world has basically collapsed. This part of the book really reminded me of more apocalyptic stories, and it kind of borders between more serious stories like Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower and more satirical stories like Ling Ma’s Severance. Nevertheless, this last section left me with a lot to consider and reflect on, not only with how I consume media and information, but also how I consider ideological and political differences. Overall, this was a really great book that was equally entertaining and left me with a lot to think about. There were some humorous and horrific moments, and the book is filled with a kind of cosmic dread that was like a modern Lovecraftian story about unleashing the old gods who are hungry, angry, and in search of new sacrifices. I also felt like there were some great references, both veiled and explicit, to pop culture, and Chapman’s horror descriptions were detailed and clever. Wake Up and Open Your Eyes makes me look forward to reading some of Chapman’s other books. 

Examining Dostoyevsky's Influences and Influence: Dostoyevsky in the Face of Death

 Dostoyevsky in the Face of Death: or Language Haunted by Sex by Julia Kristeva (translated by Armine Kotin Mortimer)

Dostoyevsky in the Face of Death book cover

Author Julia Kristeva

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Thank you to Columbia University Press and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of Jula Kristeva’s historical, biographical, and critical analysis of Dostoyevsky’s work Dostoyevsky in the Face of Death: or Language Haunted by Sex. I read this book over two separate times, and stepped away from it for a bit, only to finish it about a month or so later. I was initially attracted to this book for a few reasons—one was that I love Dostoyevsky’s books and stories. It’s been a while since I’ve read anything by him, but one of the best experiences with reading a book for a class was when I took a World Literature course and read Crime and Punishment. The course required us to not only read the text, but read other critical and biographical essays about the text, and write and discuss these texts regularly. I found that this enabled new and deeper insights into the book, the characters, and the tools and language Dostoyevsky used. In many ways, Kristeva’s book is a lot like taking a course on Dostoyevsky. She presents key insights into the language he used, emphasizing how particular word choices reflect important ideas or concepts that Dostoyevsky was conveying. She also provides important biographical details, framing them frequently in a Freudian perspective. Since taking that class in college, I’ve read some of the other books that Kristeva mentioned, but I feel like my experience with this book would have been enhanced with a more recent recall of the events, characters, and details from these texts. Nevertheless, this book provides some interesting interpretations and considerations for one of the most important writers from the 19^th century. I also liked how in the latter half of Kristeva’s book, she kind of frames Dostoyevsky as influencing more modern writers and texts. She frames his work by directly connecting other writers, artists, and movements in literature and science. In particular, she explores his connections to poets like Baudelaire and thinkers like Nietzsche and Freud. I remember reading an essay about Brothers Karamazov that references connections with Nietzsche (it may have also been Crime and Punishment), but it wasn’t a connection that I had thought about in more depth. And like Freud, I can see how a writer like Dostoyevsky pushed boundaries and questioned elements of society with his writing. The other element of the book that excited me was that it was by Kristeva. I had never read anything by her, even in college. In fact, it was only a few years ago that I came across her ideas and writing from reading Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Committed, in particular her ideas about abjection. I found those sections in Nguyen’s book to be some of the most challenging, yet engaging parts. The idea of abjection as a reaction to horror made a lot of sense, especially considering the horror and trauma that continues to exist in the world. Kristeva applies these ideas to Dostoyevsky’s writing as well, considering not only the murder, patricide, and suicide that occur, but also other horrors that were a part of many of Dostoyevsky’s texts. I really forgot about some of the violence that occurred, and often looked at these events as more like symbolism than with any kind of sense of abjection. There are sections in the book that deal with sexual assault and violence as well, so be warned that this book takes a dark look at his work. However, Kristeva goes beyond literary theory and takes an interdisciplinary approach at many of the texts, examining common themes found across many of Dostoyevsky’s works through lenses like psychoanalysis, language, history, art, and biography. For me, some of the most fascinating analyses were focused on religion and examining how the Orthodox church and its ideas about God, the father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit were explored and examined in Dostoyevsky’s work. It was also interesting to learn how different this concept was from the trinity that is believed by many Catholics, and how some of Dostoyevsky’s work may have been critical of this belief in a kind of co-equal trilogy. Kristeva also examines her own personal connections to Dostoyevsky’s literature and oeuvre. This was another interesting section to read since I didn’t know much about her life. However, I think that those sections that explore language use and the kinds of similarities with other 19^th century thinkers like Nietzsche and Freud were probably my favorite parts of the book.

While this book has a lot to consider, it is a challenging read, and not necessarily a book that anyone could pick up and start reading. Readers should have some familiarity with Russian literature, especially the works of Dostoyevsky. Someone who has recently read some texts by him would probably enjoy this book even more. I read a few reviews that suggested that this book was like taking a class with a kind of free-associating professor, and at times, I found that to be true as well. There were some sections where I had to go back and re-read her connections to better understand how Kristeva was moving from one idea to the next. However, I also found this to be one of the strengths of her writing, and at times, her writing (or at least the translation by Mortimer) was elegant and poetic. Kristeva definitely has a unique and uncompromising voice, and her analyses and broad, interdisciplinary approach to unlocking ideas related to Dostoyevsky is confident and detailed. 

Data to Challenge Conceptions of Racism: The Science of Racism by Keon West

 The Science of Racism: Everything You Need to Know but Probably Don't - Yet by Keon West

The Science of Racism book cover

Author, Researcher, and Professor Keon West

Major thanks to Abrams Press and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of Dr. Keon West’s The Science of Racism: Everything You Need to Know but Probably Don’t -Yet. I’ve been looking forward to reading this book for a few months, and it came along at an ideal moment as the Trump administration seeks to remove protections against discrimination and find ways to roll back programs and progress aimed at improving diversity, equity, and inclusion in many different areas in American life. Although Dr. West is a research professor in England, much of the research he uses throughout the book is either from the US or relevant to the US. I could also tell from Dr. West’s writing that he is an educator. He is able to take one of the most complicated social problems of the past 3 centuries and provide some research to explain how racism remains a problem. Part of the need to use research to justify the existence of racism in society is due to the fact that many people have proclaimed that racism is no longer an issue or that those who doubt racism suggest that the inequalities are largely a result of personal flaws or characteristics (see Dinesh D’Souza). However, I appreciated that Dr. West not only evaluated the arguments of those who are racism skeptics, but also those who advocate for more change due to systemic racism and white privilege (see Robin DiAngelo). Dr. West acknowledges both arguments, but also identifies that neither uses data and research to support their points. Instead, they largely rely on anecdotal evidence and emotional appeals, which tend to emotionally impact readers, but really do not provide the kind of meaningful support takes a complex phenomenon like racism and allows us to better understand the reasons for its existence. For Dr. West, understanding the reasons will also allow us to better identify ways to treat this issue and find ways to appreciate diversity, while also learning how to become more inclusive. In addition, Dr. West is able to present the complexities of psychological research and concepts and makes them comprehensible by using meaningful analogies that would appeal to readers. I found this aspect of his book especially helpful, and I felt like his explanations provided a useful way to better understand the research, and how the design of certain studies can identify the different ways that racism continues to occur in areas, especially in job hiring. A popular research study/design throughout the book involves sending out CVs/resumes to prospective employers. The resumes contain the same information, but the names are changed to be names that are Black or Hispanic sounding. As Dr. West explains, white applicants received more call backs and job offers than Black and Hispanic applicants. Dr. West also presents variations on these research studies, but sadly the results end up being the same. These research studies present convincing evidence of the continued presence (and influence) of racism in society, and they also help to dismantle the kinds of spurious arguments that racism deniers make.

I really appreciated the organization of the book as well. Dr. West tackles the question of whether racism is “real” or not, and presents convincing research to document its reality and its impact on minorities. He also helps to define several terms that are often used loosely in public that possibly add to further confusion and misunderstandings about racism. Again, I felt like this is an area where Dr. West’s expertise and experience as a teacher helped inform his writing, presenting key definitions and exploring differences and complexities related to issues like systemic racism, unconscious bias, and conscious biases that are often exhibited by people. While we all have our biases, Dr. West’s definitions help to explain not only the differences among these various biases, but also how factors in society and our experiences ultimately shape these biases. Furthermore, Dr. West explores several other variations on the CV studies, but that were shocking to read the results. In one instance, white and Hispanic applicants were called back under false pretenses that led to a further interview, while a Black applicant was sent home, informed that there were no interviews that day. And while Dr. West repeatedly stresses that “anecdote is not data” and that “anecdotes, no matter how shocking, or captivating, or terrible, can scientifically prove that people of color are treated worse than White people”, his deep dive into the research literature of racism and discrimination provides the kind of “data… we’d need to make statements about the prevalence of racism.” Unfortunately, too often people seem to pay more attention to the kind of emotional appeals and the personal connections that they establish with the anecdotal examples, ignoring the science and data that are more representative of the pervasiveness of racism and discrimination in our reality. This idea about the kind of emotional anecdotes also appears in the next section, which examines the complexities of racism. In particular, I was both appalled and intrigued to learn more about how reverse racism is used more and more to prevent the kinds of changes that are needed to address systemic racism in various areas. Look around today and we can clearly see these bad faith charges of “reverse racism” happening to unwind and dismantle protections that have been hard fought and won over the past 60 years. We can also see how quickly people of color are criticized and “canceled” when they speak out or make a comment about race. Dr. West uses some specific examples (Sarah Jeong, Adjoa Andoh), but then presents research data to show how frequently white people are rated as a preferred racial group. I won’t go into the results, but it was somewhat shocking to read that these results mirror the Doll Test (mentioned later) that Dr. Kenneth Clark conducted in the 1950s, which was used to overturn school segregation in the Brown decision. Despite all of the progress and some people declaring racism is no longer in existence, it seems like the data prove otherwise.

The last section was also powerful to read, for many different reasons. I currently serve on a DEI committee at work, and I’ve always tried to ensure that the content we present to students is representative of the various experiences and backgrounds that our students may come from. In education, I know that this is important for various reasons, chief among them engagement and understanding. That is, by finding what is familiar and representative of students’ experiences, it makes learning easier or at least easier for students to connect with and engage with. When there is cultural incongruity, students are more likely to disengage or misunderstand the information. Furthermore, this is not difficult work, especially if you have knowledge or a background in the area. It’s also a reason why there is a greater need for diversity in the workforce--- having people from a variety of backgrounds and experiences helps inform and contribute to the kind of products we create, and also makes those products more representative and appealing to the diversity of America. Dr. West acknowledges the importance of diversity, but also identifies some of the weaknesses in implementing change in diversity across the workforce and education. In particular, he looks at the limited impact that many diversity training programs have on people. I hadn’t thought much about this, but I understand his point. First, these programs seek to change attitudes, and not behaviors that might influence attitudes. Furthermore, they kind of take a negative approach by focusing on what we shouldn’t do, rather than advocating the best approaches. While this might not be true of all programs, Dr. West identifies some great possibilities for effectively revising diversity training programs to have more of an impact. He presents some actionable steps people can take, including having more intergroup contact, education, and modifying our media. I loved these approaches, and I’ve always felt that these were important steps to take. When I was teaching, I was often the only white person in the room, and I recognized that my experiences were much different from my students. It enabled me to learn to listen more and allow students to share their experiences and backgrounds with one another. Furthermore, it also helped my students in that many times, one of them could put ideas and concepts into more understandable terms. They could break it down to their peers better than I could. Furthermore, increasing intergroup contact also allows us to be more understanding and empathetic of other groups’ experiences with racism and possibly recognize our own behaviors that might be construed as racist (or sexist, ableist, ageist, etc). In addition, I’ve always found it important to modify media. Dr. West talks about the kinds of representation in texts, starting from an early age. Chapter 12 mentions some children’s books that kids can read, and Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats was on there. That book, along with Corduroy were some of the books that I made sure my kids read when they were young. It’s not something I intentionally though about since these are award winning books, but I now realize how important it is to provide my kids with diverse reading experiences that show a variety of characters. I also started to think about this when I noticed that most of the books we were reading showed opposite sex parents, and this didn’t necessarily represent some of the families that our friends and family members had. Although Dr. West doesn’t address these kind of -isms directly, I think that this book helps to also open up discussions about other forms of discrimination and lack of representation that happens in society. Dr. West does acknowledge that these other kinds of -isms are happening in society, and that to incorporate them would probably require more books; however, I really appreciated that this book provided some ways to open discussions and possibly address these issues.

With the terrible and regressive changes that have been happening in the US since the start of the second Trump administration, The Science of Racism is an essential book to read. Even if we didn’t have all of these changes, I still would recommend this book since racism has not diminished or gone away, and that working to keep biases and discrimination in check is more than just activism. It requires a dedication to education, increasing intergroup contact by broadening our experiences with others and those who are different, and changing our media diet to incorporate more diverse experiences. I’ve always been one to appreciate and seek out differences, but I know that others might like to maintain homogeneity. Keeping the status quo has potentially dangerous implications, and finding ways to appreciate if not engage with more diversity is necessary. I’ll end with this excellent quote from Stokely Carmichael that Dr. West used to show how racism isn’t necessarily about attitudes, but about power. “If a White man wants to lynch me, that’s his problem. If he’s got the power to lynch me, that’s my problem. Racism is not a question of attitude, it’s a question of power.” I got shudders reading this quote since many protections in various areas, work, education, civil rights, have been eroding and disappearing, which shows the kind of power inequality that makes racism so pernicious. I also think that this quote and Dr. West’s research and analysis helps to challenge our perceptions about race and racism, bringing me, at least, a further understanding of how racism continues to persist and impact people. This such an important book for people to read today. The only recommendation for change I would make to Dr. West is to incorporate more graphics—whether these are charts, graphs, or other kinds of infographics, to help visualize the data from studies better. I found myself going over the study results a few times just to better understand the numbers and results, as well as the conclusions drawn about the results. I think that with visualizing some of these results and presenting the data in a visual form, it might help readers better understand the results and implications of these studies. Nevertheless, this was an incredibly powerful and important book to read.