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Smith (A History of Christianity in Pittsburgh), professor of history emeritus at Grove City College, takes a cursory look at “how [Winston Churchill’s] religious convictions may have influenced his objectives and policies” in this thin study. Drawing on existing scholarship as well as Churchill’s letters and diaries, Smith walks readers through Churchill’s childhood of neglect, how attending boarding schools inspired in him a dislike for authoritarian rules (particularly from Catholic clergy), his experiences as a soldier and war correspondent, and his role as a “statesmen and evangelist” working to defeat and reform Europe after “the Devil” Hitler’s catastrophic rise to power. It’s difficult, however, to find any argument or thesis here. The bulk of the work consists of quotes or statements from other historians or the Churchill family, which appear with little or no analysis or comment from Smith himself. The author assembles a rich trove of source material, but fails to do anything of note with it. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 01/01/2021 | Details & Permalink

German clinical psychologist Stahl (Yes, No, Maybe) uses the metaphor of the inner child to help readers work through formative childhood experiences in this compassionate work. She proposes that the inner child is an unconscious part of one’s personality defined in childhood, which is split between the “shadow child” (feelings of helplessness that inspire defense mechanisms and self-protection) and the “sun child,” (feelings of love and protection that inspire self-esteem) and is often in conflict with one’s “inner adult,” or “our rational and reasonable mind.” As people try to secure the four basic psychological needs of connection, autonomy, pleasure, and avoidance of displeasure, Stahl posits, the shadow child’s negative beliefs lead to self-protection strategies that result in perfectionism, overadjustment, conflict avoidance, and other negative habits. To heal the shadow child, Stahl recommends reinforcing one’s sun child and inner adult through self-reflection, rational analysis, and speaking to oneself as the shadow child. Stahl argues that one is “100 percent responsible” for one’s own happiness, and that happiness must be attained through dismantling negative self-defense mechanisms and cultivating one’s ability to live in the moment. Readers of psychology or self-help will be enlightened by this straightforward, intuitive, and sensitive investigation. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 01/01/2021 | Details & Permalink

Historian Elder (The Sacred Mirror) reassesses the life and legacy of U.S. vice president and South Carolina senator John C. Calhoun (1782–1850) in this comprehensive biography. Elder skillfully tracks Calhoun’s unusual political career trajectory, from his advocacy for war with England as a freshman congressman in 1811, to his modernization of the U.S. Army as secretary of war, resignation as Andrew Jackson’s vice president and return to Congress in 1832 as a strident advocate for states’ rights, and calls for a constitutional amendment protecting slavery in the weeks before his death in 1850. Elder scrutinizes Calhoun’s creative interpretations of the U.S. Constitution and forthrightly documents his deep-rooted belief in white supremacy, but understates his political failings, including his knack for turning allies into enemies and the single-mindedness that doomed his presidential ambitions and contributed to his brief and ineffectual tenure as secretary of state in 1844–1845. Still, Elder is a graceful writer who persuasively argues that the beliefs and policies Calhoun amplified continue to shape American politics. Readers with a keen interest in the pre–Civil War era and a strong stomach for objectionable viewpoints will gain insight from this expert account. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/01/2021 | Details & Permalink

Fashion designer Oldham (Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life) compiles stunning interiors from the defunct design magazine Nest in this lavish volume of reproduced pages from the magazine. Oldham pays tribute to the vision of Nest founder Joseph Holtzman, who wanted the publication to chronicle “the richest peoples’ homes, glorious palaces... alongside homes made from Coke crates and the cardboard sleeping boxes the Dutch government offered its homeless population.” Featured are Roy Lichtenstein’s Southampton, N.Y., studio; Cy Twombly’s Italian palazzo; Ikea showroom decorator Raymond Donahue’s over-the-top room dedicated to Farrah Fawcett, and John Waters’s Baltimore mansion. Beyond homes, Oldham highlights the Keith Haring–designed phallic-themed bathroom at New York City’s Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center and the Philadelphia Zoo’s primate reserve, which “blurs the boundaries between humans and animals.” Oldham also drifts into the macabre with the lethal injections chamber at the Stateville Correctional Facility in Joliet, Ill., and a Fifth Avenue apartment where a financier was murdered. The magazine pages’ short bursts of prose allow the architectural elements and oversized photos to shine. Anyone with a love for design will eagerly devour this stylish compilation. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 01/01/2021 | Details & Permalink

Norse mythology intrudes on a bubbly romance in this light adventure from McCluer (Olivia). Hannah Olsen, an athletic, heavy drinking recent graduate of Portland State University, meets bombshell bartender Emily Johnson on a night out, and the pair soon start dating. They agree to move in together in no time, much to the dismay of Emily’s nonbinary best friend, Alys. Soon thereafter, two burly, armor-clad men accost Hannah and Emily, claiming the women are reincarnations of husband and wife Norse gods, Thor and Sif. Now Hannah must prove herself by wielding the hammer Mjolnir and locating Thor’s missing belt of strength on an island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. But as present day struggles and ancient myth collide, can Hannah keep her hands off Emily long enough to become Asgard’s champion? Her task only becomes harder when Alys reveals that they are the reincarnation of the trickster god Loki and they’ve been working for Hel, the goddess of the underworld, to meddle in Hannah and Emily’s romance. McCluer uses the premise to explore themes of identity and free will, though the fantasy elements often read as an afterthought to the characters’ tangled flirtations. Readers will come for the gender bending mythology and stay for the light romance. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 01/01/2021 | Details & Permalink

Rai (Girl Gone Viral) lovingly dives into modern Desi family dynamics in this playful, good-natured story of growing into love. Beauty influencer Jia Ahmed takes the bold step of crashing an L.A. party to meet the man who has been wooing her via Instagram messages, Bollywood actor–turned–soap opera star Dev Dixit—only to discover that he doesn’t know who she is. Jia is humiliated, and to make matters worse, her family insists on traveling to California to meet her new beau after the paparazzi publish a picture of her and Dev from their one conversation at the party. Jia asks Dev to pretend to date her during the visit so that she doesn’t have to tell her family she was catfished. But in the process of learning enough about each other to be convincing as a couple, they develop a true fondness for each other. Rai offers a refreshingly balanced depiction of minor celebrity; her protagonists clearly have money and fans, but in the end, they’re still people. The personalities of the couple’s families are distinctive, but never so over the top that the novel falls into farce, and the story lands as upbeat, witty, and sincere. Readers are sure to be satisfied. Agent: Steven Axelrod, the Axelrod Agency. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/01/2021 | Details & Permalink

Godfrey (Neo-Passing: Performing Identity After Jim Crow) brings together interviews, essays, and never-before-transcribed audiotapes from groundbreaking playwright Lorraine Hansberry (1930–1965) in this invigorating volume. With the success of Hansberry’s first play, A Raisin in the Sun, in 1959, she became the “the first African American woman to have a play produced on Broadway, and the first to win the prestigious New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award,” which led to her being at “the middle of a media volcano.” In a 1961 interview with Eleanor Fischer, Hansberry says of race relations in A Raisin in the Sun that there is nothing “more universal in the world than man’s oppression of man.” In another, James Baldwin and Hansberry discuss being Black artists in America: “I can’t imagine a contemporary writer any place in the world today who isn’t in conflict with his world,” Hansberry says. In a 1959 interview, Hansberry says of her process, “I wrote experimentally, only to give myself experience.” These conversations offer both insight into the craft of writing and, notably, a bridge to today’s racial politics in Hansberry’s takes on the relationship between art and protest. Aspiring writers will no doubt find food for thought. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 01/01/2021 | Details & Permalink

Political commentator McGhee argues in her astute and persuasive debut that income inequality and the decline of the middle and working classes in America are a direct result of the country’s long history of racial injustice. Many white Americans, McGhee claims, center their political beliefs and actions—often to their own detriment—on the false premise that social and economic gains for one race result in losses for another. She traces the history of race relations in America from slavery through Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and the dawn of neoliberalism, documenting instances in which racism against Black Americans has diminished everyone’s quality of life and forestalled social progress, including the mass closure of public swimming pools in the 1950s and ’60s to avoid integration, and the American Medical Association’s “racist red-baiting campaign” to undermine President Truman’s efforts to pass universal health-care legislation. McGhee holds up a recent economic turnaround in Lewiston, Maine, as an example of how communities can thrive thanks to immigrants and people of color, driving home the point that racial inclusivity benefits all Americans. McGhee marshals a wealth of information into a cohesive narrative that ends on a hopeful note. This sharp, thorough, and engrossing report casts America’s racial divide in a new light. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/01/2021 | Details & Permalink

Feather concludes her London Jewels Trilogy (after Seduce Me with Sapphires) with this uneven tale of social reform and romance in Edwardian London. It’s a time of feather boas, flash new motorcars, and determined suffragettes—among them wealthy Petra Rutherford and her friends. At 14, Petra fell for handsome 24-year-old Guy Granville and he callously broke her heart. Ten years later, the sexy brute reenters Petra’s life, now a member of the House of Lords and a political ally of Petra’s brother. Petra has no intention of letting their renewed flirtation become serious—until Guy asks her to marry him. Petra agrees, but two things stand in the way of their happiness: Guy’s disdain for the women’s vote, and his ruthless former mistress, who’s determined to destroy their marriage. Though some readers won’t be able to reconcile Guy and Petra’s opposed belief systems, Petra is a plucky heroine and Guy will appeal to fans of alpha male tropes. Feather vividly recreates the world of the Edwardian upper class, where champagne flows like water and women enjoy new social freedoms. Heavier on atmosphere than swoonworthy moments, this series finale still offers all the lively characters and delightfully tangled plotting fans expect. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/01/2021 | Details & Permalink

In the companion volume to a forthcoming PBS documentary of the same name, Gates (Stony the Road) delivers a brisk and insightful look at how the Black church has succored generations of African Americans against white supremacy. Though whites believed that Christianity would keep enslaved Africans docile and compliant, Gates writes, religion actually enabled them to find the comforts of ritual and music in the only institution they could control. Gates details how the Black church carved out support networks and the political tools to fight for full citizenship for Black Americans, and forged pathways into American popular music. Civil rights titans Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X get their due in Gates’s survey, as do early rebel-preachers like Nat Turner and contemporary religious leaders including William J. Barber II of North Carolina and Raphael G. Warnock of Georgia. Gates also explores the roots of Methodism, Pentecostalism, the Nation of Islam, and other faith traditions; how gender and sexual identity issues have roiled Black churches; and contemporary debates over ministers preaching a “prosperity gospel” and the role of religious institutions in protests over police brutality. Punctuated by trenchant observations from Black historians and theologians, Gates’s crisp account places religious life at the center of the African American experience. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/01/2021 | Details & Permalink