American Reich: A Murder in Orange County, Neo-Nazis, and a New Age of Hate Eric Lichtblau

 

Hello my lovely readers!

This book didn't work for me. Shame. Let's get into it.

SYNOPSIS

One night in early 2018, while he was home from college, an Ivy League student named Blaze Bernstein snuck out of his parents’ house in Orange County. Waiting for him in a car outside was an old high-school classmate: Sam Woodward, someone who Blaze mostly remembered as a brooding, bigoted loner. But that night, after months of flirtatious messaging, Sam had succeeded in coaxing Blaze—a gay, Jewish sophomore at UPenn—out for a rendezvous. No one would ever see him alive again.

In American Reich, veteran investigative journalist Eric Lichtblau uses the story of Blaze’s life and death to shine a light on the epidemic of hate in Southern California and, increasingly, the nation as a whole. Orange County has long been a bastion of the ultra-right: carved out of farmland as a haven for wealthy whites fleeing the diversifying metropolis to the north, it was the birthplace of the far-right John Birch Society, a hub for neo-Nazi recruitment, and a powerful springboard for race-baiting Republican politicians including Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. But in the years leading up to Blaze’s disappearance, Orange County was changing: like the country as a whole, it was rapidly diversifying, to the outrage of many of its white residents. No one was more opposed to the changes than America’s resurgent neo-Nazi groups, one of which had recently gained a new member: Sam Woodward.

Revealing how Orange County has exported racial hatred to the rest of the country and the world, American Reich weaves this tragic tale together with stories from across the nation, showing what this haunted place and the colliding paths of two of its residents reveal about America's fractured soul and our hope for healing.

Until the Last Gun is Silent: A Story of Patriotism, the Vietnam War, and the Fight to Save America's Soul by Matthew F. Delmont

Hello my lovely readers!

Naomi, reading a book about war? The world must be coming to an end! Let's get into it! 

SYNOPSIS
As the civil rights movement blazed through America, more than 300,000 Black troops were drafted and sent to fight in the Vietnam War. These soldiers, often from disadvantaged backgrounds and subjected to the brutalities of racism back home, found themselves thrust onto the frontlines of a war many saw as unjust. On the homefront, Black antiwar activists faced another battle: Opposition to the Vietnam War, vilified by key allies in the media and government as anti-American, jeopardized the fight for civil rights. For Black Americans, the Vietnam War forced a generation to question what it truly meant to fight for justice.

Award-winning civil rights historian Matthew F. Delmont weaves together the stories of two Black heroes of the Vietnam War era: Coretta Scott King, who bravely championed the antiwar cause—and eventually persuaded her husband to do the same—and Dwight “Skip” Johnson, a Medal of Honor recipient whose life ended tragically after returning from battle to his native Detroit. Together, these extraordinary accounts expose the contradictions of Black activism and military service during the Vietnam War. Through rich storytelling, Delmont offers a portrait of this period unlike any other, shedding light on a fractured civil rights movement, a generation of veterans failed by the country they served, and the valor of Black servicemen and peace advocates in the midst of it all.

With Love from Harlem by ReShonda Tate

Hello my lovely readers!

I was hesitant to read this at first, since I'm not typically a fan of biography novels. But I'm glad I gave this one a shot. Let's get into it!

SYNOPSIS
Harlem, 1943. At just twenty-three, Hazel Scott is a woman on fire. A jazz prodigy, a glamorous film star, and a fierce advocate for civil rights, she's breaking barriers and refusing to play by the rules. Then Adam Clayton Powell Jr. walks into her life. Harlem's most electrifying preacher-turned-politician, Adam is as bold and unyielding as Hazel--charismatic, powerful...and married.

This kicks off a decades-long relationship that propels them into the center of a political and cultural revolution. As Hazel's star rises, Adam takes the national stage in Congress and the couple becomes the toast of the country. But when their affair turns into a marriage, behind the glamorous façade is a battlefield of ego, ambition, and sacrifice. Forced to choose between her music and her family, Hazel must decide what she's willing to lose--and what she refuses to give up.

Hattie McDaniel: Black Ambition, White Hollywood by Jill Watts

Hello my lovely readers!

Another day, another book. Let's get into it.

SYNOPSIS 
Hattie McDaniel is best known for her performance as Mammy, the sassy foil to Scarlett O’Hara in the movie classic Gone with the Wind. Her powerful performance won her an Oscar® and bolstered the hopes of black Hollywood that the entertainment industry was finally ready to write more multidimensional, fully-realized roles for blacks.

But despite this victory, and pleas by organizations such as the NAACP and SAG, roles for blacks continued to denigrate the African American experience. So Hattie McDaniel continued to play servants. “I’d rather play a maid then be a maid,” Hattie McDaniel answered her critics, but her flip response belied a woman who was emotionally conflicted. Here, in an exhaustively detailed and incisive text by a talented historian, is the story of a valiant woman who defied the racism of her time.

The Temple of My Familiar by Alice Walker

 

Hello my lovely readers!

Did you know that The Color Purple  is a trilogy? This is the second book in the series. Let's get into it!

SYNOPSIS
Filled with the author's unique combination of magic and reality, this book is a sweeping yet intimate novel about people who are tormented by the world's contradictions--black vs. white, man vs. woman, sexual freedom vs. sexual slavery, and past vs. present.

QUICK REVIEWS pt. VII

Hello my lovely readers! I'm just blowing through these books this month. Let's get into it with more quick reviews!

Ghosts of a Holy War: The 1929 Massacre in Palestine That Ignited the Arab-Israeli Conflict by Yardena Schwartz
In 1929, in the sacred city of Hebron--then governed by the British Mandate of Palestine--there was no occupation, state of Israel, or settlers. Jews and Muslims lived peacefully near the burial place of Abraham, patriarch of the Jewish and Arab nations, until one Saturday morning when nearly 70 Jewish men, women, and children were slaughtered by their Arab neighbors. The Hebron massacre was a seminal event in the Arab-Israeli conflict, key to understanding its complexities.

*Another great addition to books about the ongoing, long-fueled conflict between the Arabs and Israelis. A humbling read.

Searching for Savanna: The Murder of One Native American Woman and the Violence Against the Many by Mona Gable
In the summer of 2017, twenty-two-year-old Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind vanished. A week after she disappeared, police arrested the white couple who lived upstairs from Savanna and emerged from their apartment carrying an infant girl. The baby was Savanna’s, but her body would not be found for days.

*This was an important topic, especially for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, but it was poorly written and extremely convoluted. It's unfortunate, because ultimately it's the family of Savanna that suffers even more. 2.5 out of 5 stars

A Midnight Pastry Shop Called Hwawoldang by Lee Onhwa

Hello my lovely readers!

I needed a break from all the nonfiction I've been reading recently and this was a delightful read! Let's get into it.

SYNOPSIS
Twenty-seven-year-old Yeon-hwa has inherited a neighborhood bakery from her grandmother. Curiously, her grandmother’s will spells out two conditions: Yeon-hwa must keep the shop going for at least another month and only open it to customers from 10 PM until midnight. Yeon-hwa is hesitant at first; her grandmother was always distant, raising Yeon-hwa after her parents died in a car accident. But she agrees to the terms, hoping that running the bakery will help her to finally understand her grandmother after all these years.

Yeon-hwa soon learns that the Hwawoldang—the name means “flower moon temple” —is not an ordinary dessert shop. The customers who arrive late at night are spirits, there to attend to unfinished business before being reincarnated. The sweets they crave hold some deep significance in their earthly lives, and they expect Yeon-hwa to meet their requests, as her grandmother did.

With each customer who arrives, Yeon-hwa learns which special desserts live in their memories and will help them on their way. Aided by the shop’s resident black cat, Yeon-hwa learns how to find closure for her customers—and begins to unravel her own family’s secrets as well.