books about history – Page 2 – Equal Opportunity Reader

[REVIEW] The Haunting of Lin-Manuel Miranda, by Ishmael Reed

A thin white book with a red stripe lies on a shiny gray formica table. The title is The Haunting of Lin-Manuel Miranda, the author is Ishmael Reed. There is a goblet of amber beer and a glass of water nearby. A green exit sign is reflected in the table's shiny surface.

(Buy it at Bookshop.) I loved Broadway’s Hamilton despite myself. The songs, the sincerity, the hammy hip-hop–it all got to me. I went in scoffing at the idea of Founding Father fan fiction and came out claiming George Washington as my new bae. I don’t hate the play, but I can see its problems justContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Haunting of Lin-Manuel Miranda, by Ishmael Reed”

[REVIEW] Homey Don’t Play That!: The Story of In Living Color and the Black Comedy Revolution, by David Peisner

Tablet displaying colorful cover for the book Homey Don't Play That. The tablet is lying on a red blanket, surrounded by multicolored balls of yarn.

(Buy it HERE.) I’m often grateful that I came of age during the 90s. While I didn’t have the easiest of childhoods (who did?) there was something magical about the Black cultural renaissance happening in that decade. Hip-hop, neo-soul, comedy, tv shows, literature, films–there was something special happening then and I’m glad it was theContinue reading “[REVIEW] Homey Don’t Play That!: The Story of In Living Color and the Black Comedy Revolution, by David Peisner”

[REVIEW] Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison

Blue paperback book lying on shiny polished wood dining table in front of a white coffee cup and saucer. The cup is full of latte with a fleur-de-lis pattern in the foam.

(Find it HERE.) Some books show you the lives of other people. Some books show you yourself. Some books do both. Song of Solomon has always been the last for me, although it’s always been hard to put my finger on exactly why. ⠀ This is a deceptively dense novel, packed with story and detail,Continue reading “[REVIEW] Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison”

[REVIEW]Jews, Confucians and Protestants: Cultural Capital and the End of Multiculturalism, by Lawrence E Harrison

(I can’t imagine why you’d want to, but find this HERE) (This is a slightly-edited form of a review originally posted in 2014 on Goodreads. Were I to write this now, it would be better organized, but even more scathing.) It’s taken me a long time to write a review of this, because I’m tryingContinue reading “[REVIEW]Jews, Confucians and Protestants: Cultural Capital and the End of Multiculturalism, by Lawrence E Harrison”

[REVIEW] Black Indian, by Shonda Buchanan

(Find it HERE.) Why don’t I like this book? ⠀⠀ I really wanted to. It’s a memoir of the author’s multiracial family, who were coded Black by American caste norms but felt culturally closer to their Choctaw and Coharie Indigenous ancestors who purchased and integrated African slaves, then expelled their mixed descendants in a bidContinue reading “[REVIEW] Black Indian, by Shonda Buchanan”

[REVIEW] The Land, Mildred D Taylor

(Buy it HERE.) In the run up to the January release of All The Days Past, All The Days Yet To Come, I did myself a favor and re-read all the of books in the Logan Family Saga by Mildred D. Taylor. The evocative 9-book series follows a Black American family in Jim Crow-era MississippiContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Land, Mildred D Taylor”

[REVIEW] All The Days Past,All The Days To Come, Mildred D Taylor

(Buy it HERE.) When I bought this book, I immediately told myself I was going to cry buckets over it. I lied. I cried rivers. Seas. OCEANS, even. None of the reviews on this site are objective(how could they be?) but this one is a little less objective than usual. The family in this bookContinue reading “[REVIEW] All The Days Past,All The Days To Come, Mildred D Taylor”

[REVIEW] The Lesson, Cadwell Turnbull

(Buy it HERE.) At first this book seems like a simple alien invasion with a little interspecies love gone wrong subplot, set in author Cadwell Turnbull’s native US Virgin Islands. Not an unusual story, but set in an unusual(for sci-fi) place. An alien race called the Ynaa descend on Water Island in a conch-shell shapedContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Lesson, Cadwell Turnbull”

[REVIEW] The Passion According To Carmela, by Marco Aguinis (translated by Carolina De Robertis)

(Buy it HERE.) 🌟🌟🌟🌟 This book sat on my Kindle at 35% for months, because frankly, the first 3rd of this book is pretty obnoxious. It starts as a whimsical love story between two privileged elites playing at revolution in Bautista-era Cuba in order to relieve themselves of their pampered boredom and exercise their intellectualContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Passion According To Carmela, by Marco Aguinis (translated by Carolina De Robertis)”

[REVIEW] A Mercy, Toni Morrison

(Buy it HERE.) ⭐⭐⭐*whew* This ain’t it, y’all. Toni Morrison was a genius and everything she wrote is brilliant in some way. But now that I’ve said that, I honestly feel that when you place A Mercy next to the rest of Morrison’s oeuvre it’s like parking a hooptie in a lot full of Ferraris.Continue reading “[REVIEW] A Mercy, Toni Morrison”