Search

Blood in the Water is a 2016 historical non-fiction book written by American historian Heather Ann Thompson. In it, she explores the uprising at Attica prison in New York State in 1971 and its bloody suppression by the state. As well as the causes of these events, Blood in the Water looks at their legal and political aftermath, in terms of both the state's prosecution of prisoners and inmate efforts to find justice for violence inflicted in the retaking. Blood in the Water won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for History and the 2017 Bancroft Prize (for books about the history of the Americas). This guide uses the 2017 Vintage Books edition.When New York State troopers and correction officers regained control of Attica in September 1971 in a barrage of rifle and shotgun fire, 39 inmates and hostages were killed, and scores were injured. Surviving, often gravely injured, prisoners were then beaten and sometimes tortured as they were herded back to their cells. Blood in the Water tell the story of how and why this happened, exploring the social, cultural, and political forces, as well as the personal ambitions and narratives, that allowed such violence to occur. It also tells of the state's attempted cover up of these events and the fight of prisoners, lawyers, and activists to bring them to light...

The Vanishing Half, published in June 2020, is the second novel by author Brit Bennett. It became a New York Times bestseller and was selected as a Good Morning America Book Club Pick. The novel explores the themes of female family bonds and the Black experience in America. Bennett covered similar material in her debut novel, The Mothers (2016), which also became a New York Times bestseller. HBO has purchased the film rights to The Vanishing Half with the intention of creating a limited TV series from the material. Page number citations in this guide refer to the Kindle edition.The novel is set in several locations during different time periods. The story begins in the small village of Mallard, Louisiana, in 1968 and then skips to New Orleans, New York, Southern California, and back to Mallard between 1978 and the early 1980s. Just as the time and location shift among numerous places and decades, the limited third-person narrative point of view shifts among multiple people. Since the novel is driven by the perceptions and recollections of its characters, the story does not move in a linear fashion.The plot concerns identical twins Desiree and Stella Vignes, who leave their small Louisiana village at the age of 16 to seek their fortune in New Orleans. Ten years later, their lives have diverged in radically different directions. Desiree has fled an abusive marriage to a Black man and brought her daughter back to Mallard, while Stella is passing for White, is married to a businessman, has a daughter with him, and lives in California...

Born into a close knit family in Chicago, Michelle Robinson was a star student who graduated from Princeton and Harvard Law. Then in 1992, she married another promising young lawyer and the rest, as they say, is history. It is undeniable that President Barack Obama has changed the United States but so has Michelle Obama, the self proclaimed "Mom in Chief." This compelling, easy-to-read biography is illustrated by New Yorker artist John O'Brien.

Sweat is a two-act play written by Lynn Nottage. The play was produced Off-Broadway in 2016 and on Broadway in 2017. Sweat examines the changing lives of factory workers in Reading, Pennsylvania, between the years of 2000 and 2008. Nottage's characters were based on personal research and interviews she conducted in Reading throughout 2011. It was awarded the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the 2017 Obie Award for Playwrighting, and three 2017 Tony Award nominations, including Best Play. ..

The Thing About Jellyfish is American author Ali Benjamin's first novel. This title is a middle grade novel set in modern-day Massachusetts. Suzy Swanson, a seventh grader, is the protagonist and narrator of this contemporary, realistic story. The Thing About Jellyfish was a 2015 National Book Award for Young People's Literature Finalist. This guide follows the first edition from 2015 (Little, Brown and Company).The coming-of-age novel demonstrates the challenges of growing up, especially around matters of friendship. Suzy's best friend is Franny Jackson, but upon entering middle school, Franny makes new friends. Though Suzy tries to regain the balance in their friendship, she is confused when her attempts to stay close to Franny do not work, and Suzy is left feeling sad and anxious. Grief and confusion augment Suzy's growing understanding of the complexity of her world; though Suzy is unable to accept the senselessness of Franny's death, Suzy hypothesizes that Franny's death resulted from a jellyfish sting. She intends to prove her theory even if she must leave the country to do it.

Little Fires Everywhere Summary and Study GuideLittle Fires Everywhere is a New York Times bestselling novel by Celeste Ng published in 2017. In the town of Shaker Heights, Ohio, Elena Richardson rents her family's property on Winslow Road to Mia and Pearl Warren, a mother and daughter duo who inspire her sense of charity. Mia is an artist, and her lack of rootedness and intense focus on her art unnerve Mrs. Richardson, who lives an orderly life. Their lives become further enmeshed when Pearl befriends Moody, Mrs. Richardson's son, and eventually the rest of the Richardsons. As Pearl begins to adopt new teenager habits through her interactions with the Richardsons, Mia grows concerned and agrees to take on a part-time housekeeping job with the family to keep an eye on her daughter.Meanwhile, the town is swept into the controversy over the adoption of Mirabelle, or May Ling, a baby abandoned by Mia's Chinese coworker, Bebe, during a bout of postpartum depressive shock after her husband left her. A family in Shaker Heights, the McCulloughs, adopted Bebe's child after being unable to have children of their own. Bebe confides in Mia about her missing child, expressing a desire to find her again. When Mia hears that the McCulloughs adopted a Chinese baby around the same time that Bebe left her child at the firehouse, she realizes that Mirabelle must be Bebe's baby, May Ling. When Bebe unsuccessfully tries to get in contact with the McCulloughs to see her baby, Mia intervenes by helping her tell her story to local news channels. With such public uproar over the issue, the custody battle goes into trial.

The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas are Setting Up a Generation for Failure is a psychology book written by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt and published in 2018. The nonfiction work, which expounds upon an essay the authors wrote for The Atlantic in 2015, became a bestseller and National Book Critics Circle Award nominee. The book argues that parents and schools, in an overabundance of caution, have taught children to fear and reject ideas that upset them. As a result, this learned fear explains the recent spate of college students protesting against professors and speakers whose ideas students consider offensive.Haidt, a social psychologist, and Lukianoff, a free-speech campaigner, believe that modern children have been inoculated with three Great Untruths: "What doesn't kill you makes you weaker," "Always trust your feelings," and "Life is a battle between good people and evil people." These three ideas are based on cognitive distortions-overgeneralizing, emotional reasoning, black-and-white thinking, and others-that are common among people who suffer from depression and anxiety. This may explain why today's students display historically high levels of mental illness, self-harm, and suicide...

Black, White, Yellow, Red.Are these just color names, or do they mean something else?In this summary and analysis of the #1 Best Seller from Ibram X. Kendi, How to Be an Antiracist, you will learn: the different kinds of racism;the cause of racism;the history of racism;how to not stay on the sidelines;... and much more!This summary and analysis can be: your sneak peek before you buy the original book;your reading companion while reading the original book;your supplementary material after you read the original book.Dive in, discover, and be aware of what is happening in the world today.*This is an unofficial summary and analysis of Ibram X. Kendi's How to Be an Antiracist. This book only serves as a guide, is not the original book, and is not endorsed by Ibram X. Kendi or his publishe

The Water Dancer is the debut novel of Ta-Nehisi Coates, a journalist known for his award-winning essay collections on race, his contributions to The Atlantic, and his work on Marvel's The Black Panther comic book series. A New York Times bestseller and selection of the Oprah Winfrey Book Club, the novel centers on Hiram Walker, a fugitive slave who becomes an agent in the Underground, an organization devoted to the destruction of slavery in the United States during the mid-1800s. With its focus on life after slavery, an alternate historical timeline, and the protagonist's ability to manipulate time and space, the novel combines elements of the neo-slave narrative and speculative fiction. This study guide is based on the 2019 Penguin Random House print edition.

Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla F. Saad is a New York Times bestselling nonfiction book and workbook published in 2020. Structured around a 28-day antiracism journaling challenge, white readers and participants critically examine their own personal complicity in upholding white supremacy.Stemming from author Saad's viral challenge on Instagram- #MeAndWhiteSupremacy-over the course of four weeks, Me and White Supremacy breaks open white supremacy as an ideology and personal benefit for people with white privilege. This challenge is bookended by an introduction to antiracist work and education as well as a final chapter about how to continue antiracist education after the 28-day challenge is over. Saad uses evidence from her personal experience civil rights leaders and scholars including Audre Lorde, Martin Luther King Jr., Toni Morrison, and others; as well as research to make her arguments. Touching on aspects of the #BlackLivesMatter movement in the United States and beyond, Saad highlights her lived experience as a Black Muslim woman born in Britain as a way to personalize the oppressive nature of white supremacy worldwide...