Koncocoo

Best Hispanic American Demographic Studies

My Beloved World
My Beloved World.
Reviews
"Take all young people you know to see Dolores and buy a pile of My Beloved World for your Christmas shopping - with influencers like Sonia and Dolores, we will preserve this Beloved World."
"She allowed herself to talk about her own difficulties and insecurities along this path, perhaps to inspire and give hope to others coming along a similar difficult path."
"Sonia writes in great detail about her childhood in the Bronx that was misunderstood by many people because of her Puerto Rican background."
"One thing is for certain; Sonia Sotomayor has lived her life, her dreams and her humanity to the fullest possible degree."
"I've never been involved in what it takes to be a lawyer or judge but this book seems as though it would be worth reading to anyone interested in seeing what it takes and in addition provides value in showing how following one's heart results in fulfillment."
"Yet throughout her memoir the reader follows her journey of non-traditional choices that opened not only doors to the American Dream but strengthened her belief in herself to take a next step into the unknown, first in grade school, then admission to Princeton, followed by Harvard Law and ultimately as the first Latina on the Supreme Court."
"Being born in Puerto Rico, knowing the culture, and family traditions brought. back memories of my own childhood."
"Very refreshing that she has found herself amazed throughout her journey and seemingly unaware that she was making her journey happen."
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This Bridge Called My Back, Fourth Edition: Writings by Radical Women of Color
Through personal essays, criticism, interviews, testimonials, poetry, and visual art, the collection explores, as coeditor Cherríe Moraga writes, “the complex confluence of identities—race, class, gender, and sexuality—systemic to women of color oppression and liberation.”. Bridge continues to reflect an evolving definition of feminism, one that can effectively adapt to, and help inform an understanding of the changing economic and social conditions of women of color in the United States and throughout the world. I have loved this book for thirty years, and am so pleased we have returned with our stories, words, and attributes to the growing and resilient movement.” — Winona LaDuke (Anishinaabe), Executive Director, Honor the Earth. Immense is my admiration for the ongoing dialogue and discourse on feminism, Indigenous feminism, the defining discussions in women of color movements and the broader movement. Winona LaDuke (Anishinaabe), Executive Director, Honor the Earth. Praise for the Third Edition. "This Bridge Called My Back" dispels all doubt about the power of a single text to radically transform the terrain of our theory and practice. Angela Davis, University of California, Santa Cruz. "This Bridge Called My Back" has served as a significant rallying call for women of color for a generation, and this new edition keeps that call alive at a time when divisions prove ever more stubborn and dangerous. Shirley Geok-lin Lim, University of California, Santa Barbara. This book is a manifesto the 1981 declaration of a new politics US Third World Feminism. These essays and poems do more than just revisit the hopes, fears, frustrations, and accomplishments of women of color circa 1981; they also shed light on concerns women continue to face today There are lines of poetry here sure to stir the imagination and connect with all ages, races, and genders This Bridge Called My Back deserves to be picked up by a new generation of radical women. ForeWord Reviews Immense is my admiration for the ongoing dialogue and discourse on feminism, Indigenous feminism, the defining discussions in women of color movements and the broader movement. Winona LaDuke (Anishinaabe), Executive Director, Honor the Earth Praise for the Third Edition This Bridge Called My Back dispels all doubt about the power of a single text to radically transform the terrain of our theory and practice. Angela Davis, University of California, Santa Cruz This Bridge Called My Back has served as a significant rallying call for women of color for a generation, and this new edition keeps that call alive at a time when divisions prove ever more stubborn and dangerous. Shirley Geok-lin Lim, University of California, Santa Barbara. This book is a manifesto the 1981 declaration of a new politics US Third World Feminism. There are lines of poetry here sure to stir the imagination and connect with all ages, races, and genders ... "Immense is my admiration for the ongoing dialogue and discourse on feminism, Indigenous feminism, the defining discussions in women of color movements and the broader movement. " This Bridge Called My Back ... dispels all doubt about the power of a single text to radically transform the terrain of our theory and practice.
Reviews
"I had originally rented this text but ultimately decided to purchase it because it resonated with me."
"Came in great condition and a priceless book to add to your collection."
"purchased as a gift &have received great feedback."
"So happy to have this out in a new edition."
"a must read for women passionate and deeply committed to "The Work.""
"One of my favorite reads of all time."
"Such a powerful collection, I am so happy to have ordered this book."
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The Devil's Highway: A True Story
The result was a national bestseller, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, a "book of the year" in multiple newspapers, and a work proclaimed as a modern American classic. Tracing their lives and the routes to the border, Urrea adopts a slangy, surreal style in which the desert landscape shimmers and distorts, while in desiccated border settlements criminals, officials, and vigilantes patrol for human cargo such as the men from Vera Cruz.
Reviews
"I learned so much about how this all. works and I was so happy to hear how most of the "Patrol" officers are sympathetic to the plight of these people."
"Urrea gives enlightening statistics on correcting the false information about how much it costs to absorb “illegals” into the USA."
"This book is sad and sometimes painfully graphic to read, but especially in today’s political climate should be required reading."
"Not only did I find the geographic history to be fascinating but I was also interested to hear the author's narrative on immigration issues from the view of human rights, economics etc."
"A fresh look at the border wars and the Border Patrol."
"A book that hooks you from the start, is well written, and enlightening."
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Best Women Writers in Women Studies

This Bridge Called My Back, Fourth Edition: Writings by Radical Women of Color
Through personal essays, criticism, interviews, testimonials, poetry, and visual art, the collection explores, as coeditor Cherríe Moraga writes, “the complex confluence of identities—race, class, gender, and sexuality—systemic to women of color oppression and liberation.”. Bridge continues to reflect an evolving definition of feminism, one that can effectively adapt to, and help inform an understanding of the changing economic and social conditions of women of color in the United States and throughout the world. I have loved this book for thirty years, and am so pleased we have returned with our stories, words, and attributes to the growing and resilient movement.” — Winona LaDuke (Anishinaabe), Executive Director, Honor the Earth. Immense is my admiration for the ongoing dialogue and discourse on feminism, Indigenous feminism, the defining discussions in women of color movements and the broader movement. Winona LaDuke (Anishinaabe), Executive Director, Honor the Earth. Praise for the Third Edition. "This Bridge Called My Back" dispels all doubt about the power of a single text to radically transform the terrain of our theory and practice. Angela Davis, University of California, Santa Cruz. "This Bridge Called My Back" has served as a significant rallying call for women of color for a generation, and this new edition keeps that call alive at a time when divisions prove ever more stubborn and dangerous. Shirley Geok-lin Lim, University of California, Santa Barbara. This book is a manifesto the 1981 declaration of a new politics US Third World Feminism. These essays and poems do more than just revisit the hopes, fears, frustrations, and accomplishments of women of color circa 1981; they also shed light on concerns women continue to face today There are lines of poetry here sure to stir the imagination and connect with all ages, races, and genders This Bridge Called My Back deserves to be picked up by a new generation of radical women. ForeWord Reviews Immense is my admiration for the ongoing dialogue and discourse on feminism, Indigenous feminism, the defining discussions in women of color movements and the broader movement. Winona LaDuke (Anishinaabe), Executive Director, Honor the Earth Praise for the Third Edition This Bridge Called My Back dispels all doubt about the power of a single text to radically transform the terrain of our theory and practice. Angela Davis, University of California, Santa Cruz This Bridge Called My Back has served as a significant rallying call for women of color for a generation, and this new edition keeps that call alive at a time when divisions prove ever more stubborn and dangerous. Shirley Geok-lin Lim, University of California, Santa Barbara. This book is a manifesto the 1981 declaration of a new politics US Third World Feminism. There are lines of poetry here sure to stir the imagination and connect with all ages, races, and genders ... "Immense is my admiration for the ongoing dialogue and discourse on feminism, Indigenous feminism, the defining discussions in women of color movements and the broader movement. " This Bridge Called My Back ... dispels all doubt about the power of a single text to radically transform the terrain of our theory and practice.
Reviews
"I had originally rented this text but ultimately decided to purchase it because it resonated with me."
"Came in great condition and a priceless book to add to your collection."
"purchased as a gift &have received great feedback."
"So happy to have this out in a new edition."
"a must read for women passionate and deeply committed to "The Work.""
"One of my favorite reads of all time."
"Such a powerful collection, I am so happy to have ordered this book."
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Best African American Demographic Studies

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Now an HBO® Film starring Oprah Winfrey and Rose Byrne #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER. Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Entertainment Weekly #1 Nonfiction Book of the Year New Yorker Reviewers’ Favorite. American Library Association Notable Book People Top Ten Book of the Year Washington Post Book World Top Ten Book of the Year. Salon.com Best Book of the Year USA Today Ten Books We Loved Reading O, The Oprah Magazine Top Ten Book of the Year. National Public Radio Best of the Bestsellers Boston Globe Best Nonfiction Book of the Year Financial Times Nonfiction Favorite Los Angeles Times Critics’ Pick Bloomberg Top Nonfiction New York magazine Top Ten Book of the Year. Slate.com Favorite Book of the Year. TheRoot.com Top Ten Book of the Year Discover magazine 2010 Must-Read Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year Library Journal Top Ten Book of the Year Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Year U.S. News & World Report Top Debate-Worthy Book Booklist Top of the List—Best Nonfiction Book New York Times /Science Bestseller list “I could not put the book down . “Science writing is often just about ‘the facts.’ Skloot’s book, her first, is far deeper, braver, and more wonderful.” —New York Times Book Review “ The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a triumph of science writing...one of the best nonfiction books I have ever read.” —Wired.com “ A deftly crafted investigation of a social wrong committed by the medical establishment, as well as the scientific and medical miracles to which it led.” —Washington Post “ Riveting...a tour-de-force debut.” —Chicago Sun-Times “A real-life detective story, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks probes deeply into racial and ethical issues in medicine . an inspiring tale for all ages.” — Essence “This extraordinary account shows us that miracle workers, believers, and con artists populate hospitals as well as churches, and that even a science writer may find herself playing a central role in someone else’s mythology.” — The New Yorker “Has the epic scope of Greek drama, and a corresponding inability to be easily. explained away.” — SF Weekly “One of the great medical biographies of our time.” — The Financial Times “Like any good scientific research, this beautifully crafted and painstakingly researched book raises nearly as many questions as it answers . The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a heroic work of cultural and medical journalism.” —Laura Miller, Salon.com “No dead woman has done more for the living . a fascinating, harrowing, necessary book.” —Hilary Mantel, The Guardian (U.K.) “ The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks does more than one book ought to be able to do.” — Dallas Morning News “Above all it is a human story of redemption for a family, torn by loss, and for a writer with a vision that would not let go.” — Boston Globe “This remarkable story of how the cervical cells of the late Henrietta Lacks, a poor black woman, enabled subsequent discoveries from the polio vaccine to in vitro fertilization is extraordinary in itself; the added portrayal of Lacks's full life makes the story come alive with her humanity and the palpable relationship between race, science, and exploitation." If science has exploited Henrietta Lacks [Skloot] is determined not to. gives Henrietta Lacks another kind of immortality—this one through the discipline of good writing.” — Baltimore Sun “A work of both heart and mind, driven by the author’s passion for the story, which is as endlessly renewable as HeLa cells.” — Los Angeles Times “In this gripping, vibrant book, Rebecca Skloot looks beyond the scientific marvels to explore the ethical issues behind a discovery that may have saved your life.” — Mother Jones “More than ten years in the making, it feels like the book Ms. Skloot was born to write . Skloot, a young science journalist and an indefatigable researcher, writes about Henrietta Lacks and her impact on modern medicine from almost every conceivable angle and manages to make all of them fascinating . packed with memorable characters.” —Dwight Garner, New York Times , Top Ten Book of 2010 “Astonishing . .” — The Economist “Journalist Rebecca Skloot’s history of the miraculous cells reveals deep injustices in U.S. medical research.” — TIME “ The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a fascinating look at the woman whose cultured cells—the first to grow and survive indefinitely, harvested without compensation or consent—have become essential to modern medicine.” — Vogue “ The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a remarkable feat of investigative journalism and a moving work of narrative nonfiction that reads with the vividness and urgency of fiction. It also raises sometimes uncomfortable questions with no clear-cut answers about whether people should be remunerated for their physical, genetic contributions to research and about the role of profit in science.” — National Public Radio “An indelible, marvelous story as powerful as those cells.” — Philadelphia Inquirer “As much an act of justice as one of journalism.” — Seattle Times “A stunning book . I highly recommend this book.” —Jad Abumrad, Radiolab “Skloot is a terrific popularizer of medical science, guiding readers through this dense material with a light and entertaining touch.” — The Globe and Mail (Canada) “A rare and powerful combination of race, class, gender,medicine, bioethics, and intellectual property; far more rare is the writer that can so clearly fuse those disparate threads into a personal story so rich and compelling.” — Seed “Powerful story . Thank you for writing this important book.” —Kali-AhsetAmen, Radio Diaspora “Skloot has written an important work of immersive nonfiction that brings not only the stories of Henrietta Lacks and HeLa once more into line, but also catharsis to a family in sore need of it.” — The Times Literary Supplement “A masterful work of nonfiction . a real page turner.” —Hanna Rosin, Slate “Skloot explores human consequences of the intersection of science and business, rescuing one of modern medicine’s inadvertent pioneers from an unmarked grave.” — US News & World Report “Remarkably balanced and nonjudgmental . It reads like a novel but has the intellectual substance of a science textbook or a historical biography.” — The Daily Nebraskan “Illuminates what happens when medical research is conducted within an unequal health-care system and delivers an American narrative fraught with intrigue, tragedy, triumph, pathos, and redemption.” — MS. “ A tremendous accomplishment —a tale of important science history that reads like a terrific novel.” — Kansas City Star “Good science writing isn’t easy, but Skloot makes it appear so.” —The Wichita Eagle “Encompasses nearly every hot-button issue currently surrounding the practice of medicine.” — Madison Capital Times “Defies easy categorization . navigates both the technical and deeply personal sides of the HeLa story with clarity and care.” — The Portland Mercury “[A] remarkable book.” — London Review of Books “An essential reminder that all human cells grown in labs across the world, HeLa or otherwise, came from individuals with fears, desires, and stories to tell.” — Chemical & Engineering News “Blows away the notion that science writing must be the literary equivalent to Ambien.” — Chicago Tribune “Seldom do you read a book that is science, social history, and a page turner.” —British Medical Journal “Thrilling and original nonfiction that refuses to be shoehorned into anything as trivial as a genre. It is equal parts popular science, historical biography, and detective novel.” —Ed Yong, DISCOVER.COM “Best book I’ve read in years.” —Brian Sullivan, Fox Business Network “Thanks to Rebecca Skloot, we may now remember Henrietta—who she was, how she lived, how she died.” — The New Republic “We need more writers like Rebecca Skloot.” —E.O.Wilson.
Reviews
"This was a great book that I'm so glad I read."
"In “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” Rebecca Skloot introduces us to the “real live woman,” the children who survived her, and the interplay of race, poverty, science and one of the most important medical discoveries of the last 100 years. Skloot narrates the science lucidly, tracks the racial politics of medicine thoughtfully and tells the Lacks family’s often painful history with grace. When science appears, it does so effortlessly, with explanations of cell anatomy or techniques like “fluorescence in situ hybridization” seamlessly worked into descriptions of the coloured wards of Johns Hopkins hospital to Lacks’s hometown of Clover, Virginia. And yet for all its grand scope, skilful writing and touching compassion, there is one simple element that makes As a final thought, I was struck by the parallels between Henrietta’s cells and her story."
"This decisive, detailed, superbly written history of the HeLa cells that have played such a highly significant role in many arenas of medical research delves deeply into both the scientific and personal stories of Henrietta Lacks and her family."
"A legacy, kept hidden for over 20+ years from Henrietta Lack's family and those of us,who are not privy to the inner circles of the medical and science community."
"Skloot did a terrific job spending years gathering information from the family and researching scientific discoveries related to the cells."
"Incredible true story of a woman's legacy, from the usage of her DNA without consent, to the medical miracles her stolen contribution made, to the injustices her family faced decades later."
"The book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was a very interesting and informative read."
"One of the most amazing books I have ever read."
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Best Native American Demographic Studies

Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
McDougall’s incredible story will not only engage your mind but inspire your body when you realize that you, indeed all of us, were born to run. Christopher McDougall is the author of Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Super Athletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen and Natural Born Heroes: Mastering the Lost Secrets of Strength and Endurance.
Reviews
"Learning about the Tarahumara, how they run and what they eat was really interesting."
"Do not know about non-runners, but walkers and runners will enjoy this well written book."
"I don't run but a friend recommended this book and it was unexpectedly awesome."
"Great Book."
"If you’ve ever laced up with a purpose and felt good after you’d run it, this book should be your next read."
"If you are a runner or thinking of taking up running, this is a must read!"
"This book changed my relationship with running and strengthened my resolve to overcome my physical barriers to running (all the typical problems as described in the book: plantar fasciitis, tight achilles, ankle pain)."
"And with his story of the ancient Tarahumara tribe in Mexico, a people who grow up running as a way of life, he is able to display running at its core, a god given gift to us, meant to be enjoyed, not dreaded or avoided as most Americans would see it. A great story and a great read that not only informs you of a lot of science and history of running but becomes a page turner as you are dying to see how the big race between the Tarahumara’s best and the elite American runners turns out."
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Best Ethnic Demographic Studies

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
From a former marine and Yale Law School graduate, a powerful account of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town that offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America’s white working class. They raised a middle-class family, and eventually their grandchild (the author) would graduate from Yale Law School, a conventional marker of their success in achieving generational upward mobility. Vance’s grandparents, aunt, uncle, sister, and, most of all, his mother, struggled profoundly with the demands of their new middle-class life, and were never able to fully escape the legacy of abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and trauma so characteristic of their part of America. “[A] compassionate, discerning sociological analysis…Combining thoughtful inquiry with firsthand experience, Mr. Vance has inadvertently provided a civilized reference guide for an uncivilized election, and he’s done so in a vocabulary intelligible to both Democrats and Republicans. [Vance] offers a compelling explanation for why it’s so hard for someone who grew up the way he did to make it…a riveting book.” ( Wall Street Journal ). “[ Hillbilly Elegy ] couldn’t have been better timed...a harrowing portrait of much that has gone wrong in America over the past two generations...an honest look at the dysfunction that afflicts too many working-class Americans.” ( National Review ). Vance’s memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy”, offers a starkly honest look at what that shattering of faith feels like for a family who lived through it.
Reviews
"Drugs, crime, jail time, abusive interactions without any knowledge of other forms of interaction, children growing up in a wild mix of stoned mother care, foster care, and care by temporary "boyfriends," and in general, an image of life on the edge of survival where even the heroes are distinctly flawed for lack of knowledge and experience of any other way of living. Second, the author's growing realization, fully present by the end of the work, that while individuals do not have total control over the shapes of their lives, their choices do in fact matter—that even if one can't direct one's life like a film, one does always have the at least the input into life that comes from being free to make choices, every day, and in every situation. I hate to fall into self-analysis and virtue-signaling behavior in a public review, but in this case I feel compelled to say that the author really did leave with me a renewed motivation to make more of my life every day, to respect and consider the choices that confront me much more carefully, and to seize moments of opportunity with aplomb when they present themselves."
"I never heard of the author until I saw him on Morning Joe a few days ago but I looked him up and read several articles he wrote for various publications so I bought his book. He suggests that tribalism, mistrust of outsiders and "elites," violence and irresponsibility among family members, parents without ethics and a sense of responsibility, terrible work ethics, and an us-against-them mentality is dooming the people who live that way to becoming poorer, more addicted, and more marginalized."
"I grew up without running water in Boone County, WV, and wound up with a degree from Harvard Law School."
"I escaped inner city Baltimore (see The Wire) due to luck, the ability to do well in school and a few good teachers.Instead of trying to describe my early life to my family and friends, I will give them this book."
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Best Minority Demographic Studies

The Fire Next Time
Described by The New York Times Book Review as "sermon, ultimatum, confession, deposition, testament, and chronicle...all presented in searing, brilliant prose," The Fire Next Time stands as a classic of our literature. Baldwin demands, flicking aside the central race issue of his day and calling instead for full and shared acceptance of the fact that America is and always has been a multiracial society. Baldwin's seething insights and directives, so disturbing to the white liberals and black moderates of his day, have become the starting point for discussions of American race relations: that debasement and oppression of one people by another is "a recipe for murder"; that "color is not a human or a personal reality; it is a political reality"; that whites can only truly liberate themselves when they liberate blacks, indeed when they "become black" symbolically and spiritually; that blacks and whites "deeply need each other here" in order for America to realize its identity as a nation.
Reviews
"Baldwin touches upon the use of religion to control, and the belief that the white man is the marker to which the black man should aspire, and that is still very clear in the world... As black men and women are told that their natural hair should be tamed to make them more appropriate for the work place, that the vernacular of their homes and families is somehow uneducated, even as they are surrounded by people who code-switch from a redneck southern dialect or a tough talking New York slang at home, to proper grammar in the workplace."
"He discusses a hidden message telling black people to settle for mediocrity rather than striving for excellence. Baldwin believes that black people need to know their history and where they came from so that there will be “no limit to where you can go.”. "…We, with love, shall force our brothers to see themselves as they are, to cease fleeing from reality and begin to change it.""
"Baldwin's insights and anecdotes provide a steady glow in the readers mind to be fanned with deep thinking and self reflection."
"The second (and most important part) is Baldwin’s account of his life as a black man in Harlem and how we as American’s must overcome our racial issues if we are truly to become a great nation. In the essay Baldwin comes across with the air of prophet, warning that if change isn’t made the consequences will be dire. While Baldwin was in Chicago, he had the opportunity to meet and have dinner with Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam. While he respected the Nation for making blacks more self-reliant, he could not endorse their racist ideology, which he saw as the same story as what white Americans were doing but in reverse. Perhaps the whole root of our trouble, the human trouble, is that we will sacrifice all the beauty of our lives, will imprison ourselves to totems, taboos, crosses, blood sacrifices, steeple, mosques, races, armies, flags, nations, in order to deny the fact of death, which is the only fact we have. Further, while Baldwin was friends with the aforementioned Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad, he also points out that we all need each other; racism has an equally bad effect upon whites as it does upon blacks. In an era where racism still raises its ugly head, The Fire Next Time is a book that all Americans, regardless of color, need to have in their personal library."
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Best Disabled People Demographic Studies

Far From the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity
Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, a Books for a Better Life Award, and one of The New York Times Book Review ’s Ten Best Books of 2012, this masterpiece by the National Book Award-winning author of The Noonday Demon features stories of parents who not only learn to deal with their exceptional children, but also find profound meaning in doing so—“a brave, beautiful book that will expand your humanity” ( People ). *Starred Review* Solomon, who won the National Book Award for The Noonday Demon (2001), tackles daunting questions involving nature versus nurture, illness versus identity, and how they all affect parenting in his exhaustive but not exhausting exploration of what happens when children bear little resemblance to their parents. Solomon focuses on the creative and often desperate ways in which families manage to tear down prejudices and preconceived fears and reassemble their lives around the life of a child who alters their view of the world.
Reviews
"Thank you, Mr. Solomon for pointing out the absurdities in our justice system when it comes to dealing with juvenile crime. I wanted to learn about how families deal with a diagnosis of autism; instead I learned about how families deal with all kinds of unexpected outcomes, how resilient parents can be when faced with hardships, and how connected are the identities of parents and their children. One more thing: in 700 pages (okay, I admit, I didn't read the Acknowledgments) I never found an example of "martyrdom" that one reviewer complained about. But Far From the Tree isn't a chronicle of long-suffering devastated parents; there are plenty of positive, hopeful, make-the-best-of-it moments as well."
"Great read, tying in a wide variety of different and often difficult situations that make it hard for children to fully bond with their parents, their "vertical community"."
"Solomon focuses on a range of "differences" that children can have from their parents, e.g. deaf children born to hearing parents, "dwarf" children born to normal-sized parents, schizophrenic children, etc., and explores in extensive detail the experiences, dilemmas and challenges of both the parents and the children."
"I was assigned this book for my grad class that I'm in and I just read a chapter on disabilities that really shook me."
"It is a bear of a book to get through although to be fair about half the book are Notes and other supporting material. The author, Andrew Solomon, writes an incredibly good and detailed book about families who are faced with children who are extraordinary and exceptional. Through the use of tons of in person interviews over many years he presents the reader with raw emotions, feedback and day to day life raising these sorts of children."
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Best Asian American Studies

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
An eye-opening account of life inside North Korea—a closed world of increasing global importance—hailed as a “tour de force of meticulous reporting” ( The New York Review of Books ). NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST In this landmark addition to the literature of totalitarianism, award-winning journalist Barbara Demick follows the lives of six North Korean citizens over fifteen years—a chaotic period that saw the death of Kim Il-sung, the rise to power of his son Kim Jong-il (the father of Kim Jong-un), and a devastating famine that killed one-fifth of the population. Demick brings to life what it means to be living under the most repressive regime today—an Orwellian world that is by choice not connected to the Internet, where displays of affection are punished, informants are rewarded, and an offhand remark can send a person to the gulag for life. She takes us deep inside the country, beyond the reach of government censors, and through meticulous and sensitive reporting we see her subjects fall in love, raise families, nurture ambitions, and struggle for survival. One by one, we witness their profound, life-altering disillusionment with the government and their realization that, rather than providing them with lives of abundance, their country has betrayed them. A fascinating and deeply personal look at the lives of six defectors from the repressive totalitarian regime of the Republic of North Korea, in which Demick, an L.A. Times staffer and former Seoul bureau chief, draws out details of daily life that would not otherwise be known to Western eyes because of the near-complete media censorship north of the arbitrary border drawn after Japan's surrender ending WWII.
Reviews
"We learn about a young man left an orphan whose father had been Party member, a pediatrician whose greatest dream was to be allowed to join the Party, a housewife with 2 young children and an abusive husband, a young woman and her "forbidden" boyfriend, a factory worker who had absolute loyalty to the regime, and several more. This book also covers the operation of the government and its regimentation over people's lives from a historical viewpoint, how this all changed (slightly for the better) during the starvation years of the 90's, and the newer changes (for the worse) under Kim Jong-un."
"insightful look into the country of North Korea--sad to think that an entire population can be so thoroughly brainwashed to believe that they have " nothing to envy " --completely cut off from the outside world--pictures released by the Government show a different side--children playing, folks shopping & well dressed, immaculate streets but devoid of cars."
"I find myself thinking more and more about this book lately, with North Korea threatening to bomb Guam."
"Best book I have read on N. Korea's prison state."
"Astonishing reveal of the harsh reality of life during the 1980's in North Korea under that strict propagandist regime."
"It follows a number of individuals lives while living in North Korea."
"I was completely rivited by this book!"
"While I am an author myself, I don't know the author and no one asked me to review this."
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