Category: Nonfiction

Cover for Human Sacrifice: A Shocking Expose of Ritual Killings Worldwide By Jimmy Lee Shreeve

Review: Human Sacrifice: A Shocking Expose of Ritual Killing Worldwide by Jimmy Lee Shreeve

October 7, 2021

Human Sacrifice investigates some recent cases of human sacrifices and ritual killings throughout the world. With the use of police reports and interviews, Jimmy Lee Shreeve tells the history of these cases.  This book was interesting. I didn’t realize ritualistic killings and human sacrifice was still happening around the world. Certain cultures still use human … More Review: Human Sacrifice: A Shocking Expose of Ritual Killing Worldwide by Jimmy Lee Shreeve

Cover for Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019 by Various

Review: Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019

September 5, 2021

Four Hundred Souls is a collection of essays and poems chronicling 400 years of African American history. The essays began in 1619 with the ‘White Lion’ in Virginia and continued until 2019 when a white nationalist was the President.  I actually own this as an eBook but when I found that the audiobook is narrated … More Review: Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019

Cover for The Ravenmaster: My Life with the Ravens at the Tower of London by Christopher Skaife

Review: The Ravenmaster: My Life with the Ravens at the Tower of London by Christopher Skaife

September 4, 2021

Until a few years ago, I didn’t realize that the Tower of London had ravens or that there was a whole rumor that the city would fall if the ravens left. Christopher Skaife takes us through the history of the position of Ravenmaster and what it means to be a Ravenmaster.  As an American, I … More Review: The Ravenmaster: My Life with the Ravens at the Tower of London by Christopher Skaife

Cover for The Good Death: An Exploration of Dying in America by Ann Neumann

Review: The Good Death: An Exploration of Dying in America by Ann Neumann

August 21, 2021

In The Good Death, journalist and hospice volunteer Ann Neumann examines what it means to die in the United States. She discusses end-of-life care, right to die, medical ethics, starvation deaths, and other aspects of what it could mean to die in America.  This book was very interesting because it looks at how your wishes … More Review: The Good Death: An Exploration of Dying in America by Ann Neumann

Cover for White Rage by Carol Anderson

Review: White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson

August 14, 2021

“White rage is not about visible violence, but rather it works its way through the courts, the legislatures, and a range of government bureaucracies. It wreaks havoc subtly, almost imperceptibly. Too imperceptibly, certainly, for a nation consistently drawn to the spectacular—to what it can see. It’s not the Klan. White rage doesn’t have to wear … More Review: White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson

Cover for The Girls Who Stepped Out of Line by Major General Mari K. Eder

ARC Review: The Girls Who Stepped Out of Line: Untold Stories of the Women Who Changed the Course of World War II by Major General Mari K. Eder

August 3, 2021

Trigger Warnings: rape, miscarriage, death of a spouse, depression, attempted suicide, antisemitism, death, genocide, starvation, violence, racism, torture, concentration camps and ghettos, forced sterilization  “They broke all the rules, including some not even written yet. They invented, they advanced, and they persisted.” The Girls Who Stepped Out of Line tells the story of the women … More ARC Review: The Girls Who Stepped Out of Line: Untold Stories of the Women Who Changed the Course of World War II by Major General Mari K. Eder

Cover for Lugosi: The Rise and Fall of Hollywoods Dracula by Koren Shadmi

ARC Review: Lugosi: The Rise and Fall of Hollywood’s Dracula by Koren Shadmi

July 29, 2021

This is a comic biography detailing the rise and fall of the horror film icon Bela Lugosi. Lugosi is a household name because he brought to life Dracula and embodied the role multiple times during his career. Unfortunately his life was not all wonderful. This was a wonderful and heartbreaking comic that tells the story … More ARC Review: Lugosi: The Rise and Fall of Hollywood’s Dracula by Koren Shadmi

Cover for The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

Review: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

July 11, 2021

“The United States now has the highest rate of incarceration in the world, dwarfing the rates of nearly every developed country, even surpassing those in highly repressive regimes like Russia, China, and Iran.” The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness is an informative and well researched book about the prison system … More Review: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

Cover for Tan France's Queer Icons by Tan France

Review: Tan France’s Queer Icons by Tan France

June 28, 2021

In this eight episode podcast, Tan France takes us through some of history’s LGBTQIA+ icon. These episodes also include interviews with some of the queer icons, historians, psychiatrists, family and friends of the icons, as well as other people connect to the icon. The eight episodes discuss the lives of  Gladys Bently, Bobbie Lea Bennett, … More Review: Tan France’s Queer Icons by Tan France

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty

Review: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty

June 10, 2021

“Accepting death doesn’t mean you won’t be devastated when someone you love dies. It means you will be able to focus on your grief, unburdened by bigger existential questions like, “Why do people die?” and “Why is this happening to me?” Death isn’t happening to you. Death is happening to us all.” In this eye-opening, … More Review: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty

Cover for From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death by Caitlin Doughty

Review: From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death by Caitlin Doughty

June 2, 2021

Filled with humor and highly detailed accounts of her travels, this book takes us around the world to look at different cultures’ death practices and how they cope with death. She relates these practices back to the United States practices and uses them as teaching tools to show how disconnected our culture is about death … More Review: From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death by Caitlin Doughty