A sterling educational text and a memorable commemoration of female trailblazers, past and present.
An homage to prominent women of the world who made a difference.
Hillary Clinton (What Happened, 2017) collaborates with her daughter, Chelsea (Don’t Let Them Disappear: 12 Endangered Species Across the Globe, 2019), in this celebration of more than 100 pioneering women who inspired them most. Written as a conversation between the distinguished mother-and-daughter team, the book profiles women whom the Clintons have found to be greatly inspirational not only to them, but to the world, based on their contributions to global society and female empowerment. The book is attractively designed and arranged based on the women’s areas of knowledge and expertise. The opening section features women the authors have been personally inspired by. In addition to profiles of intergenerational extended family members, the authors also appreciate the legacies of Helen Keller, Anne Frank, and outspoken 1964 presidential candidate Margaret Chase Smith. The Clintons’ informative back and forth also affords readers a closer glimpse into the specific, myriad ways both of their lives were influenced by these innovators. Elsewhere, they dive into achievements in a wide variety of fields, including education, literature, environmentalism, sports, diplomacy, and activism, eloquently illuminating their subjects’ years of valiant heroism in the face of massive obstacles. The narrative range is vast and features distinctly inspiring women such as Shirley Chisholm, “the first woman to run for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination”; Ellen DeGeneres, who leveled homophobic speculation by coming out publicly in 1997; Rosa May Billinghurst, a leading British suffragist in early-20th-century England; and Fraidy Reiss, the founder of Unchained at Last, an organization that fights against child marriage. Overall, the collection—which also features Harriet Tubman, Rachel Carson, Clara Barton, Jane Goodall, Maya Angelou, Temple Grandin, and Malala Yousafzai, among many other major figures—will bond optimistic readers together in remembrance of the major contributions of a sisterhood that is smartly and accessibly presented by the Clintons.
A sterling educational text and a memorable commemoration of female trailblazers, past and present.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5011-7841-2
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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