An up-to-date if not in-depth introduction to a topic that has certainly affected many people’s lives throughout the ages.
Royal weddings, a campaign for toilets in India linked to marriage, and trash-the-dress photo shoots (a new U.S. custom) are introduced in this whirlwind tour of courtship, marriage, and divorce.
Using catchy chapter headings (“Control Freaks” focuses on the historical, political, and economic reasons for marriage), this slim volume offers a cursory glance at marriage in many religions, the ancient world, and some contemporary cultures, primarily the U.S. and Great Britain. China, Japan, and India are mentioned, while most European cultures are lumped together. The chapter on polygamy, “More Ways Than One,” starts off highlighting Zulu traditions with Jacob Zuma, the South African president with four current wives. Scant information about Latin America, the Middle East, and the Pacific region appears. Same-sex marriage and interfaith and interracial marriage are covered in “Forbidden Love,” which starts with celebrity couples such as David Bowie and Iman (white and black, Christian and Muslim) and Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka (two men). The legal struggles for interracial marriage (1967 Loving v. Virginia) and same-sex marriage (2015 Obergefell v. Hodges) are summarized, but the last sentence of the chapter again refers back to famous couples. This celebrity approach and such sections as “Over-the-Top Weddings,” along with references to YouTube and Vimeo, seem meant to ensure teen interest. Photographs (mostly in color) are clear and relevant. Readers can tease out interesting takes on feminism and women’s history. Some self-help sidebars on dating and relationships are generalized and superfluous.
An up-to-date if not in-depth introduction to a topic that has certainly affected many people’s lives throughout the ages. (source notes, glossary, selected bibliography, further information, index) (Nonfiction. 13-16)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4677-9242-4
Page Count: 104
Publisher: Twenty-First Century/Lerner
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
Enlightening, inspiring, and moving.
Pennies, glass bottles, a parking meter, and a kick line: how a police raid became a community’s symbol of freedom.
June 28, 1969: the night the gay bar Stonewall was raided by the police for the second time in a week to stop a blackmail operation. What began as a supposedly routine police raid ended with over 2,000 angry, fed-up protesters fighting against the police in New York’s West Village. Bausum eloquently and thoughtfully recounts it all, from the violent arrest of a young lesbian by the police to an angry, mocking, Broadway-style kick line of young men protesting against New York’s Tactical Control Force. Bausum not only recounts the action of the evening in clear, blow-by-blow journalistic prose, she also is careful to point out assumptions and misunderstandings that might also have occurred during the hot summer night. Her narrative feels fueled by rage and empowerment and the urge to tell the truth. She doesn’t bat an eye when recounting the ways that the LGBT fought to find freedom, love, and the physical manifestations of those feelings, whether at the Stonewall Inn or inside the back of a meat truck parked along the Hudson River. Readers coming of age at a time when state after state is beginning to celebrate gay marriage will be astonished to return to a time when it was a crime for a man to wear a dress.
Enlightening, inspiring, and moving. (Nonfiction. 13-16)Pub Date: May 5, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-670-01679-2
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2015
Effectively showcases the contemporary brilliance that can come from ancient principles.
An exploration of various modern technologies inspired by origami, the Japanese art of paper folding.
The simple act of folding a piece of paper can become complex quickly. Even readers who have made a paper crane before will be surprised to learn that origami techniques have also helped to create NASA’s newest and biggest telescope, a fast-moving robotic gripper, and an innovative Swiss chapel. Peppered with illuminating photographs and diagrams, the straightforward text moves from the ancient history of origami, through bug wings and mathematics, to solar-powered spacecraft. The common theme, both intriguing and well expressed, is the power and complexity of folding. Included are illustrated instructions for a few hands-on projects that require paper and typical household or classroom items like scissors and a pencil. Interviews with two origami experts, both appearing to be White men, offer down-to-earth advice about following nontraditional career paths like theirs. Also featured is the work of several Asian and/or female researchers. It’s unlikely that readers will retain an understanding of every engineering concept the book describes, but they will gain an appreciation of the interplay between art and science and will be inspired to learn more.
Effectively showcases the contemporary brilliance that can come from ancient principles. (timeline, glossary, source notes, bibliography, further reading, index) (Nonfiction. 13-16)Pub Date: Nov. 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5415-3304-2
Page Count: 104
Publisher: Twenty-First Century/Lerner
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
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