A passionate call for social change.
An African-American novelist muses upon the world’s enduring racial tensions in this nonfiction work.
Miller (Seeds of Magnolia, 2014) asserts that “Everybody on the planet acts as if they are angry,” but “Although a lot of things are in disrepair, they can be fixed.” Black and white people alike can be racist, he says, and “We should stop making decisions, stop liking, and stop disliking based on the color of a person’s skin.” Referencing recent events in Ferguson, Missouri, as well as his own experiences as an African-American man, he notes, “No one can intelligently argue that Blacks are not targeted by law enforcement officers.” Yet Miller also relates how white parents allowed him to study alone with their daughter. At another point, he notes, “We take it upon ourselves to judge others, but the Bible tells us that we should not” and uses the example of same-sex marriage: “If same sex relationships are wrong, then, according to the Holy Bible, God will judge and then render the punishment should there be any….Telling people who they can or cannot marry is getting too involved in what should be personal choices.” However, he devotes much of his book to detailing why white supremacists won’t let social harmony happen. He describes how a “rogue coalition” will likely mobilize to deal with the fact that white people are projected to no longer be the majority in America by 2042, saying that Asian, Latino, or Hispanic people “will be counted as White in order to maintain the White majority.” Miller also discusses how those seeking “one world government” would likely also assert white supremacy, as well as escalate other atrocities. Miller, who previously tapped into his own mixed-race family history to craft a Civil War–era novel, has written a thought-provoking work that’s most powerful when touching on his own experiences and encouraging others to embrace his stated philosophy: “I acknowledge acceptance of the multicultural diversity of the human race, knowing that every individual is different, yet all are equal.” While Miller may intend his detailing of various nefarious activities to serve as eye-opening warning, readers may wish that he spent more time on how American society could be changed for the better. Still, this book is clearly heartfelt and may serve as a conversation starter.
A passionate call for social change.Pub Date: June 23, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5123-9047-6
Page Count: 208
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.
“Quality of life means more than just consumption”: Two MIT economists urge that a smarter, more politically aware economics be brought to bear on social issues.
It’s no secret, write Banerjee and Duflo (co-authors: Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way To Fight Global Poverty, 2011), that “we seem to have fallen on hard times.” Immigration, trade, inequality, and taxation problems present themselves daily, and they seem to be intractable. Economics can be put to use in figuring out these big-issue questions. Data can be adduced, for example, to answer the question of whether immigration tends to suppress wages. The answer: “There is no evidence low-skilled migration to rich countries drives wage and employment down for the natives.” In fact, it opens up opportunities for those natives by freeing them to look for better work. The problem becomes thornier when it comes to the matter of free trade; as the authors observe, “left-behind people live in left-behind places,” which explains why regional poverty descended on Appalachia when so many manufacturing jobs left for China in the age of globalism, leaving behind not just left-behind people but also people ripe for exploitation by nationalist politicians. The authors add, interestingly, that the same thing occurred in parts of Germany, Spain, and Norway that fell victim to the “China shock.” In what they call a “slightly technical aside,” they build a case for addressing trade issues not with trade wars but with consumption taxes: “It makes no sense to ask agricultural workers to lose their jobs just so steelworkers can keep theirs, which is what tariffs accomplish.” Policymakers might want to consider such counsel, especially when it is coupled with the observation that free trade benefits workers in poor countries but punishes workers in rich ones.
Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-61039-950-0
Page Count: 432
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: Aug. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
A forceful, necessarily provocative call to action for the preservation and protection of American Jewish freedom.
Known for her often contentious perspectives, New York Times opinion writer Weiss battles societal Jewish intolerance through lucid prose and a linear playbook of remedies.
While she was vividly aware of anti-Semitism throughout her life, the reality of the problem hit home when an active shooter stormed a Pittsburgh synagogue where her family regularly met for morning services and where she became a bat mitzvah years earlier. The massacre that ensued there further spurred her outrage and passionate activism. She writes that European Jews face a three-pronged threat in contemporary society, where physical, moral, and political fears of mounting violence are putting their general safety in jeopardy. She believes that Americans live in an era when “the lunatic fringe has gone mainstream” and Jews have been forced to become “a people apart.” With palpable frustration, she adroitly assesses the origins of anti-Semitism and how its prevalence is increasing through more discreet portals such as internet self-radicalization. Furthermore, the erosion of civility and tolerance and the demonization of minorities continue via the “casual racism” of political figures like Donald Trump. Following densely political discourses on Zionism and radical Islam, the author offers a list of bullet-point solutions focused on using behavioral and personal action items—individual accountability, active involvement, building community, loving neighbors, etc.—to help stem the tide of anti-Semitism. Weiss sounds a clarion call to Jewish readers who share her growing angst as well as non-Jewish Americans who wish to arm themselves with the knowledge and intellectual tools to combat marginalization and defuse and disavow trends of dehumanizing behavior. “Call it out,” she writes. “Especially when it’s hard.” At the core of the text is the author’s concern for the health and safety of American citizens, and she encourages anyone “who loves freedom and seeks to protect it” to join with her in vigorous activism.
A forceful, necessarily provocative call to action for the preservation and protection of American Jewish freedom.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-593-13605-8
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 22, 2019
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