A subject much in demand, but there are better resources available.
An abbreviated overview of a hotly debated issue.
“Fake news,” is defined here as “fabricated news or information that is meant to be perceived as factual,” a definition that carefully excludes unintended errors, biases, or satire. It’s hardly a new complaint, but this account examines few instances outside the 2016 U.S. elections and mostly ignores print and broadcast media. Technological innovations and widespread use of social media have dramatically increased disinformation’s reach and impact; focusing on online phenomena permits tangents on algorithms creating ideological bubbles, harvesting of personal data, precise targeting of audiences, and strategic releases of hacked information. Partisan politics, foreign (mostly Russian) interference, and greed for ad revenue are presented as the chief villains, allowing brief digressions to recent cases in France, Great Britain, Kenya, and India; the last is the only noted example with violent results despite similar incidents elsewhere (including the U.S.). Indeed, while the earnest, meandering, and repetitive text adopts an ominous tone, it offers little evidence for any concrete consequences beyond the erosion of public trust. Proposed solutions include hopeful predictions for artificial intelligence and vague assurances from tech companies, but the author leans heavily on individual responsibility to become educated and remain skeptical and vigilant. Appendices provide a useful rubric for evaluating information and list some reputable fact-checking sites; the index is scattershot and sloppy.
A subject much in demand, but there are better resources available. (source notes, appendices, further reading, index) (Nonfiction. 12-16)Pub Date: March 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-68282-539-6
Page Count: 80
Publisher: ReferencePoint Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
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
Now a world-renowned chef, Samuelsson neatly serves up inspiration and food for thought for the many young people interested...
Based on Yes, Chef (2012), a memoir for adults, this young readers’ version offers insights into the life and food of one of America’s top chefs.
During a tuberculosis epidemic in 1972 in Ethiopia, Samuelsson’s mother walked 75 miles with young Marcus on her back to a hospital in Addis Ababa. She died there, but he and his sister survived and were adopted by a Swedish couple. In clear and straightforward prose, less adorned than his recipes, Samuelsson chronicles growing up in Sweden, going to school, playing soccer, and working his way up the hierarchy in various restaurants on his way to becoming a chef. This is not exactly a linear “pursue your dream” story since Samuelsson originally had wanted to be a professional soccer player but was too small. Soccer went off the table, and food took its place. In adapting the adult memoir for young readers, the authors have adopted the motivational tone of a coach before the big game: “Step up to the challenge; don’t avoid it. Win or lose, take the shot.” But many young people have seen Samuelsson on television’s Chopped and will be eager to learn about the journey that got him there.
Now a world-renowned chef, Samuelsson neatly serves up inspiration and food for thought for the many young people interested in cooking. (Memoir. 12-16)Pub Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-74400-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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