by Christine Kenneally ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 21, 2023
A powerful work of sociological investigation and literary journalism.
A continent-ranging account of the terrors of a system of warehousing unwanted children.
According to a sobering study in Australia in the early 2000s, writes Kenneally, “the residents of orphanages were overwhelmingly not orphans.” As the author shows, this is a global problem. Though the orphanage system has largely given way to foster care and adoption, to say nothing of imprisonment, for generations, countless children were condemned to orphanages because their parents did not want them or could not care for them. Forgotten there, the children were subject to sexual and physical abuse at the hands of priests, nuns, wardens, and staff members; in numerous instances, they wound up dead at those same hands or, in some instances, murdered by fellow wards. Kenneally examines orphanages in Australia, the U.S., and Canada and delivers a distressing amount of somber news. For example, many “survivors,” as they often call themselves, wind up dying young from drug or alcohol abuse or suicide. By the author’s account, those who died within the system were overwhelmingly Indigenous or Aboriginal children far out of proportion to their numbers. “Many children who died were not named by the schools, nor was their date of death noted, and for almost half of the children, the cause of death was not recorded,” she writes. In one school, Kenneally recounts, 6 of 8 chaplains in charge had been accused of sexual abuse, while one now-elderly nun, with only a touch of remorse, admitted, “We had permission to kick the children.” When these stories first came to light in the 1990s, notes the author, they were too often dismissed as fabrications, but now, says one reporter, “Finally in 2022…people are willing to hear these stories and believe them.” Kenneally makes a strong case for prosecuting still-living monsters and providing reparations for their still-living victims.
A powerful work of sociological investigation and literary journalism.Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 9781541758513
Page Count: 384
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: Jan. 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2023
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by David Grann ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 18, 2017
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
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Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorker staff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
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BOOK TO SCREEN
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BOOK TO SCREEN
by Marilynne Robinson ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 12, 2024
In this highly learned yet accessible book, Robinson offers believers fresh insight into a well-studied text.
A deeply thoughtful exploration of the first book of the Bible.
In this illuminating work of biblical analysis, Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Robinson, whose Gilead series contains a variety of Christian themes, takes readers on a dedicated layperson’s journey through the Book of Genesis. The author meanders delightfully through the text, ruminating on one tale after another while searching for themes and mining for universal truths. Robinson approaches Genesis with a reverence and level of faith uncommon to modern mainstream writers, yet she’s also equipped with the appropriate tools for cogent criticism. Throughout this luminous exegesis, which will appeal to all practicing Christians, the author discusses overarching themes in Genesis. First is the benevolence of God. Robinson points out that “to say that God is the good creator of a good creation” sets the God of Genesis in opposition to the gods of other ancient creation stories, who range from indifferent to evil. This goodness carries through the entirety of Genesis, demonstrated through grace. “Grace tempers judgment,” writes the author, noting that despite well-deserved instances of wrath or punishment, God relents time after time. Another overarching theme is the interplay between God’s providence and humanity’s independence. Across the Book of Genesis, otherwise ordinary people make decisions that will affect the future in significant ways, yet events are consistently steered by God’s omnipotence. For instance, Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers, and that action has reverberated throughout the history of all Jewish people. Robinson indirectly asks readers to consider where the line is between the actions of God and the actions of creation. “He chose to let us be,” she concludes, “to let time yield what it will—within the vast latitude granted by providence.”
In this highly learned yet accessible book, Robinson offers believers fresh insight into a well-studied text.Pub Date: March 12, 2024
ISBN: 9780374299408
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
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