A useful primer with powerful case studies on bias in the workplace.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion expert Douglas presents proven strategies for fostering more diverse and empathetic workplaces in this guide.
Though DEI training abounds throughout corporate, municipal, and academic workplaces across the country, the author notes that “in many cases, the Aggrieved Individuals do not benefit directly from these programs,” as at least one third of the nation’s Black employees “don’t feel respected or valued at work.” Motivated into action by the murder of George Floyd in 2020, which prompted the author to reflect on his own experiences with systemic racism, microaggressions, and DEI programs, Douglas co-founded the Safe Haven Dialogues consulting firm. Centering the voices of aggrieved workers, SHD prioritizes empowering employees to safely communicate with their employers “in order to find a solution that would increase the productivity of both the Aggrieved as well as the department in which they work.” In this short book, Douglas offers readers 18 anonymous case studies of people who have experienced varied forms of discrimination in American workplaces and campuses. Though the work environments and specificities of each case are unique, they point to endemic problems, from incompetent or abusive bosses to overqualified employees who are “proven, but never promoted.” With a doctorate in physical chemistry and a medical doctorate from Cornell University, and with a CV including positions at some of the nation’s most prestigious universities, Douglas, a Black man, is well aware of how microaggressions and institutionalized biases can influence even the most ostensibly progressive institutions. His background in research also informs the well-documented, thoughtful interview process at the core of the book’s case studies. Accompanied by a useful glossary and ample visual elements, this is an accessible book that can be easily understood by management, human resources personnel, and employees of all backgrounds. Curiously, issues related to microaggressions directed toward LGBTQ+ employees, from misgendering to ignored pronouns, are absent. More contextualization and data would also be useful in the brief introductory chapter to more fully illustrate the systemic nature of workplace discrimination.
A useful primer with powerful case studies on bias in the workplace.Pub Date: Feb. 22, 2023
ISBN: 9781662938344
Page Count: 174
Publisher: Frank Douglas Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 23, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.
Words that made a nation.
Isaacson is known for expansive biographies of great thinkers (and Elon Musk), but here he pens a succinct, stimulating commentary on the Founding Fathers’ ode to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” His close reading of the Declaration of Independence’s second sentence, published to mark the 250th anniversary of the document’s adoption, doesn’t downplay its “moral contradiction.” Thomas Jefferson enslaved hundreds of people yet called slavery “a cruel war against human nature” in his first draft of the Declaration. All but 15 of the document’s 56 signers owned enslaved people. While the sentence in question asserted “all men are created equal” and possess “unalienable rights,” the Founders “consciously and intentionally” excluded women, Native Americans, and enslaved people. And yet the sentence is powerful, Isaacson writes, because it names a young nation’s “aspirations.” He mounts a solid defense of what ought to be shared goals, among them economic fairness, “moral compassion,” and a willingness to compromise. “Democracy depends on this,” he writes. Isaacson is excellent when explaining how Enlightenment intellectuals abroad influenced the founders. Benjamin Franklin, one of the Declaration’s “five-person drafting committee,” stayed in David Hume’s home for a month in the early 1770s, “discussing ideas of natural rights” with the Scottish philosopher. Also strong is Isaacson’s discussion of the “edits and tweaks” made to Jefferson’s draft. As recommended by Franklin and others, the changes were substantial, leaving Jefferson “distraught.” Franklin, who emerges as the book’s hero, helped establish municipal services, founded a library, and encouraged religious diversity—the kind of civic-mindedness that we could use more of today, Isaacson reminds us.
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2025
ISBN: 9781982181314
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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
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