Barely scratches the surface of the emotional complexities of Black womanhood.
A clinical psychologist looks at the interior lives of Black women.
Burnett-Zeigler sets out to “examine the parts of the strong Black woman prototype that continue to serve us—such as compassion, loving care for others, community orientation, determination, resilience, self-assuredness, faith in God, joyfulness—while leaving behind the parts that no longer serve us—suppressing emotion, denying our needs, [and] being reluctant to set boundaries.” Religion is central to the author’s view of Black women and her worldview in general. She describes her own experience of becoming a Christian in detail, and across the 256-page text, the word “God” appears more than 60 times. She notes that 83% of Black adults say that they believe in God, and 73% say that they pray daily. Her narrative is rife with platitudes (“we have to wipe our tears aside and keep it moving”) and generalizations that exclude many nonreligious Black women: “Above all, [Black women] never forget to give praise and honor to God for all that He has done for them.” In one shocking passage, the author presents Halle Berry’s suicidal thoughts as a cautionary tale, with suicide and loss of faith in God deemed “one of the deadliest sins in the Black community.” To write that “Scripture also promises punishment if one harms oneself” reads as harsh and—especially coming from a mental health professional—irresponsible. Conspicuously absent is any mention of sex other than sexual trauma, violence, and dysfunction, and Burnett-Zeigler also ignores Black LGBQT+ women: “Today’s strong Black women are climbing professional ladders, while also taking care of their husbands, children, and extended family members.” Some Black Christian heterosexual women may find encouragement and validation in these pages, but this “guidebook for healing” offers more proselytizing than comfort.
Barely scratches the surface of the emotional complexities of Black womanhood.Pub Date: June 29, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-295982-9
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2021
An eye-opening look at prison life from the point of view of a true warrior for justice.
A memoir on the making of a literal “jailhouse lawyer.”
Wrongfully arrested and convicted of murder in New Orleans, which at the time had “the highest rate of wrongful convictions in the nation, with nearly all the victims being Black men who…grew up poor,” Duncan served for 23 years in Louisiana’s notorious Angola prison and other institutions. He might have done his time at the Orleans Parish Prison, but, he writes, he wanted access to Angola’s more extensive law library. Well before being transferred there, he petitioned the Louisiana Supreme Court for a law book, a motion denied because it had not first been adjudicated in a lower court. A sympathetic judge gave him a copy all the same, and Duncan was off to a career as an inmate advocate, regularly filing petitions and lawsuits on his own behalf and that of his fellow prisoners—the first suit being “over the jail’s failure to provide him with a high-fiber diet,” soon followed by motions to provide mental health treatment, end beatings and arbitrary punishments, and improve medical care. Known as the “Snickers Lawyer” for taking payment in candy, he became a self-taught expert on constitutional issues. Naturally, he recounts, he was targeted by guards and wardens for his legal activism, even as he proved essential to Angola’s population; in time, too, he found a few unlikely allies among the staff. Duncan’s well-told story is full of fraught moments of abuse both physical and judicial, though it has something of a happy ending in that, after earning a law degree after his release, he was exonerated of the crime and has since been fighting for other prisoners to “have meaningful access to the courts.”
An eye-opening look at prison life from the point of view of a true warrior for justice.Pub Date: July 8, 2025
ISBN: 9780593834305
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Penguin Press
Review Posted Online: April 17, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025
A sharp, entertaining view of the news media from one of its star players.
The veteran newscaster reflects on her triumphs and hardships, both professional and private.
In this eagerly anticipated memoir, Couric (b. 1957) transforms the events of her long, illustrious career into an immensely readable story—a legacy-preserving exercise, for sure, yet judiciously polished and insightful, several notches above the fray of typical celebrity memoirs. The narrative unfolds through a series of lean chapters as she recounts the many career ascendency steps that led to her massively successful run on the Today Show and comparably disappointing stints as CBS Evening News anchor, talk show host, and Yahoo’s Global News Anchor. On the personal front, the author is candid in her recollections about her midlife adventures in the dating scene and deeply sorrowful and affecting regarding the experience of losing her husband to colon cancer as well as the deaths of other beloved family members, including her sister and parents. Throughout, Couric maintains a sharp yet cool-headed perspective on the broadcast news industry and its many outsized personalities and even how her celebrated role has diminished in recent years. “It’s AN ADJUSTMENT when the white-hot spotlight moves on,” she writes. “The ego gratification of being the It girl is intoxicating (toxic being the root of the word). When that starts to fade, it takes some getting used to—at least it did for me.” Readers who can recall when network news coverage and morning shows were not only relevant, but powerfully influential forces will be particularly drawn to Couric’s insights as she tracks how the media has evolved over recent decades and reflects on the negative effects of the increasing shift away from reliable sources of informed news coverage. The author also discusses recent important cultural and social revolutions, casting light on issues of race and sexual orientation, sexism, and the predatory behavior that led to the #MeToo movement. In that vein, she expresses her disillusionment with former co-host and friend Matt Lauer.
A sharp, entertaining view of the news media from one of its star players.Pub Date: Oct. 26, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-316-53586-1
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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