A welcome and timely contribution to the conversation around civil rights.
A call for reparations, among other actions, to atone for enslavement and subsequent human rights violations over the course of American history.
A longtime activist working at the intersection of race, religion, and politics, Goza lays out a program that involves not just monetary reparations to the descendants of enslaved Black people, but also repentance and repair. By the former he means a recognition of the white supremacism that enabled slaveholding and which has been transmitted, fairly well unmodified, down to permeate all the trappings of today’s systemic racism. Goza charts the trajectory from Thomas Jefferson’s apparent foreclosure on the possibility that Blacks were fully human, through Abraham Lincoln’s willingness to allow slavery to endure to preserve the Union, to LBJ-era laws authorizing the militarization of the police “to ‘control’ urban unrest.” All of this leads directly to the issue of reparations, which, Goza reminds us, have a precedent in the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which provided $20,000 in payment to each Japanese American person who had been interned during World War II. Granted, though Ronald Reagan approved of that legislation, some within his administration worried that “the bill could establish a bad precedent for other groups who feel they have suffered injustices”—namely, of course, Black Americans. Goza skims over the fiscal implications of reparations, which many economists hold to be impractical if not ruinous, but he makes a good case for the power of those reparations to “close the racial wealth gap at an individual and family level.” Given that this gap was deliberately engineered over generations, Goza’s conclusion that reparations would constitute “the paradigm shift we must embrace if we are to thrive as a nation” seems on point and certainly, from an ethical if not economic viewpoint, persuasive and well defended.
A welcome and timely contribution to the conversation around civil rights.Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2024
ISBN: 9780802884312
Page Count: 344
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
For fans only.
The hoodie-and-shorts-clad Pennsylvania senator blends the political and personal, and often not nicely.
Fetterman’s memoir addresses three major themes. The first—and the one he leads with—is depression and mental illness, which, combined with a stroke and heart trouble, brought him to a standstill and led him to contemplate suicide. The second is his rise to national-level politics from a Rust Belt town; as he writes, he’s carved a path as a contentious player with a populist streak and a dislike for elites. There are affecting moments in his personal reminiscences, especially when he writes of the lives of his working-class neighbors in impoverished southwestern Pennsylvania, its once-prosperous Monongahela River Valley “the most heartbreaking drive in the United States.” It’s the third element that’s problematic, and that’s his in-the-trenches account of daily politics. One frequent complaint is the media, as when he writes of one incident, “I am not the first public figure to get fucked by a reporter, and I won’t be the last. What was eye-opening was the window it gave into how people with disabilities navigate a world that doesn’t give a shit.” He reserves special disdain for his Senate race opponent Mehmet Oz, about whom he wonders, “If I had run against any other candidate…would I have lost? He got beaten by a guy recovering from a stroke.” Perhaps so, and Democratic stalwarts will likely be dismayed at his apparent warmish feelings for Donald Trump and dislike of his own party’s “performative protests.” If Fetterman’s book convinces a troubled soul to seek help, it will have done some good, but it’s hard to imagine that it will make much of an impression in the self-help literature. One wonders, meanwhile, at sentiments such as this: “If men are forced to choose between picking their party or keeping their balls, most men are going to choose their balls.”
For fans only.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2025
ISBN: 9780593799826
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
SEEN & HEARD
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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