Fascinating reading for both browsers and those seeking a more thorough understanding of immigration.
As timely as the latest newspaper headline and political debate, Osborne’s latest nonfiction volume offers historical context for the issue of immigration.
“Why should Pennsylvania, founded by the British, become a Colony of Aliens, who will shortly be so numerous as to Germanize us instead of our Anglifying them.” Benjamin Franklin’s remark from 1751 sounds eerily familiar over 250 years later, as Americans still grapple with the challenges of immigration. The title, a play on the words of Woody Guthrie’s 1940 folk song, implies the issue: “Is it our land, the land of the people who already live here….Or is it our land, including the people who still come here for freedom and opportunity?” Osborne, a great-granddaughter of Italian immigrants, writes with an open-hearted belief in the United States’ legacy as a nation of immigrants but doesn’t overlook the challenges, past and present. Who should be allowed to enter the United States? How many? Should we build a wall? How do we prevent terrorism? Clear and accessible prose, a colorful design, and numerous quotations keep the volume personal and lively, never textbook-ish. Chapters are divided by waves of immigration, so the parallels among the generations of immigrants become clear.
Fascinating reading for both browsers and those seeking a more thorough understanding of immigration. (appendix, timeline, source notes, bibliography, credits, index) (Nonfiction. 10-16)Pub Date: April 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4197-1660-7
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2016
A hands-on, practical, wide-ranging, and information-packed handbook for budding activists.
A guide to recognizing and fighting many different kinds of injustice.
The first section, “Examine Your World,” gets readers to identify problems (starting with their homes, schools, and communities) and then to set specific, attainable goals and work toward solutions. Using an encouraging tone, Galat explains the concepts of human rights and activism, summarizing a slew of contemporary issues and offering condensed accounts of individual and group efforts with some brief, positive examples from around the world showing varied types of approaches. The case studies mostly highlight young people tackling problems, including some well-known names such as Malala Yousafzai and Mari Copeny. The middle sections examine in greater depth six broad areas for action: animals, the environment, space exploration, peace, equality, and poverty. The final section, “Change Is Everywhere,” focuses on engaging in activism through the arts and on remaining positive and persistent while being realistic about the pace of progress. Some vocabulary is defined in the text, including terms such as discrimination and molestation. Text boxes introduce topics for conversation and suggest immediate actions readers can take (such as making pamphlets or properly disposing of old medications), thus helping readers clarify their ideas, raise funds, and enlist others. The text, which is punctuated with stock art, embodies the clear communication skills the author endorses and is leavened with subtle humor. The book explains and encourages the many life skills and qualities involved in effective activism, such as research, critical thinking, organization, record-keeping, and empathy.
A hands-on, practical, wide-ranging, and information-packed handbook for budding activists. (source notes) (Nonfiction. 10-16)Pub Date: Feb. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9781582708454
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Beyond Words/Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
Serviceable both for introducing the topic and for replacing a lost or worn copy of an earlier version.
A fresh edition of the author’s ever-useful overview of Egyptian myth and legend, rearranged and featuring some new content.
From the “dynamic duo” of Khnum and Amun-Ra to the giant snake Apep and the “dual-gendered fertility god” Hapi, crowds of deities and “creepy monsters” parade through Nardo’s analytical summaries. His insistence in the rewritten introduction and elsewhere that the ancient Egyptians saw the gods and their deeds as historical seems at odds with mentions elsewhere of “symbolic” representations in art and conflicting variations in local creation myths and pantheons. Still, readers able to weather his short discourses on cosmogonies and zoomorphs will enjoy the relish with which he recounts, for instance, how evil Seth chopped brother Osiris into “bloody morsels,” the awful vengeance cow-headed Hathor wrought on the “mere humans” who “disrespected” her father Ra, and how she rescued blinded Horus after Seth was able to “get the drop on him.” The image chosen to portray the tale of Seth and Osiris unfortunately features Seth as a brutish, black-skinned man and evokes racist caricatures; other images show ancient artifacts and sites. In this edition, a chapter on Egyptian myths in modern culture has been switched out for one that’s less likely to go stale, thrillingly titled “Serpents, Soul Eaters, and Other Monsters,” and the resource lists at the end have been updated as well.
Serviceable both for introducing the topic and for replacing a lost or worn copy of an earlier version. (source notes, further research, index, picture credits) (Nonfiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781678207281
Page Count: 64
Publisher: ReferencePoint Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
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