A personal, nuanced, and engrossing exploration of the biblical Creation story.
A debut nonfiction book blends autobiography and Christian apologetics.
“I began this journey of writing not because I had all the answers, but because I was searching for them,” writes Bills. Written as a letter addressed to his four children, the work explores fundamental questions tied to the author’s Christian faith, particularly as it relates to his quest to reconcile biblical Creation stories with scientific consensus on the origins of the universe. A genre-defying book, it opens with autobiographical vignettes from the author’s upbringing. Born in Dearborn, Michigan, Bills resettled with his family in Oklahoma, where he grew up “in a quiet neighborhood that fostered a comforting sense of community” despite the social unrest surrounding the nation in the throes of the 1960s. While his family was not particularly wealthy, Bills describes his childhood as happy, full of Kool-Aid, outdoor adventures, and church (“the central hub for our close family friendships”). A member of the Church of Christ, the author recalls his denomination’s traditional stances—from a cappella worship to a literal interpretation of the Bible’s six-day Creation story. The quaint faith of Bills’ childhood would later be tested by his exposure to scientific theories that ran counter to the Bible’s Creation story as well as personal tragedies that included the death of his brother in a car accident and the death of his wife. Combined with the author’s deeply personal stories is a more traditional religious commentary that defends his Christian faith while calling on fellow believers to adapt their interpretations based on scientific evidence. Much of the book’s underlying theology echoes evangelical positions regarding the veracity of the Bible, as the author makes the case for the historicity of Jesus and the “historical and prophetic accuracy” of the biblical narrative.
While defending the Bible’s authenticity has long been a centerpiece of Christian apologetics, what stands out in this book is its adamancy that the “Bible and the universe—which science examines to uncover its intricacies—must interface perfectly.” In other words, when Christian interpretation of Scripture does not align with science, then it is incumbent upon Christians to reexamine their approach. Just as the Roman Catholic Church was proven wrong when it denounced Galileo’s heliocentrism as heresy, so too are contemporary Christians, the author suggests, too inflexible when they reject scientific consensus surrounding evolutionary biology and the Big Bang. Science does not “diminish the power or authority of God,” he reassures skeptical Christian readers, but it enhances “our understanding of the Creator of the universe.” The cogent volume backs its argument with a network of almost 100 endnote citations and offers an engaging, often conversational writing style that includes multiple references to pop culture, from Disney’s Moana to Marvel comics. But at almost 500 pages, the work may try to tackle too many topics, such as deep dives into ancient Hebrew as it reinterprets the story of Noah’s Ark. While some of these tangential discussions are intriguing and broadly align with the book’s thesis, they distract from its intimate stylization as a letter from a father to his children. Still, the volume is particularly deft at questioning conservative theology without belittling the faith of Bills’ childhood.
A personal, nuanced, and engrossing exploration of the biblical Creation story.Pub Date: April 22, 2025
ISBN: 9798218593544
Page Count: 472
Publisher: GSCYou
Review Posted Online: Nov. 5, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.
A coffee-table book celebrates Michelle Obama’s sense of fashion.
Illustrated with hundreds of full-color photographs, Obama’s chatty latest book begins with some school portraits from the author’s childhood in Chicago and fond memories of back-to-school shopping at Sears, then jumps into the intricacies of clothing oneself as the spouse of a presidential candidate and as the first lady. “People looked forward to the outfits, and once I got their attention, they listened to what I had to say. This is the soft power of fashion,” she says. Obama is grateful and frank about all the help she got along the way, and the volume includes a long section written by her primary wardrobe stylist, Koop—28 years old when she first took the job—and shorter sections by makeup artists and several hair stylists, who worked with wigs and hair extensions as Obama transitioned back to her natural hair, and grew out her bangs, at the end of her husband’s second term. Many of the designers of the author’s gowns, notably Jason Wu, who designed several of her more striking outfits, also contribute appreciative memories. Besides candid and more formal photographs, the volume features many sketches of her gowns by their designers, closeups on details of those gowns, and magazine covers from Better Homes & Gardens to Vogue. The author writes that as a Black woman, “I was under a particularly white-hot glare, constantly appraised for whether my outfits were ‘acceptable’ and ‘appropriate,’ the color of my skin somehow inviting even more judgment than the color of my dresses.” Overall, though, this is generally a canny, upbeat volume, with little in the way of surprising revelations.
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593800706
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.
Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
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