A thoughtful portrait of a complex world leader.
An in-depth portrait of a woman of contradictions.
An emeritus law professor and member of the Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies, Lahav takes a feminist perspective in her examination of Golda Meir (1898-1978), the former prime minister of Israel, seeking to show how “she balanced her womanhood with her political ambitions.” Born in Kiev, Golda (as she preferred to be called) was the second daughter in a traditional patriarchal family; she was expected to marry and become a homemaker. The family moved to America in 1906, settling in Milwaukee, where Golda became increasingly oppressed by her parents’ strictures. When she was 14, she took off for Denver, joining her older sister. There, she became attracted to the nascent Zionist party and began her career as a Zionist-socialist activist. By 1921, she had married and moved with her husband to Palestine, where her “energetic talents” were prized. The marriage, though, suffered, even after the couple had two children. Golda and her husband separated, and she relegated her child care to nannies so she could devote herself to politics. Despite misogyny both within Israel and abroad, Golda rose to prominence. Although she was not named to the nation’s first cabinet in 1948, a slight that angered her, she soon gained central roles: as minister of labor and social security in 1949, minister of foreign affairs in 1956, and Israel’s first female prime minister in 1969. Lahav tries to understand Golda’s lack of interest in feminism, her refusal to “challenge the othering of women,” and her vehement criticism of the women’s liberation movement by speculating about what Golda “might have” felt and by posing salient questions. Famously called “the ablest man in the cabinet” by her mentor, David Ben-Gurion, she was deeply aware that she navigated a man’s world, but as Lahav shows, she felt no responsibility to break the glass ceiling for other women. Her interest was solely in the survival of Israel.
A thoughtful portrait of a complex world leader.Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-691-20174-0
Page Count: 376
Publisher: Princeton Univ.
Review Posted Online: June 16, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change.
Artist and activist Vaid-Menon demonstrates how the normativity of the gender binary represses creativity and inflicts physical and emotional violence.
The author, whose parents emigrated from India, writes about how enforcement of the gender binary begins before birth and affects people in all stages of life, with people of color being especially vulnerable due to Western conceptions of gender as binary. Gender assignments create a narrative for how a person should behave, what they are allowed to like or wear, and how they express themself. Punishment of nonconformity leads to an inseparable link between gender and shame. Vaid-Menon challenges familiar arguments against gender nonconformity, breaking them down into four categories—dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope (fear of the consequences of acceptance). Headers in bold font create an accessible navigation experience from one analysis to the next. The prose maintains a conversational tone that feels as intimate and vulnerable as talking with a best friend. At the same time, the author's turns of phrase in moments of deep insight ring with precision and poetry. In one reflection, they write, “the most lethal part of the human body is not the fist; it is the eye. What people see and how people see it has everything to do with power.” While this short essay speaks honestly of pain and injustice, it concludes with encouragement and an invitation into a future that celebrates transformation.
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change. (writing prompt) (Nonfiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09465-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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