A creative resurrection of people around the world who broke gender norms.
Living as themselves—and often punished for it.
In the late 18th century, Gregoria Piedra was sentenced to prison for eight years for being a “dissolute” and “perverted” woman. Piedra’s supposed crime? During the Eucharist at a Mexico City church, Piedra removed the communion wafer from their mouth and left the church laughing—while dressed in men’s clothing. Piedra is one of 15 people who are honored, posthumously, in this gem of a book. It’s a follow-up to Butch Heroes (2018), in which Brodell also paid tribute to figures who went against society’s gender conventions—and often paid a price for doing so. It’s an inspired project: Brodell, an artist who grew up Catholic, did a lot of research to find these heroes; the author not only tells their stories in brief biographies, but dignifies them in paintings done in the style of saints on holy cards that Brodell knew as a child, cards that are shared at funerals to memorialize the departed. “Even though I am no longer Catholic,” Brodell writes, “I still have a collection of holy cards that belonged to my late aunt.…They are beautiful, intimate objects. They are delicately rendered with bold colors, and often include gold borders or ornate banners.” Brodell’s 11-by-7-inch cards are similarly captivating. For example, the artist depicts Piedra—“known by the nickname ‘la Macho’ because of their masculine physical appearance and demeanor”—holding up a radiant wafer, a faint smile of self-assurance meeting the viewer’s gaze. The subjects in the collection go back as far as the 16th century and lived around the world, from Ecuador to South Africa, underscoring the universality of people, as the author writes, “who were strong or brave in the way they lived their lives and challenged their societies’ strict gender roles.” Some are unnamed, including a Black woman arrested in 1870s North Carolina for wearing men’s clothing. “They had a three-month-old child with them,” Brodell writes, “and upon arrest they were sent to the poorhouse.”
A creative resurrection of people around the world who broke gender norms.Pub Date: April 29, 2025
ISBN: 9780262049870
Page Count: 96
Publisher: MIT Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
PERSPECTIVES
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
A powerful reiteration of principles—and some fresh ideas—from the longest-serving independent in congressional history.
Another chapter in a long fight against inequality.
Building on his Fighting Oligarchy tour, which this year drew 280,000 people to rallies in red and blue states, Sanders amplifies his enduring campaign for economic fairness. The Vermont senator offers well-timed advice for combating corruption and issues a robust plea for national soul-searching. His argument rests on alarming data on the widening wealth gap’s impact on democracy. Bolstered by a 2010 Supreme Court decision that removed campaign finance limits, “100 billionaire families spent $2.6 billion” on 2024 elections. Sanders focuses on the Trump administration and congressional Republicans, describing their enactment of the “Big Beautiful Bill,” with its $1 trillion in tax breaks for the richest Americans and big social safety net cuts, as the “largest transfer of wealth” in living memory. But as is his custom, he spreads the blame, dinging Democrats for courting wealthy donors while ignoring the “needs and suffering” of the working class. “Trump filled the political vacuum that the Democrats created,” he writes, a resonant diagnosis. Urging readers not to surrender to despair, Sanders offers numerous legislative proposals. These would empower labor unions, cut the workweek to 32 hours, regulate campaign spending, reduce gerrymandering, and automatically register 18-year-olds to vote. Grassroots supporters can help by running for local office, volunteering with a campaign, and asking educators how to help support public schools. Meanwhile, Sanders asks us “to question the fundamental moral values that underlie” a system that enables “the top 1 percent” to “own more wealth than the bottom 93 percent.” Though his prose sometimes reads like a transcribed speech with built-in applause lines, Sanders’ ideas are specific, clear, and commonsensical. And because it echoes previous statements, his call for collective introspection lands as genuine.
A powerful reiteration of principles—and some fresh ideas—from the longest-serving independent in congressional history.Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2025
ISBN: 9798217089161
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2025
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