An upbeat but rose-colored history of the U.S. that prioritizes oversimplifications over grim realities.
A cartoonist offers a survey of American history.
“Speedy,” the titular star of this book and Mostert’s comic strips, has been a staple in South African newspapers for more than a decade. As the character and his clan, once described by the author as “the black Simpsons family,” have grown in popularity, Speedy has since starred in his own animated TV show and multiple history books that seek to provide alternatives to “textbooks that are too long, too dull, and too hard to follow.” This work, the first of a two-volume series, adds to Speedy’s educational repertoire, providing dozens of single-page vignettes that cover American political and cultural history. In just under 100 pages, readers are introduced to the history of Plymouth Rock, Coca-Cola, Jackie Robinson, and a host of influential cartoonists. Along the way, Speedy makes appearances “to keep you laughing.” Mostert, who is White and was born in Illinois, intends not just to tell interesting stories from United States history, but to celebrate “the greatest country on earth” as well. Thus, while there are occasional references to past injustices (“Slavery is a dark period in the history of America”), the book’s overall narrative is relentlessly positive in its commemoration of the athletes, musicians, inventors, activists, politicians, and natural wonders that make America great. Each chapter succeeds in distilling information into a quick, accessible read, accompanied with ample uncredited photographs and colorful images. But the volume’s history lacks the nuance needed to truly understand America’s complicated past. That Speedy, a Black man, is the book’s “host” makes its simplified history all the more glaring. There are certainly Indigenous people and African Americans who appear in these pages, but too often, negative yet historically vital details are left out. For instance, the work’s coverage of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and other Founding Fathers leaves out slavery entirely, as does its history of Texas. Men with complicated records—from Dr. Seuss to Henry Ford—are similarly feted without mention of their racist pasts. In these sections, the otherwise opinionated Speedy is noticeably silent.
An upbeat but rose-colored history of the U.S. that prioritizes oversimplifications over grim realities.Pub Date: June 29, 2021
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: July 7, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
A football star’s bracing account of his battle for racial equality—and how powerful forces arrayed against him.
A principled athlete strives for social justice.
Kaepernick forthrightly details the activism that earned him global renown but cost him his NFL career. In 2016, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback “was filled with disgust” after police shootings of fellow Black men in several American cities. Before a preseason game, he made a spontaneous decision: “It hit me in that moment that I should find a seat” during the national anthem. He did the same at two more games before reporters noticed. Kaepernick will forever be associated with “taking a knee” during the anthem, but he credits Eric Reid—a teammate who agreed with Kaepernick’s message—for suggesting that they kneel together during subsequent anthems. The protest changed everything for Kaepernick. President Trump vilified him. Kaepernick and his wife received death threats. And though he’d taken the 49ers to a Super Bowl, no teams would sign him. He will likely make news for his take on Jay-Z, whose lucrative partnership with the NFL was criticized as an attempt to launder the league’s reputation. Visiting Africa, where Kaepernick learns about “African leaders who willingly sold their own people to the enslavers,” he “couldn’t help but to think about Jay-Z and the NFL.” In opening chapters, Kaepernick recalls suffering traumatic racial abuse as a child. Being in “white spaces”—he was adopted by white parents—placed him “under a microscope every minute of every day.” He isn’t always nuanced, depicting some people he disagrees with as cartoonishly clueless. But his writing about how college and pro teams “lied” to him about injuries underlines his “feeling of being a disposable commodity.” A decade has passed since Kaepernick played in the NFL, but he stays fit in case “a team needing a QB” calls.
A football star’s bracing account of his battle for racial equality—and how powerful forces arrayed against him.Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2026
ISBN: 9781538777879
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Legacy Lit/Hachette
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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