Blog

Book review: The Half Has Never Been Told

Growing up, I never learned much about American history. The event I can most easily recall is probably that we burned down their White House during the War of 1812. I know that a civil war happened. I know that it had something to do with slavery, and that Abraham Lincoln ended slavery. I had a …

Read more

The Half has Never Been Told Book Review

Edward E. Baptist
Subtitled <em>Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism</em>, this is a burning indictment of the assumptions a lot of Americans (and myself) have about slavery. Slavery was neither dull, nor agrarian, nor destined to fade away in the march of progress. It was central to America's growth, and everyone (including the North and Europe) was complicit.

Get this book

I: Emigrants & II: Unto a New Land Book Review

Vilhelm Moberg
Parts I and II of a four-part historical epic, these books follow a Swedish peasant family from their back-breaking, meagre existence in feudal Sweden as they travel on a disease-ridden boat to land on a strange new shore. A heartbreaking, exhausting read.

Get this book

Uncle Tom's Cabin Book Review

Harriet Beecher Stowe
An unsettling, harrowing read. Harriet Beecher Stowe paints vivid portraits of scenes we know to be true, but never talk about. No stone is left unturned in this cultural examination of slavery. You will feel personally liable, especially when the author takes an aside to address the reader directly.

Get this book