The Best Truthdig Book Reviews of 2019
This year's selections include award-winning essays by Allen Barra and Natasha Hakimi Zapata, as well as a withering critique of Ayn Rand.
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This year’s original reviews provide unique insight into the literary world through a distinctly progressive lens, including two National Arts & Entertainment Journalism award-winning pieces by Truthdig contributor Allen Barra and Foreign Editor Natasha Hakimi Zapata. Read the full reviews by clicking on the hyperlinked titles below.
The Trickster King and the Erudite Literalist By ALLEN BARRA
Approaching Vladimir Nabokov’s 120th birthday, Truthdig looks at his friendship and falling-out with another literary giant, Edmund Wilson.
When the Voiceless Speak By ALEXIS CAMINS
Filipino American author Alex Tizon spent his life raising up the lives of those rendered invisible by society.
Putting Trump to Shame Without Ever Saying His Name By NATASHA HAKIMI ZAPATA
Written after the 45th president was inaugurated, Terrance Hayes’ sonnets have an urgency that will leave readers’ heads spinning.
The Future of Meat By CARYN HARTGLASS
As people become aware of the effects of eating animals on climate change and human health, a new book asks whether we will see an end to it.
Reclaiming Difference By PAUL VON BLUM
A new anthology shines light on differently abled artists, including Sandie Yi, born with two digits on each hand and foot, whose art forces viewers to reconsider beauty.
Country, Smoothed Over By TIM RILEY
Ken Burns’ documentary “Country Music” and its book tie-in present country music with a naive affection that misses key American tensions.
Who Is Ayn Rand? By LOUISE RUBACKY
A new book argues weakly for the influence of Ayn Rand on our culture—after all, the dominant classes in America were greedy and selfish from the get-go.
The Madness Driving Climate Catastrophe By H. PATRICIA HYNES
A new book examines how corporate capitalism, through fossil fuel-based technology, has led the world to the point of destruction.
‘Civilizing’ Perpetual Foreigners By ELAINE MARGOLIN
In a time rife with anti-immigrant invective, Truthdig reviews a book that explores a historic episode involving missionaries and migrant Chinese women.
Need more recommendations? Check out all of Truthdig’s book reviews here.
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TD Original
Fixating on the candidate risks losing sight of four men angling to stand closest to the Oval Office desk.
TD Original
By the standards of the Jewish jurist who coined the word, yes they are.
TD Original
The Mississippi GOP’s attack on local power in the Black-majority capital has outraged and galvanized city lawmakers.
TD Original
The new Honduran government was supposed to mark a break from the country’s corrupt past. So why are land and water defenders still being killed?
At The Nation, Atossa Araxia Abrahamian has a provocative piece that imagines how future historians may come to write the story of the Covid-19 pandemic. The speculative history takes the form of a “best-case” scenario that serves as both a challenge and a salve, an inspirational fantasy to help balance out the more easily imagined […]
Following the criticism that he has mismanaged the nation’s response to the coronavirus epidemic, Trump has declared himself a “wartime president.” If martial law is next, what will happen to the November election?
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