In Polemical Pain: Slavery, Cruelty, and the Rise of Humanitarianism, Margaret Abruzzo examines the contested origins of the idea of humanitarianism by investigating the proslavery and antislavery debates over the meaning of pain. This is an excellent book for understanding not only the intellectual development of the pro and antislavery positions, but also for breaking apart the concept of humanitarianism, to understand it as a contested and not static term. Read more at my blog…
Less Sexism Than I Expected
Yet another selection from class. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to this one though the length was going to be a nice break compared to the rest of the reading list so I was actually pleasantly surprised when I read this. I think what little previous interactions I have had with Rousseau have involved his later work in which he comes off as a sexist, misogynistic ass that romanticizes nature and “man’s natural state” way too much. Imagine my surprise when in this, he states […]
agorafabulous
I have a love hate relationship with books that deal with psychological issues. As someone who has dealt with various diagnosis, prescriptions and failed therapy sessions sometimes they hit a little too close to home. Sara Benincasa’s memoir chronicles her journey through crippling panic attacks that leave her temporarily unable to leave her college apartment. A particularly nervous child, Sara’s book begins with her going to an Italian ER for a panic attack while on a school trip and follows her into college at Emerson. […]
Happy Accidents
Jane Lynch is one of those actors that didn’t get a big break until her late 30s, the first thing I remember her being in was Best in Show (when she was 40) even though I’ve seen her actual first movie role- The Fugitive- a dozen times. This whole book is basically the story of her growing up and hustling her way into pop culture permanence as Sue Sylvester from Glee. Lynch was brought up in a suburb of Chicago as the middle child of […]
Yeah, You’re Probably a Little Bigoted
You’re not racist, right? I mean, if given two equally qualified candidates for a job you were hiring for, you’d be just as likely to give it to the Black person as the White person, right? And you’re in favor of same sex marriage, so you definitely don’t give any preference to straight people, right? Not so fast. The premise of this book – which is backed up by some pretty solid science – is that we all hold biases in our unconscious minds that […]
Hindsight is bittersweet, but the facts are hard
I rarely read non-fiction and even more rarely read memoirs so I went into this read with few expectations. It was the pick for my book club, so I picked it up dutifully, much like I would tackle required reading in school. I’m hesitant to say I enjoyed this book, because the subject matter was difficult and heart-wrenching, but I am glad that I read it. Alysia Abbott is the daughter of two free spirited parents in the 70s, in a non-traditional configuration. Her parents […]