The book Spectacle: The Astonishing Life of Ota Benga is a history book that appeared in 2015. The author is Pamela Newkirk. Like another recent book I reviewed, King Leopold’s Ghost, it is a popular history about a very interesting historical figure. I’ve been reading about the Congo for a new book I’m writing, and […]
Category: Nonfiction Book Reviews
Review of King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild
Mutilated children from the Congo Free State A Congolese man looking at the hand and foot of his daughter Cartoon criticizing Leopold’s rule I’ll give the last word to one of Leopold’s contemporaries. It’s no wonder that Mark Twain wrote, In fourteen years Leopold has deliberately destroyed more lives than have suffered death on all […]
Review of Dying of Whiteness, by Jonathan Metzl
The book Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing America’s Heartland, published in 2019, is not my usual book review, so forgive me if I post about a nonfiction book for once. To read my reviews of recent historical fiction novels, please see: Opium and Absinthe, by Lydia Kang The Pillars […]