At BookBrowse, we’re all about bringing you great reading, period. That’s why we don’t only feature reviews of recommended books, but also “beyond the book” articles, bite-sized literary and cultural pieces that expand on an aspect of each featured title. These articles can be read on their own, but also serve as a fantastic entry point into the related book. Below, we’ve selected some of the best articles written by our reviewers this year, one from each of our nine categories. These span subjects ranging from Ukraine’s national soil to American political lawn signs, crime dioramas created by “the mother of forensic science,” Mariah Carey’s career, how author Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu transformed aspects of the 19th-century adventure novel King Solomon’s Mines, and more. Many of these articles use a small, specific starting point to approach a larger idea. Similarly, they together make up a miniature representation of how you can explore the world through books via our digital magazine all year round.
“The Activism of William Monroe Trotter” for White Lies: How the South Lost the Civil War, Then Rewrote the History by Ann Bausum
Americans know the names Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rosa Parks, and many may be familiar with W.E.B. Du Bois, but if asked about Black activists, fewer would recognize the name of William Monroe Trotter. Trotter was a passionate defender of Black civil rights and founder and editor of one of the most important Black-owned newspapers in American history. His relative obscurity today demonstrates how those who have challenged the dominant narrative about equal rights and racial progress in America are often erased from the historical record. Books such as Ann Bausum’s White Lies and Kerri K. Greenidge’s Black Radical are reintroducing Trotter’s work to new audiences and showing that demands for full racial equality have had a long legacy and many dedicated advocates. —Rose Rankin
Explore more in People, Eras & Events
“In This House, We Believe” for One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad
In One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, Omar El Akkad levels several critiques against Western liberalism and its contradictions. One of the most damning is this: “It’s difficult to live in this country in this moment and not come to the conclusion that the principal concern of the modern American liberal is, at all times, not what one does or believes or supports or opposes, but what one is seen to be…Saying the right slogans supersedes whatever it is those slogans are supposed to oblige.” One of the most visible sets of slogans about progressive beliefs, nearly ubiquitous in some residential neighborhoods in so-called blue states, has become the subject of both inspiration and ridicule: the “In this house, we believe” lawn sign. —Norah Piehl
Explore more in Society & Politics
“‘Native American’ Is Complicated” for Old School Indian by Aaron John Curtis
Paloma Zhaniser is a gender violence policy analyst affiliated with the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. When I interviewed her, she was clear that she doesn’t use the term Native American, preferring “Indigenous” because of its accuracy. In the novel Old School Indian, Mohawk author Aaron John Curtis addresses “Native American” five minutes into the story. Referring to the main character, narrator Dominick Deer Woods explains, “Abe is Mohawk Indian. You could argue Indian is a misnomer and you’d be right. I could argue no one asked us when they decided we should be called Native American, and I’d be right. Somewhere in the eighties, non-rez folks decided ‘Indians’ were wrong at best and offensive at worst, so they let everyone — including us — know we should be called Native Americans.” —Valerie Morales
Explore more in Places, Cultures & Identities
“Chernozem: The National Soil of Ukraine” for Endling by Maria Reva
In Endling, Maria Reva centers Ukrainian identity, whether her focus is on romance tours or the snail conservation efforts of one of the central “brides” named Yeva. Through Yeva’s work, we learn about the topography and life forms that shape Ukraine. One detail that stuck with me was the discussion of chernozem, the rich black soil that nourishes all-important grain crops. I thought this was a beautiful metaphor for the way the land shapes people. Estimates vary, but it is believed that up to 68% of Ukrainian soil is chernozem. Soil scientist Vasily V. Dokuchaev first identified and named chernozem (“black earth” in Russian) in 1883. It is said to be some of the most fertile soil in the world, and Ukraine contains in its borders a quarter of the global supply. —Erin Lyndal Martin
Explore more in Nature & the Environment
“In Sickness and In Health: Illness and Marriage” for Counting Backwards by Binnie Kirshenbaum
While planning her wedding at the age of twenty-four, after seven years of dating her fiancé, Erin Fortin was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder. Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria, or PNH, involves the damage of red blood cells by the immune system. Because Erin and her future husband John both had a healthy sense of humor and loved to laugh, they tried to look at the bright side. “[O]nce we’d accepted my condition, we laughed about how we’d vowed ‘in sickness and in health’ before even getting to the altar.” In a blog on the website PNH News, Erin talks about what has helped over the six years of her marriage and laid out three concepts she and John prioritized. The first thing her soon-to-be husband did, along with her mother, was to research PNH. What was it exactly? How was it going to mature in her body long-term? What were the symptoms? —Valerie Morales
Explore more in Medicine, Science & Tech
“The Influence of King Solomon’s Mines on The Creation of Half-Broken People” for The Creation of Half-Broken People by Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu
King Solomon’s Mines, a novel by H. Rider Haggard, is referenced throughout Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu’s African gothic historical fiction work The Creation of Half-Broken People. After Henry Rider Haggard (1856–1925) had returned to England from a stint as an administrator in South Africa, his brother suggested a wager: he would pay him five shillings if he could write a book “half as good” as Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. Haggard accepted the wager, and over a few weeks in 1885 dashed off the manuscript for what would become King Solomon’s Mines. Haggard wrote a few of his African characters with a modicum of sympathy, but the book reflects the common British imperialist mindset of the era, and is profoundly racist. This might make one wonder why Ndlovu used King Solomon’s Mines as a starting point for a novel that speaks to racism in Africa. She has said in interviews that it was Haggard’s depiction of the character Gagool that inspired her. —Kim Kovacs
Explore more in Books & Authors
“Frances Glessner Lee’s Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death” for Sweetener by Marissa Higgins
In Sweetener, Charlotte and Olivia go to the Smithsonian to view an exhibit of dioramas created by forensic scientist Frances Glessner Lee to further the training and work of law enforcement in solving crimes involving a suspicious death. One piece they look at closely features a woman lying on the floor, surrounded by the ordinary debris of life—magazines, canned goods, a pie in the oven. The point of examining the tiny room, according to Charlotte, is not to determine what happened to the woman: “[T]here’s no right answer…The dioramas are exercises in detail, both for the creator and the observer.” This is particularly true for Charlotte, who is a claymation artist struggling with her career and purpose in life and drawing inspiration from Lee’s dioramas. Frances Glessner Lee is often referred to as the “mother of forensic science.” Born in Chicago in 1879, the daughter of a wealthy agricultural industrialist, Lee developed an interest in science when she was in her forties. —Lisa Butts
Explore more in Cultural Curiosities
“Books About Science and Systems” for The Last Extinction: The Real Science Behind the Death of the Dinosaurs by Gerta Keller
In The Last Extinction, geologist Gerta Keller summarizes research supporting her theory of Deccan volcanism (which suggests the dinosaurs were not killed off in conditions produced by an asteroid but rather by a period of sustained volcanic activity) and offers a view of the patriarchal and other hierarchical systems she encountered over the years in seeking a platform for her non-mainstream work. Many more scientists and journalists have published books focusing on how significant science concerning human health, nature, and the universe interacts with (and is often compromised by) scientific media and other social phenomena. Below are just a few. These books dig deeper into solutions to the informational and environmental concerns raised in The Last Extinction, and may make for good additional reading for book clubs. —Elisabeth Cook
“Mariah Carey’s The Emancipation of Mimi” for All the Other Mothers Hate Me by Sarah Harman
In Sarah Harman’s All the Other Mothers Hate Me, Florence, an ex-pop star, clings to a notion: that one day, just like Mariah Carey, she will have what she calls her Emancipation of Mimi moment. I immediately knew what she meant, because The Emancipation of Mimi was one of my most impactful musical albums; it was the first CD I remember scraping money together to buy that I didn’t have to share with anybody else. Florence and I weren’t the only ones who found this album particularly powerful. But what made The Emancipation of Mimi so special to millions? What does it mean to have an Emancipation of Mimi moment? Emancipation was a comeback album, but it was so much more; it was a testament to artistic and creative freedom, and how the fruits of an artist’s labor can build something beautiful after perceived failure. —Lisa Ahima
