2022 Reading List

This year began with renewed plans for travel, first to Scotland with my daughter and then to Panama with my husband. Many of the titles here represent preparations for or readings completed during these visits.  

Drayson, Elizabeth. The Moor's Last Stand: How Seven Centuries of Muslim Rule in Spain Came to an End. Profile Books, 2018.

• I picked this book from my daughter's bookshelf to read on the plane as I flew home from Scotland. Really it was intended to be diversion but ended up being a well written history of the reign of Boabdil, the last sultan of Granada whose life coincided with the rise of the Catholic Monarchs, Isabelle and Ferdinand. It's a sympathetic rendering of the tough choices and their consequences leading to Boabdil's ignoble end. 

Eco, Umberto. The Name of the Rose. William Weaver, trans. Harvest Books, 1994.

• Any title by Umberto Eco is worth the time and energy to read. This book is set in a monastery in the 14th century. It's part murder mystery, part theological treatise delving deeply into sectarian disputes within the Catholic Church. Eco is a profound writer, capturing character, narrative arc and foreshadowing tools to tell the story of a wayward monk's apprentice who attempts to solve a series of murders in the abbey. Looking for an absorbing novel? Here's one for you. 

Ewing, Jack. Monkeys are Made of Chocolate: Exotic and Unseen Costa Rica. PixyJack Press, 2005.

• This is a silly book written by an American guy who left the States to live in Costa Rica. He writes about monkeys and crocodiles, tourists and chocolate. It's fun and easy, and I recommend it for anyone thinking of travel to Costa Rica.

Gudmonson, Lowell and Justin Wolfe, eds. Blacks and Blackness in Central America: Between Race and Place. Duke University Press, 2010.

• This is one of the background books I used to research before heading to Panama. As an anthology it works nicely to introduce some of the topics related to people of African ancestry in Central America. It is an academic text, however, and a few of the selections assumed a level of knowledge from the reader. 

Hannah-Jones, Nikole, et al. The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story. 1st ed., One World, 2021. 

• Black history is American history. That's the premise of this seminal text featuring photographs, poetry and rich history that documents the relationships between Black, white and Indigenous Americans from 1619 to 2021. The intersectionality of topics and dynamic writing make this a must-read book for everyone.

Joyce, Rachel. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry: A Novel. Random House, 2012.

• I actually don't remember when or why I purchased this book. It may have been something recommended by Alistair Moffat, whose walking memoir appears in this list and which I read while in Scotland. At any rate, Rachel Joyce has written a sweet novel about relationships and the power of life events to shape one's personality. It is simultaneously inspiring and intriguing. Joyce develops the characters carefully, and then surprises the reader with an unexpected conclusion. It worked well for me as easy airplane reading. 

Künne, Martin, Lucrecia Pérez de Batres, and Philippe Costa. “Recent Rock Art Studies in Eastern MesoAmerica and Lower Central America, 2005–2009.” Rock Art Studies (2012): 288–309. Web. https://www.academia.edu/en/40816747/Recent_Rock_Art_Studies_in_Eastern_Mesoamerica_and_Lower_Central_America_2005_2009

• This is an insightful overview of several rock art sites in Central America. In particular, this article identifies some of the features of the Caldera site south of Boquete, Panama which I plan to visit in a few days.

Menzies, Gavin. 1421: The Year China Discovered America. HarperCollins, 2003.

• Although the title doesn't reflect it, this book is about the history of maps. Menzies writes of Chinese exploration around the world in the early 15th century, and the ways in which subsequent explorers such as Columbus, Vasco de Gama, Coronado and many other used the maps created by the Chinese to find their way. It's a controversial book. At one point Menzies claims Christopher Columbus and his brother Bartholomew "forged a chart [they] knew was bogus" and engaged in other activities "under false pretenses" to convince the Catholic Monarchs to fund Columbus' 1492 exploration (434). Despite these kinds of controversial statements, I found the text interesting and imaginative. It is the perfect book to finish 2022! 

Moffat, Alistair. The Hidden Ways: Scotland's Forgotten Roads. Canongate Books, 2017.

• Let me start by saying that I love this book! It is delightfully written with a nice balance of travelogue and history about some very old roads in Scotland. Along the way, I was inspired to visit some of the locations Moffat writes about. His humor, grace and personal reflection shine through on every page. This is a good companion for walking Scotia.

Ngai, Mae. The Chinese Question: The Gold Rushes and Global Politics. W.W. Norton & Co., 2021.

• There is a new kind of history emerging, not just in the US but in universities all across the world. It's known as Global History, focusing on the intersectionality of a topic across time and space. Mae Ngai's recent history about the role of racism, nativism and immigration among Chinese gold miners is one example. In it, Ngai focuses on the Gold Rushes of California, Australia and South Africa as a way of showing the intersectionality of these global events on individual people. It's a good book, an interesting approach to history and for it Ngai won the prestigious Bancroft Prize in 2022.

Olien, Michael D. “Black and Part-Black Populations in Colonial Costa Rica: Ethnohistorical Resources and Problems.” Ethnohistory, vol. 27, no. 1, Duke University Press, 1980, pp. 13–29, https://doi.org/10.2307/481625.

• In pursuit of learning about the history of Black folk in Costa Rica I came across this article from 1980. It's dated but contains some intriguing information about 17th century shipwrecks and pirates on the Atlantic coastal region of Central America. And who doesn't love a good pirate story? This article also contains a nice overview of archival repositories in San Jose, Costa Rica.

Petras, Elizabeth McLean. Jamaican Labor Migration: White Capitol and Black Labor, 1850 - 1930. Westview Press, 1988. Online.

• My daughter told me about a research project she's working on at university. The topic was so interesting that I cruised around the database called Internet Archive, where I located this book. In it, Petras outlines some of the key issues facing Jamaicans after the collapse of the sugar cane industry and the abolition of slavery in the mid-19th century. Essentially, Jamaican men became the predominant migrant labor source for construction projects on the Panama Canal, as well as in Cuba, Costa Rica and the United States. Reading this book makes me want to visit Jamaica. 

Pineda, Baron L. “Nicaragua’s Two Coasts.” Shipwrecked Identities: Navigating Race on Nicaragua’s Mosquito Coast. Rutgers University Press: 2006. 21– 66. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt5hj296.4.

• This chapter follows up on my pursuit of pirates and shipwrecks along the east coast of Central America. The premise of the chapter is that the Black presence in Nicaragua and Costa Rica may date to one particular slave ship which was wrecked in the waters off Nicaragua's eastern coastline around the year 1640. Survivors intermarried with some of the Indigenous groups in the region. I'm on the hunt to learn more. 

Procter, Alice. The Whole Picture: The Colonial Story of the Art in Our Museums and Why We Need to Talk About It. Octopus Publishing, 2021. 

• I picked up this book at the David Livingstone Birthplace Museum outside Glasgow, Scotland. It has been a fun and interesting read while traveling between Glasgow, Bridge of Allan and Edinburgh. Procter points out uncomfortable truths about some of the objects found in museums such as human remains or ritual artefacts stolen by Europeans from societies under European colonial rule. Art and museum collections care management will become increasingly relevant as we head into the middle of the 21st century.

Sanghera, Sathnam. Empireland: How Imperialism Has Shaped Modern Britain. Viking, 2021. 

• In September, I visited the Wardlaw Museum in St. Andrews, Scotland. This title was on the shelf in the museum bookshop and on a whim I bought it. Sanghera does a good job presenting the idea of empire and its impact on peoples and cultures around the world. My conclusion: I am a product of empire, as the British colonial experience shaped my ancestors in the 17th century ... both in England and in North America. If you are looking for solid reading about the long arm of empire, this is the book for you. 

Troncoso, Andres & Armstrong, Felipe & Basile, Mara. (2017). "Rock Art in Central and South America: Social Settings and Regional Diversity." 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190607357.013.53.

• This article articulates some of the key elements of rock art in Central and South America. As an overview to the topic, it identifies three types of rock art: geoglyphs, pigment arts and petroglyphs. Troncoso et al also provide examples of each type from pre-contact and post-contact societies. I read this article in preparation for a site visit to the petroglyphs called Piedras Pintadas en Caldera south of Boquete, Panama.

2021 Books in Review

My reading selection this year has been diffuse and random. I started 2021 wanting to read more Indigenous voices but then found it challenging to stay focused. The emphasis shifted to just reading whatever fiction floated my way. I think the randomness of this reading list is a metaphor for the instability of living through a pandemic. 

Blanding, Michael. North by Shakespeare: A Rogue Scholar's Quest for the Truth Behind the Bard's Work. Hatchett Books, 2021.

• To know me is to know that I love Shakespeare. I love reading his plays and sonnets, and I love reading about him in biographies and critical analysis. Blanding's book challenges me, however, as it works to present a new (and some would say heretical) narrative about the source texts for most of Shakespeare's plays as coming from a man named Thomas North, an aristocrat who served Queen Elizabeth I in various capacities in the late 16th century. Blanding acts as the critical voice who presents Dennis McCarthy and his research into North. This explains the title, but there is much, much more. According to McCarthy, most of the plays we believe are Shakespeare's are actually autobiographical moments in North's life. It's a good book if you are into Shakespeare and his body of work in new and uncomfortable ways. 

Ford, Jamie. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet: A Novel. Random House, 2009.

• This is a well told, if not formulaic, novel about race and racism in mid-20th century Seattle. Ford knows how to weave characters and plot a narrative arc that are at once interesting and engaging. If you are looking for a heartwarming story with a hint of social justice but that's also a page turner, then this is the book for you!

Garcia, Gabriela. Of Women and Salt: A Novel. Flatiron Books, 2021. 

• This book came to me from a list of recommended new authors. Garcia writes an engaging story about several generations of women, mostly from the same family, whose lives span the shores of Cuba and Florida. Although there are moments when the reader can recognize this is the narrative of a new writer, there is also the hint that Garcia's best work is still to come. 

Grandin, Greg. Empire's Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Making of an Imperial Republic. Updated and Expanded. Picador, 2021. 

• 
  Grandin is a great historian who brings passion and storytelling to often grim historic events. This is the third book by Grandin that I've read, and I find it to be the most compelling of them all. The premise of this text is that the US uses Latin America as a workshop to practice and refine its empire building project. Along the way, the US causes massive destabilization, violence and misery among the people of Latin America. It is US foreign policy that forces people to migrate. It is US domestic policy that demonizes those who immigrate. And the wheel turns on and on. This is a good book with lots of receipts, but be advised: it will make you angry at the money spent and the blood shed with our tax dollars. The only way we change this dynamic is for the American people to insist that the Biden Administration break the cycle. Are you in?

Hämäläinen, Pekka. Lakota America: A New History of Indigenous Power. Yale University Press, 2019.

Lakota Winter Count,
circa 19th century
Houston Museum of Natural Science

• History is the act of keeping records. One thing that's largely missing in traditional histories of Indigenous people is the story of their existence from their perspective. Hämäläinen seeks to overturn that practice of centering Indigenous history around Anglo-American documents and Westernized perspectives by presenting the history of the Lakota people through their Winter Count records. The Winter Counts were recorded on buffalo hides, chronicling events that the Lakota people experienced in any given year. Hämäläinen also seeks to write a history of the Lakota that subverts common mythologizing about the Sioux when he asserts that "the great paradox of Lakota history is that by helping prevent the realization of other Wests -- French, British, Spanish -- Lakotas inadvertently paved the way for the American West and, eventually, their own downfall. The italics are Hämäläinen's. This is a sprawling and provocative history. If you're interested in seeing Indigenous history in a brand new way, this is a good book for you!

Hamer, Marc. Seed to Dust: Life, Nature, and a Country Garden. Graystone Books, 2021. 

• Hamer writes a quiet memoir about life, gardens and the people he loves. Woven into the pattern of four seasons, this book chronicles the subtleties and internal workings of plants, animals and humans. It is one part botany, three parts philosophy ... neither of which the reader realizes until nearly the last page. It's a healing story, something I've found helpful to get me through the instability of living through a pandemic. 

Ishiguro, Kazuo. Klara and the Sun: A Novel. Alfred A. Knopf, 2021. 

• It's an unexpected story about robots and redemption. Ishiguro is a fine writer who knows how to build characters, develop narrative arc and create vivid imagery. What I wasn't expecting is the emotional investment I got from reading about AFs (Artificial Friends) and the people who used them. 

Levitt, Peggy. Artifacts and Allegiances: How Museums Put the Nation and the World on Display. University of California Press, 2015.

• Museums are changing. This book seeks to present some of the ways in which museums have historically exhibited their holdings, but it also explores the difference between museums with a nationalistic focus and museums with an international focus. It's a provocative way of understanding objects on display in a museum, as well as the intended and unintended messages those displays provide to the public. 

Neiman, Susan. Learning from the Germans: Race and the Memory of Evil. Picador, 2019.

• I read this book in the closing days of the Trump Administration, ironically or not, during the failed insurrection to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The book combines an exploration of racial attitudes in post-World War II Germany with historical analysis and first person reporting of racism in the United States. Neiman is Jewish and grew up in Georgia. Later she moved to Germany, where she experienced Germany's attempts to reconcile their anti-Semitic past. The book moves back and forth between the two countries, both in time and place, offering insightful analysis of the ways in which racism is used to strengthen authoritarian regimes. 

Obama, Barack. A Promised Land. Crown, 2020. 

• Obama is a good writer. If he hadn't gotten into politics, it's likely he would have become a successful writer. As it is, he's written three books, all of which I've read, with mastery and eloquence. There are equal doses of philosophy, humor and political intrigue in this one, including a suspenseful telling of the capture of Osama bin Laden. One aspect of Obama's narrative that keeps me coming back for more: his optimism about democracy. Even in the face of historic levels of obstruction from the GOP, Obama is still upbeat about democracy's potential. This, along with some really good story telling, makes this 700 page book worth the effort. 

Rakove, Jack N. James Madison and the Creation of the American Republic. Pearson, 2007.

• Rakove is a first rate historian. He is well versed in the nuances of the Revolutionary Period in US history, which comes across quite clearly in this text. But truly, sometimes he gets into the weeds with the minutiae of history. Yet the last couple chapters of this book are quite remarkable in their insight and explanation of Madison's legacy. I've read this book twice now and learned new ideas both times. It's a strong addition to any library on the Founding Fathers.

Silverman, David J. This Land Is Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony and the Troubled History of Thanksgiving. Bloomsbury, 2020.

• This book goes far beyond what the title suggests. Although it definitely treats the subject of Thanksgiving, it also explains relationships and challenges that New England Indigenous groups experienced in the 17th century. For those who want a detailed view of Indigenous-colonial relations in New England, this is a good one.

Sylvester, Natalia. Everyone Knows You Go Home: A Novel. Little a: 2018.

• Sylvester is a new-ish author who tells a good story by weaving characters in both time and space. There is an element of magical realism here, complete with ghosts and dreams about the dead. One also gets the sense that Sylvester is working through the process of writing in English when Spanish is her first language. It's an interesting process for the reader, and Sylvester should be commended first for attempting it and second for doing it well. This is a good story that explores what it means to go home when living in the US as an immigrant.

Thiers, Barbara M. Herbarium: The Quest to Preserve & Classify the World's Plants. Timber Press, 2020.

• 
  
  My husband gave me this book for Christmas. It is a sweet text full of images, maps and drawings of plants in a one-of-a-kind collection. If you are interested in herbariums, this is a delightful blend of art and history as it intersects with botany and field studies of plants around the world.

Tyson, Cicely and Michelle Burford. Just As I Am: A Memoir. Harper, 2021.

• Just days before she passed, Cicely Tyson posted on social media that her memoir had been published and was available for purchase. I ordered a copy, only to learn that she died the same day. Along with being an amazing actress of the 20th century, Tyson was a good human being. There were events in her life that I had no idea she experienced, but learning them in this autobiography only made her story more endearing. This is a feel good book with a special message for Black women at the very end.

Yu, Charles. Interior Chinatown: A Novel. Vintage Books, 2020. 

• 
  This is probably one of the funniest books I have ever read. It's also brutally honest about racism and stereotypes about Asians. Others seem to agree with that assessment since it was recently named the National Book Award winner for 2020. As a novel, Yu spins the story around actors trying to break into the Hollywood film scene. There's Generic Asian Man, Young Oriental Flower, Wizened Chinaman and Old Asian Woman. Oh, and don't forget the Kung Fu Dad, too! None of these characters get hired beyond the flat stereotypes depicted in their names. By presenting characters the way he does, Yu heads straight into the world of Asian stereotypes, illuminating their absurdities with humor and dignity when he writes, "There's just something about Asians that makes reality a little too real, overcomplicates the clarity, the duality, the clean elegance of BLACK and WHITE, the proven template and so the decision is made not in some overarching conspiracy to exclude Asians but because it's just easier to keep it how we have it ... You wonder: Can you change it? Can you be the one who actually breaks through?" (39). Later Yu answers this question when he writes, "Ever since you were a boy, you've dreamt of being Kung Fu Guy. You're not Kung Fu Guy. But maybe, just maybe, tomorrow will be the day" (45). It's a hopeful, bittersweet story of real people who are flattened into stifling stereotypes by white people who hold all the power. If you want to laugh, and then maybe cry at how sadly funny, infuriating and absurd racism can be, then you should read this book too. 

In the Place of Burnt Fields: Spotlighting Indigenous Human Rights Efforts

Across Mexico today there are three groups who are gripped in a death dance with each other. In some ways, it's really just a list of the usual suspects: the Mexican military at the behest of the government and the narco terrorists who, mostly, were formed as paramilitaries at the behest of the government during the reign of the PRI.

The third group is comprised of indigenous Indians from various regions across Mexico who have been negatively impacted by outside powers for the past 500 years. As a result, their steps in the death dance are more interesting and complex than the other two.

One organization who supports indigenous groups has been profiled in an article by Kerry Kennedy of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights (RFKCHR). The organization -- Tlachinollan Center for Human Rights -- has been trying to bring international attention to the indigenous people of Ayutla de los Libres who have experienced repression by the police and military.

For those of you who are lucky enough to be fluent in Spanish, here's a link to their website.

Furthermore the founder of the Tlachinollan Center for Human Rights, Abel Barrera Hernandez has recently been granted an award by an American organization for his work. According to the RFKCHR, "Mr. Barrera and his colleagues work under constant threat to protect the rights of peasants and indigenous peoples against forced disappearances, rape, arbitrary detentions, intimidation, dispossession of lands and illegal interrogations, and to improve their access to healthcare, legal representation and education. 'Justice for the indigenous peoples of the Mexican mountains does not exist; it must be won inch by inch and confronting grave dangers. Those that seek a better life and organize to realize their human rights are sought out and assassinated,' said Abel Barrera Hernández. 'The award that we are presented today by the RFK Center for Justice & Human Rights comes to refresh our dreams.'"

And, in a really good 5 minute video Abel Barrera Hernandez explains what the people of Ayutla de los Libres want: dignity and equality.