White Houses
Amy Bloom, 2018
Random House
240 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780812995664
Summary
Lorena Hickok meets Eleanor Roosevelt in 1932 while reporting on Franklin Roosevelt’s first presidential campaign.
Having grown up worse than poor in South Dakota and reinvented herself as the most prominent woman reporter in America, "Hick," as she’s known to her friends and admirers, is not quite instantly charmed by the idealistic, patrician Eleanor.
But then, as her connection with the future first lady deepens into intimacy, what begins as a powerful passion matures into a lasting love, and a life that Hick never expected to have. She moves into the White House, where her status as "first friend" is an open secret, as are FDR’s own lovers.
After she takes a job in the Roosevelt administration, promoting and protecting both Roosevelts, she comes to know Franklin not only as a great president but as a complicated rival and an irresistible friend, capable of changing lives even after his death.
Through it all, even as Hick’s bond with Eleanor is tested by forces both extraordinary and common, and as she grows as a woman and a writer, she never loses sight of the love of her life.
From Washington, D.C. to Hyde Park, from a little white house on Long Island to an apartment on Manhattan’s Washington Square, Amy Bloom’s new novel moves elegantly through fascinating places and times, written in compelling prose and with emotional depth, wit, and acuity. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1953
• Where—N/A
• Education—B.A. Weslyan University; M.S.W. Smith College
• Awards—Costa Award; National Magazine Award
• Currently—lives in Connecticut, USA
Amy Bloom is an American writer best know for her 2007 novel Away. Her next novel, Lucky Us, was published in 2014. She has also penned short stories—in 1993 her collection, Come to Me, was nominated for National Book Award, and in 2000 her collection, A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Bloom received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater/Political Science, Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Wesleyan University, and a M.S.W. (Master of Social Work) from Smith College.
Having trained and practiced as a clinical social worker, Bloom used her psychotherapeutic background in creating the Lifetime Television network TV show, State of Mind. She is listed as creator, co-executive producer, and head writer for the series, which examines the professional lives of psychotherapists.
Bloom has also written articles in periodicals including The New Yorker, New York Times Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, Vogue, Slate, and Salon.com. Her short fiction has appeared in The Best American Short Stories, O. Henry Prize Stories and several other anthologies, and has won a National Magazine Award.
Bloom has been a University Writer in Residence at Wesleyan University and before that a senior lecturer of Creative Writing in the department of English at Yale University, where she taught Advanced Fiction Writing, Writing for Television, and Writing for Children.
In August 2012, Bloom published her first children's book entitled Little Sweet Potato. According to the New York Times, the story "follows the trials of a 'lumpy, dumpy, bumpy' young tuber who is accidentally expelled from his garden patch and must find a new home. On his journey, he is castigated first by a bunch of xenophobic carrots, then by a menacing gang of vain eggplants."
Bloom resides in Connecticut. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 6/3/2014.)
Book Reviews
Historical fiction about "forgotten women’s lives" has become a comfortably familiar, if not always scintillating, literary form. Leave it to Amy Bloom to give the genre a swift kick in the knickers with White Houses, her irresistibly audacious re-creation of the love affair between Eleanor Roosevelt and journalist Lorena "Hick" Hickok.
USA Today
Bloom beautifully captures the affection the women felt for each other…. Cleverly structured through reminiscences that slowly build in intimacy, Bloom’s passionate novel beautifully renders the hidden love of one of America’s most guarded first ladies.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) Bloom elevates this addition to the secret-lives-of-the-Roosevelts genre through elegant prose and by making Lorena Hickok a character engrossing enough to steal center stage from Eleanor Roosevelt.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. White Houses is a fictional account of relationships and events that happened from the 1930s to the ’60s. Did any historical information in the book interest or surprise you? Did you know anything about the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, the affair between Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok, or FDR’s affairs before reading the book?
2. Lorena had a very difficult childhood, filled with poverty, violence, and uncertainty. Eleanor’s childhood was also fraught with violence and uncertainty, but she still had every opportunity and comfort, because she was a Roosevelt. How do you think their backgrounds affected who they became as adults, in both their personal and professional lives? Did it affect the dynamics of their relationship?
3. Lorena’s short time in the circus introduced us to many unforgettable and unique characters on the outskirts of society. Who do you think Lorena most related to? Did you relate to any of them?
4. Lorena and Eleanor shared a love that was taboo because of how people viewed sexuality at the time and Eleanor’s high-profile marriage. How do you think their love story would play out today? Do you think it would have ended differently, or the same?
5. Lorena and FDR shared a complicated relationship—he was her president and her friend, and also her lover’s husband. How did this affect Lorena’s relationship with FDR, and her relationship with Eleanor?
6. White Houses is told from Lorena’s perspective—a woman on the sidelines of history who was literally cropped out of photos. How do you think her view of history differs from how other people viewed it? How do you think Eleanor and Lorena’s story would have changed if it was told from the perspective of Eleanor, or FDR, or anyone else who worked at the White House?
7. Eleanor Roosevelt was a groundbreaking First Lady, a politician and activist in her own right, who even publically disagreed with her husband’s politics from time to time. Were you familiar with Eleanor Roosevelt’s work before this novel? Were you surprised by her politics and behavior, given the period she lived in? What could women today learn from her approach to politics?
8. Before covering the White House, Lorena established herself as a respected journalist. How does her relationship with Eleanor affect her professional aspirations? Do you agree with the decisions she makes regarding her career?
(Questions issued by the publishers.)
Heart Berries: A Memoir
Terese Marie Mailhot, 2018
Counterpoint Press
160 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781619023345
Summary
A powerful, poetic memoir of a woman's coming of age on the Seabird Island Indian Reservation in the Pacific Northwest.
Having survived a profoundly dysfunctional upbringing only to find herself hospitalized and facing a dual diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder and bipolar II disorder, Terese Marie Mailhot is given a notebook and begins to write her way out of trauma.
The triumphant result is Heart Berries, a memorial for Mailhot's mother, a social worker and activist who had a thing for prisoners; a story of reconciliation with her father—an abusive drunk and a brilliant artist—who was murdered under mysterious circumstances; and an elegy on how difficult it is to love someone while dragging the long shadows of shame.
Mailhot trusts the reader to understand that memory isn't exact, but melded to imagination, pain, and what we can bring ourselves to accept.
Her unique and at times unsettling voice graphically illustrates her mental state. As she writes, she discovers her own true voice, seizes control of her story, and, in so doing, reestablishes her connection to her family, to her people, and to her place in the world.
With an Introduction by Sherman Alexie and an Afterword by Joan Naviyuk Kane. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Terese Marie Mailhot graduated from the Institute of American Indian Arts with an M.F.A. in fiction. Mailhot’s work has appeared in The Rumpus, Los Angeles Times, Carve Magazine, The Offing, The Toast, Yellow Medicine Review, and elsewhere. The recipient of several fellowships―SWAIA Discovery Fellowship, Vermont Studio Center Fellowship, Writing by Writers Fellowship, and the Elk Writer’s Workshop Fellowship―she was recently named the Tecumseh Postdoctoral Fellow at Purdue University and resides in West Lafayette, Indiana. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Don't be fooled by the title. Terese Marie Mailhot's memoir…is a sledgehammer.… Heart Berries has a mixture of vulnerability and rage, sexual yearning and artistic ambition, swagger and self-mockery.… [Mailhot] is unsparing to everyone, especially herself.… Her experiments with structure and language …are in the service of trying to find new ways to think about the past, trauma, repetition and reconciliation, which might be a way of saying a new model for the memoir.… So much of what Mailhot is moving toward here still feels nascent—the book wants a tighter weave, more focus. But give me narrative power and ambition over tidiness any day.
Parul Sehgal - New York Times
Sometimes a writer’s voice is so distinctive, so angry and messy yet wise, that her story takes on the kind of urgency that makes you turn pages faster and faster. Terese Marie Mailhot has one of those voices, and her memoir about being raised on a Canadian reservation and coming to understand what it means to be an indigenous person in modern times is breathtaking.
Esquire
A luminous, poetic memoir.
Entertainment Weekly
Poetic is an oft-used descriptor of lovely writing, and this book seems to be something more striking than the word signifies: a memoir and a poem, a haunting and dazzlingly written narrative of Mailhot’s growing up on a reservation in the Pacific Northwest.
Huffington Post
Terese Marie Mailhot's cathartic, moving Heart Berries is one of the bravest and most fearless of such books. Her coming-of-age [novel] … carries larger, universal lessons for the human spirit and its survival. A necessary book. — Rick Simonson, The Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle, WA
Indie Next List
Mailhot’s first book defies containment and categorization. In titled essays, it is a poetic memoir told in otherworldly sentences.… Not shy, nor raw, nor typical in any way, this is a powerfully crafted and vulnerable account of living and writing about it.
Booklist
Mailhot fearlessly addresses intimately personal issues with a scorching honesty derived from psychological pain and true epiphany.… An elegant, deeply expressive meditation infused with humanity and grace.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for HEART BERRIES ... then take off on your own:
1. Talk about the horror that was Terese Marie Mailhot's early years—a childhood marked with addiction, poverty, and abuse.
2. In what way is Mailhot's story reflective of the way American Indians have suffered at the hands of white people?
3. In the essay "Indian Sick," what are the multiple diagnoses Mailhot receives in the hospital?
4. What is the significance of the title Heart Berries?
5. At one point, Mailhot quips, "Indian girls can be forgotten so well they forget themselves." She also writes that "no one wants to know why Indian women leave or where they go." Why does it seem that native women are treated worse than white women? Is that what Mailhot is saying?
6. Does the process of writing her memoir generate for Mailhot a burgeoning sense of redemption? Does her story follow the typical arc from suffering to happiness … or not.
7. In her afterward Q&A with Joan Naviyuk Kane, Mailhot insists that she doesn't "feel liberated from the governing presence of tragedy.… [W]e are not liberated from injustice; we're anchored to it." What does she mean? Can anything reverse or correct the injustices done to indigenous people?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)
The Monk of Mokha
Dave Eggers, 2018
Knopf Doubleday
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781101947319
Summary
"A gripping, triumphant adventure" (Los Angeles Times) from bestselling author Dave Eggers, the incredible true story of a young Yemeni American man, raised in San Francisco, who dreams of resurrecting the ancient art of Yemeni coffee but finds himself trapped in Sana’a by civil war.
Mokhtar Alkhanshali is twenty-four and working as a doorman when he discovers the astonishing history of coffee and Yemen’s central place in it.
He leaves San Francisco and travels deep into his ancestral homeland to tour terraced farms high in the country’s rugged mountains and meet beleaguered but determined farmers.
But when war engulfs the country and Saudi bombs rain down, Mokhtar has to find a way out of Yemen without sacrificing his dreams or abandoning his people. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—March 12, 1970
• Where—Boston, Massachusetts, USA
• Raised—Lake Forest, Illinois
• Education—University of Illinois (no degree)
• Currently—lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, California
Dave Eggers is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He is known for the best-selling memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and for his more recent work as a novelist and screenwriter.
He is also the founder of McSweeney's, the co-founder of the literacy project 826 Valencia, and the founder of ScholarMatch, a program that matches donors with students needing funds for college tuition. His works have appeared in several magazines, most notably The New Yorker. His works have received a significant amount of critical acclaim.
Personal life
Eggers was born in Boston, Massachusetts, one of four siblings. His father was John K. Eggers (1936–1991), an attorney. His mother, Heidi McSweeney Eggers (1940–1992), was a school teacher. When Eggers was still a child, the family moved to the upscale suburb of Lake Forest, near Chicago. He attended high school there and was a classmate of the actor Vince Vaughn. Eggers attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, intending to get a degree in journalism, but his studies were interrupted by the deaths of both of his parents in 1991–1992—his father in 1991 from brain and lung cancer, and his mother in January 1992 from stomach cancer. Both were in their 50s.
These events were chronicled in his first book, the fictionalized A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. At the time, Eggers was 21, and his younger brother, Christopher ("Toph"), was 8 years old. The two eldest siblings, Bill and Beth, were unable to commit to care for Toph; his older brother had a full-time job and his sister was enrolled in law school. As a result, Dave Eggers took the responsibility.
He left the University of Illinois and moved to Berkeley, California, with his girlfriend Kirsten and his brother. They initially moved in with Eggers's sister, Beth, and her roommate, but eventually found a place in another part of town, which they paid for with money left to them by their parents. Toph attended a small private school, and Eggers did temp work and freelance graphic design for a local newspaper. Eventually, with his friend David Moodie, he took over a local free newspaper called Cups. This gradually evolved into the satirical magazine Might.
Eggers lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and is married to Vendela Vida, also a writer. They have two children.
He was one of three 2008 TED Prize recipients. His TED Prize wish was for community members to personally engage with local public schools The same year, Utne Reader named him one of "50 Visionaries Who Are Changing the World."
In 2005, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters from Brown University. He delivered the baccalaureate address at the school in 2008.
Literary work
• Egger's first book was a memoir (with fictional elements), A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (2000), which focused on the author's struggle to raise his younger brother in San Francisco following the deaths of both of their parents. The book quickly became a bestseller and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction.
• In 2002, Eggers published his first novel, You Shall Know Our Velocity, a story about a frustrating attempt to give away money to deserving people while haphazardly traveling the globe. He has also published a collection of short stories, How We Are Hungry, and three politically themed serials for Salon.com.
• In 2005, Eggers published Surviving Justice: America's Wrongfully Convicted and Exonerated, a book of interviews with former prisoners sentenced to death and later exonerated. The book was compiled with Lola Vollen, "a physician specializing in the aftermath of large-scale human rights abuses" and "a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley's Institute of International Studies and a practicing clinician." Lawyer novelist Scott Turow wrote the introduction to Surviving Justice.
• Eggers' 2006 novel What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng was a finalist for the 2006 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction. Eggers also edits the Best American Nonrequired Reading series, an annual anthology of short stories, essays, journalism, satire, and alternative comics.
• In 2009, he published Zeitoun and, as a result, was presented with the Courage in Media Award by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Zeitoun is the account of a Syrian immigrant, Abdulrahman Zeitoun, in New Orleans who was helping neighbors after Hurricane Katrina when he was arrested, imprisoned and suffered abuse. The book has been optioned by Jonathan Demme, who is working on a screenplay for an animated film-rendition of the work. To Demme, it "felt like the first in-depth immersion I’d ever had through literature or film into the Muslim-American family.... The moral was that they are like people of any other faith."
• Eggers published A Hologram for the King in July 2012, which became a finalist for the National Book Award. The novel is the story of one man's struggle to hold himself and his splintering family together in the face of the new realities of a global economy.
• In 2013, he released The Circle, a satirical novel about the internet's subversive power over citizen privacy. The Circle is a combination of Facebook, Google, Twitter and more, as seen through the eyes of Mae Holland, a new hire who starts in customer service.
McSweeney's
In 1998, Eggers founded McSweeney's, an independent publishing house, which takes his mother's maiden name. Apart from its book list, McSweeney's also publishes the quarterly literary journal Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, the daily-updated literature and humor site McSweeney's Internet Tendency, the monthly magazine The Believer, the quarterly food journal Lucky Peach, the sports journal Grantland Quarterly (in association with sports and pop culture website Grantland), and the quarterly DVD magazine, Wholphin. The publishing house also runs three additional imprints: Believer Books; McSweeney's McMullens, a children's book department; and the Collins Library.
826 National
In 2002, Eggers and educator Nínive Clements Calegari co-founded 826 Valencia, a nonprofit writing and tutoring center for kids ages 6–18 in San Francisco. It has since grown into seven chapters across the United States: Los Angeles, New York City, Seattle, Chicago, Ann Arbor, Boston, and Washington, D.C., all under the auspices of the nonprofit organization 826 National.
In 2006, Eggers appeared at a series of fund-raising events, dubbed "Revenge of the Book–Eaters Tour," to support his educational programs. The Chicago show featured Death Cab for Cutie front man Ben Gibbard. Other performers on the tour included Sufjan Stevens, Jon Stewart, Davy Rothbart, and David Byrne.
In 2007, the Heinz Family Foundation awarded Eggers a $250,000 Heinz Award (given to recognize "extraordinary achievements by individuals"). In accordance with Eggers' wishes, the award money was given to 826 National and The Teacher Salary Project. In April 2010, under the umbrella of 826 National, Eggers launched ScholarMatch, a nonprofit organization that connects donors with students to make college more affordable. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 9/17/2013.)
Book Reviews
The Monk of Mokha is the third in [Eggers's] series of real-life accounts of immigrants to America caught in the jaws of history.… Each book is a tale of a latter-day Job and a reflection on the act of storytelling itself, none more so than this latest, in which a singularly reckless young man keeps himself alive like Scheherazade—his ability to spin stories ensures his survival.… Narrative nonfiction …is [Eggers's] natural home. Telling other people's stories seems to focus him. The sentences take on an Orwellian clarity—they're lean and clean.… In The Monk of Mokha, he moves lightly between story and analysis, and between brisk histories of Yemeni immigration to America; gentrifying San Francisco; coffee cultivation …and the saints and thieves who dispersed the beans around the world.
Parul Sehgal - New York Times
A true account of a scrappy underdog, told in a lively, accessible style.… Absolutely as gripping and cinematically dramatic as any fictional cliffhanger.
Michael Lindgren - Washington Post
Exquisitely interesting.… This is about the human capacity to dream—here, there, everywhere.
Gabriel Thompson - San Francisco Chronicle
A cracking tale of intrigue and bravery.… A gripping, triumphant adventure story.
Paul Constant - Los Angeles Times
A heady brew.… Plainspoken but gripping.… Dives deep into a crisis but delivers a jolt of uplift as well.
Mark Athitakis - USA Today
Remarkable.… [O]ffers hope in the age of Trump.… Ends as a kind of breathless thriller as Mokhtar braves militia roadblocks, kidnappings and multiple mortal dangers.
Tim Adams - Guardian (UK)
[T]he exciting true story of a Yemeni-American man’s attempts to promote his ancestral country’s heritage.… [A] heartwarming success story with a winning central character and an account of real-life adventures that read with the vividness of fiction.
Publishers Weekly
The son of Yemini immigrants… journeys to his parents' homeland to learn more about its cultivation and help Yemeni farmers return their crops to the renown they once had. All's well until… Mokhtar finds he's… trapped in the crosscurrents of sectarian violence.
Library Journal
[A] phenomenally well-written, juggernaut of a tale of an intrepid and irresistible entrepreneur on a complex and meaningful mission. This highly caffeinated adventure story is ready-made for the big screen.
Booklist
(Starred review) [T]his book is about …the undeniable value of "U.S. citizens who maintain strong ties to the countries of their ancestors and who, through entrepreneurial zeal and dogged labor, create indispensable bridges between the developed and developing worlds…."
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Discuss the Saul Bellow epigraph that opens The Monk of Mokha. How does this paragraph set the tone for Mokhtar’s story?
2. Mokhtar grows up in the Tenderloin, one of the most notoriously crime-ridden neighborhoods of San Francisco. How does he navigate that world as a young man? How does the neighborhood color his perspective on the world? His understanding of himself? Of poverty? Once he leaves the neighborhood, how do the lessons of the Tenderloin stick with him?
3. On pages 18–19, the reader learns that despite his general apathy toward school, Mokhtar loves books. Describe how Mokhtar’s "library" acts as a means of escape for him. How do books open up his worldview? How does his love of learning follow him throughout his life and shape his career?
4. In Book 1, the reader is introduced to the scenario wherein Mokhtar loses the satchel containing thousands of dollars and his brand-new laptop. Describe Mokhtar’s reaction to his folly. What fears does this stoke? How does this incident motivate him?
5. San Francisco is an economically divided city, where stratification of wealth is readily apparent. At what point in Mokhtar’s life does he begin to understand this economic divide? How do his first jobs—at Banana Republic, at the Honda dealership, and later at the Infinity—provide him with a lens to understand wealth and power in the United States? How does his exposure to wealth change his worldview or shift his understanding of his own economic possibilities?
6. Discuss the role of family in Mokhtar’s personal and professional life. What expectations are laid upon him as the son of Yemeni immigrants? What values do Mokhtar’s parents instill in him? How does his family aid him in his journey to create his business?
7. After landing his job at Banana Republic, Mokhtar begins to dress in what he and his friends call his "Rupert" look, and Eggers notes that "the effect of his appearance on the world was profound" (page 30). Discuss this transition. How did this change in appearance affect his self-esteem? How others in the world treated him? Relate this emphasis on physical appearance to how he presents himself as he is growing his business. How does a polished physical presentation help him to gain confidence in his business interactions? What identity is he trying to signal to the world?
8. Throughout The Monk of Mokha, the concept of code-switching is discussed, particularly in relation to Mokhtar’s status as both an American citizen and that of a Yemeni American. Discuss situations wherein he is deemed "not American enough" or "not Yemeni enough." How is he forced to adapt his behavior based on his social setting? How does he contend with situations of injustice?
9. Discuss the development of Mokhtar’s business plan, from ideation to execution. What principles undergird his business? What business models does he admire? Who or what is most influential in helping to develop his business acumen? How does his understanding of the coffee industry evolve over the course of the narrative?
10. On page 75, Mokhtar is asked by Ghassan: "Are you a businessman or are you an activist? For now, at least, you have to pick one." Does he? How does his interest in social justice affect his plans for business development? Discuss the mission of his business. How does his interest in honoring his Yemeni heritage add an extra pressure for him to succeed?
11. Discuss the colonialist roots of the coffee trade. How was the Yemeni culture robbed of its resource? Were you aware of this background?
12. In The Monk of Mokha, coffee is described as a "recession-proof" commodity, yet the process for entering the trade is one that is very difficult for outsiders. Discuss the challenges that Mokhtar faced as he learned the trade. How does he gain the trust of those in the industry, from the pickers to the distributors? How does his business model interrupt the standard practices within the industry?
13. Discuss the difference in atmosphere between Mokhtar’s first experience living in Yemen as a teenager and his travels there as an adult. How does his understanding of the country change as he matures? Discuss the effect of the civil war on Yemeni culture. How does Mokhtar navigate this environment? What advantages does he have as an American citizen?
14. In the last few chapters of The Monk of Mokha, as Mokhtar tries to escape Yemen, the reader is drawn into a fast-paced, gripping narrative of his escape. What was the most disturbing aspect of his experience? When do you think Mokhtar was most frightened for his well-being? How did he rely on his street smarts to help him to safety?
15. In the final scenes of the book, Eggers reveals himself as a "character" directly in the text. How would you describe Eggers’s narrative style throughout this book? If you have read other works by Eggers, how does this book compare to those books from a stylistic perspective?
16. Discuss the idea of the "American dream" and its cultural import in today’s world. How does Mokhtar’s story adhere to this narrative? How does his experience complicate the idea of what the American success story can look like? Consider the last chapters of the book. What was the defining moment of his success?
(Questions issued by the publishers.)
Humankind: A Hopeful History
Rutger Bregman, 2020
Little Brown & Company
480 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780316418539
Summary
If there is one belief that has united the left and the right, psychologists and philosophers, ancient thinkers and modern ones, it is the tacit assumption that humans are bad.
It's a notion that drives newspaper headlines and guides the laws that shape our lives. From Machiavelli to Hobbes, Freud to Pinker, the roots of this belief have sunk deep into Western thought.
Human beings, we're taught, are by nature selfish and governed primarily by self-interest.
But what if it isn't true?
International bestseller Rutger Bregman provides new perspective on the past 200,000 years of human history, setting out to prove that we are hardwired for kindness, geared toward cooperation rather than competition, and more inclined to trust rather than distrust one another. In fact this instinct has a firm evolutionary basis going back to the beginning of Homo sapiens.
From the real-life Lord of the Flies to the solidarity in the aftermath of the Blitz, the hidden flaws in the Stanford prison experiment to the true story of twin brothers on opposite sides who helped Mandela end apartheid, Bregman shows us that believing in human generosity and collaboration isn't merely optimistic—it's realistic.
Moreover, it has huge implications for how society functions. When we think the worst of people, it brings out the worst in our politics and economics.
But if we believe in the reality of humanity's kindness and altruism, it will form the foundation for achieving true change in society, a case that Bregman makes convincingly with his signature wit, refreshing frankness, and memorable storytelling. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1988
• Where—Renesse, Netherlands
• Education—B.A., Utrecht University; M.A., Utrecht and University of California-Berkeley
• Awards—Liberales Book Award
• Currently—Netherlands
Rutger C. Bregman is a Dutch popular historian and author. He has published four books on history, philosophy, and economics, including
Bregman earned his BA in history at Utrecht University and his MA in history in, partly at Utrecht and partly at the University of California, Los Angeles. As a student, he was a member of Christian student association SSR-NU.
Career
After school, Bregman considered a career as an academic historian, but instead he began working as a journalist. He wrote regularly for the online journal De Correspondent and was twice nominated for the European Press Prize for his work there.
Bregman is the author of Humankind: A History of Hope (2020); Utopia for Realists: How We Can Build the Ideal World (2017), which has been translated into thirty-two languages; and The History of Progress (2013), for which he received the annual book award from the think tank Liberales for the most remarkable Dutch-language non-fiction book.
His work has been featured in The Washington Post, The Guardian and the BBC. He has been described by The Guardian as the "Dutch wunderkind of new ideas" and by TED Talks as "one of Europe's most prominent young thinkers." His 2017 TED Talk, "Poverty Isn't a Lack of Character; It's a Lack of Cash," was chosen by TED curator Chris Anderson as one of the year's top 10. (Adapted from Wikippedia. Retrieved 6/9/2020.)
Book Reviews
Bregman's argument is simple but radical: Most people are good, and we do ourselves a disservice by thinking the worst of others. Bregman argues that believing in human kindness is a foundation for lasting social change.
USA Today
Bregman never loses sight of his central thesis, that at root humans are "friendly, peaceful, and healthy."… There's a great deal of reassuring human decency to be taken from this bold and thought-provoking book and a wealth of evidence in support of the contention that the sense of who we are as a species has been deleteriously distorted.… It makes a welcome change to read such a sustained and enjoyable tribute to our better natures.
Guardian (UK)
Fascinating…. I enjoyed Humankind immensely. It's entertaining, uplifting, and very likely to reach the broad audience it courts…. This book might just make the world a kinder place.
Daily Telegraph (UK)
Bregman's book is an intervention in a centuries-old argument about the moral nature of human beings…. Humankind is filled with compelling tales of human goodness. The book will challenge what you thought you knew…. Bregman's book is a thrilling read and it represents a necessary correction to the idea that we are all barely disguised savages.
Times (UK)
Bregman's assertion that you and I (and everyone else) is basically a good and moral being is the breakthrough thinking we've been looking for…. [During this pandemic] despite the news reports of those breaking the rules, the vast majority of us (over 80 percent) are doing the right thing…. But we've done it because it's the right thing to do. It's impossible to underestimate what this means for our collective sense of self. We're ready to stretch our do-gooder muscles.
Forbes
[An] intriguing survey of politics, literature, psychology, sociology, and philosophy.… This intelligent and reassuring chronicle disproves much received wisdom about the dark side of human nature. Readers looking for solace in uncertain times will find it here.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review) Fascinating…. Convincing…. Bregman turns to solutions… schools in which teachers assume that students want to learn, and local governments in which citizens exert genuine power wisely…. A powerful argument in favor of human virtue.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for HUMANKIND: A HISTORY OF HOPE … then take off on your own:
1. Does Rutger Bregman's premise resonate with you? Are humans better people than history has made us out to be? Or given history, do you find Bregman's viewpoint naive?
2. Talk about Bregman's argument in support of his thesis. Of the evidence he presents, what do you find most persuasive? Least persuasive?
3. Humankind presents an alternative version, the true version, behind the 1954 novel by William Golding's Lord of the Flies. Have you read Golding's classic story? What does Bregman learn, through interviews with the rescuer and one of the boys, that differs from the novel?
4. Discuss Bregman's solutions. Do you find them plausible? Is there one you think deserves priority? Can you think of other solutions that are not mentioned in Humankind?
5. Consider watching Bregman's 2017 TED Talk presentation, "Poverty Isn't a Lack of Character; It's a Lack of Cash," which the forum considered one of it's top 10 talks of the year.
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)
The Impossible Climb: Alex Honnold, El Capitan, and the Climbing Life
Mark Synnott, 2019
Penguin Publishing
416 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781101986646
Summary
In Mark Synnott’s unique window on the ethos of climbing, his friend Alex Honnold’s astonishing "free solo" ascent of El Capitan’s 3,000 feet of sheer granite, is the central act. ''
When Honnold topped out at 9:28 A.M. on June 3, 2017, having spent fewer than four hours on his historic ascent, the world gave a collective gasp.
The New York Times described it as "one of the great athletic feats of any kind, ever."
Synnott’s personal history of his own obsession with climbing since he was a teenager—through professional climbing triumphs and defeats, and the dilemmas they render—makes this a deeply reported, enchanting revelation about living life to the fullest. What are we doing if not an impossible climb?
Synnott delves into a raggedy culture that emerged decades earlier during Yosemite’s Golden Age, when pioneering climbers like Royal Robbins and Warren Harding invented the sport that Honnold would turn on its ear.
Painting an authentic, wry portrait of climbing history and profiling Yosemite heroes and the harlequin tribes of climbers known as the Stonemasters and the Stone Monkeys, Synnott weaves in his own experiences with poignant insight and wit: tensions burst on the mile-high northwest face of Pakistan’s Great Trango Tower; fellow climber Jimmy Chin miraculously persuades an official in the Borneo jungle to allow Honnold’s first foreign expedition, led by Synnott, to continue; armed bandits accost the same trio at the foot of a tower in the Chad desert . . .
The Impossible Climb is an emotional drama driven by people exploring the limits of human potential and seeking a perfect, choreographed dance with nature.
Honnold dared far beyond the ordinary, beyond any climber in history. But this story of sublime heights is really about all of us. Who doesn’t need to face down fear and make the most of the time we have? (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Mark Synnott is a twenty-year member of the North Face Global Athlete team. He is a frequent contributor to National Geographic magazine and has written for Outside, Men’s Journal, Rock and Ice, and Climbing. He is also an internationally certified mountain guide and a trainer for the Pararescuemen of the United States Air Force. He lives in the Mt. Washington Valley of New Hampshire. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
The Impossible Climb is an accomplished portrait of two remarkable lives—but its major weakness, of both style and imagination, lies in Synnott’s depictions of women. Professional climbing is largely a man’s world, but rather than examine this dynamic as he does countless others, Synnott uses descriptions that further diminish and objectify the women he encounters.… Like a jazz record or a dog-eared book by Dostoyevsky, the women here are simply another tool for characterizing the men around them—as well as vehicles for Synnott’s fascination with the younger Honnold’s sex life. This fascination is shameless and enduring, fitting into themes of aging that build throughout the book.
Blair Braverman - New York Times Book Review
Readers will pick this up for Honnold but will be equally engrossed by Synnott's own adventures and writing. A worthy companion to Honnold's memoir Alone on the Wall and Tommy Caldwell's The Push.
Library Journal
[A] lot of plodding backstory between the climbs themselves; the book works best when exploring the psychological challenges of such harrowing endeavors. The 2018 documentary Free Solo captures Honnold’s story… in a more concise and visceral way.
Booklist
A thrills-and-chills—and occasional spills—view of the mad heroes of free climbing, scaling mountain faces without ropes. You'd have to be out of your mind to head up the 3,000-foot-high cliff face of Yosemite's El Capitan…. Fans of mountaineering will find this a winner.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for THE IMPOSSIBLE CLIMB … then take off on your own:
1. You could spend the entire discussion session attempting to answer this question: what motivates Alex Honnold desire to climb El Capitan? What drives his—or any extreme sports participant's—need for risk?
2. Follow-up to Question 1: Discuss the role of brain chemistry/structure, especially what studies have revealed about Honnold's amygdala. Does the fact that his brain is different make his climbing feats less remarkable? Or not? Is it the risk-taking that is impressive … or the finesse and skill involved? Actually, what most impressed you about the Honnold's climb: the detailed preparation, the in depth know-how, the ability to see fissures and cracks?
3. What do you think of Alex Honnold as a person: why does he describe himself as a "total loser"? Clearly he has the right stuff for climbing, but does he have the right stuff for ordinary living: the messiness and give-and-take of relationships; the dull routine of daily existence? A friend calls him selfish, obsessive? How would you describe him?
4. What do you think of Mark Synnott, the author? He talks about having been away frequently from his family and putting aside the "responsibilities of being a husband and father." Is his drive to climb self-indulgent to the point of selfish? Do you think his children will come to understand as they mature?
5. How would you describe the relationship between Mark and Alex?
6. Consider the tension between climbing as a solo art and the fact that it attracts a fair amount of media attention and corporate sponsors. How does Synnott see the juxtaposition?
(Resources by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)