"The war may have been fought on battlefields, but it was won in libraries."
It's hard to imagine, but during World War II, the U.S. did not yet have a"The war may have been fought on battlefields, but it was won in libraries."
It's hard to imagine, but during World War II, the U.S. did not yet have an intelligence department. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was formed (and later became the CIA), and the most unlikely of people were recruited to be trained as spies: librarians, historians, and literature professors.
Book and Dagger is undeniably well researched. It gives an in-depth account of the training required to work as OSS spies, and it provides detailed histories of individual spies and the varied work they performed in the field.
The book mostly centers on male spies, as records of female spies were scant or poorly written. "In memoirs that men wrote about the war years," writes Graham, "the names of women are, likewise, often absent—they're 'a shapely analyst,' say, or 'a woman from Harvard.'" Even so, Graham manages to includes information on some cunning, highly intelligent female spies, including Adele Kibre.
I picked up Book and Dagger hoping it would overflow with fascinating spy tactics and little-known historical facts about the invention of modern spycraft, and it did not disappoint....more
Birth trauma is real and we don't talk about it enough.
"This book is for mothers looking to see themselves reflected in the story of birth, and for thBirth trauma is real and we don't talk about it enough.
"This book is for mothers looking to see themselves reflected in the story of birth, and for those seeking to better understand the many reasons why their births may have unfolded the way they did."
For author Rachel Somerstein, the trauma of giving birth haunted her long after she held her daughter in her arms. The anesthesia she was given during her emergency C-section didn't take, and though Somerstein screamed in agony and kicked so much in response to the pain that nurses had to hold her down, the procedure continued. Afterward, she assumed her experience was unusual, but later she discovered that "breakthrough pain" during C-sections isn't that rare. The problem is, people aren't talking about it and researchers have only begun to investigate it.
Somerstein's birth trauma compelled her to explore the history of C-sections. In this illuminating book, she deep dives the history of C-sections and reveals how enslaved women bore the brunt of early experimentation. In addition to outlining the increasing rate of C-sections performed in the US, she also explains why the number of C-sections performed each year keeps going up, how health care companies profit from C-sections, and which people are most negatively affected by these trends.
Too few pregnant people are aware of what comes after a C-section, and Somerstein ensures that readers have a full picture of recovery, from the possible need to wait two years before conceiving again (to allow the body time to heal) to the probability that all future births will be C-sections (as a VBAC [vaginal birth after C-section] poses a great risk of injury). While discussing recovery, she also explores the mental aspects of life after giving birth and breaks down birthing myths, such as the idea that once a woman holds her new baby, all the trauma of giving birth disappears.
Invisible Labor makes shocking revelations about how hospitals prioritize a fetus over the body housing it and asserts that at some point during pregnancy, the pregnant person loses their civil rights. In light of recent abortion laws in the US, this subject couldn't be more topical.
Woven throughout the book are glimpses of other women's traumatic pregnancy or birth experiences. And Somerstein uses the terms "pregnant women" and "pregnant people" interchangeable, making for an inclusive read.
Invisible Labor is a revelatory book on pregnancy, a rallying cry to legislate for adequate paid prental leave in the US, and an invitation to openly discuss birth trauma. Highly recommend!
My heartfelt thanks goes out to Ecco books for sending me a copy of this enlightening book that I was dying to read.
An insightful guidebook on using literature to achieve good mental health.
"Reading ignites our imaginations, clarifies our emotions and honours our oAn insightful guidebook on using literature to achieve good mental health.
"Reading ignites our imaginations, clarifies our emotions and honours our own very human problems. It also offers respite, or solutions to these problems, as well as offering a sense of meaning, enriching us."
Bibliotherapy: The Healing Power of Reading poignantly demonstrates how literature can be prescribed as a form of therapy.
The book opens with a brief introduction to using the novel as a form of therapy and how this practice compares to other forms of therapy. It then gives examples of effective implementation ranging from a couple for whom romance has died and a person uncomfortable with being asexual to a woman seeking representation and a child struggling with dyslexia.
Various forms of tangential therapy are introduced, such as literary journaling (journaling about a book while reading), narrative therapy (externalizing and re-authoring one's personal narrative), letter writing (writing letters to characters with whom the patient identifies), and more.
One of the most touching examples of bibliotherapy in the book concerns a couple for whom the flame of romance had died. They were prescribed an epistolary memoir to read as part of a date-night book club, and they were encouraged to write letters to each other in between their weekly date-night book club meetings.Adorable!
The final section of the book offers helpful tips on how to curate an arsenal of books, followed by an A-Z list of book prescriptions (for topics including abandonment, bullying, infertility, parenting, regret, trauma, and more).
Shah's book is both personal, heartfelt, and professionally sensitive. Highly recommend for those in need of bookish therapy or as a useful tool for those who work in a field that aims to improve the mental health of others.
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My heartfelt thanks to Little, Brown UK for sending me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review....more
"...the longest-lasting pandemic in this country is a virus not of the body but of the mind, and it's called racism."
This is a great beginner book for"...the longest-lasting pandemic in this country is a virus not of the body but of the mind, and it's called racism."
This is a great beginner book for people who are just starting to ask questions about racism in America or have finally come to terms with their own long-held racist views and are ready to do the work to eradicate them.
Each chapter begins with a question concerning race that Emmanual Acho received from a white person (e.g., Does reverse racism exist? How do I spot implicit bias? Why can't I say the N-word?). Most of his answers are targeted and get right to the point. On occasion, I wished the answer to his questions had been more substantial, gone deeper, but by keeping things straightforward, the text remains approachable and accessible to the people who need it most.
The book is peppered with football metaphors (Acho did, after all, play professional football as a linebacker), and each chapter concludes with helpful recommendations for continued study and learning.
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