History and Current Events
September 2024
Recent Releases
Pixel Flesh: How Toxic Beauty Culture Harms Women
by Ellen Atlanta

Beauty industry insider Ellen Atlanta's impassioned debut examines the impact of toxic beauty culture practices, offering a "thoughtful consideration of physical female beauty and how it's dictated and judged" (Booklist). Further reading: Over the Influence: Why Social Media Is Toxic for Women and Girls -- and How We Can Take It Back by Kara Alaimo. 
The Missing Thread: A Women's History of the Ancient World
by Daisy Dunn

Classicist Daisy Dunn's (The Shadow of Vesuvius) accessible, three-millennia spanning history highlights the roles and experiences of women in ancient civilizations. Try this next: Femina: A New History of the Middle Ages, Through the Women Written Out of It by Janina Ramirez.
Ruin Their Crops on the Ground: The Politics of Food in the United States, from the Trail of...
by Andrea Freeman

 In her sweeping latest, law professor Andrea Freeman (Skimmed) incisively explores the history of food politics in America, revealing how access to food -- or lack thereof -- spurs health disparities for marginalized populations. Try this next: Animal, Vegetable, Junk: A History of Food, from Sustainable to Suicidal by Mark Bittman.
A Hunger to Kill: A Serial Killer, a Determined Detective, and the Quest for a Confession...
by Kim Mager with Lisa Pulitzer

Ashland, Ohio detective Kim Mager's disturbing account of her encounters with serial killer Shawn Grate, whom she interrogated following his 2016 arrest, "hums with the intensity of a real-life Silence of the Lambs" (Publishers Weekly). Try this next: When a Killer Calls: A Haunting Story of Murder, Criminal Profiling and Justice in a Small Town by John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker.
Women in the Valley of the Kings: The Untold Story of Women Egyptologists in the Gilded...
by Kathleen Sheppard

Kathleen Sheppard's richly detailed history spotlights the trailblazing accomplishments of women Egyptologists in the 19th and 20th centuries. Further reading: Empress of the Nile: The Daredevil Archaeologist Who Saved Egypt's Ancient Temples from Destruction by Lynne Olson.
Focus on: Hispanic Heritage Month
You Sound Like a White Girl: The Case for Rejecting Assimilation
by Julissa Arce

Journalist Julissa Arce candidly chronicles her experiences as an undocumented Mexican immigrant and how she learned to reject assimilation into white American culture in this study that "challenges the idea of American exceptionalism with equal parts passion, fury, intimacy, and ignored history" (Kirkus Reviews). Try this next: The Other: How to Own Your Power at Work as a Woman of Color by Daniela Pierre-Bravo.
The Undocumented Americans
by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

Journalist and DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipient Karla Cornejo Villavicencio's National Book Award finalist offers impassioned reportage on undocumented people living in the United States, featuring compelling and empathetic profiles of immigrants trying to get by in a country that often dehumanizes them. Further reading: Rivermouth: A Chronicle of Language, Faith, and Migration by Alejandra Oliva.
Daughters of Latin America: An International Anthology of Writing by Latine Women
by Sandra Guzman, editor

This thought-provoking collection of works from 140 Latine writers, scholars, and activists from around the world includes contributions from U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón, Pulitzer prize-winning playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes, and U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Further reading: Speculative Fiction for Dreamers: A Latinx Anthology edited by Alex Hernandez, Matthew David Goodwin, and Sarah Rafael García.
Finding Latinx: In Search of the Voices Redefining Latino Identity
by Paola Ramos

Vice journalist Paola Ramos travels throughout the United States to amplify "the voices that are often neglected in the back of the room" in these profiles and photographs of diverse Hispanic and Latine people who have embraced the inclusivity of the term "Latinx." Further reading: Inventing Latinos: A New Story of American Racism by Laura E. Gómez.
Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of "Latino"
by Héctor Tobar

Winner of the Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction, this impassioned essay collection by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Héctor Tobar explores the history and evolution of Latine identity in the United States. Further reading: Latinoland: A Portrait of America's Largest and Least Understood Minority by Marie Arana.
Contact your librarian for more great books!
Contact your librarian for more great books!
Sonoma County Library
707-545-0831www.sonomalibrary.org