I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark

By Debbie Levy

Illus. by Elizabeth Baddeley

Simon and Schuster     2016

40 pages              Picture Book

Everything you wanted to know about Ruth Bader Ginsburg in a children’s book. Ruth Bader Ginsburg is only the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. She has been an unwavering advocate for women’s rights through her activism but also through her Supreme Court decisions. 

The first lines of the book, “You could say that Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s life has been one disagreement after another. Disagreeable? No. Determined? Yes.” In beautifully illustrated pages, Ginsburg’s life story is told with the focus on the trails that she blazed—one of only a few female law students at Yale and a law professor with two small children at home. She has served on the US Supreme Court since she was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993.

 Levy                               Baddeley

One interesting fact that I didn’t know. When she votes with the

majority in a Supreme Court decision, she wears a special lace collar over her robe. When she dissents, she wears a different collar.

I received this book for Christmas from my dear friend, Patricia, along with a pair of Ruth Bader Ginsburg socks. I am anxious to read I Dissent to my 6-year-old granddaughter. The book’s publicity says that it is for children aged 4-7, but I will dissent from that analysis. I think that it is extremely appropriate for elementary aged children. 

One another note: Ginsburg has named her court clerks through the 2020 Supreme Court session. That must mean she is going to work for the next three court sessions. Thank goodness.

Being Nixon: A Man Divided

by Evan Thomas

Random House     2015

619 pages     Biography

When my husband and I began reading Being Nixon by Evan Thomas, he said that he wanted to understand why Nixon would allow something as "stupid" as Watergate to happen. When we finished the book this morning, he said the same thing. "I never could understand why Nixon let something so stupid to happen." I asked if he didn't learn anything about Nixon in the 3 months we had spent reading this book out loud to each other. And then he responded that he had come to see that Nixon's paranoia and lack of self-understanding had allowed an ugly and arrogant atmosphere to permeate the White House which enabled his minions to engage in dastardly acts. 

Being Nixon attempts to explain, both historically and psychologically, the life of Richard Nixon, the 37th President of the United States. It is a one-volume, full-life biography and tells stories and anecdotes that reveal Nixon to be an extremely complex man. The book is over 600 pages long, but there was little repetition and a never-ending supply of insight that was fascinating to two adults who lived through the entire era covered by the book. My husband and I kept our phones handy so that we could look up the time line and the incidents to refresh our memories. 

My husband reminisced about sitting behind Eisenhower and Nixon in 1956 at the Republican National Convention where he served as a junior page. He remembered the photograph that was taken of him shaking Nixon's hand at a campaign rally in 1960. (We tried to find the photograph, but it is buried in generations of memorabilia). 

Watergate is, of course, the watershed moment in the career of Richard Nixon, and Thomas attempts to show the personality characteristics that defined the man and led to this moment—from a childhood where he didn't fit to his role as an elder statesman after he left the White House. Of course, in a biography, the perspective of the author can't help but find its way into the narrative, and Thomas's self-described goal is to understand the complex makeup of the man who wanted to have "peace at the center" of his life, but more often he was "subject to episodes of venting and lashing out." Thomas tells us that Nixon was never comfortable socially and was hopelessly, helplessly awkward. 

Thomas says that what he hoped to accomplish with his biography was to understand what it was like "to actually be Nixon." Most reviewers agree that he mostly accomplishes his goal. The Chicago Tribune reviewer concludes that Being Nixon is a biography of "eloquence and breadth." I have to agree. My husband and I learned a lot about a time period in the life of our country and in our lives—things that we probably missed because we were busy creating families and molding careers.

I also actually learned some, but not enough, about being Pat Nixon, and I didn't particularly like what I saw. Thomas indicates that Pat was very supportive but very distant from her husband. I could not get over the fact that when Nixon decided to resign, he made the decision without conferring with his family, and when he told his daughters what he planned to do, he had them go and tell their mother. Her response was "But why?" Yet, Thomas tells us that Nixon was attentive to his wife, and she to him. Not sure that was the case.

The Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin

 by Jill Lepore

Knopf     2013

464 pages     Biography

 The Shortlist

Just a few words about The Book of Ages by Jill Lepore. Unfortunately, I didn't get it all read before our book club meeting last night. I was completely occupied with grandchildren, and U.S. history, no matter how fascinating, does not go well with children running around. Jane Franklin Mecom, the subject of The Book of Ages suffered from a similar situation; she had to care for too many children and various and assorted relatives to do much reading or reflecting. However, whatever she was able to do is recounted in this absorbing history. She was the younger sister of Benjamin Franklin, and Lepore's history tells the story of her life and times juxtaposed with the life of her tremendously successful brother, Benjamin.

Quite frankly, Lepore has created a masterpiece of historical writing. She was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2013. Here is the citation which explains the theme of the book far better than I could:

"Using period spelling and reproductions of archival documents, Jill Lepore gives us a book about books: the paper and the binding, the letters, the printing, the printer. In writing about Jane Mecom, the younger sister of Benjamin Franklin, Lepore investigates how history is written and considers the silence of material that does not exist. The reader is allowed into Mecom’s parlor, where we share her sorrows and yearnings, and hear the shots of revolution outside her window."

One of our book club's young women loves historical books, and we read The Book of Ages at her recommendation. We talked a lot about the role of women in early America as reflected in the life of Jane Franklin Mecom. We suggested that while Jane may have been every bit as bright as her older brother Benjamin, the lack of opportunity for women to do more than bear and care for children hampered the lives of most women at that time. Her life has been, until this book, one of the great untold stories of American history. We were astounded that the average family in the 1700s lost so many of its infants and small children to disease--something we scarcely think about these days. Jane was pregnant 13 times in 20 years. Nine of her children survived until adulthood, and more than one suffered from mental illness. She was married to a n'er-do-well which added to the misery of her life. In her older years, she was able to rest, read, and write. She kept a book, which she called The Book of Ages, in which she recorded the lives of her family. She also kept the letters from her brother. On the other hand, in his autobiography, Benjamin Franklin never mentions his sister.

The appendices are as interesting as the book itself. In them, Lepore talks about historical writing, and about her sources. She mentions that because of the dearth of materials, she considered writing a novel, but thankfully she didn't. It is through all the extra materials that we gain a much better understanding of the role of women in colonial America. 

If you are considering reading The Book of Ages, here are a couple of excellent reviews.

Washington Post 

 New York Times

A video of Jill Lepore reading at the National Book Awards

The Man Who Changed the Way We Eat

By Thomas McNamee

New York, Free Press, 2012

291 pages    Biography

Craig Claiborne was a food writer and critic for the New York Times from the mid 1950s until the mid 1980s. Although relatively unknown today, he changed the way Americans thought about food and restaurant fare and helped create a new generation of chefs who developed the epicurean climate that exists today in magazine, television, and books as well as on our dinner tables.

Thomas McNamee tells Claiborne's story in the biography, The Man Who Changed the Way We Eat. The subtitle: Craig Claiborne and the American Food Renaissance just about tells it all. This is a straightforward biography--chronological, and tightly scripted. It speaks of Claiborne’s childhood in Mississippi, the son of a woman who ran a boarding house where good southern cooking was the daily norm. He was educated at the University of Missouri and then at a culinary school in Switzerland. He virtually willed himself into the job as food critic of the New York Times. One of his first articles was a condemnation of the culinary arts of the 1950s. It was on the front page of the New York Times in 1959. The article caused a sensation and made his career.

Claiborne was a “king maker”; his say could make or break a restaurant or a chef. This was before the days of “celebrity” chefs, the Food Channel, or even Public Television’s cooking shows. Cook books, including the Joy of Cooking were utilitarian. Claiborne changed all that. His endorsement of Julia Child’s cookbook made her famous. He felt quite strongly that chefs needed to be grounded in classic cooking before they could take off on their own ideas “to be innovative to the limits of their imaginations.” He loved all the cooking of the world and loved serving and eating cuisines of various cultures in one meal. He was a great cook in his own right and a wonderful host. He also enjoyed taking friends and co-workers out for meals, trying out new restaurants, or having favorite dishes at favorite restaurants. Much of what we have in our American cupboards and refrigerators today came about because Claiborne wrote about it—garlic, cilantro, fresh ginger, goat cheese, basil, pine nuts, arugula, balsamic vinegar, macadamia nuts. He even endorsed the salad spinner. Certainly these were things unknown to me as I began to cook in the 1960s, and certainly they were unknown to most Americans.

When his career at the New York Times ended, much of who Craig Claiborne was ended as well. His heart began to fail; he descended into alcoholism and self-pity. He died in 2000 at the age of 80. McNamee says of his life:  “He had lived as he had wished to live, had led his fellow Americans into vast new realms of enjoyment, and had had a lot of fun along the way, his way.”

Craig Claiborne was a complex person, and McNamee touches on many of his complexities, but perhaps in too straightforward a way. Much of the speculation about Claiborne’s propensities and peculiarities remain just that, with very little exploration of what really made the man tick. The review of The Man Who Changed The Way We Eat in the Los Angeles Times notes that Claiborne was: “Almost unfailingly helpful to others but utterly ambitious. Prim and proper but given to raging fits when drunk. A man who treasured his friendships yet ended up alienating almost everyone close to him. Someone who delighted in socializing with the chefs he covered but basically invented the ethical rules for restaurant critics.” The same reviewer suggests that McNamee didn’t attempt to understand any of these characteristics of the man. Much of the book depends on the reminiscences of Diane Franey, the daughter of Claiborne’s business partner, Pierre Franey, a chef and cookbook author. Some of what is missing in the book are the recollections of people at the New York Times. That would have been helpful.

My mother was a good cook, although not a brilliant one. She kept lots of recipes and tried out ones that she found in the newspaper and in magazines. She prided herself on serving well-prepared meals for guests. We never had TV dinners, and only occasionally had Banquet Chicken Pot Pies. I will never forget going to visit some friends for a Sunday dinner. The wife served frozen pot pies over mashed potatoes and my mother was a bit miffed about it. She commented on the way home that she would never do something like that. But, in the 1950s, a frozen chicken pot pie was a new “delicacy,” and I think that the wife thought she was serving us something special. What would Craig Claiborne have to say about that! 

You might want to check out my posting about Taste What You’re Missing by Barb Stuckey. It discusses the scientific aspects of good food.

A review of The Man who Changed The Way We Eat in The Los Angeles Times: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-thomas-mcnamee-20120520,0,4240373.story

A blog posting by Thomas McNamee in the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thomas-mcnamee/famous-food-critic_b_1497904.html

Strength in What Remains

by Tracy Kidder
New York, Random House, 2009
284 pages,   Biography


The story of Deogratias Niyizonkiza is not an easy one to tell, nor is it easy to read. A refugee from the genocide in the tiny countries of Burundi and Rwanda, Deo, who was a medical student in Burundi, came to the United States in 1994 with nowhere to go and $200 in his pocket.

In Strength in What Remains, Tracy Kidder has chosen to tell Deo’s story in a non-linear manner, which is a bit disconcerting at first, but understandable given the subject. By beginning the story with a bit of hope—Deo’s arrival in New York—we are better prepared to read of the horrendous escape from death and destruction that he experienced.

Basically, the story is told in sections, the story of hope and lucky breaks in the United States, and the story of destruction and death in Burundi. Along the way, we learn of his childhood and education, and the goodness of people who helped him. But what can’t be denied is the horror Deo experienced as a young medical student that shapes every moment of the rest of his life.

Kidder inserts himself in the last section of the book when he goes with Deo to Burundi and Rwanda to visit Deo’s family and relive with him the experiences of the genocide. He also brings us up to date on Deo’s life, including a visit to the clinic Deo has built in Kigatu, Burundi.

Frankly, the section about the war and Deo’s escape from it is harrowing and gruesome to read. At the same time, the reader becomes engrossed in the graphic drama to such an extent that you realize that you are holding your breath. There are dead bodies everywhere, and you have to remind yourself that this is real and not some overwhelming action scene in a movie. It is absolutely heartrending. The New York Times reviewer comments, “Kidder’s rendering of what Deo endured and survived just before he boarded that plane for New York is one of the most powerful passages of modern nonfiction.”

I could not get over the overriding fact of this genocide: the Hutus and Tutsis are so closely related that most people don’t know whether their neighbors are Hutus or Tutsis…there is no distinguishing physical feature, no distinctive surname, no sign on the door. For much of his childhood, Deo didn’t even know that he was a Tutsi. The differences were primarily a construct left over from the colonial period. Additionally, when we found Rwanda and Burundi on a map, we were amazed to find that they are tiny specks among the much larger sub Saharan countries. How was it possible that hundreds of thousands of people could have died there?

The New York Times reviewer is most complimentary of Tracy Kidder’s writing in this book. He says that Kidder writes “books illuminated by a glowing humanism,” and that he is “trusting the reader enough to present characters in the full splatter of unsettling complexity. This is not about presenting a holy man, a hero. His protagonist is bold, insecure, foolish, inspiring and, as the young man’s memories race to catch him, there are hints that even more shades of personality will soon be revealed.”

Strength in What Remains is the Reading Together book for the Kalamazoo community this year. Tracy Kidder will be speaking at Chenery Auditorium on March 10. It is also the book my book club is reading for this month. My husband and I read this book aloud to each other, something we have done every day of our ten-year marriage.

Here is the New York Times review: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/books/review/Suskind-t.html

Deogratias Niyizonkiza was a 2010 Voices of Courage winner from the Women’s Refuge Commission: http://womensrefugeecommission.org/blog/969-deogratias-niyizonkiza-providing-hope-through-health-care

His organization is called Village Health Works: http://villagehealthworks.org/

Tracy Kidder’s website: http://www.tracykidder.com

Kalamazoo Public Library Reading Together: www.kpl.gov/reading-together/next.aspx