World Wide Work: Books, Films, Music You May Have Missed
BOOKS
White Dove, Tell Me by Martin Etchart (University of Nevada). A tightly written novel uses rich detail to take us inside a Basque community in rural Arizona and the lives of a young couple trying to hold onto their sheep ranch that is in foreclosure.
Whale Fall by Elizabeth O’Connor (Pantheon). Twelve households live on an isolated island off Wales and make their living from the sea. The 18-year-old girl who is at the center of this understated novel becomes a translator for two English ethnographers who visit the island but do not really understand its people.
Fire Exit by Morgan Talty (Tin House). A white man who grew up in a Penobscot community in Maine planned to marry his pregnant girlfriend from the tribe but at the last minute she backed out because the child would not be considered a member of the tribal nation. She married a Penobscot man who raised the girl with her as if he were the biological father. Now, the girl is in her 20s. Should she know her true history?
Rednecks by Taylor Brown (St. Martin’s). An historical novel recalls how coal companies used violence, including the deployment of U.S. soldiers and bomber planes, to put down a miners’ strike in the early 1920s in West Virginia. Many of the miners had recently returned from serving in World War I, only to be denied basic rights at home.
James by Percival Everett (Doubleday). A novelist who has never been constrained by literary conventions retells Mark Twain’s novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the point of view of the enslaved Black man who escaped with Huck down the Mississippi River. The result is a commentary about race not only in pre-Civil War America but in our own time as well.
Fatman in Eternity by Anthony Schmitz is the fourth and final novella in an innovative series that explores big questions about life and death as characters go back and forth between the land of the living and the underworld. At times, the dead interfere with the affairs of the living, attempt to right wrongs, settle old scores, and keep an eye on those they loved.
What’s Yours Is Mine by Tom Slee (OR Books). Rhetoric surrounding so-called “sharing economy” companies like Uber and Airbnb promised benefits for all. But this thoughtful and readable analysis shows that in reality these corporations have made a small number of people rich by exploiting the labor of others while hurting many of the communities where they operate.
The Cost of Free Land by Rebecca Clarren (Viking). In the late 1800s, the author’s ancestors had to flee their home in Russia because of brutal attacks on their family and other Jews. When they arrived in America, they were directed to South Dakota, where the U.S. government gave them land that had been taken from the Lakota who lived there. Clarren, a skilled journalist, revisits that history and explores the question of what can be done now to address the wrong from which her family and other Americans have benefited.
We Were Illegal by Jessica Goudeau (Viking). A white journalist tracks her relatives’ history. Some came to the U.S. from Europe as illegal immigrants. Some moved illegally to Texas when it was part of Mexico, taking land where indigenous people lived. Some fought for the right to enslave other people. One was a Texas Ranger who helped cover up a mass murder by a local sheriff. In telling their story, Goudeau shows how racism, injustice, and violence have long standing roots in American life.
Extraordinary Rendition edited by Ru Freeman (OR Books). After the Israeli military, funded by the U.S., killed thousands of Palestinians in Gaza back in 2014, more than 65 American writers from diverse backgrounds contributed poems, short fiction, and essays to an anthology about Palestine in an attempt to express their grief and their sense of responsibility.
Teach Palestine by Rethinking Schools. A leading magazine for social justice teaching leads with seven articles related to how to talk with students about Palestine and Israel. Another interesting article discusses how to teach about the national parks in a way that recognizes how land was taken from indigenous peoples.
Bicycle City by Dan Piatkowski (Island Press). Drawing in part on progress made in Oslo where he now lives, an American researcher shares what he has learned about how U.S. cities can become more liveable and sustainable by reducing residents’ dependence on cars.
Don't Forget The Worker by Jack Geissert, Max Kiefer, and Bobby J. Gunter, with photographs by Earl Dotter (ACGIH). Case histories illustrate the importance of workplace safety and health and how hazards can be addressed.
FILMS
Under the Fig Trees. As a group of workers spend a day harvesting figs for a wealthy landowner, we hear their conversations that reveal their feelings about their lives, shedding light in the process on class and gender in their community. The feature film’s authenticity and humanity is enhanced by the use of local women and men of varying ages to play many of the parts.
5 Days to Dance. In this documentary, two dance instructors are contracted by a school in Spain to spend a week with teenage students preparing them to overcome their awkwardness and cliquishness and put on a dance performance for their parents and teachers.
The Visitor. This feature film follows a widower recently released from prison who returns to his home In Cochabamba, Bolivia, with hopes of regaining custody of his teenage daughter. But she has been living with her grandparents who are wealthy evangelical pastors and have no desire to let him disrupt their home life or their lucrative church practice.
Nice People. A small town in Sweden has taken in war refugees from Somalia, but not always with welcome arms. As this documentary shows, a few local residents try to overcome barriers by recruiting young Somali men to form a team to play bandy (similar to ice hockey but with a small ball) and to represent their country in world championships held in Siberia.
Banel & Adama. With spectacular cinematography this Senegalese feature film tells the story of a young couple in a remote village whose individual dreams clash with traditional customs.
Sometimes I Think About Dying. Despite the title, this feature film is actually about living and about being human. The main character is a young office worker on the Oregon coast who has trouble connecting with others. Her awkwardness is put to the test when a new employee takes a romantic interest in her.
Bread Bike. Young people on the California coast build community by starting a bakery and delivering their product by bicycle.
MUSIC
My Black Country. Eleven socially conscious songs by Alice Randall performed by Black singers including Layla McCalla, Rhiannon Giddens, Miko Marks, and more.
Feel Like Going Home by Miko Marks. The song “Trouble” is inspired by the “good trouble” phrase used by the civil rights leader John Lewis. “That old time religion ain’t good enough for me…good trouble’s all I need,” Marks sings.
I want trouble for the king who carries evil in his hand
And trouble for the queen who brings a curse upon the land
They build the altars and we worship the crown
Til we shake the foundation and watch ‘em tumble down