Define Short

A Short History of the Mongols by George Lane

London : I.B. Tauris, 2018.

xvi, 236 p. : ill., maps ; 22 cm. 

This is the second "Short History of" book I've reviewed, the previous one being on the Weimar Republic.  I liked that one, but found this history of the Mongols to be too much information for me to take in.  I can't fault the author too much for that, since I think my own ignorance of the period (ca 1206 - 1300) covered in the book made its broad scope overwhelming for me.

Additionally, the events of this period are very convoluted and complex. I think most readers like me will be able to follow along with the rise of Temujin to become the great Genghis Khan, but will be a bit overwhelmed trying to keep track of the rise and fall of his descendants and their khanates - ending with the famous Kublai Khan.   

I think this short history would be a great resource for a student with some prior knowledge of the Mongol Empire, or doing research on that empire.  I think it's a useful resource to have in the library, but will be of limited interest to the general young adult reader.

Boldly Going

This is What I Know About Art by Kimberly Drew

New York : Penguin Workshop, [2020]

63 p. ; 16 cm. 

This short, little book packs a punch!  I'm always on the lookout for small books that I can drop for a student, hoping that the size and design will not scare them off.  This is one of those.

I had no idea what to expect from this book, but it was a pleasure and an education.  The book is essentially the art-map story of Kimberly Drew's journey from from being a financially pinched and very smart (but unknown) Black college student who feels the pressure to pursue a "realistic" major (e.g. architecture, engineering, medicine) even though what she loves is art.  On the recommendation of a professor, she applies for and lands an internship at the Harlem Studio Museum that changes her life and launches her on the way to become a force in the art world.  

The only drawback of this book is that it lacks an index and has no photographs/illustrations to accompany all the amazing artwork Drew introduces to the reader. And there is A LOT of art she discusses and most of it is stunning, and not widely known.  If she ever puts together a YA book of these artists and their works, I'll buy it in a heartbeat.  

To help me (and you if you're reading this) find/remember the artists she touches on I'm diverging from my usual review and posting the following list of art/artists/collectives in the order that they come up in the book.  Where possible, the first reference is to Drew's Tumblr - Black Contemporary Art.  Just a glance there will show you how superb many of the artists she highlights are!

Any omissions or link/spelling mistakes are mine. I hope you'll read her little book and visit her big world of activism and art.  You won't be sorry.
___________________________________________________________

Glenn Ligon - https://blackcontemporaryart.tumblr.com/search/Glenn+Ligon
http://www.glennligonstudio.com/
 
Jean-Michael Basquiat - https://blackcontemporaryart.tumblr.com/search/Jean-Michael+Basquiat
https://www.thebroad.org/art/jean-michel-basquiat (Los Angeles)
 
Trenton Doyle Hancock – https://blackcontemporaryart.tumblr.com/search/trenton+doyle+hancock
https://www.jamescohan.com/artists/trenton-doyle-hancock
 
Lorna Simpson – https://blackcontemporaryart.tumblr.com/search/lorna+simpson
https://lsimpsonstudio.com/
 
Jamel Shabazz – https://blackcontemporaryart.tumblr.com/search/jamel+shabazz
https://www.annenbergphotospace.org/person/jamel-shabazz/
 
Samuel Fosso – https://blackcontemporaryart.tumblr.com/search/samuel+fosso
https://www.walthercollection.com/en/collection/artists/samuel-fosso
 
Nick Cave – https://blackcontemporaryart.tumblr.com/search/nick+cave
https://jackshainman.com/artists/nick_cave
 
Mickalene Thomas – https://blackcontemporaryart.tumblr.com/search/mickalene+thomas
https://nmwa.org/art/artists/mickalene-thomas/
 
Stephen Wiltshire – https://blackcontemporaryart.tumblr.com/search/Stephen+Wiltshire
https://www.stephenwiltshire.co.uk/
 
Coco Fusco – https://blackcontemporaryart.tumblr.com/search/coco+fusco
https://www.cocofusco.com/
 
Guillermo Gómez-Peña – https://www.guillermogomezpena.com/
 
Creative Time - https://creativetime.org/

“Tribute in Light” – https://creativetime.org/projects/tribute-in-light/

Gran Fury’s “Kissing Doesn’t Kill” – https://creativetime.org/projects/kissing-doesnt-kill-greed-and-indifference-do/

Felix Gonzalez-Torres’ “Untitled” – https://creativetime.org/projects/untitled-1995/

 
Felix Gonzalez-Torrres (Foundation) - https://www.felixgonzalez-torresfoundation.org/about/foundation-statement
 
Blues for Smoke exhibition - https://whitney.org/exhibitions/blues-for-smoke
 
Rodney McMillian - https://blackcontemporaryart.tumblr.com/search/rodney+mcmillian
https://vielmetter.com/artists/rodney-mcmillian
 
Alma Thomas – https://blackcontemporaryart.tumblr.com/search/Alma+Thomas
https://americanart.si.edu/artist/alma-thomas-4778

Kerry James Marshall – https://blackcontemporaryart.tumblr.com/search/Kerry+James+Marshall
https://jackshainman.com/artists/kerry_james_marshall
 
Zoe Leonard’s “1961” – https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/33792
 
Guerilla Girls - https://nmwa.org/art/artists/guerrilla-girls/
 
Dread Scott – https://blackcontemporaryart.tumblr.com/search/dread+scott
https://www.dreadscott.net/

Black Lives Matter at Black Contemporary Art – https://blackcontemporaryart.tumblr.com/search/Black+Lives+Matter

Misrule of Law

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei [also Justin Eisinger and Steven Scott ; art by Harmony Becker]

Marietta, GA : Top Shelf Productions, [2019]

204 p. : chiefly ill. ; 23 cm.

This graphic novel is a super addition to books on the internment/incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII.  As most people know, Pres. Roosevelt (FDR) ordered the seizure and imprisonment of Japanese Americans shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor which officially launched the US into the Second World War.  This act was clearly racist, unconstitutional and immoral - though it took about 40 years for the US government to admit it was wrong and pay restitution to survivors.  It took even longer for the Supreme Court to condemn (in 2018) its complicity in this crime (re the Korematsu ruling of 1944).  All this is covered in the book, but the heart of the book is in Takei retelling the story from the viewpoint of a child experiencing his family's ordeal of being arrested, transported and imprisoned in two different internment camps.

The child's viewpoint is in fact Takei's. He was about 5 years old when his family was ordered out of their Los Angeles home and deported by train to Arkansas.  He captures the innocence of a young child taking in much of the experience as a grand adventure though being confused at the crying and hushed whispers of the adults. The book is also strengthened by the life of George Takei who was one of the original stars of Star Trek and who is currently a significant online personality with millions of followers on Facebook and Twitter.   

I learned a lot in this book.  It was especially painful to see how parents tried to figure out what was best to keep their families safe - as when loyalty oaths were offered to the detainees and some out of conscience refused to sign them.  He also gives kudos to both the young Japaneses American men who chose to enlist and fight in the war and to those who refused and were imprisoned at Leavenworth. 

I thought the book was really tight up until the very end. It felt a little jumpy and didactic in the last 20 pages or so as Takei keeps trying to hold up the successes of the US system of government when it finally confronts this injustice.  That being said, it is a powerful and moving book and I would highly recommend it.

     

Rise Above It

Eiffel's Tower for Young People: the Story of the 1889 World's Fair by Jill Jonnes ; adapted by Rebecca Stefoff.

New York : Triangle Square, 2019.

xi, 354 p. : ill. ; 21 cm.

World's Fairs offer excellent subject matter for history writers.  Think of Eric Larson's macabre and fascinating bestseller about the Chicago World's Fair of 1893. World's Fairs offer a glimpse into the way the dominant culture/s of the time viewed themselves, including who and what was celebrated.  The fairs featured extravagance, spectacle, celebrities and adventure.  The 1889 Paris World's Fair was no exception.  There were bitter rivalries between artists, the spectacle of the Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, a hall of inventions, superstar guests like Thomas Edison, and international rivalries, too. Above all there was the now iconic Eiffel Tower at the center of it all - and at the center of this accessible history - an adaptation for younger readers of Jill Jonnes' Eiffel's Tower. 

I like that this adaptation of Eiffel's Tower moves chronologically, but also builds on storytelling by giving ample time to central characters in the fair: Gustave Eiffel (of course), Buffalo Bill Cody, Annie Oakley, Thomas Edison, the painters James Abbott McNeill Whistler and Paul Gaugin.  Vincent Van Gogh even gets a mention.  Yes, so much was happening at that moment in history.

The book also presents the racism & colonialism running through the fair - exhibits of "model villages and streets" of Frances colonies and targets for colonization. The book also lightly touches on the contradictions of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show whose company included many Sioux Indians who Cody treated well as workers, but who were also part of the propaganda of the show celebrating the "taming of the US west." 

I'd recommend this book for any student interested in history, especially late 19th century history - a fascinating time when Europe dominated the world not long before descending into the murderous self-destruction of WWI, a period covered in much more detail by Barbara Tuchman in The Proud Tower.