Dystopia Now

The Looting Machine by Tom Burgis

 New York : PublicAffairs,  c2015.     

 xi, 321 p. : ill., map ; 24 cm.     

This is a powerful book that examines the power and endurance of the entrenched systems that pillage the resources of Africa. It is an indictment of the many legal (and illegal), but grossly unethical networks of banking rules, corporate laws, governments, militaries and paramilitaries that vacuum up the untold wealth fuel and mineral wealth of the African continent and keep it in the hands of a tiny minority of wealthy and well-connected people (while immiserating the vast majority of citizens in those countries where the wealth is found.)

This is not exactly the kind of book most students would pick up and read cover-to-cover, but it would be VERY useful to students doing any research on globalization, world poverty, corruption, mining, economics, especially in relation to the nations of Nigeria, Angola, South Africa, etc. It is a great resource for understanding how even when liberation governments come to power, they are often overtaken by the global systems of off-shoring, international finance/loans, and powerhouse nations like the US and China that seek to control profits gained from extractive industries.

The author Tom Burgis deserves great deal of credit for doing dogged (and intrepid) research as he visits both the glittering high-rises of corporate/financial power (e.g. Hong Kong, New York, and Harare)  conflict-torn sites (e.g. Nigeria, Congo, Zimbabwe) of mining and extraction.

It's a complicated and painful book to read, but one that anyone who lives in more wealthy countries should read since the wealth of Africa is deeply entwined with the wealth of those better-off countries.

Tough and Tender

The Closest I've Come by Fred Aceves

New York, NY : HarperTeen, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2017]

310 p. ; 22 cm. 

I'm a sucker for a book with heart, and this novel had me pretty early on.  It's about a Latinx young man growing up poor in Tampa, Florida and struggling to find love, a way out of his impoverished neighborhood, and a way out of the restrictions of having to keep up a tough macho front.  He also is trying to survive a negligent alcoholic mother and her racist and abusive boyfriend who lives with and sponges off of them.

What are the things I especially liked about this book? I love that though Marcos, the main character, is smart and at times humorous, he is not constantly throwing out witty, hip comments and comebacks. In some YA books the protagonist feels like an attempt by the author to come up with a contemporary Holden Caulfield that doesn't ring true. In this novel, Marcos is so believable. He is also believable in his struggle to become a more authentic human being - we get glimpses of his true feelings through his inner thoughts and those feelings get expressed imperfectly (as they do with most people growing up).  I also love the romance (or desired romance) that forms a core of the novel.  It doesn't follow the conventional route in resolving itself and that is refreshing. I appreciated the portrayal of teachers in the book; they are not stereotyped as saviors or villains, but as people who have a tough job and can be really kind. The book also deals with race and cliques in ways that don't feel incredibly heavy handed or unrealistic.

I also love a book that bluntly reveals the struggles of being poor as just the matter of fact situation someone finds themselves in. Marcos just gets by with having to wear crummy shoes and just enough clean t-shirts to look good at school. One of his buddies - the academically most successful of the bunch - starts dealing drugs for an aunt in order to make more money - a decision that is treated realistically. Finally, I should mention that the book helpfully portrays the complicated situation a young person can find themselves  in when an adult in their household is physically and emotionally abusive.

Would I recommend The Closest I've Come? I definitely would. I think it would satisfy a lot of different kinds of readers.

Still Our America

Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago by LeAlan Jones and Lloyd Newman, with David Isay
New York : Washington Square Press : Pocket Books, c1997.
203 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.

This book is one that is being used as a major text in classes at our high school - part of an "Injustice Project" unit. I wanted to read it since I wondered if it might be dated - having been produced from 1993 - 1996 and published in 1997.

In spite of the book being 20+ years old, it was a compelling read.  I really loved that the adult organizing the book, David Isay, wanted it to be the genuine work of young people who lived in the Ida B. Wells housing projects in Chicago.  The book came out of an award winning WBEZ radio program Ghetto Life 101 which featured recordings and interviews made by the two young authors who were 13 and 14 years old when the project began.

I will be curious how students respond to the book.  A lot has changed since the mid 90s: the high rise projects of the book have been torn down, the crack/cocaine violence has been replaced by other inner city violence, the Internet was a baby, and cell phones did not exist.  A lot is still relevant though - extreme poverty and unemployment falling heavily on Black people, gun crime, wealth inequality, etc.  Also the book just pulls you into the world of the the two authors - they are smart, unpretentious, honest, and aware.  Also the book features great photos by John Brooks, another young man living in the Chicago projects at the time.

I am going to keep my eyes out for something similar to this book, but one that is more contemporary - something like Bus 57.  However, if asked for an interesting read about inner city life in the late 20th century, I'll definitely recommend Our America.

Ahead of the Curve

The Famished Road by Ben Okri
New York : Anchor Books, 1993.
500 p. ; 24 cm.   

There have been some great YA books recently by authors that have used the rich well of Nigerian history and culture to create their fictional worlds.  I'm thinking of the incredibly talented Nnedi Okorafor (reviewed here) and the highly successful Tomi Ayedemi.  But I had no idea that Ben Okri was setting wildly fantastic fiction in Nigeria (his homeland) back in the early 1990s. 

I had simply wanted to read some of the African fiction that we have in our collection and I liked the title (!) and the fact that The Famished Road had won the prestigious Booker Prize back in 1991. When I started reading it, I had no idea it was such a romp through the strange and surreal.  The novel follows the harsh life of a boy born to poor parents in Nigeria as the country transitions from the depredations of colonialism to the depredations of corrupt and predatory capitalism with its violence of political upheaval. 

There is a lot to admire in the novel: a rich surrealism and dreamy realism that weaves back and forth through the novel, and some moments that are painfully relevant, e.g. battles between the Rich People's party and the Poor People's party.  I think the weakness of the book is that it is long and rambling and would have had a lot more emotional power if had been edited by about 30%.  That being said, I think it would make an interesting pairing with Achebe's Things Fall Apart, or with Garcia Marquez' One Hundred Years of Solitude. Also it's a wildly original novel.

I don't think it's a book I'd highly recommend to students unless someone was asking about African fiction or magical realism.

Wes Moore Wes Moore and a Mirror for America

The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore
New York : Spiegel & Grau Trade Paperbacks, 2011, c2010.
Spiegel & Grau trade pbk. ed.
xiv, 250 p. : ill. ; 21 cm.



     "Two years after I returned from Oxford, I was still thinking about the story...."

So writes Wes Moore in the introduction to his fine book.  The story he was still thinking about was the arrest and conviction for murder of a young man from his home town of Baltimore, MD. What made this crime story compelling, was that the man sentenced to life in prison as an accessory to an armed robbery ending in murder not only was from his hometown, but was about his age, and had the exact same name as the author - Wes Moore.

The details of the case eventually led him to contact the prisoner, and so began a correspondence and series of interviews which led the author to write this book exploring why his life has been so successful and the other Wes Moore's so tragic, even though they both had many similar experiences of hardship and life on the street.

Thankfully, Moore offers no pat answers, but instead presents an unflinching view of how susceptible young African American males are to the social forces and the draw of antisocial and criminal behavior - especially given the tough circumstances that exist for the urban poor - unemployment, disappearing funding for education, lack of present adult role models, and pervasive crime and drug trafficking.  Moore never excuses the violent or destructive acts of people, but he is careful to note that the difference between success and tragic failure for young men like himself is often a combination of timing, luck, and the intervention of concerned adults. The author was fortunate to have a Mom who sent him first to a private school, and then to a military school before his life spun out of control  This was possible only because of the great sacrifices his family was able to make. 

This dual autobiography/biography was given to the UHS library by a student who recommended it to me.  It is definitely a story that is bound to appeal to many young people - especially in that it is hopeful without being preachy and yet filled with details of the rough life of the urban streets that appeals to so many young readers.

The book includes an appendix of resources for youth.