Columbine by Dave Cullen

Title: Columbine

Author: Dave Cullen

Publisher: Twelve 2009

Genre: Nonfiction

Pages: 417

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Library Love; Nonfiction - 5 Star Read for a Friend

"The tragedies keep coming. As we reel from the latest horror . . ."

So begins a new epilogue, illustrating how Columbine became the template for nearly two decades of "spectacle murders." It is a false script, seized upon by a generation of new killers. In the wake of Parkland, Charleston, Newtown, Aurora, and Virginia Tech, the imperative to understand the crime that sparked this plague grows more urgent every year.

What really happened April 20, 1999? The horror of Columbine left an indelible stamp on the American psyche, but most of what we "know" is wrong. It wasn't about jocks, goths, or the Trench Coat Mafia. Dave Cullen was one of the first reporters on scene, and spent ten years on this book -- widely recognized as the definitive account. With a keen investigative eye and psychological acumen, Cullen draws on mountains of evidence, insights from the world's leading forensic psychologists, and the killers' own words and drawings -- several reproduced in a new appendix for the paperback.

In this New York Times bestselling work, Cullen paints raw portraits of two polar opposite killers, who stand in stark contrast against the flashes of resilience and redemption among the survivors of the Columbine massacre.

This is one of those books that I feel like many should read, but you aren’t really going to enjoy it. There’s nothing particularly feel good in this account of the Columbine shooting, the origin of the idea, and the aftermath of the event. We meet the various people involved diving into some of their lives pretty deeply. A good portion of this book is given over to attempting to understand the shooters. We follow them as they plan one of the deadliest school shootings in America’s history. This book is not for the faint of heart. There are passages that are particularly hard to read. But yet, I felt like I needed to read this one to understand the state of school shootings today. I was a junior in high school when Columbine happened. This volume brings back all the memories of seeing this play out on the television and my own school’s reaction. Based on an interview with Dave Cullen that I recently read, I would like to pick up his newest book, Parkland. He describes them as bookends on the topic of school shootings.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Furious Hours by Casey Cep

Title: Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee

Author: Casey Cep

Publisher: Knopf 2019

Genre: Nonfiction - True Crime

Pages: 308

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Library Love

Reverend Willie Maxwell was a rural preacher accused of murdering five of his family members for insurance money in the 1970s. With the help of a savvy lawyer, he escaped justice for years until a relative shot him dead at the funeral of his last victim. Despite hundreds of witnesses, Maxwell’s murderer was acquitted—thanks to the same attorney who had previously defended the Reverend.

Sitting in the audience during the vigilante’s trial was Harper Lee, who had traveled from New York City to her native Alabama with the idea of writing her own In Cold Blood, the true-crime classic she had helped her friend Truman Capote research seventeen years earlier. Lee spent a year in town reporting, and many more years working on her own version of the case.

Now Casey Cep brings this story to life, from the shocking murders to the courtroom drama to the racial politics of the Deep South. At the same time, she offers a deeply moving portrait of one of the country’s most beloved writers and her struggle with fame, success, and the mystery of artistic creativity.

I really wanted to like this book, but it just didn’t happen for me. I was annoyed by the structure and perceived lack of big idea. I didn’t love how the book was split into thirds. And then each section meanders throughout the main line. Cep took way too many side tracks about various topics (seriously multiple pages on the history of the life insurance industry was not necessary) and felt like a ton of padding. I wanted so much more about the murders and aftermath, but Cep speeds through that section to spend so much more time with the lawyer and Harper Lee. And please, do not get me started on the lawyer. His adamant support of the murdering Reverend was just too much. Not a book for me at all…

Next up on the TBR pile:

City of Light by Rupert Christiansen

Title: City of Light: The Making of Modern Paris

Author: Rupert Christiansen

Publisher: Basic Books 2018

Genre: Nonfiction

Pages: 224

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Library Love; Nonfiction Bingo - Set Outside North America

In 1853, French emperor Louis Napoleon inaugurated a vast and ambitious program of public works in Paris, directed by Georges-Eugène Haussmann, the prefect of the Seine. Haussmann transformed the old medieval city of squalid slums and disease-ridden alleyways into a "City of Light" characterized by wide boulevards, apartment blocks, parks, squares and public monuments, new rail stations and department stores, and a new system of public sanitation. City of Light charts this fifteen-year project of urban renewal which--despite the interruptions of war, revolution, corruption, and bankruptcy--set a template for nineteenth and early twentieth-century urban planning and created the enduring landscape of modern Paris now so famous around the globe.

Random library pick that I took with me on our road trip. I enjoyed this slim volume more than I thought I would. I love following the story of the creation of modern Paris. Urban planning is one of those weird niche interests that I really reading about. This definitely scratched that itch for me. I learned a ton about French political history throughout the 1800s (not my area of history) and more about architecture. Very slim, yet very accessible volume.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Craftfulness by Rosemary Davidson

Title: Craftfulness: Mend Yourself by Making Things

Author: Rosemary Davidson, Arzu Tahsin

Publisher: Harper Wave 2019

Genre: Nonfiction Creativity

Pages: 198

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Library Love; Creativity

Integrating mindfulness, neuroscience, positive psychology, and creativity research, Craftfulness offers a thought-provoking and surprising reconsideration of craft, and how making things with your hands can connect us to our deepest selves and improve our well-being and overall happiness.

We should get this out of the way: Craftfulness is not a “crafting book.” Rather, it is an investigation of the wisdom generations of men and women know to be true: that making things is a vital means of self-expression, self-realization, and self-help that sparks the mind, touches the soul, and rejuvenates the spirit.

I was intrigued by this book sitting on my library New Releases shelf. Unfortunately I found the delivery to be super dry. I just wasn’t super excited reading the passages. So not the best book I’ve picked up lately.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Cities by Monica Smith

Title: Cities: The First 6000 Years

Author: Monica L. Smith

Publisher: Viking 2019

Genre: Nonfiction

Pages: 304

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Library Love; Nonfiction Bingo - 2019 Release

Cities is an impassioned and learned account full of fascinating details of daily life in ancient urban centers, using archaeological perspectives to show that the aspects of cities we find most irresistible (and the most annoying) have been with us since the very beginnings of urbanism itself. She also proves the rise of cities was hardly inevitable, yet it was crucial to the eventual global dominance of our species--and that cities are here to stay.

Oooof! I just wanted to love this book, but it was just way too long and dry for me. There were many sections that were fascinating. I loved when Smith dove into very specific examples of cities or archaeological digs. But then there was just too much filler to me. Those passages really turned me off to the book.

Next up on the TBR pile:

A Brief History of Nebraska by Ronald Naugle

Title: A Brief History of Nebraska

Author: Ronald Naugle

Publisher: History Nebraska 2018

Genre: Nonfiction - History

Pages: 144

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Library Love

This book is a short treatment of a long history. Nebraska has been inundated by ancient seas, carved by glaciers, and settled by ancient cultures who learned to survive in a land prone to extremes of climate. As a state, Nebraska was born out of the Civil War, shaped by railroads, and built by immigrants. Settlers were drawn by promises of free land and abundant rain. They endured droughts and economic depressions. They fought for political reforms, fought world wars, and sometimes fought each other. Along the way Nebraskans chose a unique form of government and re-invented their communities under new conditions. A Brief History of Nebraska is a story of continual change, the back story of the place and people we know today.

I picked up this slim volume while looking for travel books for our summer road trip. Naugle packs a ton of information into a short amount of pages. The sections dealing with national history I already knew. I did appreciate learning more about my adopted state.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy by Anne Boyd Rioux

Title: Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters

Author: Anne Boyd Rioux

Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co. 2018

Genre: Nonfiction

Pages: 273

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: I Love Libraries; Nonfiction Bingo - Biography

In Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy, Rioux recounts how Louisa May Alcott came to write Little Women, drawing inspiration for it from her own life. Rioux also examines why this tale of family and community ties, set while the Civil War tore America apart, has resonated through later wars, the Depression, and times of changing opportunities for women.

Alcott’s novel has moved generations of women, many of them writers: Simone de Beauvoir, J. K. Rowling, bell hooks, Cynthia Ozick, Jane Smiley, Margo Jefferson, and Ursula K. Le Guin were inspired by Little Women, particularly its portrait of the iconoclastic young writer, Jo. Many have felt, as Anna Quindlen has declared, “Little Women changed my life.”

I was very excited to read this one considering I really love Little Women. And the first section was very interesting. I loved learning more about Alcott’s life and inspiration. I enjoyed seeing the connections between her life and her various written works. The second half of the book didn’t catch my attention as much. The writing seemed very stilted and a little too much literary criticism. The writing was a bit dry and I started losing attention pretty quickly. So a mixed bad I guess.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Ghostland by Colin Dickey

Title: Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Place

Author: Colin Dickey

Publisher: Penguin Books 2016

Genre: Nonfiction

Pages: 320

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: UnRead Shelf; Nonfiction Bingo - Spirituality (haha!)

Colin Dickey is on the trail of America's ghosts. Crammed into old houses and hotels, abandoned prisons and empty hospitals, the spirits that linger continue to capture our collective imagination, but why? His own fascination piqued by a house hunt in Los Angeles that revealed derelict foreclosures and "zombie homes," Dickey embarks on a journey across the continental United States to decode and unpack the American history repressed in our most famous haunted places. Some have established reputations as "the most haunted mansion in America," or "the most haunted prison"; others, like the haunted Indian burial grounds in West Virginia, evoke memories from the past our collective nation tries to forget.     
 

I was expecting a book of collected ghost stories from around the United States. What I got was a beautifully told history of the somewhat unsavory parts of our history told through connections to ghost stories. I loved how Dickey connected ghost stories based in hotels to the uncanniness of hotel as domicile and yet not. I loved the discussion of the ghost towns of the west. I loved the chapter on the Winchester Mystery House and (partly because I’ve been there). Each chapter took a pretty well-known haunting story and turned it on its head connecting the underlying fears we have. I savored every page of this one. I liked it so much that it’s going on my permanent shelf.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Atlas of the Unexpected by Travis Elborough

Title: Atlas of the Unexpected: Haphazard Discoveries, Chance Places and Unimaginable Destinations

Author: Travis Elborough

Publisher: White Lion 2018

Genre: Nonfiction

Pages: 208

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: I Love Libraries; Nonfiction Bingo - Travel

From the fortuitous discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls by a stray goat, to the wonderfully bizarre beginnings that led to the aptly named Just Enough Room Island and even the royal romance that led shipwrecked lovers to discover Madeira, Travis Elborough takes you on a voyage to some of the world’s most wondrous, improbable and – most of all – unexpected of places.

An enjoyable little book to read during a rainy afternoon. I had heard of or knew about a majority of the discoveries featured in this book. But there were a few that were new to me. Those kept me reading and finding new little tidbits of information.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Library Book by Susan Orlean

Title: The Library Book

Author: Susan Orlean

Publisher: Simon & Schuster 2018

Genre: Nonfiction

Pages: 317

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: I Love Libraries; Nonfiction Bingo - True Crime

In The Library Book, Orlean chronicles the LAPL fire and its aftermath to showcase the larger, crucial role that libraries play in our lives; delves into the evolution of libraries across the country and around the world, from their humble beginnings as a metropolitan charitable initiative to their current status as a cornerstone of national identity; brings each department of the library to vivid life through on-the-ground reporting; studies arson and attempts to burn a copy of a book herself; reflects on her own experiences in libraries; and reexamines the case of Harry Peak, the blond-haired actor long suspected of setting fire to the LAPL more than thirty years ago.

One of those books that’s gotten such rave reviews from loads of people. I had to eventually read it! And it was such a delight. I was immediately sucked into the mystery of the burning of the Central Branch of the L.A. Public Library back in 1986. But this book is so much more than just a fire. Orlean celebrates libraries past and present. She traces the unique history of the L.A. public library highlighting some very interesting characters along the way. I savored each page feeling like Orlean was a bosom friend reveling in our shared love of libraries.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty

Title: Smoke Gets In Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory

Author: Caitlin Doughty

Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co. 2015

Genre: Nonfiction - Memoir

Pages: 272

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: I Love Libraries; Nonfiction Bingo - Free Space

Armed with a degree in medieval history and a flair for the macabre, Caitlin Doughty took a job at a crematory and turned morbid curiosity into her life’s work. She cared for bodies of every color, shape, and affliction, and became an intrepid explorer in the world of the dead. In this best-selling memoir, brimming with gallows humor and vivid characters, she marvels at the gruesome history of undertaking and relates her unique coming-of-age story with bold curiosity and mordant wit. By turns hilarious, dark, and uplifting, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes reveals how the fear of dying warps our society and "will make you reconsider how our culture treats the dead" (San Francisco Chronicle).

I picked this up from the library based on the rave reviews on GoodReads and I’m so glad I did. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but I ended up loving the mix of memoir style essays and facts about death and cremation. I’ve previously read Mary Roach’s Stiff and this one feels like a continuation of a similar theme. I really enjoyed. My biggest takeaway from this book is that I need to get my death wishes in writing and make sure that everyone knows what i want. Definitely going the cremation route, possibly a green burial. I really love Doughty’s thoughts on reconnecting to death.

Next up on the TBR pile:

And Then You Die of Dysentery by Lauren Reeves

Title: And Then You Die of Dysentery: Lessons in Adulting from The Oregon Trail

Author: Lauren Reeves

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2018

Genre: Nonfiction

Pages: 112

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: I Love Libraries

Pack your wagons, find your ride-or-(literally) die friends, and roll up to Matt’s General Store with a sack of cash—it’s time to hit the Oregon Trail, twenty-first-century style! …And Then You Die of Dysentery is the perfect send-up to the sometimes frustrating, always entertaining, and universally beloved Oregon Trail computer game. Featuring a four-color design in the game’s iconic 8-bit format, alongside pop culture references galore, the book offers 50 humorous, snarky lessons gleaned from the game’s most iconic moments.

Such a cute little book that I grabbed off of the new releases shelf at the library. Definitely funny for all of us that played Oregon Trail obsessively at a child.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Eruption by Steve Olson

Title: Eruption: The Untold Story of Mount St. Helens

Author: Steve Olson

Publisher: W.W. Norton and Company 2017

Genre: Nonfiction - U.S. History; Science

Pages: 336

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: UnRead Shelf; Modern Mrs. Darcy - Fascinating Topic; Nonfiction Bingo - Nature

For months in early 1980, scientists, journalists, and nearby residents listened anxiously to rumblings from Mount St. Helens in southwestern Washington State. Still, no one was prepared when a cataclysmic eruption blew the top off of the mountain, laying waste to hundreds of square miles of land and killing fifty-seven people. Steve Olson interweaves vivid personal stories with the history, science, and economic forces that influenced the fates and futures of those around the volcano. Eruption delivers a spellbinding narrative of an event that changed the course of volcanic science, and an epic tale of our fraught relationship with the natural world.

I’m always a sucker for narrative history book and this one was gifted to me by the library. (Thank you summer reading program!) I dove in and realized that I really didn’t know much about the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. Granted it was before I was born, but still, I know a lot of stuff prior to 1982. Reading this book gave me a very clear picture of the run-up to the eruption and the aftermath. I really enjoyed learning about the history of the volcano and the back-and-forth between politicians and scientists about the warning zone. The earth science really got me hooked on the book. I wasn’t as much of. fan of the detailed history of the Weyerhauser family. Sure, the company was important when it came to drawing boundary lines, but I don’t think we needed that detailed of a history. Otherwise, I enjoyed this one.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Visualizing the Beatles by John Pring and Rob Thomas

Title: Visualizing the Beatles

Author: John Pring and Rob Thomas

Publisher: Dey Street 2018

Genre: Nonfiction - Music

Pages: 288

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Library Love

Filled with stunning full-color infographics, a unique, album-by-album visual history of the evolution of the Beatles that examines how their style, their sound, their instruments, their songs, their tours, and the world they inhabited transformed over the course of a decade.

Combining data, colorful artwork, interactive charts, graphs, and timelines, Visualizing the Beatlesis a fresh and imaginative look at the world’s most popular band. Meticulously examining the songs on every Beatles’ album from Please Please Me to Let It Be, UK-based graphic artists John Pring and Rob Thomas deconstruct:

• lyrical content

• songwriting credits

• inspiration for the songs

• instruments used

• cover designs

• chart position

• and more . . . .

Random library shelf pick. I couldn’t resist the fun images and bright colors. I spent an afternoon flipping through and reading about various facts about The Beatles. I especially loved the graphics dealing with fashion and songwriting. A few of the spreads were a bit too text heavy, but overall, I really enjoyed this.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Coffee Talk by Morton Satin

Title: Coffee Talk: The Stimulating Story of the World’s Most Popular Brew

Author: Morton Satin

Publisher: Prometheus Books 2011

Genre: Nonfiction

Pages: 368

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Library Love; Nonfiction Bingo

This entertaining yet comprehensive book describes how, in recent times, coffee has become the magnet that draws people together for spirited interchanges of information and ideas. In the intellectual capitals of the world, coffeehouses have been and continue to be the venues where the great minds flock to discuss the latest developments in the arts, sciences, and social philosophies. The author also traces the rich and intriguing history of coffee and even goes on to reveal the best techniques for home brewing. Moreover, he enlivens his narrative with stories of the fine art of the barista, which includes the World Barista Championship where rival barmen from around the globe display the highest artistry of coffee brewing. Lavishly illustrated, this delightful and informative book is the perfect complement for your next coffee break.

I had high hopes for this book. I had heard good things. Unfortunately the chapters in this book were a mixed bag. I loved learning about the history of coffee and the science behind the plant. My favorite part was following coffee around the world. A wonderful history. And then the chapters start to go down hill. There’s interesting content, but I didn’t particularly need an entire glossary of terms or a chapter detailing different ways to brew coffee. I start skimming the second half of the book until I got to the end. Oh well.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Spinning Straw into Gold by Joan Gould

Title: Spinning Straw into Gold: What Fairy Tales Reveal About the Transformations in a Woman's Life

Author: Joan Gould

Publisher: Random House 2010

Genre: Nonfiction - Fairy Tales/Folklore

Pages: 330

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Mount TBR

What’s your favorite fairy tale? Whether it’s “Cinderella,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Hansel and Gretel,” or another story, your answer reveals something significant about you, your experiences, and your soul. In this penetrating book, Joan Gould brings to the surface the hidden meanings in fairy tales and myths, and illuminates what they can tell you about the stages in your own life. As Gould explores the transformations that women go through from youth to old age–leaving home and mother, the first experience of sexuality, the surprising ambivalence of marriage, the spiritual work required by menopause and aging–her keen observations will enrich your awareness of your inner life.

Another long shelf resident that I finally decided to pick up. I enjoyed this exploration of fairy tales, but I caution that this is not for the feint of heart. The text is very dry and academic. The analysis of each fairy tale is deep and very long. And yet, I really did like the insights I gleamed from the text. If you really like fairy tales and literary analysis, pick this one up.

Next up on the TBR pile:

I'd Rather Be Reading by Anne Bogel

Title: I'd Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life

Author: Anne Bogel

Publisher: Baker Books 2018

Genre: Nonfiction

Pages: 160

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Mount TBR; Share-a-Tea

For so many people, reading isn't just a hobby or a way to pass the time--it's a lifestyle. Our books shape us, define us, enchant us, and even sometimes infuriate us. Our books are a part of who we are as people, and we can't imagine life without them.

I'd Rather Be Reading is the perfect literary companion for everyone who feels that way. In this collection of charming and relatable reflections on the reading life, beloved blogger and author Anne Bogel leads readers to remember the book that first hooked them, the place where they first fell in love with reading, and all of the moments afterward that helped make them the reader they are today. Known as a reading tastemaker through her popular podcast What Should I Read Next?, Bogel invites book lovers into a community of like-minded people to discover new ways to approach literature, learn fascinating new things about books and publishing, and reflect on the role reading plays in their lives.

A delightful slim volume full of celebrations about reading. Many of the sentiments included in these short essays have been expressed on Anne Bogel’s podcast in the past, but it was nice to read them in a prose form. I think my favorite essay was about Anne’s reflection on living next door to a library for many years. Oh my dream! I would definitely be a frequent patron of the library. I savored this book a few pages at a time. It may be short, but it is packed with great stories and insight.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Cocktails Across America by Diane Lapis and Anne Peck-Davis

Title: Cocktails Across America: A Postcard View of Cocktail Culture in the 1930s, '40s, and '50s

Author: Diane Lapis, Anne Peck-Davis

Publisher: Countryman Press 2018

Genre: Nonfiction

Pages: 224

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Perpetual - Nonfiction Adventure; I Love Libraries

The unique cocktail lounges, hotel bars, and other more exotic drinking venues (ice rinks, carousels, and tropical gardens, just to name a few) defined this era of drinking culture and were immortalized in the linen postcards used to advertise them. With over 50 vintage cocktail recipes (including several modern twists), fascinating historical vignettes, and more than 150 pieces of vintage ephemera, you will be transported to an era of unbridled indulgence and distinct glamour.  

Such a fun read! I love that this idea came from the discovery of hotel postcards and evolved from there. I am fascinated by the post-war period of pop culture and cocktail culture fits right in there. I devoured each vignette and cocktail recipe. Some I had a bit of information about already, but most were new to me. I even bookmarked a few new-to-me cocktails to try out this winter.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Pox Americana by Elizabeth A. Fenn

Title: Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82

Author: Elizabeth A. Fenn

Publisher: Hill and Wang 2002

Genre: U.S. History

Pages: 384

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Perpetual - Nonfiction Adventure; Library Love

A horrifying epidemic of smallpox was sweeping across the Americas when the American Revolution began, and yet we know almost nothing about it. Elizabeth A. Fenn is the first historian to reveal how deeply variola affected the outcome of the war in every colony and the lives of everyone in North America.

By 1776, when military action and political ferment increased the movement of people and microbes, the epidemic worsened. Fenn's remarkable research shows us how smallpox devastated the American troops at Québec and kept them at bay during the British occupation of Boston. Soon the disease affected the war in Virginia, where it ravaged slaves who had escaped to join the British forces. During the terrible winter at Valley Forge, General Washington had to decide if and when to attempt the risky inoculation of his troops. In 1779, while Creeks and Cherokees were dying in Georgia, smallpox broke out in Mexico City, whence it followed travelers going north, striking Santa Fe and outlying pueblos in January 1781. Simultaneously it moved up the Pacific coast and east across the plains as far as Hudson's Bay.

I'm a sucker for a good epidemic book. I really think epidemiology may be my missed calling. This one intrigued me as it combines epidemiology and U.S. history. This book is incredibly detailed and full of names, dates, and facts. It is not for the faint of heart. The book has very graphic depictions of smallpox but also a lot of moving parts. I learned so much about an big event in U.S. history that is glossed over in favor of the battles of the Revolutionary War. I have now added a whole new story to my memory stores. 

Next up on the TBR pile:

College Girls by Lynn Peril

Title: College Girls

Author: Lynn Peril

Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company 2006

Genre: Nonfiction - U.S. History

Pages: 416

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Perpetual - Nonfiction Adventure; Popsugar - Microhistory

A geek who wears glasses? Or a sex kitten in a teddy? This is the dual vision of the college girl, the unique American archetype born when the age-old conflict over educating women was finally laid to rest. College was a place where women found self-esteem, and yet images in popular culture reflected a lingering distrust of the educated woman. Thus such lofty cultural expressions as Sex Kittens Go to College (1960) and a raft of naughty pictorials in men’s magazines.

As in Pink Think, Lynn Peril combines women’s history and popular culture—peppered with delightful examples of femoribilia from the turn of the twentieth century through the 1970s—in an intelligent and witty study of the college girl, the first woman to take that socially controversial step toward educational equity.

Another one of those books sitting on my shelves for much too long. Overall, I was invested in the history of women in college but I will admit that I knew a decent amount of the information presented. Peril does a great job at laying out different areas of the college experience throughout history. I was especially interested in the chapter about sex education. The book was packed full of information an primary sources. 

Next up on the TBR pile: