Social Justice Book Club: The Men We Reaped Sign-up & Schedule

We're gearing up for the October edition of the Social Justice Book Club. Based on participant input, we'll be reading Men We Reaped: A Memoir by Jesmyn Ward this month. In order to help keep us all on the same page (somewhat literally), I've outlined an (entirely optional) schedule for the month's reading below. I bumped start/end dates to Mondays instead of Saturdays, as I for one try to spend less time at my computer on the weekends than I do during weekdays. But feel free to post whenever works for you!

Social Justice Book Club: The New Jim Crow Intro & Kick-Off

Friends! This post is a day late, for which I am eternally sorry; I was planning to finalize some things and get this up yesterday morning, and then we lost internet in a big storm on the islands on Saturday, and here we are. Anyway, I'm home now, and so so excited to be diving into Michelle Alexander's powerful book with so many of you.

To get started, let us know in the comments below or in your own blog or social media post:

Social Justice Book Club: Just Mercy Wrap-up

April has come and gone, ya'll, which means an end to the "official" window for the first installment of the Social Justice Book Club. But don't worry if you haven't finished Just Mercy yet... I haven't either. So my own personal wrap-up post will come later next week, but in the meantime, I wanted to get a link-up up for anyone who wanted to share their thoughts or comments or ideas about the book.

Social Justice Book Club: June Book Pick

We're not quite finished the first round of the Social Justice Book Club, true, but I'm comfortable enough calling it a success to go ahead and pick the book for round 2: The Long Shadow of Small Ghosts, by Laura Tillman. (Thanks to Julianne for the recommendation!)

Because so many have other reading commitments, and I know some readers weren't able to join us this time around because of delays in getting a copy of Just Mercy, #SJBC will become an every-other-month reading event. So we won't be diving into The Long Shadow of Small Ghosts until June (but I wanted to get the book announced ASAP so folks (like me!) had time to get their hands on a copy).

The more the merrier--link up below if you're interested in joining! No pressure--the link-up just helps me (and others!) keep track of who's participating so we know where to go to discuss.

And stay tuned next week for a wrap-up of this first edition of the Social Justice Book Club, and a call for your input in shaping how we move forward!

Social Justice Book Club Discussion: Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson

A while back, Shannon mentioned something on Twitter about starting a Social Justice Book Club, as she, Shaina and I all tend to migrate towards non-fiction on social justice topics:

Pretty sure I need to form a social justice nonfiction book club with @shainareads and @kerryamchugh. #BBAW

— Shannon (@rivercityreadng) February 17, 2016

Book Review: The Black Presidency, by Michael Eric Dyson

This review originally ran in Shelf Awareness for Readers.

The Black Presidency offers a nuanced analysis of the politics of race in the U.S. in the context of Barack Obama's presidency.

Book Review: I Am Not a Slut, by Leora Tanenbaum

This review originally ran in Shelf Awareness for Readers.

In I Am Not a Slut: Slut-Shaming in the Age of the Internet, Leora Tanenbaum returns to the subject of her 1999 book Slut!: Growing Up Female with a Bad Reputation, updating her research on slut-shaming and name-calling to reflect the changes in the social and digital landscape over the last 16 years. She explores the differences between slut-bashing and slut-shaming, the myriad ways teens and young adults use the Internet and social media to shame young women and the ever-evolving ways that gender norms shape our images of sex, sexuality and sexual assault.

The information that fuels I Am Not a Slut is based as much on the dozens of interviews that Tanenbaum conducted with women and girls across the country--ranging in age and race and sexuality--as it is on quantitative data and scientific studies. The resulting arguments are all the stronger for the anecdotal evidence that accompanies them. In many instances, however, Tanenbaum uses absolutes, making claims about "every woman," "all men" or things that happen "always," which weaken her otherwise thoughtful arguments. She is at her strongest when dealing with double standards of sex and sexuality (how, for example, men are expected to have many sexual partners while women are criticized for exactly the same thing) and how the prevalence of slut-shaming amplifies a culture of victim-blaming.

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A copy of this title was provided by the publisher for review.

I Am Not a Slut | Leora Tanenbaum | Harper Perennial | Trade Paperback | February 2015

Book Review: Our Kids, by Robert Putnam

This review originally ran in Shelf Awareness for Readers.

In Bowling Alone, political scientist and Harvard professor Robert Putnam took a close look at the evolving landscape of community in the United States. With Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis, he turns to a distinct but inherently related topic: the dissolution of the American Dream and the many ways that class mobility in the U.S. has stagnated in the 50 years since Putnam himself was a child. Putnam explores the "myths and realities" of the American Dream before analyzing the various factors that he claims are preventing young people today from achieving upward class mobility, which involve family structure, parenting, schooling and community.