“But it’s a lie. I came from a country where race was not an issue; I did not think of myself as black and I only became black when I came to America.” [359] The summer before beginning college, I received a package from my new school. It was a paperback copy of The English Patient (1992) by Michael Ondaatje. This was the summer reading for all incoming first year students, and the enclosed letter explained that we would have a book discussion during orientation. […]
One death is a tragedy, a thousand is a statistic
Like most people, I find history and politics more palatable when they focus on specific people rather than the sweeping ideas and dates of textbooks. Obviously, you need a balance, but if you look only at the big picture, you miss the innumerable tragedies and triumphs that are more relatable. This is one of the strengths of Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea (2010) by Barbara Demick. Demick gives us a look into North Korea during the famine of the 1990’s through the […]