The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba - Chanel Cleeton

I love books that tell a good story while educating me on a slice of history. I've been gathering stories that cover the 1890's as that period in the U.S. has a unique problem for genealogists - the U.S. 1890 census was destroyed in a fire and subsequent water damage left very little of it salvageable. So reading about the 1890's gives context to the lives of my ancestors in that time period.

This book tells the story of the Cuban third revolutionary war of independence from Spain and the U.S. entry into the conflict after the explosion of the U.S.S. Maine of "Remain the Maine" phrase. It led to a declaration of war against Spain in April 1898 and the U.S. fighting in the Philippines and Cuba. In the end in December 1898, the U.S. took over both countries as protectorates as well as Guam, Puerto Rico, and annexed the independent state of Hawaii during the conflict.

To tell the tale, the author follows a female reporter for the Hearst's Journal newspaper as she tries to break into the field of journalism. In parallel, the author shares the experience of a young woman acting as a courier for the revolutionaries in Cuba. Both of them assist in the rescue of Evangelina Cisneros from the notorious women's prison in Cuba and her role in rousing the American public against Spain.

It's a quick read that stitched together history and heroism, leaving a lasting lesson of the 1890's.

Published: 2021 Read: September 2024 Genre: Historical fiction

Homeland Elegies - Ayad Akhtar

 I picked this book up at Goodwill while shopping for kitchen gadgets.  I was intrigued by the title and the author's background, a Pulitzer Prize drama winner.  It's the story of a young man of Pakistani descent whose parents immigrated to the U.S. in the 1970's.  He grows up in two worlds - that of his Muslim heritage and of his American birth.  He shares his treatment when trying to find a friend in downtown New York on 9/11, a sad beginning of the divisiveness today.  Through his eyes he shows us how someone perceived as an enemy struggles with daily life between two worlds.  He shares the every day life of a Muslim family, their customs and beliefs demonstrated in his interactions with his family.  The story opened my eyes to a different perspective.  I felt I was watching a play that showed me a different view of the country I call home.

Published:  2020  Read: September 2024  Genre: Memoir

Orphan Trains - Stephen O'Connor

 Sub-title: The story of Charles Loring Brace and the children he saved and failed

This is a totally different perspective on the orphan trains of the late 1800's from the novel I read earlier this month.  As the sub-title indicates, it is primarily the story of the life of Charles Loring Brace, who founded the Children's Aid Society (CAS) and ran it until his death.  He initiated the idea of shipping children West to be adopted into a better life than what he felt they were living in New York City.  It's a complicated story of trying to effect change with some success and great failures.  The book is a detailed portrait of how Brace came to be an advocate for children and how his beliefs and attitudes shaped the mission of the CAS.  The author seemed to squeeze every piece of information he found on Brace and the CAS organization, leading to an exhaustively detailed account.  It would have been a better story if he'd focused on the milestones in Brace's life.  

The book is a great reference for those interested in the orphan train evolution and its eventual demise.  The last chapter describes how it was the instigation for the child welfare and foster care systems that came about later in the 1900's and are with us today.  I've identified the biological parents of a couple of orphan train riders for their descendants and this book contributes to my understanding of the placements and its effects on the children. 

Published:  2001  Read: September 2024  Genre: History

Orphan Train a Novel - Christina Baker Kline

 A young girl, Vivian, aka, Dorothy, aka Nimah, is sent from her fractured family life in New York in the late 1800s to Minnesota on an orphan train where she is shuttled from one family to another until she finds a life as an adult.  At 91 years old she meets an orphan teen in the foster care, Molly, who comes to Vivian's home to work off community service.  Their stories of growing up contrast and compares the care or lack thereof they receive in their different orphan care systems.  I found this to be a heartbreaking story of trauma for losing parents, no matter how poorly they parented, the loneliness of not having a family connection and the perseverance of the individual spirit.  

Published:  2013  Read September 2024  Genre: Historical fiction

Close to Shore - Michael Capuzzo

 Sub-title: The Terrifying Shark Attacks of 1916

I'd left this book at a rental condo many years ago and had not had a chance to read more then a few pages. I picked it up recently again and am glad that I did.  It's the story of a great white shark that terrorized the New Jersey shore just as the U.S. entered into WWI.  The story shifts from the shark's perspective who ends up "close to shore" because of errant ocean currents and the innocent well-to-do beach goers who get attacked.  In a time when news took many hours to reach the city from the beach front, the initial attacks were scoffed at.  The shark ended up entering a creek and attacking a young boy.  A good read that took me back to a simpler time unprepared for tragedy.

Published: 2002  Read: September 2024  Genre: History

Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books - Kirsten Miller

This is far and away my favorite book I've read this year!  A busybody in a small town achieves her long desired public recognition by leading a book banning drive and putting "good" books in a free-standing library in front of her house. Unbeknownst to her, the books are swapped out under their covers with the very books she banned and the community reads through the collection.  The author traces the impact of their reading, using banned book titles for her chapter headings.  She cleverly exposes our biases, prejudices, presumptions and blind spots on all sorts of topics on both sides of the spectrum. The story reinforced for me how books can affect our thinking and make us question our viewpoints and beliefs. She subtly reminds us that thinking you know someone can't be based on knowing what they read, even when that person is ourselves.  Her cast of characters are real people living real lives in a complex world. The epilogue includes a list of the banned books referenced in the story.  Highly recommended.

  Quote:

"Melody felt like the butt of a very bad joke.  The victim of a dark conspiracy.  An innocent bystander caught up in a terrible crime.  And for the very first time,she understood what her mother had been trying to tell her.  Giving a marriage everything you've got means one day you could be left with nothing."

Published: 2024  Read: August 2024  Genre: Fiction