Journalism & Publishing
Chasing Hope: A Reporter’s Life.
By Nicholas D. Kristof.
May 2024. 480p. Knopf, $32 (9780593536568). 070.1.
This hefty account of Kristof’s life and career will remind readers of the ground-breaking, insightful, often influential work Kristof has produced throughout his 40 years with the New York Times as a reporter, editor, and columnist, from his coverage of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests (for which he and his wife, Sheryl Wu-Dunn, won a Pulitzer Prize) to his opposition to the Iraq War, his fight against child pornography, his relentless exposure of ethnic cleansing in Darfur, his advocacy of women’s rights worldwide, and his chronicles of the breakdown of America’s working class, among many other issues. Hardly surprising for someone with degrees from Harvard and Oxford Universities, who for decades has deftly mixed with both world leaders and the utterly powerless, and whose career fast-tracked almost from the get-go, some ego is on display here; but Kristof also brings an exquisitely nuanced, often self-critical perspective on how exceedingly difficult it is for journalists to get a story right, all while trying to square the professional demands of objectivity with the human impulse to offer help. In the end, a thoughtful book that touches on many of the defining events of our time and how those events got covered. —Alan Moores
Philosophy & Psychology
The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality.
By Amanda Montell.
Apr. 2024. 272p. Atria, $28.99 (9781668007976); e-book (9781668007990). 153.4.
This seamless tie-in to Montell’s Cultish (2021) and her podcast, Sounds Like a Cult, examines the recent upsurge in cults, conspiracies, extreme fandom, and distorted nostalgia. Refreshingly entertaining and informative, Montell links research and social science with humorous and touching anecdotes. The book reviews some common cognitive biases and fallacies that may be magnified by online culture and rampantly spread. Montell attributes the contagion of astronomical levels of hopelessness and alienation to this phenomenon, especially in those inclined to mistrust institutions of power. Research reflects how relentless exposure to information without weight, context, or veracity perpetuates the overconsumption of its sources, she finds. Credibility increases when a concept is embedded in a repetitious narrative that elicits strong emotion, condensed into a simplified form that encourages immediate response. Montell aims to inspire online users to identify and counter ingrained tendencies toward superstition, groupthink, and mental shortcuts. She exemplifies the power of compelling stories by employing her own memorable metaphors and disclosures as an invitation to consider more deeply what we choose to consume and share. —Joelle Egan
Social Sciences
DARE to Say No: Policing and the War on Drugs in Schools.
By Max Felker-Kantor.
Apr. 2024. 288p. Univ. of North Carolina, paper, $27.95 (9781469679044). 362.29.
Felker-Kantor (Policing Los Angeles, 2018), history professor at Ball State University, covers the comprehensive history of the school curriculum Drug Abuse Resistance Education, called D.A.R.E., and how it became the largest drug prevention program in the U.S. from the 1980s to the late 1990s. D.A.R.E. “brought the war on drugs directly into the nation’s schools and education became an additional weapon in the police arsenal,” Felker-Kantor writes. Drawing on government policy, educational reports, and other archival sources, he explores how D.A.R.E., which mobilized the police as antidrug education instructors, enhanced the presence of law enforcement in schools and communities—especially immigrant communities and communities of color—and expanded the carceral system, was largely perceived as a political success. Readers interested in the intersections of education systems, surveillance culture, and policing may find Felker-Kantor’s research to be key to understanding how the war on drugs expanded policing to the American school system, the effects of which still linger today. —Raymond Pun
I Will Show You How It Was: The Story of Wartime Kyiv.
By Illia Ponomarenko.
May 2024. 288p. Bloomsbury, $28.99 (9781639733873). 327.477.
Veteran defense and security reporter Ponomarenko was just settling into the new media venture he cofounded, the Kyiv Independent, when Russia started making unreasonable demands on his home country of Ukraine and then invaded, starting the biggest war in Europe since 1945. Ponomarenko brings to life in vivid detail what it was like on the ground before, during, and after the Russian onslaught on the capital city. Sprinkling American pop culture references (hat tip to the many Lord of the Rings quips) throughout the narrative, the author does precisely what the title states, making the reader feel the fear, uncertainty, and danger that the fog of war forces regular people to endure. Ponomarenko stands defiant in his tours of the front line and all that he witnessed, rhetorically spitting in the face of Russian aggression. The war in Ukraine is far from over, but this book faithfully covers the first half of 2022 and the tentative victory of the underdogs in Kyiv. Ponomarenko remains optimistic that Ukraine will resist until the end. —James Pekoll
Keanu Reeves Is Not in Love with You: The Murky World of Online Romance Fraud.
By Becky Holmes.
Apr. 2024. 224p. Unbound, paper, $16.95 (9781789651638). 364.163.
Holmes, a personality on X with the handle @deathtospinach, offers a tongue-in-cheek guide to the world of online-romance fraud, also commonly referred to as catfishing. Perpetrators create fake personas in order to lure victims into relationships with the goal of extracting money. The author interweaves her chapters with real-life scenarios and stories from victims, recounting how these deceptions unfold. She provides lists with common schemes and examples. Romance scams can lead not only to drained bank accounts but also stolen identities and blackmail. The book’s title is a reference to the prevalence of online celebrity impersonation. Most people tend to underestimate their own susceptibility to deceit and fraud; Holmes notes that none of the monetary damage really compares to what this trickery can do to a person’s self-esteem. The emotional scars and sense of humiliation linger far longer. Holmes takes pains to emphasize that many people are duped simply because they are lonely or vulnerable, not because of gullibility or foolishness. Liberally peppered with British slang, the narrative is valuable for its cautionary lessons. —Barrie Olmstead
The Mango Tree: A Memoir of Fruit, Florida, and Felony.
By Annabelle Tometich.
Apr. 2024. 320p. Little, Brown, $30 (9780316540322). 300.
is a candid account of half-Filipino, half-Yugoslavian Annabelle Tometich’s coming-of-age in Fort Myers, Florida, and her love-hate relationship with her mother. The book starts in 2015 with a court hearing involving the author’s irrepressible Filipino mother, who unapologetically fired a BB gun on fleeing perps who stole some mangoes from her backyard. The author, the
