Category Archives: Nonfiction

It Could Be Worse, You Could Be Me

I’ve been having a hard time focusing on my reading lately, mostly because my work life is taking a lot of my mental energy at the moment, and I don’t have as much to spare for sustained attention to anything … Continue reading

Posted in Nonfiction, Short Stories/Essays | 5 Comments

Love Lessons: A Wartime Diary

Wish I could write about important things instead of the nonsense that I do. Sometimes I feel the significance of what is going on in the world, but even then I can’t put it into words. This war is probably … Continue reading

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Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation

For a good chunk of the 90s, I attended a conservative evangelical (Baptist) church, and most of my social circle consisted of other conservative evangelicals. Pretty much everyone in my circle voted Republican and had conservative views on issues like … Continue reading

Posted in Nonfiction | 3 Comments

Darkwater: Voices from within the Veil

In my post about Caste, I mused over whether I might be better off reading some older books about race, my thinking being that books separated from current vocabulary and specific fights might feel less like a retread. And Darkwater by WEB … Continue reading

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Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

America is an old house. We can never declare the work over. Wind, flood, drought, and human upheavals batter a structure that is already fighting whatever flaws were left unattended in the original foundation. When you live in an old … Continue reading

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I’ll Tell You in Person

Sure, I’m writing about myself. Duh. But that’s not the point of this book or these essays. I hope you will project your mistakes and failures and heartaches and joys onto mine. I hope you will feel a touch of … Continue reading

Posted in Nonfiction, Short Stories/Essays | 1 Comment

Memories: From Moscow to the Black Sea

My future was a matter of complete indifference to me. I felt neither anxiety or fear. In any case there was nothing I could do. In my mind I retraced my strange journey from Moscow, always south, always further south, … Continue reading

Posted in History, Memoir, Nonfiction, Travel/ Exploration | 2 Comments

Blood at the Root: A Racial Cleansing in America

Earlier this year, the media was full of stories recognizing and educating Americans about the Tulsa race massacre. Although the destruction of Greenwood (or Black Wall Street) was a particularly horrifying instance of racist violence, it was far from isolated. … Continue reading

Posted in History, Nonfiction | 2 Comments

In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins

It’s been a while since I read a big serious theology book. Back when I was taking seminary classes, I read this kind of thing all the time, but now I tend to read books that are written for a … Continue reading

Posted in History, Nonfiction, Religion | Leave a comment

The Dead are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X

Earlier this year, I was completely swept up in The Autobiography of Malcolm X, and that led me to want to learn more, so I picked up this new biography (and winner of the 2020 National Book Award and 2021 Pulitzer) by … Continue reading

Posted in Nonfiction | 3 Comments