An engaging reexamination of 21st century philanthropy.
Mitzen discusses the implications of racial privilege and the importance of giving back in this nonfiction work.
With more than $250 million in annual revenue, The Fingerpaint Group, a marketing firm founded by the author, made him and his wife, Lisa, “wealthier than we ever dreamed.” Indeed, when he sold the company in his early 50s, he declared that they would “never have to work again.” Inspired by the example of Andrew Carnegie, who invested vast sums of his wealth into communities across the nation in the early 20th century, the Mitzens soon thereafter founded the nonprofit Business for Good (BFG) to use their “business-building skills to help others.” This book, the author’s second work centered on the intersection of business and charity, is written “for wealthy white people” and includes anecdotes from BFG as a guide for other would-be philanthropists. Openly admitting that he and his wife “had no idea” what they were getting into, a central theme of the book is the author’s coming to terms with his own racial privilege. While careful not to “shame or guilt” successful white readers (“You worked hard for your wealth; enjoy it”), Mitzen acknowledges that white men have “a leg up on everyone.” The same “laws and customs” that created an environment for white entrepreneurs to thrive, he notes, are part of the very same system that closes doors to others. With a keen sense of the history and legacy of racism in America, the book also contextualizes economic inequalities, describing, for example, how Black wealth in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was stolen in the 1921 massacre. Written in an authentic, conversational style that leans heavily into four-letter swear words, this is a solid introduction to systemic racism for skeptical, affluent white readers. The book provides ample examples (accompanied by photographs) of how BFG combined business acumen with solution–driven approaches that extended well beyond simply “writing checks to worthy nonprofits and watching passively.”
An engaging reexamination of 21st century philanthropy.Pub Date: May 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781544540993
Page Count: 150
Publisher: Lioncrest Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 22, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A philosophically rich critique of state violence and mass apathy.
An Egyptian Canadian journalist writes searchingly of this time of war.
“Rules, conventions, morals, reality itself: all exist so long as their existence is convenient to the preservation of power.” So writes El Akkad, who goes on to state that one of the demands of modern power is that those subject to it must imagine that some group of people somewhere are not fully human. El Akkad’s pointed example is Gaza, the current destruction of which, he writes, is causing millions of people around the world to examine the supposedly rules-governed, democratic West and declare, “I want nothing to do with this.” El Akkad, author of the novel American War (2017), discerns hypocrisy and racism in the West’s defense of Ukraine and what he views as indifference toward the Palestinian people. No stranger to war zones himself—El Akkad was a correspondent in Afghanistan and Iraq—he writes with grim matter-of-factness about murdered children, famine, and the deliberate targeting of civilians. With no love for Zionism lost, he offers an equally harsh critique of Hamas, yet another one of the “entities obsessed with violence as an ethos, brutal in their treatment of minority groups who in their view should not exist, and self-decreed to be the true protectors of an entire religion.” Taking a global view, El Akkad, who lives in the U.S., finds almost every government and society wanting, and not least those, he says, that turn away and pretend not to know, behavior that we’ve seen before and that, in the spirit of his title, will one day be explained away until, in the end, it comes down to “a quiet unheard reckoning in the winter of life between the one who said nothing, did nothing, and their own soul.”
A philosophically rich critique of state violence and mass apathy.Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780593804148
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change.
Artist and activist Vaid-Menon demonstrates how the normativity of the gender binary represses creativity and inflicts physical and emotional violence.
The author, whose parents emigrated from India, writes about how enforcement of the gender binary begins before birth and affects people in all stages of life, with people of color being especially vulnerable due to Western conceptions of gender as binary. Gender assignments create a narrative for how a person should behave, what they are allowed to like or wear, and how they express themself. Punishment of nonconformity leads to an inseparable link between gender and shame. Vaid-Menon challenges familiar arguments against gender nonconformity, breaking them down into four categories—dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope (fear of the consequences of acceptance). Headers in bold font create an accessible navigation experience from one analysis to the next. The prose maintains a conversational tone that feels as intimate and vulnerable as talking with a best friend. At the same time, the author's turns of phrase in moments of deep insight ring with precision and poetry. In one reflection, they write, “the most lethal part of the human body is not the fist; it is the eye. What people see and how people see it has everything to do with power.” While this short essay speaks honestly of pain and injustice, it concludes with encouragement and an invitation into a future that celebrates transformation.
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change. (writing prompt) (Nonfiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09465-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
