A candid self-portrait of a determined woman.
The making of an activist lawyer.
In a forthright memoir, Wiley, an attorney, a New York City mayoral candidate, and a former legal analyst for MSNBC, pays homage to her parents, both civil rights activists whose examples served her as she navigated racism, sexism, and personal trauma. Her father, George Wiley, was a charismatic Black organic chemistry professor and civil rights and economic justice activist; her defiant white mother, Wretha Whittle, left her Southern Baptist family to enroll at Union Theological Seminary and mentor girls in East Harlem. The couple met at Syracuse University, where George was a newly hired faculty member and Wretha, a graduate student. Together they worked at the Syracuse chapter of CORE, tackling racial discrimination in housing, jobs, and schools. In 1964, James Farmer asked George to serve as associate national director of CORE in its New York City headquarters, an opportunity undermined by rivalries and ideological conflicts within the organization. The family—now including Maya and her older brother—relocated to a gentrifying Black neighborhood in Washington, D.C., where their home became a center of civil rights activity. Maya’s life was upended at age 9 when her father fell off their recently acquired cabin cruiser and drowned. Only she and her brother were on board, unable to save him. Beset by anger, fear, and guilt, she was later diagnosed with PTSD. As a biracial student, Wiley struggled to fit into “the color palette” of Washington’s public schools, Georgetown Day School, the Field School, Dartmouth, and Columbia Law School. She never lost sight of her parents’ ideals: doing an internship in the Philippines investigating human rights violations and serving a federal clerkship and positions at the ACLU, the U.S. attorney’s office, and the George Soros Open Society Institute, all confirming her commitment to progressive change.
A candid self-portrait of a determined woman.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9781538739938
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 10, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
An engrossing and ominous chronicle, told by a master of the form.
Documenting perilous times.
In his most recent behind-the-scenes account of political power and how it is wielded, Woodward synthesizes several narrative strands, from the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel to the 2024 presidential campaign. Woodward’s clear, gripping storytelling benefits from his legendary access to prominent figures and a structure of propulsive chapters. The run-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is tense (if occasionally repetitive), as a cast of geopolitical insiders try to divine Vladimir Putin’s intent: “Doubt among allies, the public and among Ukrainians meant valuable time and space for Putin to maneuver.” Against this backdrop, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham implores Donald Trump to run again, notwithstanding the former president’s denial of his 2020 defeat. This provides unwelcome distraction for President Biden, portrayed as a thoughtful, compassionate lifetime politico who could not outrace time, as demonstrated in the June 2024 debate. Throughout, Trump’s prevarications and his supporters’ cynicism provide an unsettling counterpoint to warnings provided by everyone from former Joint Chief of Staff Mark Milley to Vice President Kamala Harris, who calls a second Trump term a likely “death knell for American democracy.” The author’s ambitious scope shows him at the top of his capabilities. He concludes with these unsettling words: “Based on my reporting, Trump’s language and conduct has at times presented risks to national security—both during his presidency and afterward.”
An engrossing and ominous chronicle, told by a master of the form.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781668052273
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
IN THE NEWS
PERSPECTIVES
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.
Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
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