Book Review: Literacy in America

Lawrence R. Samuel, Literacy in America: a cultural history of the past century. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2024.  ISBN: 9781538189542.

Genre: literacy, reading

Subgenre: history, education

Format: hardcover

Source: Hutchins Library, Berea College 

This book presents a history of literacy in the United States over the last century. Literacy here refers to learning how to read and the ability to read. This is not a book about what Americans may or not have been reading.

The book makes some good points, but it is a seriously slow read, and it is pretty much a dry textbook. Sure, it considers how literacy is a contested ground for race, gender, and class, and those are important topics. However, the important ideas get buried in the constant citing of scholarly articles, trade publications, and other academic sources. To be honest, the book reads like a student research paper where the student, instead of being selective in what sources to cite to support their claims, just cited everything they found to fill up the page quota. Whatever voice the author has gets lots in citation after citation of this scholar in a journal article or that teacher in an education magazine.  

This is what the author intended with the book: 

"Supported by hundreds of research studies conducted throughout the years as reported in scholarly journals and popular magazines, the book intends to make a contribution to the histories of education, language, and literature, sociology, and the United States as a whole" (vii). 

Oh, he lays those research studies and periodical articles pretty thick. As for the contribution statement, that is an ambitious declaration.

I was honestly hoping this would be more interesting, but it was not. One detail I will mention is that history often repeats itself. Some of the concerns today on whether kids can read or not are pretty much the same as concerns back in the day. Every time a new technology comes along, be it radio, television, or the internet educators freak out about kids abandoning reading. For the most part, the kids are still reading, even if it is not the "classics," but that is another conversation. 

For example, back in the 1920s aand 1930s, pearls were clutched because kids were not reading classics or wholesome books: 

"Students tendency to choose less than hearty literary fare was just one problem associated with literacy in the 1920s and 1930s" (1). 

Gee, the generation coming out of the Great War (World War I) and its horrors wants to read light, fluffy, escapist fare. The humanity! I would say not unlike today with readers seeking light, fluffy, escapist fare to forget the Hard Times for a while. 

Overall I would say this book was just OK. For libraries, this is highly optional. If I had been able to read a review copy beforehand, I would not have ordered it for our library. This may be one for larger academic libraries with comprehensive collections in education and maybe some large library school libraries. Small academic libraries can pretty much skip this. 

2 out of 5 stars. 

Book Review: Lies that kill

Elaine C. Kamarck and Darrell M. West, Lies that kill: a citizen's guide to disinformation. Lanham, MD: Brookings Institution Press, with Rowman and Littlefield, 2024. ISBN: 9780815740728.

Genre: information literacy, media literacy

Subgenre: political science, current affairs, media, technology

Format: trade paperback, but I also had an ARC for it from Edelweiss

Source: Hutchins Library, Berea College

 

For the record, I read this book before the election results of 2024 became known. Looking at the situation now, I feel this book is even more timely. It does take us right up to 2024 right before the elections.

In seven chapters the authors discuss the various ways that disinformation is not only dangerous but outright lethal. They then add one more chapter where they present a series of solutions. The authors wrote the book as a guide to help ordinary people learn about and understand what disinformation is and how it works. The authors discuss how disinformation works in the following areas: 

• elections
• climate change
• public health
• race relations
• war
• governance

 The authors combine case studies, analysis, and documentary material to present their points. The material is presented well with good organization and clear explanations. The preface provides a road map of the book's structure and basic thesis. The first chapter goes over the basics of disinformation and how it works. Chapters 2 to 7 look at disinformation in the areas listed. Chapter 8 provides their solution proposals. 

I felt some of their solutions were either a bit too optimistic or outright not right. For example, wanting universal real name registrations online is not only unrealistic, but it raises all kinds of privacy rights issues and security concerns that the authors seem to ignore in the interest of making a point. 

For the most part, the book is an easy read. Each chapter starts with a case study, then presents and explains the concepts in a clear way. The book does work well as a text for regular people. Jargon is kept to a minimum. For regular people wanting to learn what disinformation is and why it is dangerous, this is a good option. Each chapter includes endnotes for documentation. 

Overall, I really liked the book. I do recommend it for public and academic libraries. The book could also be a good selection for library schools and training librarians in information literacy. We ordered it for our library, and I will promote it locally. 

4 out of 5 stars.

Additional reading notes: 

What social media research shows:  

"Indeed, contemporary research on social media sites has shown that people who have extreme views and are deeply suspicious of experts and traditional media are the ones most likely to be influenced by false narratives and disseminate them to their friends and acquaintances" (8). 

Disinformation defined: 

"We define disinformation as material that is: 

• false
• organized
• intentional and malicious
• harmful
• fast" (8). 

 

A sampling of people you encounter in the book: 

"In this book, we will encounter people who have been accused of crimes they never committed or been pronounced dead of COVID but are still alive" (12). 

 

What AI has done for disinformation: 

"The result of this AI innovation has been a digital space that now has few safeguards in place, less active content moderation, and new tools to spread lies" (42). 

 

Best way to fight disinformation: 

"The best way to fight disinformation is to educate the public about ways to evaluate political narratives and be skeptical about information sources" (127). 

 As an information literacy librarian I do my part to teach these skills to our students (even as certain faculty rush right in to embrace AI, but that is another story).

 

Disinformation is big business, and it needs to be demonetized. I agree, but given the very large financial incentives I do not see it happening, especially in the U.S. where money is a god basically: 

"Practitioners find it easy to make money from subscriptions, ad revenue, and merchandise sales associated with false narratives. Some sites make millions peddling false content about elections, climate change, public health, government, and race. Unless we take significant action, we will never stop the flow of deadly information about these and other topics" (135-136). 

Knowing what I know and my skill set, if I had bad ethics or no ethics at all, I would would be making bank. The thought does occur to me now and then, but my decency and integrity are not for sale even if, as attributed often to P.T. Barnum, there is a sucker born every minute. 

 

Qualifies for the following 2025 Reading Challenge: 

 

Book Review: Logged In and Stressed Out

Paula Durlofsky, Logged in and stressed out: how social media is affecting your mental health and what you can do about it. Lanham, MA: Rowman and Littlefield, 2020. ISBN: 9781538176290.

Genre: psychology, popular culture, mental health, technology

Subgenre: social media, self help

Format: trade paperback

Source: Hutchins Library, Berea College 

 

"The truth is that obsessively checking social media, e-mails, texts, and other virtual sites robs us of valuable time that could be used for our personal development and deepening our real-life relationships or forming new ones" (1). 

I picked this book up in part because I had recently heard one of those less than bright commenters on social media saying "no one really knows if social media causes stress or not." I wanted to learn more. It turns out that there is enough evidence to show that yes, being online and engaged with social media can cause stress and other mental health issues. Not everything is known, and there is more to learn, but there is enough known contrary to what the online pundits may say. 

This book not only shows that social media can affect your mental health. It also gives you the tools and advice to do something helpful and constructive about it. 

The book features an introduction, nine chapters, notes, and a selected bibliography. The chapters feature topics such as: 

• Building relationships in the Digital Age.
• Breaking up in the Digital Age.
• Medicating with Technology.
   

If you are feeling stressed or distressed in some way about your engagement with social media, this may be a book for you. It is a relatively easy read, though there are times the author lays the psychology a bit thick with name dropping and theories. On the positive, the concepts are explained well enough. Still this book may be a bit more for the more informed secular reader. 

The chapters combine an overview of the topic and two sample patient accounts. The author uses the patients' experiences to illustrate points. Along the way, we get practical tips and advice for dealing with the issues. The chapters also include skill-building strategies and end with a list of recommendations. These practical actions are another good element in the book. 

Naturally, if things are really bad, you should see a trained professional. However, there is no explanation or even acknowledgement of what happens if you can't afford a therapist. Professional mental health care is a big issue in the United States in large part because it is largely unaffordable, assuming you can even find a therapist taking in new patients (see here for example). In the end, at least some of the practices in the book can prove helpful, maybe at least ameliorate some folks' stress due to social media. 

Overall, it is a pretty good book. It offers advice that anyone using social media at any age can use and apply. It addresses a variety of issues related to social media, and it does not just tell you to get rid of it (although for some folks that may be a valid choice). Rather, it gives you ideas for engaging with social media in positive ways. 

This could be a good book for college students in courses like wellness, health, psychology, and some general studies classes. In the end, I really liked it. 

4 out of 5 stars. 

Book qualifies for the following 2024 Reading Challenge: 

Booknote: Bestseller: a Century of America's Favorite Books

Robert McParland, Bestseller: a Century of America's Favorite Books. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2019. ISBN: 978-1-5381-0999-1.

Genre: nonfiction
Subgenre: books, reading, reference, pop culture
Format: hardcover
Source: Hutchins Library, Berea College 

This book does a few things. One, it looks at bestseller books year by year from the 1890s to the 2010s. Two, it looks at reading habits of people throughout the centuries, so you learn what people read then and now, reflecting the context of their times. Three, you also get historical context. The author tells use what else is going on in history, literature pop culture, and other areas in society to better appreciate why people read what they read at a given time. The book is way more than a list of bestsellers.

The book is arranged in nine chapters after the book's introduction. Each chapter has a small introduction to the decade it covers, then a section for each year in a decade looking at specific bestsellers, patterns, reading habits, historical context, and even interviews with sample readers to illustrate specific points. For example a brief interview with a World War II veteran about his reading habits back then while at war. After the chapters, you get a section of notes. There is also a bibliography. Note this bibliography covers the works the author consulted and not the bestsellers listed. It could have been helpful to have an additional list of the bestsellers, say by decade or such.

A strength of the book is that it covers so many elements about readers and reading along with the bestseller listings. You get to trace how reading habits in the United States changed and evolved over time. We do see that at times people in the United States did read more, and they did read more "serious" things, but they did so also reflecting their times.

While interesting overall, the book is more like an academic textbook, so a lot of the text can be pretty dry reading. Thus, some parts have a better reading flow; some parts you may find more interesting and may want to focus on more. Other parts may be more dry, and you're better off skimming them. In the end, this book works pretty well as a reference work where you can study the decades and see what was popular at a time and why, learn what motivated readers to pick up specific books thus making them bestsellers.

This is not a book for personal collections unless you are a scholar in pop culture or literature. It is more a book for libraries. I'd say it is mainly for academic libraries, especially if their college or university has strong interests in literacy and popular culture. It also works for trivia, say to find what books were bestsellers in 1955. Do note the book takes us to 2018, so as of this post, it's pretty current. However, over time this book is limited by its range, so the question is if will get updated editions down the road?

Bottom line is I liked it. I recommend it mainly for academic libraries. It may also be good for some public libraries, likely ones with larger popular collections.

3 out of 5 stars.

* * * * * 

Additional reading notes:


The author tells us what the book provides:

"This book provides a listing of bestselling books and recalls the contemporary context in which those books were situated" (vii).

A brief definition of bestseller from the book:

"A bestseller is a book that has caught the imagination of many readers. It is a book that has energy and momentum in the market and is being successfully marketed by its publisher" (ix). 

You can still find books from the 1950s with relative ease:

"Books from the 1950s can be found today in libraries, tucked away and forgotten in the corners of older homes, or stacked in rows at garage sales" (54). 

Booknote: The Evangelicals You Don't Know

Tom Krattenmaker,  The Evangelicals You Don't Know: Introducing the Next Generation of Christians. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2013. ISBN: 9781442215443.

Genre: nonfiction
Subgenre: politics, religion, United States, evangelicals
Format: hardback
Source: My college library

I started reading this at a time when evangelicals have not been looking good in the U.S., if they ever did. The Kim Davis soap opera in Kentucky was just breaking out when I started reading the book. That same weekend I started, one of those preachers going door to door decided to make a stop at our apartment, and he got a bit more pushy than I am willing to tolerate over wanting me to go attend his church (I am very happy in my heathenism, thank you). And to top it off this month, electoral results in Houston defeating their fairness ordinance and the Republican right wing victory in Kentucky where the new governor is promising to dismantle Kynect and his defense of Kim Davis. So the last thing I wanted to be reading was an apology for evangelicals, which is what this book is at the end of the day. When I picked up the book, it seemed a timely selection. After all, Right Wing Christians in the US, including evangelicals, are getting more loud and obnoxious in the United States (this is not brand new, but the Obama presidency really has them and the tea baggers riled up). Part of their problem is that they are no longer enjoying a monopoly in the United States. As the author writes,

". . .American evangelicals increasingly find themselves and their faith movement in the new millennium: sharing space, influence, power, and prerogatives with people of other religions, and of no religion" (3). 

In other words, those of us of heathen conviction or other religions want our space and rights as well, and we are not taking any crap from evangelicals or any other right wing Christians, or at least we are not willing to just roll over. Naturally, this ticks off the evangelicals and fundamentalists.

What the book argues, or tries to argue, is that modern, mostly likely young and hip evangelicals are not marching in lockstep with their elders, showing more charity and compassion. I remain skeptical on that claim, and after reading the book, I am less convinced. For instance, calling outsiders "unsavory" is not going to win you allies:

"You'll find Jesus lovers refusing to march in the lockstep formation of the culture wars and, while lessening their devotion to Jesus by not a single jot or tittle, forming partnerships and friendships with unsavory types like liberals, atheists, and gays-- people whom their evangelical elders, like the Pharisees of Jesus' time, would only shun" (4). 

To be honest, those evangelicals seem pretty "unsavory" to me, not the kind of folk I would want to associate with. As for getting shunned by them, I won't lose any sleep over it.

In the end, the book is a series of highlights of "new evangelicals." To sum it up, these are often younger evangelicals who are basically finally figuring out that "being an arrogant right-wing nut job" (8) is not exactly nice, and it alienates other people. So there are a few evangelicals who defy the (well earned to be honest) stereotype. Big whoop dee doo! The author, attempting to deflect some very well deserved criticism of those people, asks,

"Why should the emerging subculture of evangelicals get all this positive attention--all this ink-- for something many other religious people figured out long ago?" (13). 

That is the crucial question, and it is one that summarizes why this book really does not work. So they are not being assholes. That's nice. They now deserve a cookie for finally figuring it out? What I want to know is what took them so long to figure it out. And to be honest, hoisting Rick Warren, who is not exactly friendly to some of those "unsavory" people, as one of the new evangelical examples does not exactly further the case.

As the author states, it can be good to be acquainted with the new evangelicals as "they could be your next best friends for the fight-- for the environment, for the poverty-stricken, for the enslaved and abused" (14). In the end, this is a book basically to help you get to know your enemy. Given the damage evangelicals overall have done and continue to do in this country, I am not ready to just smile and act as if nothing happened.

Despite my reservations, the book is a must have for religious school libraries. Also, public libraries with strong evangelical communities may want to consider it (however, this depends on the type of evangelical, do you have more of the new ones or more of the old guard in your community?). Otherwise, this book is an optional selection. For secular progressives, the author seeks to, as he states it, to respectfully challenge their assumptions. I do not see too much convincing happening in that regard given all other evidence evangelicals offer daily for their bad reputation.

1 out of 5 stars.

This book qualifies for the following 2015 Reading Challenges: