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Sarojini Seupersad

NonfictionMemoir

Minor Feelings

Review by Sarojini Seupersad

In her new memoir, Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning, Cathy Park Hong, the award-winning writer and poetry editor of the New Republic, offers a fierce excavation of her experience as an Asian American woman living and working as a poet and artist. Historical traumas and cultural criticism combine and are woven through this erudite essay collection of family, art history, female relationships and racial awareness.

The child of Korean immigrants, Hong grew up in Los Angeles in a melancholic haze of shame, discord and repressed feelings. Through these essays, we learn that these repressed feelings are “minor feelings,” or the particular sensation of rejecting the forced optimism of white America because it doesn’t reflect your own reality. It’s hard to share in America’s optimism when your background and present life are filled with racism, vulnerability and trauma.

In her essay “United,” she says, “When I hear the phrase ‘Asians are next in line to be white,’ I replace the word ‘white’ with the word ‘disappear.’ Asians are next in line to disappear.” To her, the flattened perceptions of Asian identity do not match up with the real-life experience of living it. The racial animus she experiences from others, through a lifetime of overt racism and microaggressions, produces a precarious tug-of-war between the dangerous mythology of the law-abiding “model minority” and the myth of the untrustworthy “suspicious” Asian. This tension leads her to a state of self-hatred, but also to liberation as she faces these contradictions by writing through them.

In “Stand Up,” Hong watches and dissects the practiced art of Richard Pryor’s stand-up comedy routines and recognizes the power of discomfort. While he makes fun of white people in the audience squirming in their chairs, he also obliquely makes fun of himself. While studying Pryor, Hong has a revelation in this simple question: Who am I writing for? As a writer writing for the sensibilities of the mainstream—what Hong calls the “tired ethnic narratives”—the desire to please white audiences is a hard habit to break. But meeting and living with uncompromising artists in college leads Hong to find her own uncompromising spirit through art and then poetry, which feeds her passion to raise her voice and continue.

The unyielding fervor of this eminently quotable book is sure to raise the visibility of the very textured and diverse Asian identity at a time when our fullness of reality is called for.

 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our Q&A with Cathy Park Hong and seven other new and emerging memoirists.

In her new memoir, Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning, Cathy Park Hong, the award-winning writer and poetry editor of the New Republic, offers a fierce excavation of her experience as an Asian American woman living and working as a poet and artist. Historical traumas and cultural criticism combine and are woven through this erudite essay […]
NonfictionMiddle Eastern HistoryHistory

Black Wave

Review by Sarojini Seupersad

“What happened to us?” This question haunts the Middle East and the Arab world, from Iraq to Syria, Iran to Saudi Arabia. It’s also the question posed by Kim Ghattas at the beginning of her new book, Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry That Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East.

Ambitious and novelistic in its approach, Black Wave attempts to answer this question through extensive research, vibrant reporting and personal stories. At its core, the book is a survey of the once harmonious relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iran. As Ghattas examines how a culturally diverse region full of hope could twist itself into an entirely new body of destruction and instability, she explores the events that led to these nations’ opposition of each other, and to their desire for cultural supremacy over an entire region and its people.

Ghattas, an Emmy award-winning journalist who was born and raised in Lebanon, focuses on the three major touchstones in 1979 that led to the current crisis: the overthrow of the shah and the Iranian Revolution; the siege of the Holy Mosque in Mecca by Saudi militants; and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. As Ghattas writes, “Nothing has changed the Arab and Muslim world as deeply and fundamentally as the events of 1979.”

Unlike narratives told from a Western point of view, this book doesn’t highlight terrorism or ISIS but instead seamlessly weaves history and personal narrative into a story that explains the gradual suppression of intellectualism and the creep of authoritarianism in the region, while highlighting those who have tried to fight against it, like murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi. It also shows how the United States’ numerous attempts at intervention have made the situation indelibly worse.

Illuminating, conversational, rich in details and like nothing else you’ve ever read about the Middle East, Black Wave will leave you with a new understanding of this diverse and troubled region.

“What happened to us?” This question haunts the Middle East and the Arab world, from Iraq to Syria, Iran to Saudi Arabia. It’s also the question posed by Kim Ghattas at the beginning of her new book, Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry That Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the […]
NonfictionHistory

Crucible

Review by Sarojini Seupersad

Opening with a striking scene from Petrograd, Russia, at the Tsar’s estate in the winter of 1917, Crucible: The Long End of the Great War and the Birth of a New World, 1917–1924, is a fascinating gallop through interwar Europe, told chronologically through the eyes of some of the era's most radical figures.

Historian Charles Emmerson explains how fascism, revolution and artistic growth unfolded in parallel during this critical time, exploring the lives of several important political figures, artists, thinkers and revolutionaries to emphasize how key figures led Europe from tentative peace after World War I into an era of violent nationalism. Stories of dictators on the rise (Lenin, Mussolini) become entangled with those of other movements and leaders, too—the black liberation philosophies of Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. Du Bois, the rise of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk of Turkey, the surrealism of André Breton, the toxic anti-Semitism of Henry Ford and the growing popularity of Sigmund Freud’s brand of psychoanalysis.

Intimate, diary-like passages, which read more like a novel than a historical text, take readers through the stories of these figures one by one. By isolating each vignette to one point of view, Crucible slowly reconstructs the history of interwar Europe one puzzle piece at a time. This approach to storytelling is not only helpful and cinematic but also lends an intimate sense of what life was like in Europe 100 years ago.

If you’ve ever wondered what is in the heart of a revolutionary, or what it takes to live through war and destruction, this dramatic, illuminating retelling of a significant time in history will prove to be an invaluable text. 

Opening with a striking scene from Petrograd, Russia, at the Tsar’s estate in the winter of 1917, Crucible: The Long End of the Great War and the Birth of a New World, 1917–1924, is a fascinating gallop through interwar Europe, told chronologically through the eyes of some of the era's most radical figures. Historian Charles […]
NonfictionMemoir

How We Fight for Our Lives

Review by Sarojini Seupersad

In How We Fight for Our Lives, award-winning poet Saeed Jones (Prelude to Bruise) weaves a series of stinging, memorable vignettes into a powerful coming-of-age memoir. This intimate book, which details his experiences growing up black and gay in the American South, is a required and distinctly singular read.

Through flowing metaphors and dialogue, rich language and deeply personal family stories, we learn about Jones’ struggle for his identity—why he built a suit of invisible armor to protect himself when no one else would. Jones writes, “If America was going to hate me for being black and gay, then I might as well make a weapon out of myself.” Almost every passage feels like a fresh, raw wound, ready to leave a scar.

Each vignette represents a different stage in Jones’ blossoming life, and together they create a kaleidoscope of the difficulties that can stem from hiding oneself from the world. We travel with him as the child of a single mother in Lewisville, Texas, to his strained teenage relationship with his religious grandmother in Memphis, Tennessee, to destructive sexual experiences with friends, lovers and strangers, to his life in college and beyond, where he has yet to accept himself as a full person, rather than as a performer who needs to be interesting enough to entertain a crowd. Jones recognizes his desire to wear a mask early on, but it’s difficult to remove the mask once he has the chance.

Jones knows that accepting himself in a racist and homophobic world is an act of radical self-love, and this devastating memoir illustrates why such an act is worth the long struggle.

In How We Fight for Our Lives, award-winning poet Saeed Jones (Prelude to Bruise) weaves a series of stinging, memorable vignettes into a powerful coming-of-age memoir. This intimate book, which details his experiences growing up black and gay in the American South, is a required and distinctly singular read. Through flowing metaphors and dialogue, rich […]
NonfictionSocial Science

Our Women on the Ground

Review by Sarojini Seupersad

Although there has been coverage of Arab and Middle Eastern countries in Western media for decades, how often do we hear from women in these countries? In this groundbreaking collection of essays, Our Women on the Ground, Lebanese—British journalist Zahra Hankir assembles the writing of 19 different sahafiyat (female journalists) from across the Middle East, including Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Libya, Egypt and Palestine. In these powerful essays, journalists recount their harrowing, dangerous and sometimes painful experiences, both as women reporting on Middle Eastern conflicts and as people trying to survive along with everyone else, with their lives and spirits intact.

In one essay, Hannah Allam recounts the need to keep her sense of humor through the violence in Iraq. To her, Iraqis can be funnier than anyone, even when death is looming. She shares a local joke: “As the years stretched on without the restoration of power, a popular joke was that a distraught boy runs up to his mom and sobs that his father had touched a wire and been electrocuted. The mother replies: ‘Thank God! There’s electricity!’”

Although it may seem macabre, these very human moments signify the resilience and perseverance of a society attempting to keep itself together. In another essay, “Love and Loss in a Time of Revolution” by Nada Bakri, we read about the author’s emotional experience of living through the loss of her husband, Anthony Shadid, also a journalist, who died from something as routine as an asthma attack while reporting on the front lines in Syria.

Zaina Erhaim, a journalist from Syria, examines life as a feminist in a conservative country as she tries to exercise her independence and not wear a head covering. As time goes on, she relents for her own safety and begins to wear a hijab. Although she finds this practice constricting, it also gives her access to spaces with women, like hospitals, where men aren’t allowed. Through this, she recognizes the advantages of being able to move through locations other journalists cannot.

At times difficult to read, this essential essay collection will bring a more nuanced view of the Middle East from voices you probably haven’t heard, and the depths of experiences will force you to find the courage to understand and not look away.

Although there has been coverage of Arab and Middle Eastern countries in Western media for decades, how often do we hear from women in these countries? In this groundbreaking collection of essays, Our Women on the Ground, Lebanese—British journalist Zahra Hankir assembles the writing of 19 different sahafiyat (female journalists) from across the Middle East, including Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Libya, Egypt and Palestine. In these powerful essays, journalists recount their harrowing, dangerous and sometimes painful experiences, both as women reporting on Middle Eastern conflicts and as people trying to survive along with everyone else, with their lives and spirits intact.

NonfictionSocial Science

This Land Is Our Land

Review by Sarojini Seupersad

There are few literary voices today who explore the intricacies of human migration better than Suketu Mehta. It’s a subject he knows well—as a journalist, but also as an immigrant in the U.S. who has lived in cities all over the world and descends from a family of “mercantile wanderers.” To him, migration is just life.

But today, intense deliberation over immigration is a prevailing concern. All across the globe—but especially in Western countries, from Spain to the U.S. to the U.K.—countries are closing their borders to all refugees and immigrants, with devastating results. In his new book, This Land Is Our Land: An Immigrant’s Manifesto, Mehta delivers an emotional, timely polemic railing against this trend of fear, discrimination and hatred that has gripped so many countries, especially ours.

In a heroic effort to dispel racist, destructive myths surrounding immigration, Mehta travels from city to city speaking to people at places like Friendship Park at the Mexican-American border. He also visits other countries like Morocco and the United Arab Emirates to hear the heartbreaking stories of regular people trying to migrate for a better life.

With humanity and keen insight, Mehta explores why people are migrating with higher frequency and explains why immigrants throughout history have always elicited reactionary views and backlash. But most importantly, he explains why we should stop falling for the same hateful rhetoric over and over again. Drawing from the history of racism and colonialism, he makes a case for why refugees and migrants have a positive influence on society instead of a negative one. His simple answer to anyone who asks why immigrants are coming here is: We are here because you were there. 

Pulling from history, personal experiences and intimate profiles, Mehta examines the backlash to immigration, what’s behind it and why we have good reasons to be hopeful about the future.

There are few literary voices today who explore the intricacies of human migration better than Suketu Mehta. It’s a subject he knows well—as a journalist, but also as an immigrant in the U.S. who has lived in cities all over the world and descends from a family of “mercantile wanderers.” To him, migration is just life.

NonfictionHistoryAmerican History

Ghosts of Gold Mountain

Review by Sarojini Seupersad

In this necessary historical text, Stanford University history professor Gordon H. Chang explores and interrogates the largely forgotten yet crucial American history of the Railroad Chinese—the large group of Chinese workers who, from 1864 to 1869, built the western portion of the Transcontinental Railroad in the United States. Through the perilous conditions of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the deserts of Utah, these workers connected east and west for the first time and modernized our transportation system, and society, in the process.

Though no firsthand accounts of the Railroad Chinese have survived the decades since, Chang artfully reconstructs the lives of these industrious migrants—from the Pearl River Delta in southern China all the way to their lives to California and beyond—by citing census data, folk songs, newspapers, letters, payroll documents and historical photographs. Through these sources, we experience their daily lives and dangerous work struggles and learn about the integral contributions Chinese workers made to the construction of the United States.

Chang also highlights the striking parallels to our modern-day fight against racism and bigotry. At the end of the 19th century, Chinese workers in the United States dealt with violence from Americans, feelings of being unwelcome, brutal work conditions, unfair pay practices, being portrayed as an inferior race in the media, lack of citizenship (it was illegal to grant citizenship to non-whites), lack of representation and ugly statements from elected officials like California governor Leland Stanford: “Asia, with her numberless millions, sends to our shores the dregs of her population.”

Through his careful scholarship, Chang serves as a passionate advocate for Chinese workers on the Central Pacific Railroad who were not wanted, but were needed. He explores workers’ strikes, and he shows how the Railroad Chinese found their agency as they worked west to east and recognized their own contributions to our modern American landscape. With this text, Chang sheds light on a forgotten history and honors the lives of the Railroad Chinese and their vital contributions to the nation.

In this necessary historical text, Gordon H. Chang explores the largely forgotten yet crucial American history of the Railroad Chinese who, from 1864 to 1869, built the western portion of the Transcontinental Railroad.
NonfictionSocial Science

Good Kids, Bad City

Review by Sarojini Seupersad

In 1975, three young black men (two were teenagers at the time) were sent to death row after they were convicted of the vicious murder of a salesman outside of a convenience store in Cleveland, Ohio. Despite there being no physical evidence tying them to the crime, they were arrested and convicted solely on the testimony of a 12-year-old boy, Edward Vernon. Years later as an adult, Vernon recanted his testimony, and the three men were exonerated after spending several decades in prison.

Told with profound empathy and deeply researched history, Good Kids, Bad City: A Story of Race and Wrongful Conviction in America uncovers the shameful story of the longest wrongful incarceration in the history of the United States to end in exoneration.

In his debut, Washington Post journalist Kyle Swenson expertly unravels two connected stories: the personal histories of three innocent black men (Wiley Bridgeman, Kwame Ajamu and Rickey Jackson) who were sent to prison for almost four decades for a murder they didn’t commit; and the history of Cleveland, a city embedded in an unmovable, corrupt system that allowed gross injustice to thrive. A formerly booming industrial town in the early 20th century, Cleveland was falling apart by 1975 from decades of neglect, systemic racism, poverty and police corruption. With dramatic, cinematic detail, Swenson connects this to a larger problem by showing how federal policies on both the war on drugs and the war on crime have devastated targeted communities in Cleveland and across the country, and have resulted in one of the most overburdened and draconian justice systems in the western world.

Though small reforms and cosmetic changes may be slowly lifting the burden of history, this book questions the very nature of the justice system—and whom it benefits.

Told with profound empathy and deeply researched history, Good Kids, Bad City: A Story of Race and Wrongful Conviction in America uncovers the shameful story of the longest wrongful incarceration in the history of the United States to end in exoneration.

Business & Finance

Dr. Carl L. Hart

Interview by Sarojini Seupersad

In Dr. Carl L. Hart's enlightening book Drug Use for Grown-Ups, the professor of psychology shares the findings of his research into the effects of recreational drugs and argues that their illegality is much more harmful than the drugs themselves. We chatted with Dr. Hart about the war on drugs, the stigma of being a drug user and the pursuit of happiness in the United States.

Drug Use for Grown-Ups sets out to challenge many myths and cultural norms around drug use and drug users. What’s the most important thing you hope readers will take away from your book?
The complete title of my book is Drug Use for Grown-Ups: Chasing Liberty in the Land of Fear. The most vital arguments of the book focus on the concept of liberty as guaranteed by our Declaration of Independence. The declaration states that each of us is endowed with certain unalienable rights, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and that governments are created for the purpose of protecting these rights. I use the topic of drug use—because it’s my area of expertise—to show how we, as a society, are failing to live up to the country’s noble promise to all citizens. For instance, the adult use of drugs in the pursuit of happiness—as long as it does not infringe on the rights of others—is an act that the government is obliged to safeguard. Yet hundreds of thousands of politically inconvenient Americans are arrested each year for using drugs, for pursuing pleasure, for seeking happiness, while the general public remains virtually silent. My conscience will no longer allow me to remain silent about this injustice or my own drug use.

Why do you think these myths and norms deserve to be reexamined? Why now?
Many of the myths that we believe about drugs are more damaging than the drugs themselves. They have led to countless preventable drug-related deaths and disproportionately high incarceration rates among Black Americans, and they have prevented us from exploring new treatments and healthier, more humane policies.

Why now? The summer of 2020 has shown with brutal clarity that Black life in the U.S. is valued less than white life. This book not only predicted events such as the police killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, but it also shows a path forward to reckon with these chilling events and prevent them in the future.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our starred review of Drug Use for Grown-Ups.

You are an advocate for legalizing and regulating all drugs, including drugs that are considered by many to be dangerous, like opioids. What is one way that legalization and regulation would help to control overdoses and addiction?
Our labeling of certain drugs as “dangerous” is biased against drugs that are currently illegal. Alcohol is potentially more dangerous than heroin in many ways, as shown in the book. During alcohol prohibition, for example, hundreds of thousands of people were maimed or killed due to drinking alcohol produced in illicit stills. There were no quality controls on the drug, and drinkers were forced into the shadows, which are both factors that can can increase toxicity. The problem went away when Prohibition was repealed. Likewise, today most people who overdose on opioids do so because of tainted opioids obtained in the shadows of the illicit market. Legally regulating the market would dramatically reduce opioid overdoses because it would introduce a level of quality control and decrease opioid users’ social isolation.

You open your book with this quote from the writer and critic James Baldwin: “If you want to get to the heart of the dope problem, legalize it. . . . [Prohibition is] a law, in operation, that can only be used against the poor.” How has this quotation informed your views on the war on drugs? Why was this quote important to include?
Baldwin recognized that adulterants contained in “street” drugs are frequently far more dangerous than the drugs themselves and that a legally regulated market would help keep people safe. Equally important, Baldwin predicted what actually happened with drug law enforcement: Drug laws are selectively enforced such that poor and Black people are the primary targets.

Baldwin’s quote is so important because he said it in December of 1986, 34 years ago. Today, all of the evidence backs up his assertion. I find it remarkable and disappointing that we still haven’t heeded his advice.   

According to your book, the chemical composition of methamphetamine and Adderall are almost the same, yet they are considered vastly different drugs with different effects. Why do drugs that are virtually the same in composition have different legal statuses and social perceptions?
The legal status and social perceptions of psychoactive drugs are rarely determined by pharmacology or science alone. Oftentimes, if a specific drug is perceived to be used primarily by a despised group, exaggerated media stories that connect use of the drug with heinous crimes, addiction and other adverse effects will dominate the airwaves. This is designed to influence public perception and public policy. It also justifies the subjugation of those deemed inconvenient.

"Rates of drug addiction are much lower than I once believed."

Do you consider the illegality of certain drugs to be an infringement on civil liberties? If so, how?
Absolutely! For example, each American citizen is guaranteed at least three birthrights: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Undoubtedly, many people use drugs in their pursuit of happiness. And as long as these individuals do not infringe on the rights of others, then they should be left alone to pursue happiness as they see fit. 

You argue that the criminalization of drug use is more harmful than the drugs themselves. Can you explain this idea?
A frequent outcome of drug prohibition is the proliferation of novel, potentially more harmful substances. For example, today we have seen an explosion of fentanyl analogues onto the illicit drug market. These chemicals produce opioidlike effects and are frequently passed off as heroin to unknowing consumers. The problem is that fentanyl analogues are far more potent than heroin, meaning a small amount can produce an overdose. Thus, if an unsuspecting person consumes a large amount of a fentanyl analogue thinking it is heroin, the consequences can be fatal. This is a frequent, predictable and preventable outcome caused by heroin prohibition.

As a clinical researcher of drugs and addiction, what has been the most surprising finding in your research so far?
Perhaps the most surprising finding from our research is that the predominate effects produced by so-called drug abuse are actually positive. Also, rates of drug addiction are much lower than I once believed.

"I hope readers will be less likely to vilify individuals merely because they use drugs."

In your book, you speak to experts who have dealt with their own countries' drug problems in more humane ways that the United States' war on drugs. Which countries are getting things right? What are they doing differently that has led to better outcomes?
Several countries are on the right path, including the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland, although no country is perfect. Still, in these countries, the first intent of drug policy is to respect users' autonomy and keep them safe, not to infantilize them. Each of these countries has accepted the basic fact that humans will always seek to alter their consciousness through drug use. As a result, they have put policies in place that do not criminalize this pursuit but instead enhance its safety.  

Drug Use for Grown-UpsThe state of Oregon recently decriminalized the personal possession of all drugs, while many more states are legalizing marijuana and citizens across the country are rejecting carceral solutions to drug problems. Do you think we are witnessing the beginning of the end of the war on drugs?
In the U.S., the drug war is quite lucrative, especially for a select few. These include law enforcement personnel, prison authorities and business owners dependent on the prison economy. At the federal level, American taxpayers contribute approximately $35 billion each year to fighting this war. Any serious discussion about ending the war on drugs will have to grapple with finding alternative job prospects for low-skilled, white workers who are the primary beneficiaries of drug war funds.

What do you hope is the outcome of your writing this book?
Broadly speaking, I hope readers will come away with a greater appreciation for the noble ideas expressed in the Declaration of Independence. I also hope they will understand that it is our responsibility to fight for and protect the liberties of others. More specifically, I hope readers will be less likely to vilify individuals merely because they use drugs. That thinking has led to an incalculable number of deaths and an enormous amount of suffering. Finally, I hope readers will recognize the prodigious potential good derived from drug use and develop a deeper understanding of why so many responsible grown-ups engage in this behavior.

"I may not be considered for certain positions, honors or awards. But my conscience allows me to sleep well at night, which is worth more than any accolade."

How has what you’ve learned about responsible drug use shaped your current work or research?
Prior to learning the information expressed in this book, my research questions were shape by the implicit but biased assumption that drugs were bad. This limited my ability to make new discoveries outside the “drugs are bad” framework. Now that I am no longer imprisoned by this type of thinking, I can expand my research focus. For example, one new line of research is investigating the conditions under which positive drug effects are more likely and vice versa. The public health implications of this research are obvious.  

Many of the ideas in your book may be considered controversial. Have you gotten any pushback from the drug research community or from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), which you have worked with in the past?
Yes, of course. Some within the research community may consider me controversial. In science, the term "controversial" is used to dismiss the person saddled with the label. As a result, I may not be considered for certain positions, honors or awards. But my conscience allows me to sleep well at night, which is worth more than any accolade.

What, if any, are the personal and professional challenges you have faced since coming out as a recreational drug user?
As I have gotten older, the thing that matters most to me is my family. Everything else in secondary. Once I was honest with my family about my drug use, other challenges could come as they may. My family understands that I chose to come out of the closet as an act of civil disobedience on behalf of those unjustly persecuted simply because of what they put in their own bodies. I faced far more unacceptable challenges by remaining in the closet.

 

Author photo courtesy of Carl L. Hart

In Drug Use for Grown-Ups: Chasing Liberty in the Land of Fear, Dr. Carl L. Hart makes a thoughtful and persuasive (if controversial) case that everything we’ve been taught about drug use is wrong and that it’s high time we legalize all drugs and consider a more humane way forward.

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