Book Review: “Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson

Reviewed by Bev Scott Just Mercy indicts our “impartial” judicial system. It provokes us to reconsider exactly what is “just punishment” for crime. The author tells how the system often condemns the innocent, passes inhumane sentences for petty crimes and convicts suspects despite contrary evidence. For example, children as young as thirteen are condemned to […]

Book Review: “She Said – Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story that Helped Ignite a Movement” by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey

Reviewed by Bev Scott In 2017 when Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey began to investigate Harvey Weinstein, women were experiencing sexual harassment, despite the laws against it. Women had achieved high-level positions and were highly educated. They had worked non-traditional jobs and broken barriers. But they also endured gropes, leers, propositions, physical advances and rape. Women […]

“Story Power, Secrets to Creating, Crafting and Telling Memorable Stories” by Kate Farrell

Reviewed by Bev Scott What is story power? The power of story is articulated in the foreword written by Susan Wittig Albert and guided by the examples, the process and the steps described by the author, Kate Farrell. Storytelling is so much apart of our lives as we share experiences, give advice and educate our children. We […]

Book Review: “Liberation of Paris: How Eisenhower, De Gaulle and Von Choltitz Saved the City of Light” by Jean Edward Smith

Reviewed by Bev Scott Liberation of Paris by historian Jean Edward Smith, tells a fascinating story of the efforts of three key men that resulted in the liberation of Paris in World War II. The Allies swept across northern France after they broke through the German lines in Normandy. They were pursuing the German army intending to […]

Book Review: “Inheritance, a Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity and Love” by Dani Shapiro

Reviewed by Bev Scott Inheritance by Dani Shapiro, describes her emotional journey when she discovered through DNA testing that she was not related to her older sister, Susie. Susie was the daughter of her father from an earlier marriage. The older sister looked like her Jewish father who Shapiro always revered. Instead, she was different…pale skin, blond […]

Book Review: “Last Boat Out of Shanghai” by Helen Zia

Reviewed by Bev Scott Helen Zia has written a meticulously researched book with colorful and detailed descriptions of Chinese culture, politics and family life. She centers her story on four young people living in the sophisticated, westernized city of Shanghai beginning in the late 1930’s before World War II. Zia uses the lives of these four […]