Zac's staff picks:
Journalist and science historian Elena Conis presents a sweeping history of the chemical compound DDT. Conis places the history of DDT in the context of American industry and health regulation, building on the revelatory work of Rachael Carson’s Silent Spring. She takes us to the floors of Congress where the health impacts of chemical spraying were debated and argues that the history of DDT did not stop after being banned in 1972. She follows small towns in rural America where generations of people felt (and still feel) the physical toll of spraying. Conis makes you wonder whether the history of DDT is behind us and ask, what’s inside our bodies right now? ~Zac
Erdrich's novel weaves together two narratives unfolding in rural 1950s North Dakota. One follows Thomas Wazhashk (based on Erdrich’s grandfather), the night watchman at a local factory and a Chippewa Council member. Another follows Pixie ‘Patrice’ Paranteau, a young adult who works at the factory, doing everything she can to support her family. Erdrich follows their two journeys in alternating chapters – Thomas Wazhashk is fighting federal policy threatening the rights/identities of Native Americans, while Paranteau is holding her family together while searching for her lost sister. Erdrich intertwines history with a story of love and survival -- a masterclass in using narrative to shine a light on the untold stories of our past. ~Zac
In the late 1990s, Hua Hsu experienced a tragedy when his close friend, Ken, was killed in a violent carjacking. The two had forged a friendship while attending UC Berkeley, one that Hua defines through their differences: Ken liked Dave Matthews, Hua couldn’t stand mainstream music; Ken wore Abercrombie & Fitch, Hua spent hours thrifting; Ken was Japanese American and had family in the US, Hua is the son of Taiwanese immigrants who spent time abroad. Over the last twenty years, Hua has been processing his friendship with Ken, the parallels between their lives, and what it means to come of age in the shadow of tragedy. His memoir, Stay True, is that story. ~Zac
In Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish, David Rakoff presents a series of 12 loosely connected vignettes. Each story, beginning with a young slaughterhouse worker in the early 1900s and ending with a disrupted marriage at the turn of the 21st century, is connected to a theme in the book’s title. But here’s the novel’s quirk: it’s written all in verse. Rakoff, an essayist and contributor to This American Life, died in 2012 shortly after finishing the novel. In Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish Rakoff weaves heavy stories -- about love, abuse, poverty and death -- into the light, beautiful rhythm of couplets. ~Zac