I've Been Meaning to Tell You by David Chariandy

I’VE BEEN MEANING TO TELL YOU by David Chariandy is a letter written to his thirteen year old daughter. This short text, just 91 pages, is sure to be compared to Between the World and Me and Dear Ijeawele, both of which are in our collection. An award-winning author, Chariandy grew up in Toronto (and now lives in Vancouver) with immigrant parents from Trinidad so he offers a unique perspective. There are times when this thoughtful and very emotionally powerful letter is less critical of a single group (or nation other than Canada) and speaks directly to all of us: “We live in a time, dearest daughter, when the callous and ignorant in wealthy nations have made it their business to loudly proclaim who are the “us” (those really “us”) and who are the alien and undeserving “them.” But the stories of our origins offers us a different insight. The people we imagine most apart from “us” are, oftentimes, our own forgotten kin.”

Chariandy also contemplates the experiences of each generation, reflecting on how his daughter’s childhood is different from his own and on the lives of his own parents who “experienced many indignities and deep body aches, sacrifices and shortages, but they worked hard and they managed to raise a writer who is also a professor of literature, a fact of which they are proud but also, at times, perplexed.” 

Very poignantly he notes, “children always sense more than their parents are willing to say.  Children read stories in pauses and silences, from irritation and sadness, from the grief and fear behind brave faces. And children sometimes choose silence.” That reinforces the importance of sharing and discussing texts like I’VE BEEN MEANING TO TELL YOU with our students, especially as we strive to explore social emotional learning this next school year.   

History in perspective ...

Here are thoughts on some recent non-fiction books dealing with historical topics:

IF YOU ASK ME by Eleanor Roosevelt contains her “essential advice” on ten issues that reverberate today, including women, race, politics, religion and health.  Based on her advice column which appeared in Ladies Home Journal, this will be a fun – and eye opening – book for students to consult.  Each answer is followed by the date it appeared in brackets, like this: “Do you really think all men are created equal? Yes, but they do not always have an equal opportunity for development, either before or after birth. [November 1943]” IF YOU ASK ME has a short introduction written by one of Roosevelt’s granddaughters, several pages of notes, a bibliography, and suggested additional reading, plus a series of photographs on the end papers.   

Readers, especially students, will be surprised by the relevance to today of many of the comments that “ahead-of-her-time” Eleanor Roosevelt made decades ago. 

HEIRS OF THE FOUNDERS by H. W. Brands is subtitled “The Epic Rivalry of Henry Clay, John Calhoun and Daniel Webster, the Second Generation of American Giants” and focuses on a period of history about which I particularly enjoy reading.  These three men were indeed political titans and skilled orators. Brands does an excellent job of relating key events in their lives, including multiple failed attempts to achieve the Presidency. The debate over nationalism versus states’ rights, plus regional differences (East vs. West and North vs. South) of this era (roughly 1810 to 1850, from the war of 1812 to the Missouri Compromise) are highlighted as well.   

A best-selling author, Brands holds the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin; two of his books, The First American (about Benjamin Franklin) and Traitor to His Class (about FDR), were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. Teachers and students of American history will find HEIRS OF THE FOUNDERS to be very readable – almost like a novel. It contains pictures of the three men at various ages and of their homes and offers extensive notes and a comprehensive index.  HEIRS OF THE FOUNDERS received a starred review from Library Journal.   

 

IMPEACHMENT: AN AMERICAN HISTORY is the combined work of four authors: Jeffrey A. Engel (who writes about the Constitution and discusses Donald Trump in an Introduction and Conclusion); Jon Meacham (on Andrew Johnson); Timothy Naftali (on Richard Nixon); and Peter Baker (on Bill Clinton).  Clearly, these writers are knowledgeable scholars and have created a powerful text, filled with relevant quotes like this one from Gerald Ford (1970): “What is an impeachable offense? An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history.” They contrast the circumstances and motivations of the three times when impeachment has been used, arguing that there were strong political motivations in the cases of Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, but more bipartisan support for the clearer case of “high crimes and misdemeanors” involving Richard Nixon’s actions. IMPEACHMENT: AN AMERICAN HISTORY received a starred review from Kirkus ("impeccably researched and well-presented").

On a related note, see also Meacham’s recent reflection in The New York Times on George H. W. Bush. 

To Obama by Jeanne Marie Laskas

I read several memoir type books lately and the best of the group is TO OBAMA by Jeanne Marie Laskas, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh who has written seven books including Concussion and Hidden America.  In TO OBAMA, Laskas shares the story of how President Obama read ten letters per day, an attempt to stay connected with average citizens he served.  

In describing this book, the publisher (Random House) points out that Obama was the first president to interact daily with constituent mail and to archive it in its entirety. Roughly ten thousand letters a day arrived at the White House filled with emotion and “love, joy, anger, and hope,” as Laskas’ subtitle says.  The letters are a wonderful, historical insight into the country as citizens looked for jobs and tried to recover from the Great Recession, or attempted to get health insurance with the Affordable Care Act, or simply wanted to praise a student’s good grades or ask for homework help.  You, too, can see samples of the letters and hear a few being read in this recent article which appeared in The Guardian. I was amazed and happy to learn that a DAILY word cloud was created based on the letters’ content and then shared with White House policy makers, reminding them of the issues and ideas most on the minds of constituents.  It is truly refreshing to think about how all of the professional and volunteer readers cared and followed up on correspondence – in our school library we have exhibited the letter our students received from President Obama. This is an inspirational book reminding us of the power of servant leadership, compassion and empathy.