March 2023 MBR Reviewer's Choice

Reviewer's Choice

OCME: Life in America's Top Forensic Medical Center
Brude Goldfarb
https://brucegoldfarb.com
Steerforth Press
https://bookshop.org/shop/Steerforth
9781586423582, $19.00, PB, 240pp

https://www.amazon.com/OCME-Americas-Forensic-Medical-Center/dp/1586423584

Synopsis: Real life is different from what gets depicted on television or movie procedural crime dramas. Equipped with a journalist's eye, a paramedic's experience and a sardonic wit, Bruce Goldfarb spent ten years with Maryland's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, where every sudden or unattended death in the state is scrutinized.

Touching on numerous scandals, including Derek Chauvin's trial for the murder of George Floyd and the tragic killing in police custody of Freddie Gray, with the publication of "OCME: Life in America's Top Forensic Medical Center", Goldfarb pulls back the curtain on a pioneer institution in crisis.

Medical examiners and the investigators and technicians who support them play vital roles in the justice and public health systems of every American community. During Goldfarb's time with the Maryland OCME, opioid-related deaths contributed to a significant increase in their workload. Faced with a chronic shortage of qualified experts and inadequate funding, their important and fascinating work has become more challenging than most people could ever imagine.

The public gets a skewed view of the relationship between police and medical examiners from procedural crime dramas, Bruce Goldfarb writes of his work inside one of America's most storied forensic centers. In his words -- We aren't on the same team . . . We aren't on any team. The medical examiner's sole duty is to the deceased person. We speak for the dead.

Critique: Exceptionally well written and especially recommended reading for anyone with an interest in criminology, the sociological study of modern medicine, and medical professional biographies/memoirs, "OCME: Life in America's Top Forensic Medical Center" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, and academic library Contemporary Medicine and American Biography/Memoir collections. It should be noted that "OCME: Life in America's Top Forensic Medical Center" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).

Editorial Note: Bruce Goldfarb (https://brucegoldfarb.com/about-2) is a former EMT/paramedic and a nursing school dropout who has written for national and local newspapers, magazines, and web publications. He also wrote and edited several medical texts and reference books. He is the author of 18 Tiny Deaths: The Untold Story of the Woman Who Invented Modern Forensics and served from 2012 to 2022 as the executive assistant to the chief of OCME Maryland.

Disability Pride
Ben Mattlin
Beacon Press
24 Farnsworth St, Boston, MA 02210
www.beacon.org
9780807036457, $26.99 Hardcover/$14.99 Audio CD/$13.99 Kindle

https://www.amazon.com/Disability-Pride-Dispatches-Post-ADA-World/dp/0807036455

The Americans With Disabilities Act reshaped the face of access in America; but until now, its impact on generations pre- and post-ADA has received relatively little close inspection. This is why Disability Pride is such a notable landmark examination, and why any library strong in disability issues needs to include it in their collection.

Ben Mattlin, himself disabled, notes the social, economic, and political influences that define "success" as well as "disability" and "achievement." His exact attention to not just historical developments and social change, but the platitudes and cliches surrounding the perception of disability provides quick (and sometimes brutal) condemnation of the facets of society that would either condemn or overly praise the disabled community for attempting to live life at its fullest. He also considers the hard questions of privilege and the influence of gender, sex, and economic status in the disability mix.

His definition of 'disability pride' of necessity involves the kind of blunt inspection that will likely make readers uncomfortable as they examine their own perceptions of ability, disability, and what constitutes pride: "I inadvertently picked up on a kind of disability code that was common then: minimize the impact, hide it, sweep it aside as a mere personal detail - and get on with your life. This, I see now, was the opposite of disability pride."

Perhaps nowhere else does the impact of the ADA to cut across gender and class status to enable the community to not just enter mainstream America, but take fuller advantage of its possibilities, receive such attention as in Disability Pride. With its history, social inspection, contrast of experiences of different generations of disabled individuals, and the ADA's role in changing the hearts and minds of an entire nation,

Disability Pride provokes the kinds of discussions and insights that should appeal widely to reading groups and those debating generational differences in disability experiences. As Mattlin reviews profiles of a wide-ranging series of individuals, it becomes evident that there is no homogeneity among disabled people. The group's very diversity indicates that its needs, experiences, and perceptions differ widely. All this stirs into the melting pot of the disabled and abled community alike, with the ADA at the heart of new promise and potential for future generations.

Indeed, it's a beginning. Disability Pride should take center place in any discussion of past, present, and future inclusive actions and perceptions of the disabled community as a whole.

Plants in the Civil War: A Botanical History
Judith Sumner
McFarland & Company
PO Box 611, Jefferson NC 28640
https://mcfarlandbooks.com
9781476691312, $39.95, PB, 201pp

https://www.amazon.com/Plants-Civil-War-Botanical-History/dp/1476691312

Synopsis: Slavery was at the heart of the South's agrarian economy before and during the Civil War. Antebellum agriculture (both North and South) provided products essential to the war effort ranging from dietary rations, to antimalarial drugs, to raw materials for military uniforms, and engineering.

With the publication of "Plants in the Civil War: A Botanical History" by botanist Judith Summers draws on a range of primary sources. This unique Civil War history examines the botany and ethnobotany of America's defining conflict. "Plants in the Civil War" also describes the diverse roles of cash crops, herbal medicine, subsistence agriculture and the diet and cookery of enslaved people.

Critique: Occasionally illustrated with black/white images, "Plants in the Civil War: A Botanical History" is a unique and seminal contribution to the growing library of Civil War History & Literature. An inherently fascinating and impressively informative read, "Plants in the Civil War: A Botanical History" is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, and academic library American Civil War collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for students, academia, historians, Civil War buffs, botanists, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Plants in the Civil War: A Botanical History" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $23.99).

Editorial Note: Judith Sumner (https://www.judithsumner.com) is a botanist and an author with particular interest in the historical uses of plants. She is a frequent lecturer for audiences of all kinds and has taught for many years at colleges and botanical gardens.

The Story of Disney: 100 Years of Wonder
John Baxter, et al.
Disney Editions
c/o Disney Book Group
https://books.disney.com
9781368061940, $60.00, HC, 304pp

https://www.amazon.com/Story-Disney-100-Years-Wonder/dp/136806194X

Synopsis: On October 16, 1923, Walt Disney and his brother Roy founded what would become The Walt Disney Company. Walt's passion and vision continues to inspire creative development across the company. As a result, Disney characters (and their stories) have touched the lives of generations of fans. They encourage a belief that dreams really can come true.

Critique: The Walt Disney Company honors its 100th anniversary in 2023. As part of the festivities, "The Story of Disney: 100 Years of Wonder" by the team of co-authors John Baxter and Bruce Steele, and the staff of the Walt Disney Archives beautifully and informatively showcases the company's history and rich legacy (past, present, and future) through vibrant voices and rare Disney concept art and photographs. As the official companion to the touring exhibition by Walt Disney Archives and SC Exhibitions, "The Story of Disney: 100 Years of Wonder" is a simply gorgeous coffee table style (9.5 x 1.55 x 11.3 inches, 1 pound) volume that admirably serves as a treasure trove for pop culture enthusiasts, artists, art collectors, and Disney fans -- and is unreservedly recommended for personal, community, and academic library Disney Theme Park and Travel Guide collections.

Editorial Note #1: John Baxter has written both fiction and nonfiction for a number of publishers, including HarperCollins, Berkley, and Hearst. He has been a featured comedy blogger for the Huffington Post, and is the author of four books for Disney Publishing Worldwide on a number of subjects. The first, Disney During World War II: How the Walt Disney Studio Contributed to Victory During the War (2014), came about as a result of the author's lifelong fascination with the studio. In addition to co-authoring the present volume, Baxter also authored The Disney Conservation Fund: Carrying Forward a Conservation Legacy (2016), ABC News: 75 Years in The Making, and has worked on the Disney Institute's forthcoming new edition of Be Our Guest: The Art of the Customer Experience.

Editorial Note #2: Bruce C. Steele is the editor in chief of Disney's magazine and supervisor of the digital Disney Newsreel and D23.com. He is also a journalist and Disney fan with a long career of profiling the famous and the unheralded, from the pastry chefs at the Biltmore Estate to the stars of Disney's Mary Poppins Returns.

Editorial Note #3: The Walt Disney Archives was established by Roy O. Disney, Walt Disney's brother and Chairman of Board, who determined that significant assets and documents relating to the history of The Walt Disney Company should be gathered and preserved, and that the recollections of key employees should be documented. Chief Archivist Emeritus Dave Smith was officially hired for this purpose on June 22, 1970, and since then, the Walt Disney Archives has curated millions of historic items, including books, art, awards, photographs, merchandise, props, costumes, and much more. The Archives team has assisted in research and review of hundreds of scholarly and documentary works in varied media and produced numerous exhibits for the presentation of The Walt Disney Company's respected and beloved history to the public.

My Days with Emma
Paul Dunion, EdD
https://pauldunion.com
Atmosphere Press
www.atmospherepress.com
9781639885718, $17.99

https://www.amazon.com/My-Days-Emma-Soulful-Elderhood/dp/1639885714

My Days with Emma: A Soulful Path to Elderhood holds the trappings of a memoir combined with the spiritual reflection of an inquiring mind, and is a moving account of a mentor relationship between a senior wise woman and a younger man contemplating aging and life.

The entry into golden years ideally involves a form of inquiry that re-assesses remaining life and choices made past, present, and future. My Days with Emma solidifies and highlights this inquiry process by following the author's journey into being an elder; reviewing the ambiguities of aging, changing relationships between men and women; and considering the promises and purposes of maturity and growth during later years.

Many books have surveyed the spiritual progression of such an effort; but, more so than most, My Days with Emma represents a unique journey not because of its subject, but because of its presentation. Paul Dunion offers a raw inspection of the process of developing compassion, gratitude, and a realization of the special opportunities of this time of life.

Another fine example of the difference between his efforts and other memoirs is the acknowledgement of not just the process, but the difficult challenge of achieving wisdom and clarity: "...gratitude for a single breath was not something I could easily access. It made sense to me and, at the same time, felt extremely foreign." The differences between this concept of 'soulful eldering' and books on aging which talk about how to inject power and prowess into one's revelations for future generations lies clearly on the side of a more spiritual attitude towards not just aging, but one's changing relevance to the world: "Soulful eldering is not interested in arriving but rather in being devoted to serving something larger than oneself."

By entering a potentially foreign place, tackling its possibilities and challenges head-on and with a spiritual flavor to psychological growth, and surveying how a "mature spirituality" unfolds and flowers, Paul Dunion has done the hard work of outlining paths of new positivity, growth, and possibilities.

Spiritual and philosophical-minded readers interested in a different view on aging, meaningful relationships between all ages, and elders who embark on a "soulful path" to discovery will find the encouragement, ideas, and insights in My Days with Emma offer a focus on opportunities which don't exist in most similar-sounding books on either aging or spiritual enlightenment.

Libraries looking for memoirs that hold the potential to reach widely outside the genre of either memoir or spiritual reflection will welcome the opportunity My Days with Emma brings to the discussion table, and can easily recommend it to book clubs looking for vivid reflections that encourage soulful self-inspection.

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