September 2023 MBR Reviewer's Choice

Reviewer's Choice

Resurgence of Global Populism
Karyne E. Messina, EdD
Routledge
https://www.routledge.com
9781032064512, $39.95 (softcover)

https://www.amazon.com/Resurgence-Global-Populism-Psychoanalytic-Identification/dp/103206451X

Resurgence of Global Populism: A Psychoanalytic Study of Projective Identification, Blame-Shifting and the Corruption of Democracy will engage college students and adults interested in the connections between political and psychological processes, and is recommended both for individual study and classroom assignment for standout discussion.

Author Karyne E. Messina considers the driving forces for the emergence and propagation of populism, closely examining the logic from which corrupt systems evolve and are promoted and fostered. Her examination moves from country to country as it considers the circumstances, appearance, and propagation of populism in Asia, Europe, and the U.S., drawing important connections and comparisons between the politics and people of different nations of the world. This approach allows for an analysis that juxtaposes cultural and social influences on political processes, following how the psyches of nations and individuals are influenced by populist thinking.

Important connections are drawn between the emergence of repressive laws and the underlying intentions and perceptions of the politicians and lawmakers involved. One such case cited is Austria's banning of headscarves in the name of protection and altruistic perceptions. These types of laws, whether well-meaning or stemming from ignorance, hold wide-ranging ramifications. Messina's attention to defining and identifying circumstances of populist behavior in various world communities and populations moves between legal and political choices and their impacts, drawing connections that help readers understand how the hearts and minds of the public are affected.

While Trump's actions and representations are a primary focus, she places his politics and brand of beliefs within larger perspective, exploring his psychological manipulations and approaches and their impact on the world.

From national histories of democratic efforts and struggles to individual responses and choices, Messina goes beyond identifying problems -- by providing possible solutions concerned readers can undertake to address the effects populist trends have on their own mental health. One such opportunity lies in fine-tuning the pervasive influence of social media. Messina's ability to move from bigger-picture and global thinking to individual choice in reactions and actions offers hope. It ultimately empowers readers to not just better understand the methodology and circumstances of populist influences and efforts, but to identify and mitigate these effects.

In essence, Messina advocates for readers to cultivate a sense of resilience, whether when dealing with an authoritarian ruler or negotiating social media minefields. The result is a powerful blend of history, social and political inspection, and psychological investigation that operate on both a global and individual level to provide readers with food for thought and tools for response.

Much more than a Trump-centric analysis, it places this man's influence and the wellsprings of his approaches into a larger picture of threat readers would do well to better understand. While college-level library collections strong in social, psychological and political issues will be the target audience of this book, ideally it will not reside idly on a library's shelf, but will be chosen for classroom assignment and by discussion groups interested in considering and debating the forces of global populism's rise and effects on society and individuals alike.

The Weekly War
Chris Dubbs, author
Carolyn Edy, author
University of North Texas Press
1155 Union Circle #311336, Denton, TX 76203-5017
www.untpress.unt.edu
9781574418927, $34.95, HC, 336pp

https://www.amazon.com/Weekly-War-Saturday-Evening-Reported/dp/1574418920

Synopsis: An elite team of reporters brought the Great War home each week to ten million readers of the Saturday Evening Post. As America's largest circulation magazine of the era, the Post hired the nation's best-known and best-paid writers to cover World War I.

With the publication of "The Weekly War: How the Saturday Evening Post Reported World War I" co-authors and historians Chris Dubbs and Carolyn Edy provide a history of the unique record Post storytellers created of World War I, the distinct imprint the Post made on the field of war reporting, and the ways in which Americans witnessed their first world war.

"The Weekly War" includes representative articles from across the span of the conflict, with Professors Chris Dubbs and Carolyn Edy complementing these works with essays about the history and significance of the magazine, the war, and the writers.

By the start of the Great War, the Saturday Evening Post had become the most successful and influential magazine in the United States, a source of entertainment, instruction, and news, as well as a shared experience. World War I served as a four-year experiment in how to report a modern war. The news-gathering strategies and news-controlling practices developed in this war were largely duplicated in World War II and later wars.

Over the course of some thousand articles by some of the most prolific writers of the era, the Saturday Evening Post played an important role in the evolution of war reporting during World War I.

Critique: A fascinating and seminal study, "The Weekly War: How the Saturday Evening Post Reported World War I" is informative enhanced with numerous illustrations, fourteen pages of Endnotes, a twelve page Selected Bibliography, and an eight page Index. While also available for personal reading lists in a digital book format (Kindle, $27.96), "The Weekly War: How the Saturday Evening Post Reported World War I" is a singularly unique and very strongly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, and academic library 20th Century Journalism History and World War I collections, as well as college and university supplemental curriculum studies lists.

Editorial Note: Chris Dubbs (https://untpress.unt.edu/authors/dubbs-chris) is editor of American Women Report World War I and co-editor of The AEF in Print: An Anthology of American Journalism in World War I.

Editorial Note #2: Carolyn Edy (https://untpress.unt.edu/authors/edy-carolyn) is the author of The Woman Correspondent, the U.S. Military, and the Press, 1846-1947. She is an associate professor of journalism at Appalachian State University.

Using Computers Effectively
Debojit Acharjee
Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group
4501 Forbes Blvd., Suite 200, Lanham, MD 20706
www.rowman.com
9781475868791, $90.00, HC, 168pp

https://www.amazon.com/Using-Computers-Effectively-Teachers-Knowledge/dp/1475868790

Synopsis: What we can do today with computers was not possible just a couple of decades ago. As the price versus computing power of desktop computers became increasingly reasonable, using a desktop computer for everyday use has become possible for everyone. There was a time when there wasn't much internet speed and computing power to do much like HD gaming and video streaming, which have become as easy as pie these days.

That's why "Using Computers Effectively: How Teachers and Students Can Improve Their Knowledge and Practice" by Debojit Acharjee was written, organized and presented in such a way that it will give overall knowledge about today's computer technology and how it can be used for education .

"Using Computers Effectively" contains all the fundamentals related to computer hardware and software that could be useful for almost anyone who is interested in learning computers. However, the last chapter of this instructional guide and reference is mainly for students and teachers. Of special note is the final chapter with information about using various types of apps and internet resources for doing homework and teaching.

Critique: Comprehensive, informative and thoroughly 'user friendly', "Using Computers Effectively: How Teachers and Students Can Improve Their Knowledge and Practice" is the ideal DIY 'how to' introduction to utilizing the computer today and is especially recommended textbook for highschool, community, and college Introduction to Computing curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Using Computers Effectively" is also available in a paperback edition (9781475868807, $35.00) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $33.25).

Editorial Note: Debojit Acharjee (https://muckrack.com/debojit-acharjee) is a computer professional and enthusiast. He is also a writer and has written many articles on computer technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), blockchain, DevOps, Python, etc. He can be followed on Twitter @debojitacharjee

E.A.T.: An Unconventional Decade In The Life Of A Cancer Patient
Kathy Mydlach Bero
CreateSpace
www.createspace.com
9781986609289, $14.95, PB, 274pp

https://www.amazon.com/T-Unconventional-Decade-Cancer-Patient/dp/1986609286

Synopsis: "E.A.T. An Unconventional Decade In The Life Of A Cancer Patient" by Kathy Mydlach Bero is drawn from her personal journal and is an entirely transparent, honest and relatable accounting of battling cancer through the prism of healing.

Her medical memoire describes how she EVOLVED into her own best ADVOCATE to TRANSFORM her life. "E.A.T.: An Unconventional Decade In The Life Of A Cancer Patient" is not a typical self-help book in that it does not lay out a specific plan or diet, but it does include the list of foods she used as medicine along with a summary of why keeping your microbiome diverse and healthy matters.

Her recovery was not just about using food as medicine, but it also included stress releasing modalities. Bero would like her readers to know that she does not present her story for others to do exactly as she did. Instead, she hopes her readers will find motivation and strength to use an integrative approach to healing. In addition, it was her desire to demonstrate the horrible things cancer patients endure in our current system of care in hopes we can do better moving forward and grow the current protocol box.

Bero's genuine optimism and passion for life is contagious in this candid, honest, and deeply human story that speaks straight to the heart and provides insight into her self-designed healing protocol to overcome stage IV inflammatory breast cancer and a high-grade tumor in her head and neck. In 2005, Bero's life expectancy was 21 months, a mere sliver of time compared to the nearly 17 years she's logged since.

Her story is exactly how it was in real life. Not every moment was full of hope nor every day packed with unfailing support. Bero does not hold back nor does she sugar coat anything. Her insights are a perspective rarely heard and provide critical benefits to patients and health care providers alike. She is brutally honest about the good, the bad and the l can't believe they actually did that, demonstrating that triumph over a disease that feeds from a damaged mind, body and spirit is possible.

Today, her case is being studied as part of Harvard University's People Powered Network of Enigmatic Exceptional Responders looking at individuals with unexpected success battling cancer.

Critique: Candid, detailed, engaging, compelling, memorable, well written, and offering something very precious and timely for readers facing similar life-threatening medical conditions, "E.A.T.: An Unconventional Decade In The Life Of A Cancer Patient" is especially, unconditionally, and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, and academic library Contemporary American Biography/Memoir collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "E.A.T.: An Unconventional Decade In The Life Of A Cancer Patient" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $4.99).

Editorial Note: Kathy Mydlach Bero (https://www.justfortoday.health) experienced a remarkable recovery from two rare and aggressive forms of cancer. She then took her previous advocacy work into a whole new arena. She is a speaker, reiki master and integrative health and cancer coach, working to change the way we look at chronic disease. Prior to her cancer diagnosis, Bero's work ranged widely to include advocacy, facilitation, and consultation along with leadership development in the U.S. and abroad. Bero has been recognized nationally for her significant contributions in environmental advocacy and education, and has executive produced the two-time Emmy award winning documentary "Worth Fighting For'.

The ABC Tour
Jon Udry, author
Ben McCabe, layout designer
Modern Vaudeville Press
www.modernvaudevillepress.com
9780578410852, $25.00

https://www.amazon.com/ABC-Tour-Letters-Venues-Juggler/dp/0578410850

Juggler and comedian Jon Udry completed his 'ABC Tour' which involved 26 shows in 26 different venues, one for each letter of the alphabet. The ABC Tour: A Juggler's Journey from A to Z captures this remarkable achievement as Udry travels to very different venues, represented by A-Z chapter headings that organize this journey ("A is for Aquarium; B is for Bakery; C is for Castle; D if for Doorshop; E is for Eden Project; F is for Forest; G is for Gallery; H is for Hairdresser; I is for Internet; J is for Jail...").

Jon's rules for the tour, in addition to the consecutive nature of following the alphabet, added additional challenges, including: "One of the most important was that each location had to be a non-venue where you would not expect to see a show."

By crafting and controlling the concept of a tour to make its incarnation even more unusual, reaching places and audiences unused to entertainment, Udry expands the nature of his craft to bring it to the attention of diverse audiences who might not otherwise have been exposed to juggling. The tour took over two years to complete. "The ABC Tour" represented yet another self-challenge, because Udry admits in his prologue that "I am a writer in the same way that someone assembling flat-pack furniture is a carpenter or that someone making beans on toast is a chef. That being said, here I am writing a book."

Even in print, the comedy shines. If readers wonder how a performance artist can properly represent the art in written word, Udry's title serves as the prime example of how different mediums can still capture an artistic endeavor.

From funding an unconventional effort that received only skepticism from business managers to the repeated challenges Udry came up with to accompany each venue visit, readers receive a lively set of insights that highlight the effort. Udry doesn't just provide verbal and photographic images of this tour. He covers the thinking process that went into selecting representative environments for each letter of the alphabetic, such as 'K is for Knitting Club': "I loved the thought of performing to an audience of people that were knitting. It just seemed really lovely to me. Before I could start my search for a knitting club, I needed to define what one was. Is it just a group of people knitting? Does this mean the location doesn't matter? If people are knitting in a church, is that a knitting club? I think yes. If they are knitting outside in a field, is that a knitting club? This feels like a no. If they are knitting in an office, is this a knitting club? I think yes. If they are knitting at a bus shelter, is this a knitting club? I think not."

More than a collection of fun illustrations and juggling descriptions, Udry's book excels in pinpointing the whimsy and logical thinking that went into his tour. While performing arts libraries would of course be the logical group interested in The ABC Tour, it would be a shame to limit its audience to fellow performers alone. Jon Udry's ability to reach a non-juggling, non-performer audience with his wit and explorations of organizing tours and establishing their parameters will ideally reach book clubs and discussion groups interested in the intersection of comedy, sport, and performance worlds.

In and of itself, The ABC Tour is a representation of creative thinking that goes beyond its theme to reach audiences interested in exploring self-challenging efforts and ways of thinking outside the box, and is very highly recommended to a wide audience not just of performers, but all kinds of readers looking for creative, whimsical, and thought-provoking fun.

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Midwest Book Review