An UnderratedRead Revisited – They Got Daddy: One Family’s Reckoning with Racism and Faith – Sharon Tubbs

Posted on February 27, 2025 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “This story would reveal parts of who I am, as a Black woman in America, by discovering who my grandfather was.” This was not her original intention though. She wanted to learn more about her grandfather’s legal battles and his subsequent kidnapping, that all started in 1954. Initially this research was…

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We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders – Linda Sarsour

Posted on February 23, 2025 by J D Jung

(reviewed by Ann Onymous ) The title of this book calls each of us, doesn’t it? “What does it mean when we say we are social justice activists, and organizers committed to justice and equality for all people?“ I asked the graduates that afternoon. “It means we have made the decision that we will never…

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The Sable Cloak – Gail Milissa Grant

Posted on February 20, 2025 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) Set against the backdrop of the Jim Crow South, readers are first taken to Greenston, South Carolina, in 1934. We meet Big Will who upon turning eighteen, must join the neighborhood’s vigilante group to keep justice in an area of town that is ignored by white police. Big Will cannot reconcile…

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An UnderratedRead Revisited: The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You: Stories – by Maurice Carlos Ruffin

Posted on February 14, 2025 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “In New Orleans, culture doesn’t come down from on high, it bubbles up from the street.” -  Jazz Pianist Ellis Marsalis (1934-2020) This quote that opens the book epitomizes these stories, as we meet New Orleans residents of all ages and gender identifications just trying to make it day by day. I…

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The Wind on Her Tongue – Anita Kopacz

Posted on February 10, 2025 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) 1872 -Yemaya, who now lives in Cuba, is well known for possessing healing powers inherited from her Nigerian Yoruba Orisha lineage. Her eighteen-year-old daughter, Oya, as the Orisha of storm, wind and weather, also possesses intense abilities. Though unintentional, her powers can be quite destructive. Because of this, Yemaya sends Oya…

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An UnderratedRead Revisited: The Lost Treasures of R & B – Nelson George

Posted on February 5, 2025 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “They were both Golden Gloves boxers and had that good foot work. They both did splits. Weren't afraid to get on the floor. Not spinning like hip hoppers but they would get on their knees to sell a song...That man could get on his knees in his suit and bend backward like…

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An UnderratedRead Revisited: American Refuge: True Stories of the Refugee Experience (Truth to Power) – Diya Abdo

Posted on February 1, 2025 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “When refugees leave, it is rarely, if ever, happy. And it is never something they choose to do. Their bodies, finding no other way to survive, split themselves from their souls, wave goodbye to them, on the fragile hope that soon, they will meet again.” Dr. Diya Abdo knows this firsthand…

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An UnderratedRead Revisited:Shameless: Republicans’ Deliberate Dysfunction and the Battle to Preserve Democracy – Brian Tyler Cohen

Posted on January 28, 2025 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “You can’t understand the Trump phenomenon unless you understand the role that independent media on the right has played in terms of social media, in terms of amplification of his message, in terms of getting his fake news across.” Democrats have yet to create a strategy to compete with the right-wing…

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An UnderratedRead Revisited- Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility – by Rebecca Solnit

Posted on January 25, 2025 by J D Jung

  (Reviewed by JD Jung)   “Nothing is inevitable, and that’s crucial to remember in this fight.” Personally, I have felt both hopeless and helpless when it comes to preserving our planet and fighting climate change. Not Too Late convinced me through its essays and interviews that what I do on an individual basis and…

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Invisible Helix – Keigo Higashino (Author), Giles Murray (Translator)

Posted on January 22, 2025 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “ If you're searching for a crime thriller that grips you from the first page and doesn't let go, Invisible Helix is the novel for you. When homicide detectives investigate a plausible murder: a man floating in Tokyo Bay, shot in the back, they think it will be open and shut.…

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