Underrated Reads

The Folly of Realism: How the West Deceived Itself About Russia and Betrayed Ukraine – Alexander Vindman

Posted on March 29, 2025 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “Without Ukraine, Russia is a country; with Ukraine, it’s an empire.” Without an independent Ukraine we will see an acceleration of authoritarianism. This war is a fight between authoritarianism and democracy. So how did we get here and what do we do to ensure that democracy prevails ? Former Director of…

Posted in American Politics, History, Non-fiction, Politics and Social Justice, Reviewers' Top Picks | Tagged authoritarianism, democracy, Russia, Ukraine | Comments Off

Cellar Rat: My Life in the Restaurant Underbelly – Hannah Selinger

Posted on March 25, 2025 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) Hannah Selinger graduated from Columbia University but found herself working as a server at a hometown dive. She eventually moved back to New York and found employment at some of the most trendy, high-end restaurants. First working as a server, then "cellar rat" (stocking the wine cellar) and eventually as a…

Posted in Non-fiction | Tagged abuse, memoirs, New York City, restaurants | Comments Off

An UnderratedRead Revisited: The Wishing Pool and Other Stories – Tananarive Due

Posted on March 22, 2025 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) You’ll keep looking over your shoulder as you read these eerie stories of horror, with a little science fiction sprinkled in, in The Wishing Pool and Other Stories. The title piece, “The Wishing Pool” features Joy, a woman returning home to North Florida to visit her father who is suffering…

Posted in Revisited | Tagged African-American, aging, horror, race, short stories, society | Comments Off

An UnderratedRead Revisited:Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World – Anne Applebaum

Posted on March 18, 2025 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “The autocracies want to create a global system that benefits thieves, criminals, dictators, and the perpetrators of mass murder. We can stop them.” Historian and journalist Anne Applebaum, suggests what democracies can do to save their political systems and why we should fear these present-day autocracies in her latest book, Autocracy,…

Posted in Revisited | Tagged autocracy, China, democracy, dictatorship, Iran, murder, politics, Russia, social justice, Venezuela | Comments Off

My Bully, My Aunt, and Her Final Gift – Harold Phifer

Posted on March 11, 2025 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) Hal endured a tumultuous upbringing under the cruel hand of his Aunt Kathy. While his mother suffered from severe mental illness, it was Aunt Kathy who had to step in to raise him and his two brothers—though "raise" might be too generous a term. Her favoritism toward Hal’s older…

Posted in Bios and Memoirs, Non-fiction | Tagged abuse, death, family dysfunction, mental illness | Comments Off

Ugliness – Moshtari Hilal, Translated from the German by Elisabeth Lauffer

Posted on March 6, 2025 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) In this deeply personal book, author Moshtari Hilal interweaves memoir, history, and sociology to explore the painful realities of feeling "ugly" in a world that prioritizes symmetry and Eurocentric beauty standards. Born in Kabul, Afghanistan and later moving to Germany she relates her lifelong insecurities about her "crooked" nose and…

Posted in Bios and Memoirs, History | Tagged Afghanistan, beauty, culture, Eugenics, fascism, Middle East, plastic surgery, ugliness | Comments Off

Dying For Gold: The True Story of the Giant Mine Murders – Lee Selleck & Francis Thompson

Posted on March 2, 2025 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by Christopher J. Lynch) This is an exhaustive book…but it needs to be to properly tell the story of one of the worst labor disputes in Canadian history. In the early 1990s, the remote town of Yellowknife, in Canada’s Northwest Territories, was thrust into a labor dispute – and into the national spotlight, when…

Posted in History, Non-fiction | Tagged Canadian history, labor | Comments Off

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…

Posted in Historical Fiction, Reviewers' Top Picks | Tagged African American history, family, Jim Crow, racism, segregation, St. Louis | Comments Off