Front Table Newsletter 10/14

On this week’s Front Table, confront the aftermath of the War on Terror through a true account of justice, violence, and belief, and trace the brief, brilliant life of a tech prodigy whose search for meaning unravels across Taiwan and Silicon Valley. Reconsider the paradoxes of progress with a searing critique of “Woke” culture, and descend into a feverish portrait of a young man haunted by family curses and the weight of inherited pain. Discover the creative spark that animates the animal world, and follow the rise of Afrobeat’s most defiant son in a vivid graphic retelling. Finally, enter the toxic afterlives of disaster housing and the collective struggle for breathable futures. 

Race Against Terror: Chasing an Al Qaeda Killer at the Dawn of the Forever War
(Atria Books)
Jake Tapper

June 2011: The case has been cold for nearly ten years when a terrorist fleeing the Arab Spring turns himself in and confesses to killing American soldiers in Afghanistan. This brazen act sets off an unlikely chain of events that puts the entirety of the American justice system to the test. They have the killer, but no evidence to prove the murders happened. Through intense reporting and meticulous recreation, Race Against Terror tells the story of a man radicalized to enact violence, and the true costs of the War on Terror.

Spent Bullets: A Novel
(HarperVia)
Terao Tetsuya; Kevin Wang (trans.)

Set in Taiwan and the Silicon Valley, a collection of linked stories that explore the meaning of success and the purpose of existence, centered on the short life and long shadow of an engineering genius who descends deeper into despair while rising higher on the professional ladder. A searing look at our time and culture, Terao Tetsuya exposes the absurdity of striving: to make money, to be a better person, to be someone you're not. With cool, calculating precision, he illuminates the promise and peril of gifted young people who patiently bear the burdens of their fate.

We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite
(Princeton University Press)
Musa al-Gharbi

Society has never been more egalitarian--in theory. At the same time, social and economic inequality have exploded. We Have Never Been Woke argues that these trends are closely related, each tied to the rise of a new elite. Their dominant ideology is "wokeness" and, while their commitment to equality is sincere, they actively benefit from and perpetuate the inequalities they decry. The point of We Have Never Been Woke is not to accuse these symbolic capitalists of hypocrisy or cynicism, but rather, to examine how their genuine beliefs prevent them from recognizing how they contribute to the social problems they champion against. A powerful critique, We Have Never Been Woke reveals that only by challenging this elite's self-serving narratives can we hope to address social and economic inequality effectively.

And I'll Take Out Your Eyes: A Novel
(Algonquin Books)
A. M. Sosa

And I'll Take Out Your Eyes is a defiant, shattering portrait of self-discovery in the face of violence, mental illness, and other dark inheritances. Since the age of seven, Christian has been under the thumb of a curse. He reads its dark signs everywhere: in his bedridden mother's wilting plants; in his brother's estrangement; in his father's glassy stare. Above all, he reads the curse in the mirror, watching himself "turn" into the crow his father always predicted he'd become. Maddened by the city's heatwaves and his own unthinkable desires, often high and drunk, Christian rips through his neighborhood, desperate to escape not only the city but the monster of his pain. But even when he leaves, the curse follows. Can Christian ever be absolved? Or is he condemned to be consumed by the same violence as his father?

The Creative Lives of Animals
(NYU Press)
Carol Gigliotti

Most of us view animals through a very narrow lens, The Creative Lives of Animals seeks to expand that lens. Drawing on a growing body of scientific research, Carol Gigliotti unpacks examples of creativity demonstrated by animals through the lens of the creative process and offers new thinking on animal intelligence, emotion, and self-awareness. Gigliotti provides a new perspective on animals as agents in their own lives, as valuable contributors to their world and ours, and as guides in understanding how creativity may contribute to conserving the natural world. Presenting a powerful argument for the importance of recognizing animals as individuals and as creators of a healthy, biodiverse world, this book offers insights into both the established and emerging questions about the creativity of animals.


Fela: Music Is the Weapon
(Amistad)
Jibola Fagbamiye and Conor McCreery

In this bold and striking graphic novel, artist Jibola Fagbamiye and writer Conor McCreery team up to tell the remarkable origin story of one of Nigeria's most famous sons, the King of Afrobeat, Fela Kuti, who rose to superstardom with his band Africa 70 in the 1970s, during a charged political period for his nation. As rich and original as its subject, Fela complements the historical with the surreal, featuring parallel dream world sequences, set between this realm and the next, in which Fela receives visions about his future and the dangerous path he will have to walk. Chronicling Fela's perilous journey to capture his destiny, this masterful biographical graphic novel celebrates this enduring legend and his legacy, offering inspiration for our own troubled times.


Homesick
(Duke University Press)
Nicholas Shapiro

Following Hurricane Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, distributed over 120,000 trailers for emergency housing. Produced from engineered wood containing toxic amounts of formaldehyde, these shelters were vectors of illness and death. Although they were subsequently banned, FEMA trailers were resold and again used for housing, scattering their harm to other people and areas. In Homesick, Nicholas Shapiro draws on almost fifteen years working with impacted community members to trace how the story of toxic emergency housing units expands into a story of how all of our shelters became a seat of exposure and the collective struggle for cleaner indoor air.