Vividly portrays the life of a champion who stood up—loudly—to injustice.
When 16-year-old Emma Goldman, who was born into a Jewish family in present-day Lithuania, emigrated in 1885, she couldn’t have imagined that by her 20s, newspapers would dub her the “Queen of the Anarchists.”
Settling in Rochester, New York, she faced prejudice, low pay, and crowded factory conditions. She had a history of speaking out against injustice, but it was the 1886 Haymarket incident, in which eight Chicago anarchists were framed for a riot that killed labor strikers and police officers, that set her on the path to anarchism. Goldman argued that injustices should be addressed through equality and community rather than hierarchical power structures. Relocating to New York City, she joined a group of radical thinkers. Despite terrible stage fright, she was a gifted speaker, drawing crowds in the thousands. Whether speaking on police brutality, birth control, gender inequality within marriage, or conscription, she encouraged people to challenge the status quo. The passion Goldman brought to her speeches and essays carried over into her personal life: She loved dancing and believed in free love, enjoying relationships with many different men. While most of Goldman’s circles seem to have been white, Heiligman weaves in mention of some racial issues of the time. This well-researched and comprehensive but slightly dense account of a fascinating and courageous woman’s life will feel relevant to contemporary teens.
Vividly portrays the life of a champion who stood up—loudly—to injustice. (content warning, notes, bibliography, index) (Biography. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781250823076
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: July 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
Small but mighty necessary reading.
A miniature manifesto for radical queer acceptance that weaves together the personal and political.
Eli, a cis gay white Jewish man, uses his own identities and experiences to frame and acknowledge his perspective. In the prologue, Eli compares the global Jewish community to the global queer community, noting, “We don’t always get it right, but the importance of showing up for other Jews has been carved into the DNA of what it means to be Jewish. It is my dream that queer people develop the same ideology—what I like to call a Global Queer Conscience.” He details his own isolating experiences as a queer adolescent in an Orthodox Jewish community and reflects on how he and so many others would have benefitted from a robust and supportive queer community. The rest of the book outlines 10 principles based on the belief that an expectation of mutual care and concern across various other dimensions of identity can be integrated into queer community values. Eli’s prose is clear, straightforward, and powerful. While he makes some choices that may be divisive—for example, using the initialism LGBTQIAA+ which includes “ally”—he always makes clear those are his personal choices and that the language is ever evolving.
Small but mighty necessary reading. (resources) (Nonfiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09368-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
A powerful reminder of a history that is all too timely today.
A beautifully heart-wrenching graphic-novel adaptation of actor and activist Takei’s (Lions and Tigers and Bears, 2013, etc.) childhood experience of incarceration in a World War II camp for Japanese Americans.
Takei had not yet started school when he, his parents, and his younger siblings were forced to leave their home and report to the Santa Anita Racetrack for “processing and removal” due to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066. The creators smoothly and cleverly embed the historical context within which Takei’s family’s story takes place, allowing readers to simultaneously experience the daily humiliations that they suffered in the camps while providing readers with a broader understanding of the federal legislation, lawsuits, and actions which led to and maintained this injustice. The heroes who fought against this and provided support to and within the Japanese American community, such as Fred Korematsu, the 442nd Regiment, Herbert Nicholson, and the ACLU’s Wayne Collins, are also highlighted, but the focus always remains on the many sacrifices that Takei’s parents made to ensure the safety and survival of their family while shielding their children from knowing the depths of the hatred they faced and danger they were in. The creators also highlight the dangerous parallels between the hate speech, stereotyping, and legislation used against Japanese Americans and the trajectory of current events. Delicate grayscale illustrations effectively convey the intense emotions and the stark living conditions.
A powerful reminder of a history that is all too timely today. (Graphic memoir. 14-adult)Pub Date: July 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-60309-450-4
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Top Shelf Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 4, 2019
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