It All Started With a Cult

Growing up in the 1960s below the Sierra Nevada mountains, from time to time we'd see people shopping in town who were very different from, well, everyone at that time that we ever saw. These people wore overalls but all had shaved heads, and the women wore long earrings. You just never saw that back then. We learned that they were from a group called "Synanon" and that this facility was a drug rehab program. We were fascinated, repulsed, and kept our distance.

In this book, author Mikel Jollett tells his story of starting life in this very group, which maybe started out with good intentions but morphed into a cult. Surprise, surprise! The story is not primarily, however, about Synanon, but about his own family and the evolution of his life outside the confines what you might think would be the worst chapter of his life. Well-written, informative, heartbreaking and hopeful, it is a read you don't want to miss. The book, and the song inspired by this remembrance, will stay with you.

Why Was the Civil War Fought, Again?

There are not words to accurately describe this book, but I'll try. What you may have thought you knew about crime rates, drug use, and "justice for all" will wither away shamefully, and rightfully so, a few pages after cracking this book open. Deeply researched and defended, this was a massive eye-opener for me, and I think it will shape the rest of my life, as it should. Never would I have even dreamt of this information as plausible, at least in this country. Having been so profoundly affected by the vast information in this book, I initially thought it was one I should keep. However, in rethinking things, I believe it should be passed on, and on, and on. In fact, I think it should be required reading in schools, for citizenship tests, and even to vote. (I know, a pipe dream.) If you really want to know what's going on, read it. You will forever think differently about our Constitutional promise that "all men are created equal".

Not to Be Confused With Love

While sexism is still alive and kicking, this novel takes us back to the "Me Decade" (perhaps we should have called it the "He Decade"?) of the 1970s, specifically, 1976. Odessa, Texas is the setting; the oilfields and the stench and the omnipresent compression of white male privilege. The story opens with a brutal rape and is told from the perspective of five female characters, some adult, some not. The grit and grime of West Texas is palpable, and you wonder just how bleak anyone's circumstances were that they would choose this place to stop en route to somewhere better. Abject racism and misogyny reign, bone-deep and no apologies necessary. If you lived through that time, you will remember how it was. The characters will remind you of someone you knew, or someone you were.