Literary Journalism – …on the B.L.

Difficulty: II
Length: III
Quick Review: A look into the pitfalls, the successes, the struggles, the reality of being a woman in the United States today.

Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner is a founder of MomsRising and works tirelessly to promote women’s rights through public speaking, campaigning, writing, and, yes, marching. Keep Marching is a look into the status of women in the United States. It’s incredibly well researched and accessible. I will refer to the author as KRF for the rest of the post because it is simpler.

I am always wary of feminist books, especially when written by white women. Feminism, historically, has left women-of-color out of the narrative, out of the statistics, and out of the picture. From the beginning of Keep Marching, KRF preaches inclusivity and intersectionality. Thankfully, she follows through.

I don’t want to give too much away. KRF discusses topics falling into three categories: Our Money, Our Bodies, Our Communities. Under these categories our right to choose, pay gap, motherhood, immigration, laws, and more are discussed at length.

Full of statistics, Keep Marching is both distressing and shows signs of hope for women and society. Motherhood is a recurring topic as it is a central component in many women’s lives, even those who are not mothers face obstacles based on reproduction. Women of color are often overlooked, and KRF includes statistics to show just how left behind they are. The stats are often given for women as a whole, but also given based on ethnic background, socioeconomic background, motherhood status, and more.

The book is separated into three parts discussing different topics in chapters. The reader is not bogged down solely in statistics. There are many anecdotes supporting her claims and statistics. The stories also show the struggles every day women face from all backgrounds. They ground her argument in reality. At the end of each chapter, there is a short section about taking action. In case the chapter sparks your interest or lights a fire under your butt, you now have a resource to help you know where to start.

As a cofounder of MomsRising, KRF has been a part of legal reform on state and federal levels. She often reiterates the phrase “we won” giving a sense of hope. An important theme to keep repeating. If we connect, support, fight, and raise our voices as a group, women can win. When women win, society wins. KRF gives many examples showing that when women win we all win. Investing in the future and success is an investment in society. She gives a lot of statistics on how society improves when women are involved at all levels because people need proof to take women seriously…. Or at least, that’s my experience.

It feels like Keep Marching is directed at white women. It is important to educate all women, but KRF makes it important to highlight the battles woc face. White feminists have left this group of women out of the discussion, and KRF is doing her best to include them. I was really impressed by the fact KRF focused so much on the different groups making up women. We are a group, but we are a diverse group, most of whom are consistently overlooked.

None of the information was new to me, but KRF does an excellent job laying out the information in an appealing and educational format without losing the reader.

Title: Keep Marching; How Every Woman Can Take Action and Change Our World
Author: Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner
Publisher: Hachette Books
Copyright: 2018
ISBN: 9780316515566

Read Yes
Length 320
Quick Review Six men put everything on the line to protect their fellow Americans during a brutal attack in Benghazi, Libya on the eleventh anniversary of 9/11.

Zuckoff writes an enthralling account of the men who protected an American safe hold in Libya on Sept ember 11, 2012. I had a hard time putting the book down once I got into it. As an American who watches as little news as possible when the word Benghazi is mentioned, it has an air of sadness to it. Although, I never really knew the particulars of what happened. To be honest, I would be surprised if many do. It is thought of as a sad moment in a sea of depressing incidents we live in post 9/11.

Zuckoff focuses on the six men who put their lives on the line that night. He wants the book to be impartial telling the events as the Annex Security Team remembers them with no political implication. It would be hard to call the book completely impartial because there were more people present that night than just the members of the Annex Security Team. It would have been interesting to hear their accounts of the night as well.

It’s hard not to begin the book optimistically because, like Titanic, the ending is already common knowledge. If it isn’t to you, I won’t spoil the depression.

Zuckoff makes it easy to get to know the Annex Security Team. He has an incredible ability to take himself out of the narrative allowing each man’s personality to bleed in when necessary while staying factual. Zuckoff spends a great deal of time describing people and places. The descriptions can drag a little over geography, but he includes diagrams making it possible to skim those sections to look at the pictures instead.

This is incredibly moving and a testament to the men who put their lives on the line to protect their country and their people. Their complexities come through in how they view the world, each other, and their superiors. It is always important to remember that heroes are people, and Zuckoff is able to portray this sentiment clearly throughout.

13 Hours is an important read for anyone who wants to be aware of recent history. Unfortunately, the events are not isolated, and similar attacks and atrocities happen all over the world to more or less media attention.

Memorable Quotes
“Oil had yet to be discovered, so no one wanted colonial responsibility for an impoverished, bombed-out Arab sandbox.”
“…telling each other that the United States had gotten its money’s worth for teaching them how to be soldiers.”

Title: 13 Hours; The Inside Account of What Really Happened
Author: Mitchell Zuckoff and the Annex Security Team
Publisher: Twelve (Hachette Book Group)
Copyright: 2014
ISBN: 9781455582273