stefanicox's Reviews (519)

Such an interesting book! I'm not even really a football person myself, but the way that Bissinger navigates the complicated pull that football had on the town of Odessa was really well-done. He navigates issues including educational priorities, town pride, economics, race, and many others through the lens of one football season. It's definitely a little dated at this point (written about the 1988 season), but the issues included and portrait of America that Bissenger is presenting are timeless.

All you ever wanted to know about the death penalty and more. Okay, maybe that's not a very enticing intro. Really, it's a bunch of stories that Stevenson tells about his legal clients fighting death penalty sentences. It's not just about them in prison, but also their lives before that. As someone who's really interested in the ways race intersects with the American criminal justice system this was a must read. My one star removal was only for the legal jargon that he can get into at times, but it's not too intense, and worth wading through.

I learned a ton about restaurant culture and restaurant workers by reading this book. It's a great information for anyone who hasn't worked in a restaurant (or who has and wants to know more about the challenges many restaurant workers face). Jayaraman is clearly super passionate about her work and has made some serious positive strides in an industry of low-wages and rampant gender/race discrimination. There's a bit of repetition after a while, however.