Rating: WORTHY!
From an advance review copy for which I thank the publisher.
I had some issues with this one (not least of which the sub-title 'people who changed the world'? In some cases, yes, but for most, not hardly!), but I support its aims, and so I commend it as a worthy read. The book has thirty chapters, not all of which are devoted to a person. Some chapters have a secondary story (called 'The Flop Files') about someone or something, as well as inset boxes with very brief stories, so it's packed with information.
That's where my issues came from though: some of the information is somewhat misleading or doesn't tell the whole story. The chapters cover these topics:
- Barack Obama with a sub-story about Ta-Nehisi Coates.
- Kehkashan Basu
- Alan Naiman with a sub-story about Virginia Apgar.
- Nick Foles with a sub-story about fireworks.
- Emma Gonzalez with a sub-story about the 54th Mass. volunteers.
- Ryan Coogler with a sub-story about George Lucas.
- Bryan Slat
- The Reggae Girlz with a sub-story about the USNW soccer team.
- Lin-Manuel Miranda
- John Cena with a sub-story about Michael Phelps.
- Joan of Arc
- Socrates with a sub-story about Mary Shelley.
- Phiona Mutesi with a sub-story about Queen Victoria.
- Stephanie Kwolek with a sub-story about penicillin.
- Robert Indiana with a sub-story about Specks!
- All American Girls Professional Baseball League
- Carvens Lissaint with a sub-story about Bette Graham.
- Christina Martinez
- Ayanna Presley with a sub-story about William Wilberforce.
- Mohammed Al Jounde
- Mindy Kaling with a sub-story about Kalani Brown.
- Patricia Smith
- Carl Hayden Community High School Robotics Squad with a sub-story about The Toronto Raptors.
- Jeremy Stoppelman with a sub-story about Norm Larsen.
- Beyoncé Knowles with a sub-story about Bruce Springsteen.
- Greta Thunberg with a sub-story about Angela Zhang.
- Lois Jenson
- New Orleans Superdome
- Grace Hopper with a sub-story about Janet Guthrie.
- Haifaa Al Mansour with a sub-story about Roxane Gay.
As I mentioned, I had some issues with some of the information presented here. I don't undertsand some of these pairings. Putting the US Woman's national (soccer) team with the reggae Girlz (also a soccer team) makes sense, but pairing Emma Gonzalez with the 54th Mass. volunteers? Does the author not realize that rampant ownership of military grade weapons is the driving force underlying Gonzalez's campaign? I doubt she'd want to be associated with an actual military outfit! Phiona Mutesi with a sub-story about Queen Victoria? However, those are just quirks so I really not much bothered about that. Below are some examples of the issues I'm really concerned with.
The achievements of the US women's national soccer team (USWNT) have been extraordinary, but they went out of favor with me after strutting all over the Thailand team which they beat 13-0 in 2019. I never thought I'd see a women's team behave like Donald Trump. The book has nothing to say about that, attempting to silence critics of their unconscionable behavior by quoting Mariah Burton Nelson who apparently claimed that criticism of the women's team stems from a fear of successful women! That's not only arrogant, blinkered, and presumptuous, it's plain wrong to blindly tar everyone with the same ill-advised brush. Personally I don't fit into that pigeon-hole.
I've been highly supportive of the women's team and enjoyed their success for many years, but I can't support a team harshing like that on fellow women when that opposing team was quite clearly outmatched. I didn't even have a problem with their scoring of 13 goals. What I objected to was the theatrics after every goal, as though the goal had been scored miraculously against impossible odds when there had been no such achievement. The insane strutting and posing after every single goal was shameful exhibitionism shaming a team that was clearly being overwhelmed.
If the USWNT had done that same thing against a more equally-matched team like the Brazilians, or the Germans, I would have had no problem with it, because then it would have been earned, but this was not, and it diminished the US team to behave like that. I support women in sports and equality, especially in pay and especially for the USWNT after all they've achieved, but that same team has fallen steeply in my esteem after that shameful and embarrassing exhibition.
On the topic of Charlotte Brontë, yes, Robert Southey did tell her that "literature cannot be the business of a woman's life," but what this book doesn't mention is that he did praise her talent. I found that omission to be dishonest. It makes it sound like he was completely negative and dismissive of her when all he was doing was expressing the prevailing sentiments of the day among men. Yes, that's unacceptable, but back then it was the norm. It's misleading to portray him as some arrogant jerk of a guy walking all over a novice female writer.
I'm not sure why Stephanie Kwolek was paired with a sub-story about penicillin, but since Kwolek worked for Dupont which has, at best, a questionable record with regard to what I shall call 'chemical abuse', a word about those failures might have been a better use of space than one about penicillin. Not that Kwolek was involved in the invention or the ill-advised use of Teflon, but still!
I'm not sure why basketball player Kalani Brown was included as a sub-story with comedy writer and actor Mindy Kaling, but Brown's story is hardly one of failure! She missed four free throws in a row? So what? She came from a family of sports players so she had a leg-up into her sporting life, and was no doubt not a stranger to losing a game here and there much less to missing a throw. That story seemed odd and hardly fit into the theme of the book.
Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, Or the Modern Prometheus was hardly the failure it's represented as being here. No, it did not take off as a best-seller from day one, but it was well-received (despite some criticism) and it sold well in her lifetime. A better story would have been to tell how Mary bounced back after her husband drowned.
One of the inset box stories talks about Eliud Kipchoge, a marathon runner, but the box makes no mention of the sponsorship he got from Nike, and the fact that he wore controversial and specially-designed running shoes for his attempt! These are the same kind of 'augmented' shoes that were under critical review recently, and which several other people have broken records while wearing.
That's all I'm going to write about the issues I had. I think the book in general is well-written and tells an important story about not giving up, but I'm not sure it makes it clear enough that giving up on one thing to turn attention to another is an important part of life and success. The diversity in the book is commendable, but it's also very sports-heavy and once again it's very USA-centric as though only important success stories occur in North America, and the rest of the world not so much, but while I dislike that kind of dangerous nationalism, I do consider this a worthy and inspiring read overall.
