Books like Homeward Bound — picked by fans

This book is a brilliant collection of essays highlighting “race rebels,” where Kelley looks outside of traditional politics and organized movements to find Black resistance to forces such as white supremacy, labor exploitation, and war. Kelley focuses in on the everyday lives of working-class Black men and women, highlighting a “hidden transcript” of expression and resistance in things like music, language, dance, and choice of dress.  He elevates the political potential found in these cultural elements, urging historians to see these “style politics” in the social and economic contexts which give rise to them, for they are powerful and worthy of our attention.

In this academic work, Hale explores what she terms as “spectacle lynchings” and the shift from private to public violence. Hale considers how newspapers, photographs, and radio broadcasts brought news of these brutal scenes to an audience of tens of thousands. Through her careful examination, Hale lays out how the media shaped a national narrative that is relevant for both understanding conversations about racial violence and for considering how mass media shapes our current perspectives.

Gail Bederman expertly weaves together an analysis of the discourses of manliness and civilization at the turn of the century, highlighting the way ideas about gender and power are constructed with and through ideas about race. Her case study approach really shows how this discourse functioned in multiple ways at the same time, covering Theodore Roosevelt’s hugely impactful connections between race and manliness right alongside Ida B. Wells’ campaign to use civilization discourse against white southerners in a bid to end lynching.  These, along with chapters on G Stanley Hall and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, ably demonstrate the way discourses can be constructed, used, and resisted.  Readers come away understanding how widely accepted notions of progress and national strength hinge on exploitative and damaging ideas about race and gender in American culture.

I chose this book for two reasons. First, Cowie masterfully documents the hugely significant political and social shift that took place in the 1970s, as America transitioned from the liberalism of the New Deal era to the conservatism of the Reagan revolution. And second, he assumes that culture is just as important as economics in the constructions of and understandings of social class.  Cowie engages the reader in a fascinating look at popular culture to reveal the ways in which a coherent white, working-class male identity fell apart, a process that contributed to the overall decline in organized labor’s power in this crucial decade.  As a bonus, the book is beautifully written. 

While I am not quite into the fourth quarter of my life, I am not far, and as a baby boomer and one in the senior living field, the topic of aging comes up all the time with similarly aged friends, coworkers, and relatives.

We all feel the same way—we don’t want to be helpless bystanders in determining how the last 25 years of our lives will look. We all know people in their 70’s and 80’s who are remarkable; mentally and physically fit, with active, happy, purposeful lives. We also know many who seem so much older than their actual age and who represent our worst fears of aging. But there are so many charlatans looking for desperate or gullible people to spend their money on anti-aging trends that may as well be snake oil for all of their worth.

This is the book I was thrilled to finally… show more.

This book is particularly good for anyone who was/is in the baby-boomer generation and/or who had issues with their mother.

I identified with Meyer’s ongoing struggles with her mother, a mother who was born during a period when women were normally not allowed to stretch their wings and live their own lives. This was my situation and – in hindsight – I often wonder if many of my personal struggles with my mother were due to the fact that I was afforded so many more opportunities than my mother, through no fault of her own.

Although the title of this non-fiction book suggests the level is for teenagers, as a baby boomer, I thoroughly appreciated the author’s portrayal of the historical arc of the war.

Hands down, it’s a great book for adults as well. Mack-Jackson’s timelines and descriptions of the major battles and military strategies, including the prelude to World War II, are very well researched and written for easy comprehension of a worldwide war.

The allegiance to country and sacrifices to a cause beyond self of the Greatest Generation American soldiers, pilots, and sailors can never be doubted after reading this book.

I don’t know Richard Jackim, but Peter Christman is the founder of EPI, and this book is often described as “Where exit planning for business owners began.” It was the first to outline exit planning as a process that requires a team. It discusses tax and legal strategies, coordinating with estate planning, and developing a plan for due diligence. Written mostly for advisors, the focus is on the M&A process for middle market companies, but no list of exit planning books would be complete without it.

I loved this book because I related to it in so many ways. During 2017, I stood at the crossroads of uncertainty as corporate layoffs reverberated through the U.S. economy. The weight of being laid off was heavy on me and my peers. For seven years afterward, I submitted tens of thousands of applications without receiving an interview. After a short while, each rejection took an emotional and psychological toll on me. But I am relieved this author knew exactly what I went through. Over time, I saw myself not as a corporate mid-level employee but as a resilient innovator who can navigate a rapidly changing world. 

I, too, believe we Gen Xers have been often overlooked but are rich with untapped potential. The world has changed dramatically. The COVID-19 pandemic, a divisive political environment, and rapid technological advancements have forced my fellow Gen Xers and me to adapt to… show more.

Michael Zwecher’s Retirement Portfolios is a classic that lays out the case for thinking about retirement from the income perspective, instead of just in terms of portfolio returns.

It provides the philosophy behind income flooring, whether that is done from a lifetime perspective or from a founding of building the income floor rung-by-run over time. This book helped to establish the foundations for treating retirement income planning as distinct from traditional investment management and wealth accumulation.

This book is fairly technical.