5 Powerful Book Reviews to Help You Choose Your Next Read

I’ve challenged myself.

It’s a challenge that will probably take at least five years to complete, but it’ll be worth it. I’m going to read at least one book from an author from every country in the world. The aim of such a challenge, however, is not to simply finish a list with 197 elements or to be able to brag. It’s deeper than that. 

Reading books written by people from every nationality means getting involved with far-away realities, experiences, and cultures. So far, I’ve read authors from 54 countries. However, I have already noticed that many authors, from Europe to the Americas to Asia and Africa choose to address liberty, whether directly or indirectly, in their writings — mainly civil liberties.

As an activist for liberty myself, liberty is the topic I like to read about the most. So, here I will suggest five contemporary books — whose authors are still alive, and from five different countries — that approach liberty in different but meaningful ways.

“Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets” by Svetlana Alexievich

“Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets” is a documentary book written by a Belarusian author and investigative journalist that addresses life under Soviet rule and immediately after the fall of the USSR.

Based on real stories, the book consists of reports by citizens of different ages and from all across the former Soviet Union, from Belarus to Tajikistan. It puts on display some of the horrific experiences that common people had to face during the Soviet dictatorship, such as deportation to the gulag, seeing loved ones killed, being prosecuted for ethical or political reasons, and struggling to acquire proper living conditions.

Alexievich, though, tries to be impartial. She interviewed people from both sides of the coin, so some of the reports in the book belong to people who champion and miss Soviet times. However, it is clear that such people either held positions of power during the former system or were compelled to express a certain point of view.

Want to read more by the author of this blog post? See: Sprouting Vegetables of Liberty 

After reading this book, one can understand why Alexievich was awarded a Nobel Prize for it. The reports are vast, diverse, detailed, raw, and emotional. Through them, one can experience a kind of time travel, access a true historical document, and reflect on what liberty really is.

“Black Ghost of the Empire” by Kris Manjapra

Kris Manjapra was born in The Bahamas, to a family of Indian and African background — the latter descending from slaves. In “Black Ghost of the Empire”, the author addresses the long history of slavery that haunted and devastated entire Black populations through several centuries, focusing on six key moments, each of them explained in a chapter: 

• “Making Africans Pay, Gradually, in the American North”
• “Punishing the Black Nation in Haiti” 
• “British Antislavery and the Emancipation of Property”
• “Rewarding Perpetrators and Abandoning Victims Across the Caribbean” 
• “From Civil War to Dirty War Against Black Lives”
• “Global Jim Crow and Emancipation in Africa”

These chapters allow the reader who desires to become more informed on the topic to dive into the most crucial details surrounding slavery, the slave trade, and the African Liberation Movement in the Americas, Europe, and Africa. 

While crudely displaying the horrors perpetrated by oppressors, even lesser-known ones, Manjapra also praises diverse figures who passionately fought for Black people’s civil liberties and rights, such as Frederick Douglass and William Du Bois, as well as many common citizens who were able to tackle discriminating laws or flee the owners who kept them captive. Additionally, one can learn more about the three nations that emerged either from slave rebellions or to shelter freed slaves: Haiti, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading historical works, since it contains vital and generally unknown information that will make you think and even change your perspective.

“Time Shetler” by Gueorgui Gospodinov

When Gueorgui Gospodinov, a Bulgarian author, wrote “Time Shelter,” I believe he wanted to address the exact topic he proposed in the title: time. Time and its surrounding concepts, like memory and the past. 

However, on purpose or not, I believe he also addressed very well the concept of liberty.

My synopsis: A psychiatrist creates a clinic in Zurich for people with dementia, in which each floor is decorated as a 20th-century decade. The idea quickly spreads all over Europe and leads to referendums that aim to bring back a certain decade in each country.

The countries, naturally, pick decades associated with happiness and glory. Portugal, for instance, is brought back to the 70’s, right after the Carnation Revolution. Spain is brought back to the 80’s, five years after its liberation from Francoism. 

Most of the former Eastern Bloc countries pick the 90’s, the decade in which they finally managed to become free from communist dictatorships. Germany chooses the 80’s, driven by the thirst of reaching 1989. Switzerland picks the present day (Switzerland is currently one of the freest countries in the world, both in economic and social terms.)

Looking for a book by a Russian author? Watch our video on Ayn Rand and consider picking up one of hers.

Besides containing meaningful insights and reflections on topics like Alzheimer’s disease and Euthanasia, “Time Shelter” brings the reader on a time trip through the European 20th century — a century, all things considered, of liberty and progress.

“I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced” by Nojood Ali and Delphine Minoui

The challenge of reading authors from every country implies having to read works with titles like the one above. “Age 10 and Divorced” was published in 2008 and is the memoir of then-10-year-old Nojood Ali, a Yemeni child who was forced to marry a much older man. The book was ghostwritten by French journalist Delphine Minoui.

The situations described in the book are tormenting and bring the reader into the female reality in Yemen — a reality with a lack of rights and painfully few personal liberties.

In 2008, Noujood Ali lived in Sana, Yemen’s capital, in a home with eight siblings and unemployed parents who made their children beg for money in the streets. Due to such poor conditions, her father decides to accept the proposal of a 30-something man to marry his daughter. The reason: so the home would have “one less eating mouth”. (The same thing had happened earlier, with Ali’s sister, Mona, who had married an older man at the age of 13 and ended up getting pregnant.)

Ali’s wedding contract was signed by Ali’s father, plus her future husband, Faez Ali Thamer. Ali was not allowed to say a word, and after the marriage, she was obliged to use a black niqab while going out, which covered all of her body except for her eyes, and she was moved to the village of Khardji with her husband and his family.

Ali and Thamer were married for only a few months, but that was enough time for her to go to hell and back. Despite having promised Ali’s father not to touch her until puberty, Thamer raped the 10-year-old girl daily, beating her if she resisted.

After making her husband allow her to visit her family in Sana, Ali reunited all the physical and mental forces she possessed and headed to the capital’s main court, in a Herculean act of bravery, to ask for a divorce. Fortunately, she found lawyers and judges who were empathetic toward her case, and the divorce was executed. Her now ex-husband was never punished.

Learn more: Does Child Labor Help Children in Poverty?

Ali’s case attracted journalists and activists from around the world; Glamour Magazine made her Woman of the Year. The book also inspired many young girls in Yemen to fight for divorce and raise awareness of women’s rights around the country.

Sadly, 16 years later, Nojoud Ali’s life is still not free from chains. Little is known about her whereabouts at the moment, due to the interests of the Yemeni Government in hushing up her case because of the bad reputation it brought to the country. 

What is known is not good. Allegedly, Ali was unable to travel abroad, having her passport confiscated by the authorities. Furthermore, sources close to her claim she married another man in 2014 (at the age of 16), had children, and was unable to finish her education. 

“The Auschwitz Escape” by Joel C. Rosenberg

I read this book years before I started the country challenge, but it stuck with me and I decided to include it here because of how powerful it is. 

Its plot is simple to describe: Set in Nazi Germany, it follows the path of Jacob, a young Jewish man who is sent to Auschwitz but manages to escape. The author, Joel C. Rosenberg, offers a dualistic vision of the protagonist’s life before and after liberty. 

First, we are confronted with Jacob’s quotidian life in the town of Siegen. He’s devastated after the murder of his parents and little sister. Then, we see his deportation to Auschwitz and get to read every horrific detail about his experience in the concentration camp, from inhumane living conditions to physical mistreatment. Finally, we learn about his escape and life after running away from captivity, along with his camp counterpart Jean Luc Leclerc, a pastor who was detained for hiding Jews.

Jacob’s story is fictional but based on true events. At least 144 Auschwitz prisoners were able to flee, many of whom lived to give their testimonials. Things like torture, genocide, and concentration camps were real during Nazi Germany and, unfortunately, still are in many parts of the world. 

I believe, however, that this book can raise awareness of horrors that should never be forgotten and spread the message that it is possible to escape from oppression. Because literature opens doors and minds, and books are pivotal tools for stimulating reflection and incentivizing action.

These are five books I believe can inspire people in the fight for liberty, but I’m looking forward to reading many more.

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