The Inheritors

February 1, 2022

In Race and Reckoning, Cose (The Rage of a Privileged Class) argues that throughout U.S. history racial bias has always shaped key decisions and events (25,000-copy first printing). Ten years in the making, journalist Fairbanks's The Inheritors follows three everyday South Africans over five decades to reveal how the end of apartheid unfolded. From Hager, historian-in-residence at the Presidential Pet Museum, All-American Dogs is organized by historical era to chronicle the 31 U.S. presidents who have kept canines within petting distance at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (100,000-copy first printing; four-color illustrations). Ranging from the early 1800s to the early 2000s, Livingstone reveals the manifold accomplishments of The Women of Rothschild (40,000-copy first printing). In Code Gray, ER physician Nahvi highlights the daily ethical questions faced by doctors in his position (50,000-copy first printing). In Nerd, New York Times critic at large Phillips, who writes about theater and poetry as well as film, shows how pop-culture fan favorites from Star Wars to Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Doctor Who have shaped her--and have much to tell us about society at large (50,000-copy first printing). A multi-award-winning British author who specializes in French history and culture--his biographies of Hugo, Rimbaud, and Balzac were all New York Times Best Books--Robb now gives us France from Gaulish times 'til COVID-19. Journalist-turned-money manager Steinmetz (The Richest Man Who Ever Lived) introduces us to an American Rascal--Jay Gould, richer than Rockefeller or even Croesus and the reason Wall Street's first financial reforms were instituted (50,000-copy first printing). Pulitzer Prize-winning, New York Times best-selling science writer Yong reveals how animals other than humans perceive their surroundings in An Immense World.

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Starred review from May 9, 2022
Apartheid’s legacy of inequality and alienation is outlined in this searching debut from American-born journalist Fairbanks, who moved to South Africa in 2009. Documenting the fallout from the end of sanctioned white supremacy in 1994, Fairbanks focuses on Dipuo (no last names given), a former African National Congress militant who organized against the apartheid government in Soweto in the early 1990s and participated in violence against Blacks suspected of collaboration, and her daughter Malaika, a Black Consciousness activist who protests the ongoing marginalization of Black South Africans. Fairbanks also spotlights Christo, a white lawyer and ex-soldier who fought the ANC in the early 1990s—killing a Black civilian—and is now active in an Afrikaner cultural revival that casts whites as the besieged minority. Fairbanks’s vivid reportage depicts a South Africa awash in racial unease and false consciousness: whites are beset by a sense of dispossession and imperilment—largely unjustified, she argues—tinged with guilt; Blacks, frustrated by intractable poverty and the ANC government’s inability to deliver economic development, denounce systemic racism while wondering if their failures vindicate racist assumptions. Distinguished by its sympathetic yet clear-eyed viewpoint, this vital study lays bare the complex, agonizing predicaments that flow from South Africa’s tragic past. Agent: Gail Ross, Ross Yoon Agency.

June 15, 2022
A contemporary look at South Africa's White supremacy in action. Pulling together more than a dozen stories of South Africans from a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds, Fairbanks--a former political writer for the New Republic who has contributed pieces for the New York Times, Washington Post, and other outlets--paints a sensitive, often engrossing portrait of the nation during and after apartheid. "I sometimes like to tell people recent South African history loosely collapses two hundred and fifty years of American history into about thirty--from our antebellum era into our future," she writes. While the author focuses on three people--anti-apartheid activist Dipuo, her daughter Malaika, and former army recruit and proud Afrikaans lawyer Christo--the many other narrative strands sometimes trail into tangents, not all of which are relevant. The beginning of the book is somewhat disorienting, as the author does little to ground readers in the overall context. Some of the sections of the text are engaging, while others are dry and detached despite the moving nature of the topic. The most memorable parts of the book involve Dipuo and Malaika, both of whom emerge as incredibly strong, even heroic characters. While the author's depth of detail into their lives is important when considering the tumultuous atmosphere in which they live, some readers may be startled by the candid discussions of assault and rape. Though these passages are necessary to convey the gravity of the situations, they will likely distress unguarded readers suffering from their own trauma. The scope of the author's research is impressive, and she is to be commended for taking care to thoroughly and compassionately expose apartheid and the many complex effects that ripple out to everyday people, demonstrating appropriate nuance while allowing no space for the tolerance of oppression. Though the narrative is disjointed in places, readers won't soon forget Dipuo and Malaika. A thoughtful and informative work that could have benefitted from a more cohesive structure.

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