119. In the Shadow of Statues: A White Southerner Confronts History - Mitch Landrieu

The blog is back!

I heard Mitch Landrieu, the former mayor of New Orleans, speak on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah about his book shortly before it was going to be released.  He shared a really honest and revealing perspective of his controversial decision to remove several prominent Confederate statues, and I immediately bought the book online. 

I hadn't realized that Mayor Landrieu had initiated the conversation about removing the statues well before the national conversation started (which was mostly after the massacre in Charleston).  I appreciated Mayor Landrieu's acknowledgement of his ignorance in trying to understand the pain behind Confederate images for black folks.  He admitted that he grew up seeing these monuments and other Confederate images every day, and didn't think much about them.  He only was forced to consider them when he asked his good friend, Wynton Marsalis, to come back and perform for the City's tricentennial.  Marsalis conditioned his acceptance on Landrieu considering removing the statue of Robert E. Lee.

Landrieu did a deep dive into learning the history of the Confederate monuments and understood that they were constructed to send a specific message to African Americans more than they were to ever serve as a memorial to those who were killed in the war.  Marsalis asked Landrieu why he thought so many black folks left NOLA (Louis Armstrong left there, and even refused to be buried there).  Landrieu soon realized that "they are not of our age, nor of our making, and they deserve no prominence in our city."  He also realized that he had the best chance at making the removal happen, because he was a white mayor toward the end of his second term (this was around 2015). 

I remember hearing about the removal of the statues in the news, but I had no idea about all of the violence and drama leading up to the removal.  White supremacist groups surfaced.  The city had contracted with a company to effectuate the actual removal, and the owner of that company pulled out after he started receiving death threats and his sports car was set on fire while parked in his company's driveway.  The FBI had to get involved in the planning and preparation, SWAT teams were staked out the days the removal happened, and the employees of the contractors involved wore bullet proof vests and face masks, covered the logos on their company’s trucks, and removed their license plates.  The statues came down in May of 2017. 

A significant part of this book was about Hurricane Katrina, and those stories were really sobering. Landrieu was honest, even where it wasn't pretty.  It was striking to read stories about sites in NOLA that I had just visited over Memorial Day weekend a few months ago.  The Hyatt Regency, where I stayed, was ground zero for coordinating emergency operations, because it was just across the street from the Superdome, which of course was serving as an emergency shelter for thousands of people, and behind City Hall, which was flooded.  Clergy from Alabama set up a grill outside of Harrah's Casino to cook food for people who were taking shelter at the Superdome. 

Overall, this book was a fantastic read. I have to admit that the first third or so moved slowly for me (a bit of the history of Louisiana and New Orleans, setting the framework for the story of NOLA politics, etc.), but it was important for context.  I wish I'd finished reading it before my trip to NOLA, but now I have a better understanding and perspective of the city for the next time I go back!

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118. The Next Big Story: My Journey Through The Land of Possibilities - Soledad O'Brien

Anyone who reads my blog knows that I'm a huge CNN junkie - so naturally I had to read the autobiography of one of my favorite anchors (I woke up to her on American Morning every morning when I was in law school). I also had to get it autographed when she was doing a book signing at the CNN Center!

Soledad (I can call her that - she told me when I met her :) ) shares her life story - from growing up in an all-white town in Long Island as the daughter of a white man from Australia and a black woman from Cuba - to her discovery of her true calling to become a journalist - to her amazing stories from working at CNN, including her Black in America and Latino in America documentaries.

One of the stories that stood on the most to me was when she was discussing with Rev. Jesse Jackson how CNN needed more black anchors. He started ranting and saying that there were no black anchors on the network at all. Soledad interrupts him to remind him that she's the anchor of American Morning (which he knew - he had been a guest on the show!). "He looks me in the eye and reaches his fingers over to tap a spot of skin on my right hand. He shakes his head. 'You don't count,' he says." Apparently she spoke to him later and found out that he honestly didn't know that she was black. Her point was poignant: "That is how precise the game of race is played in our country, that we are so easily reduced to our skin tone. That even someone as prominent in African-American society as Reverend Jackson has one box to check for black and one for white. No one gets to be in between."

Soledad's stories from New Orleans after Katrina and from Haiti after the earthquake brought tears to my eyes. I love one point she made about Haiti: "It is almost as if the Americans are responding to a disaster in this nearby foreign country as a way of making up for Katrina. The land is peopled up by another group of black folks crying out for help. There is something about this that feels a bit redemptive, like folks who just took matters into their own hands and collectively screamed: We care."

My only complaint is the writing style - I loved the writing styles of journalists like Malcolm Gladwell and Anderson Cooper, but I found her style to be a bit choppy.  But overall - a great book.  

117. Straight Talk, No Chaser: How to Find, Keep, and Understand a Man - Steve Harvey

As much as my mom and I loved Steve Harvey's last book, Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man, (she still quotes from it like it's the Bible!), I pre-ordered this book on Amazon as soon as I heard about it. I should have known that the second is never as good as the first.

The main crux of this book is to explain what motivates men - and how women can use that to get more of what they need from relationships. In my opinion, one of the better chapters was on how to minimize nagging (something that, according to my boyfriend, I could use some help with!). Something as simple as a man saying he'll do the dishes can turn into a huge argument if his woman goes into the kitchen at 10 p.m. and sees that they're not done. A lot of women would blow up - which, of course, would ruin the mood for everyone. But Harvey gives advice on how to talk to a man in a way that moves him to action - and keeps the peace. Although sometimes commonsensical, Harvey gives some advice that's good to remember: adjust your tone, let your man get to what needs to be done in his own time, choose your bottles, understand what's a priority for men, and don't take over the task - especially with an attitude.

There was also a great chapter on how showing some gratitude can go a long way. "[M]en and women are both expert on taking each other for granted. We treat the everyday efforts we make on behalf of each other as commonplace - something as unnoticeable as our own heartbeats. But just like we praise God for waking us up every morning with the blood still pumping though our veins, we could stand to look our partners in the eyes and say, 'thank you for all that you do.'" SO true!

Harvey also discusses other topics: how women need to get over the whole "men are intimidated by me because I'm successful" thing (it's more because if a woman keeps saying that she has everything and doesn't need a man - then she probably doesn't); and how if you're single and looking, "presentation is everything" (don't write it off: he makes good points).

The reason I don't rave about this book is that it seems that Harvey was just trying to publish another book while he is still hot, knowing that women (like me) who loved the first one would run to buy the second one. However, he didn't say much of anything new. It wasn't a waste of time to read it - but it was probably a waste of money to have bought it.

116. Love Your Life: Living Happy, Healthy, and Whole - Victoria Osteen

I'm a huge fan of Joel Osteen, so I figured I'd be willing to give his wife's book a shot. While it wasn't a complete waste of time or money, I have to be honest and say that Victoria definitely didn't discuss anything new or groundbreaking. This was a pretty run-of-the-mill "self-help" book for women from a Christian perspective. She gives a lot of general advice about things like well-balanced relationships, gaining confidence, and keeping the right perspective on life through various anecdotes and stories from the Bible.

I have to admit that there were a few stories that really touched me. In the chapter about living with confidence, Victoria tells the story about Miss USA competing in the Miss Universe pageant in 2007. During the evening gown competition, she fell on her "backside" in front of the entire ... well, universe! But she got right back up and finished her walk. During the final phase of the competition, a judge asked her: "If you could relive any moment in your life, what moment would you relive?" How many of us would have immediately said something like, "I'd like to relive my life about ten minutes ago in a different pair of heels?" So many times we want to relive our mistakes or our embarrassing moments. But Miss USA talked about reliving the time that she worked with orphans in South Africa. She chose instead to focus on her strengths and relive those instead of focusing on her weaknesses. What a great lesson!

Victoria also gives some great lessons about having patience and communicating well in relationships. One part that really stuck with me is when she said, "Our relationships are precious, valuable treasures from heaven, and we should handle them carefully, always looking for ways to build bridges to each other's hearts. It is so important that we choose to focus on the long-term effects of our decisions instead of the gratification of the moment."

Although this was a decent book, I think the only reason it was a New York Times Bestseller was because of the name recognition from her husband. I wouldn't recommend that anyone put it on their must-read list.

115. Call Me Ted - Ted Turner

It's impossible to live in Atlanta and not see the influence that Ted Turner has had over the city ... Turner Field; CNN Studios; Atlanta Braves; Atlanta Hawks. What I didn't understand is the influence that he has had over the media industry, the nation, and the world.

Turner is a man who is part narcissistic; part humanitarian; and completely fascinating. Even though he never finished college, his intelligence and experiences with his dad's billboard business led him to become one of the wealthiest men in the world. In his book, he shares stories of his tyrannical father who sent him off to boarding school at age four; his passion for sailing; his difficulty in maintaining his marriages, including his most recent marriage to Jane Fonda; and his insane idea to start a 24-hour news service (read my review of CNN: The Inside Story to learn more!).

This is a book worth reading on so many levels. The maneuvering of Turner Broadcasting taught me a lot about business. Apparently, after Turner Broadcasting merged with Time Warner, someone had the idea to merge with AOL during the dot com boom. By that point, Ted Turner was no longer on the Board of Directors - so he essentially wasn't running his own company anymore. AOL's stock was completely overvalued, so after the merger Turner ended up losing millions of dollars from the deal. The book also talks about the difficulties in starting CNN taught me about the media industry. I even learned more about the United Nations (who knew that he donated $1 billion to the United Nations Foundation?!).

The last paragraph in this book was so powerful:

I've often considered and joked about what I might want written on my tombstone. At one point, when I felt like I couldn't get out of the way of the press, "You can't interview me here" was a leading candidate. In the middle of my career, I considered, "Here lies Ted Turner. He never owned a broadcast network." These days, I'm leading toward "I have nothing more to say."

Ted Turner has his faults, but he is truly an amazing man. I can't recommend this book more highly.

114. CNN: The Inside Story - Hank Whittemore

The fact that I read this book - about the history of CNN - proves that I'm a CNN addict! (I found it at a used bookstore in Marietta for 50 cents. It was written in 1990 ... but hey, history doesn't change!).

Most people know that Ted Turner started CNN, but they don't know all that he was up against when he did it. He had already done really well for himself after he took over his father's billboard business by investing in radio and TV stations. He got the idea in the 1970's to start a 24-hour cable TV station (back when cable TV was still pretty new) ... and absolutely everyone told him he was crazy. The "three networks" (CBS, NBC, ABC) each had yearly budgets of about $100-150 million, and CNN had a projected budget for its first year of $30 million.

The stories about how CNN got up and running were great - and the anecdotes about Turner were even better. The man is crazy - CNN wasn't even profitable yet, and he started CNN2 (now HLN) to cover all bases to exclude his competition (CNN had a one-hour news cycle - he wanted one with a 30-minute news cycle). And he definitely wasn't afraid of suing people to get what he wanted! But honestly, he's an entrepreneurial genius ... and that's why he is where he is now (I work near the CNN headquarters, Turner Broadcasting, and Turner Field ... you get the point). That's why I've decided to read his autobiography next ... honestly, this book was a bit hard to get through. The author sometimes told the same stories from several different points of view, which got a bit long. So while the stories about Turner and many of the stories about how CNN finally got off the ground were great, I think Turner's autobiography might be better than this book.

113. The Help - Kathryn Stockett

Without a doubt, this book has jumped to the number one spot of my "best fiction books" list. My blog followers know that I hate reading books that are more than 400 pages long - but I couldn't put this 458-pager down. It was worth every page!

The story follows black maids and the white families they work for in Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960's. It's told from the perspective of three different women. Skeeter Phelan is a white, college-educated woman who wants to be a writer, but her mother won't be happy until Skeeter's frizzy hair is tamed, she keeps lipstick on, and she finds a husband. Aibileen (my favorite) is the maid for the family of Skeeter's friend, Elizabeth Leefolt. Aibileen is an amazing and brave woman who has raised seventeen white children, but who still feels pain over the loss of her own son several years ago. Minny is Aibileen's best friend, and has a mouth on her that's gotten her fired from almost twenty different jobs. But she can cook better than anyone, so with some finagling from Aibileen, she manages to land a job working for Miss Celia - a busty blond who "wears more goo on her face than a hooker" and who the other white women in Jackson can't stand.

When Skeeter has a shot at writing a book that could get in front of the eyes of a New York editor, she decides to write anonymously about the experiences of black maids in Jackson. After the difficulty of convincing these black women with families to share their stories with an inexperienced white woman during the tumultuous '60's, Skeeter hears stories of the pain behind them being forced by their employers to use separate bathrooms - usually, out in the garage - because of "Negro diseases" and the white children they raise who call them "mama" and then grow up ordering them around and accuse them of stealing. The maids risk a lot to come together and share their stories with Skeeter, who has her own problems with her friends in the Junior League finding out what she's doing and accusing her of being an integrationist, her ailing mother, and her relationship with the son of a prominent state senator.

The dialect in which most of the book is written; the depth of the characters; the detail with which Stockett writes ... when I was at work for the past few days, all I wanted to do was run home and read this book! I couldn't recommend anything any more highly. I know this book came out last year, but Stockett lives in Atlanta and so I hope she makes a stop for a reading/signing at a local Borders; and it's already being made into a movie, so I will be first in line for tickets when it comes out!!