Book reviews

Winter 2005

By Gayla Marty

From M, winter 2005

Check It While I Wreck It: Black Womanhood, Hip-Hop Culture, and the Public Sphere

By Gwendolyn D. Pough

From Queen Latifah and Missy Elliott to the implications of rap in politics and the classroom, Pough offers a personal and compelling study of the role of black women in hip-hop music, novels, poetry, and film. This well-documented book calls on hip-hop's activist roots and energy to "bring wreck" on sexism and misogyny in mainstream society. Pough is an assistant professor of women's studies.

Northeastern University Press, 2004; ISBN 1-55553-607-7; $20.00 pb

Sleeping On Potatoes: A Lumpy Adventure from Manzanar to the Corporate Tower

By Carl Nomura

With charm and gusto, Nomura tells an American story both heart-breaking and humorous, from his father's immigration to the U.S. in 1898 to his own visionary work in the field of semiconductors. The path leads from Japan to Seattle, Montana, and California, including Manzanar Relocation Facility, a dusty "hell on earth" in the high desert for 10,000 Japanese Americans during World War II. The book provides a fascinating glimpse of the University of Minnesota's Institute of Technology in the '40s and '50s and Nomura's pioneering work at Honeywell, from which he retired as a senior vice president.

Erasmus Books/Yurica & Associates, 2003; ISBN 0-970-1947-3-0; $18.95 pb

Abundant Light

By Valerie Miner

Just what the doctor ordered for a winter evening: try one of these 17 stories infused with light, from the baking warmth in a Banff artist's studio to lightning seen from a Calcutta veranda. But what really glimmers is the inner light of Miner's wide cast of characters and their shifting points of view--siblings, partners, old friends, and neighbors. This volume includes stories published since 2001, including two prizewinners, by the author of seven novels and The Low Road: A Scottish Family Memoir. Miner is a professor in the English department, Twin Cities campus.

Michigan State University Press, 2004; ISBN 0-87013-719-0; $16.95 pb

MORE INFO: Contact University of Minnesota Bookstores, located in Coffman Memorial Union and the St. Paul Student Center, at 612-626-0559 or generalbooks@umn.edu. Look for faculty authors at www.bookstore.umn.edu/genref/faculty.html.