The books Southern indie booksellers are recommending to readers everywhere!

Political Science

Book Buzz: Family of Spies by Christine Keuhn

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Christine Kuehn, photo credit Emily Burkhard“My dad never spoke much about his family growing up. I knew some basics. He had grown up in Hawaii. His Aunt Ruth lived in New York, and his parents had passed. So when he called me and said Aunt Ruth wants to meet you, do you want to go meet her? I was like, so excited. This was like finally a step into my father’s past. We drove to Charleston and went and met my Aunt Ruth and we walked in and she was just this sweet little old lady. We sat and had a great conversation. I was really enjoying getting to know her. And on the coffee table next to where she was sitting, I noticed this wedding picture, and I looked at it. And I’m like, Oh, are those my grandparents? And she nodded, Yes. And I was like, Can you tell me something about them? My father never speaks of them. And she just sat there and didn’t respond. [I asked] Can you tell me anything? How did they meet, when did they get married? And she cut me off and she said, You have a good life. Don’t ruin it with the past.”
  ― Christine Kuehn, Interview, WBUR.org Boston Public Radio

Family of Spies by Christine Kuehn

What booksellers are saying about Family of Spies

  • Family of Spies is mind boggling!! I kept thinking how I would feel finding out these unbelievable and frightening secrets in my family’s past… whew… it made my heart pump harder and faster. And yes, I know it’s not a thriller novel, but it definitely could be. Highly recommended.
      ― Horton’s Books & Gifts in Carrollton , Georgia | BUY

  • Family of Spies is a compulsively readable true story about the German family who spied on Pearl Harbor for the Japanese before the attack and the after effects on their descendants. Author Christine Kuehn discovers the truth about her grandfather after being contacted by a screenwriter. That call led her down a long journey to discover the hidden past of her family, eventually leading her to write this fascinating story. Family of Spies is a very accessible story for anyone and I highly recommend it!
      ― Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser, Inc. Marietta, Georgia | BUY

  • I couldn’t put this book down! What do you do when you discover that your grandparents, aunt, and uncle were Nazis? This is a fascinating story about one family’s involvement with the Nazis and how they helped bring about the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. I have a feeling this will be THE non-fiction book of the fall.
      ― Claire McWhorter, River & Hill Books in Rome, Georgia | BUY

  • Wow! So much is packed into under 300 pages. I can’t fathom how someone uncovers the secrets of their grandparents 50 years after some of the very darkest days in the history of our country. There are so many layers to this incredible story. Family, politics, and history make you ride a wave of emotion on every page. Failed espionage and greed factor heavily into the guilt the author understandably didn’t originally want to share. Hoping this never happens again.
      ― Suzanne Lucey, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina | BUY

About Christine Kuehn

Christine Kuehn Schiponi was cocooned in the sanctity of a quiet suburban life when a letter from a historian in 1994 pierced that bubble, sending her on a 30 year quest to discover the truth behind a horrendous family secret kept hidden for half a century. Following a career in journalism, public relations, and non-profit, Christine now lives in Maryland with her husband close to their three grown children.

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Lawless by Leah Litman

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Lawless by Leah Litman
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Leah Littman of Crooked Media takes the post-Warren Supreme Court and explains just exactly how they run on “conservative grievance, fringe theories, and bad vibes.” Using pop culture analogies at times, Littman compares the court to Mean Girls, Game of Thrones, and Arrested Development. If you’re looking for a book that clearly states exactly how we got to where we are today, this is absolutely the book for you.

Lawless by Leah Litman, (List Price: $29.99, Atria / One Signal Publishers, 9781668054628, May 2025)

Reviewed by Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia

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Book Buzz: One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad

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Omar El Akkad, photo courtesy Penguin Random House

Last year I started writing about what it feels like to live in this part of the world and essentially watch my tax dollars pay to finance wholesale slaughter. And for basically the next year it was all I could write about, it was the only thing I was able to put down on paper, and the result is this book. I think of it as sort of part memoir, part of it is about my life my experiences from a very early age and why I sound like this, why I speak this language, the sense that I’ve been attuned to the west from a very early age as this place where there are theseunderlying foundational principles of fairness and equal justice and so on. And to be in this moment, this culmination of so many previous moments, where I’m questioning all of that. The other part of the book is essentially an accounting of the last year of waking up every morning and seeing evidence of the worst things that human beings can do to one another, and trying to exist in that framework. It’s the kind of book that’s going to barge in through the door pretending to be an argument. In truth I’m not trying to argue with anyone, I’m not trying to change anyone’s mind. Ishiguro once said that ‘all literature essentially boils down to someone saying this is what it feels like for me, can you hear me? Does it also feel that  way for you?’ And I think that’s essentially what this book is.

― Omar El Akkad, Interview, The Lighthouse Bookshop

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad

What booksellers are saying about One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This

  • If you are living and breathing in the 21st century, you must read this book. Many who should still be on this earth are not, and reading this book is one small thing you can do to unlearn many harmful narratives that have caused unthinkable atrocities..
      ― Rachel Randolph, Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee | BUY

  • This breakup letter to the West is sorely needed. Omar El Akkad puts words to feelings I didn’t know how to articulate before reading this. He not only directly confronts America’s complicity in the genocide of Palestinians, but also forces the reader to recognize that the failure of American liberalism is not limited to this issue. This will be a book I return to over and over again.
      ― Becca Naylor, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina | BUY

  • A brilliant, beautiful, absolutely essential read.
      ― Gaël LeLamer, Books & Books in Coral Gables, Florida | BUY

  • “Essential reading” has become a hollow phrase, but if any book could restore its meaning, it would be this one. This is a book about Palestine, but it is equally a book about the large-scale brand of dehumanization that gets normalized under the auspices of power. As a Middle Eastern person, I’m in awe of El Akkad’s ability to give language to the experience of a particular kind of otherness in the context of a country–ours–that has been so hellbent on destroying my family’s part of the world for decades. But it’s not my heritage, or even El Akkad’s, that makes this book so important, and so urgent. It’s the clarity with which he is able to cut through all of the levels of noise, bias, and hypocrisy that most of us have grown inured to, that all of us need to reckon with. I believe the sad promise of this book’s perfect, gut-punch title–how clear our vision gets when it’s too late to do anything at all–and I believe in its ability to open eyes and dramatically rewire awareness and understanding.
      ― Kristen Iskandrian, Thank You Books in Birmingham, Alabama | BUY

About Omar El Akkad

Omar El Akkad is an author and journalist. He was born in Egypt, grew up in Qatar, moved to Canada as a teenager, and now lives in the United States. He is a two-time winner of both the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award and the Oregon Book Award for fiction. His books have been translated into thirteen languages. His debut novel, American War, was named by the BBC as one of one hundred novels that shaped our world.

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Abortion by Pauline Harmange

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Pieces of Blue by Holly Goldberg Sloan
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This is exactly what we need more of in the ongoing discussion around abortion; nuanced personal accounts of abortions. While Harmange makes no apologies for her decision to terminate her pregnancy, she does describe in clear detail the grief that accompanied her decision and the shame she experienced. The decision to end a pregnancy is never made lightly even when it is absolutely the right choice and it should not be an experience filled with shame that goes untalked about.

Abortion by Pauline Harmange, (List Price: 16, Scribe US, 9781957363295, May 2023)

Reviewed by Melissa Taylor, E. Shaver, Bookseller in Savannah, Georgia

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Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia by David Graeber

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Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia by David Graeber
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A fun and entertaining non-fiction book. Graeber is focused on the information that can be gained from listening to and believing what the Malagasy people had to say, and he is extremely frustrated that no academics seem willing to do this. If you like good footnotes, academic beef, and an interesting take on the age of piracy from multiple points of view, this is for you.

Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia by David Graeber, (List Price: $27, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 9780374610197, January 2023)

Reviewed by Lauren Kohnle, M. Judson Booksellers in Greenville, South Carolina

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Beyond Innocence by Phoebe Zerwick

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Beyond Innocence : The Life Sentence of Darryl Hunt by Phoebe Zerwick
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Once upon a time, a man was unjustly imprisoned. DNA and dogged work freed him after 19 years. He lived happily ever after. Sorry, that last part didn’t happen. Even with DNA evidence, he almost didn’t get exonerated. Beyond Innocence: The Life Sentence of Darryl Hunt details Hunt’s journey from teen to convicted killer, innocent freed man, and activist with many twists. But the saddest part is what happened to him after freedom, and how it illustrates the plight of most of the exonerated. That is not as exclusive a club as you might think. According to author Phoebe Zerwick, “As of May 2021, 2,783 men and women in America have been exonerated since 1989…The National Registry of Exonerations calculate the combined years they lost at 24,915.”

Zerwick wrote about Hunt in the Winston-Salem Journal and has spent years on his case. Hunt was not just railroaded. Police falsified evidence; a judge unbelievably ruled DNA evidence was insufficient to warrant a new trial. A faithful cadre of supporters and the author’s newspaper series resulted in deliberately overlooked evidence being reexamined and finding the true killer. Only then was Hunt released. But Hunt’s case shows how the system continues to fail. Hunt briefly had a foundation to aid released prisoners. Years of prison life and post-release limitations lead to PTSD, depression, and often recidivism. Hunt’s friends realized too late he was leading a double life – calm outside, but in agony inside. They couldn’t stop him from taking his life. But if enough people pay attention to his story, perhaps others can be helped.

Beyond Innocence : The Life Sentence of Darryl Hunt by Phoebe Zerwick, (List Price: $27, Atlantic Monthly Press, 9780802159373,  March 2022)

Reviewed by Rosemary Pugliese from Malaprop’s in Asheville, NC

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The Cruelty Is the Point by Adam Serwer

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The Cruelty is the Point
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I’ve followed Serwer’s articles in the Atlantic for several years. In this collection of his most moving pieces, he’s added a short introduction to each one with new insights and background. Bonus – Kevin Kruse blurbed it.

The Cruelty Is the Point by Adam Serwer, (List Price: 28, One World, 9780593230800, July 2021)

Reviewed by Sissy Gardner, Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee

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