History

A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman who Stopped Them / Timothy Egan

/ Alisha Helms / Leave a comment 
A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman who Stopped Them
By: Timothy Egan
Genre: Nonfiction, History
Number of Pages: 448
Published: June 4, 2024 (1st Published April 4, 2023)
Publisher: Penguin Books
Dates Read: November 4, 2025 - November 23, 2025
Format: Library Book / Book Group

Trigger Warnings: racism, lynching, murder, domestic violence, torture, suicide

After telling the story of the Ku Klux Klan’s rise to power in the 1920s, Timothy Egan then tells you how one woman brought it crumbling down.

So, I knew a few things going into this, but also expanded my knowledge too. One, that the KKK hated Blacks; I feel like that is always broadly talked about (but didn’t realize how much they hated Catholics??). Two, the Nazis got the idea for the Holocaust from America, mostly from the KKK (though I don’t think I realized that they (the KKK), also hated Jews, again, I thought it was just Blacks?). Three, American History is so covered in racism that even though a lot of people want to bury it, it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

Reading this made me think of the fact that sure, not everyone was a part of the Klan, but so many people stood by and let them run havoc because they knew someone in the Klan so therefore were sympathizers of the group. I would hope that nowadays, even if cousin Arnold was a part of a race hating group, that doesn’t mean I have to support him in any way. 

It really got to me about how the Klan used preachers and leaders of the church to teach the hatred principles of the Klan. People get so easily brainwashed by religion that it really goes to that saying “Racism is taught, not inherited”.

Sure, I think everyone needs to read this – if not to see the comparisons of what is happening currently but to also see how to not make the same mistakes. But,  I also want Madge’s story to be shared more. This woman took down the KKK – a group that was not far away from having their fingers dipped into the Presidency of the United States – from her deathbed! 

I’m not going to tell you this is an “easy” read, because, I’ll say it again, American history is covered in racism and people treated others horribly just because of their skin, or ethnic background, or how they chose to worship, but just because it’s horrible, doesn’t mean the story shouldn’t be shared or talked about. We can learn from our mistakes.

At Last She Stood: How Joey Guerrero Spied, Survived, and Fought for Freedom / Erin Entrada Kelly, Ferdelle Capistrano (Narrator)

/ Alisha Helms / Leave a comment 
At Last She Stood: How Joey Guerrero Spied, Survived, and Fought for Freedom
By: Erin Entrada Kelly, Ferdelle Capistrano (Narrator)
Genre: Middle Grade, Nonfiction
Number of Pages: 208
Published: May 6, 2025
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Dates Read: August 8, 2025
Format: Library Book / Audiobook

In this novel, you learn about Josefina “Joey” Guerrero, a guerrilla fighter, a spy, a Medal of Freedom recipient, Hansen’s disease survivor, teacher, and peacemaker. Told with historical photos as well as key themes and moments in history, readers will learn about a piece of WWII that many probably haven’t heard about.

Learning (yet again) something new in 2025 about WWII. I wasn’t too familiar with the Philippines in WWII, so I absolutely hadn’t heard of Joey Guerrero, but I adore Erin Entrada Kelly’s writing and once I saw she was writing a nonfiction about someone, I knew it was important that I knew who Joey was.

What a remarkable woman Joey was. She never let anything stop her, or slow her down. Her life wasn’t picture perfect, but she’d accept it and keep going. She was resourceful too – knowing she wouldn’t get checked as much because of her disease. It was kind of crappy how the US treated her after everything she did (but in all honesty, it doesn’t surprise me…)

Overall, though this book is aimed at middle grade readers, I still think older readers would enjoy it. As a woman in her 30’s, I found the breakdown of information a lot more digestible than older history books.

*Thank you Greenwillow Books and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Can Posters Kill?: Antisemitic Propaganda and World War II / Jerry Faivish and Kathryn Cole

/ Alisha Helms / Leave a comment 
Can Posters Kill?: Antisemitic Propaganda and World War II
By: Jerry Faivish and Kathryn Cole
Genre: Nonfiction, History
Number of Pages: 100
Published: October 21, 2025
Publisher: Second Story Press
Dates Read: August 2, 2025 - August 4, 2025
Format: ARC

Can Posters Kill? takes readers through a historically visual journey of anti-Jewish media dating from 15-century paintings to the horrendous propaganda of the second World War. With each poster, the author breaks down the image on how it was used as both a political and social tool. With understanding of how it was used in the past, we can recognize and prevent it from happening again.

I’m not sure if this book is aimed at younger (teen) readers or adults, but either way, it’s a fantastic, informational read. I did read it in chunks through the three days I read it, because it’s a lot to take in, but it’s easily done as every two pages is a poster and then the explanation on the corresponding page.

It still amazes me that people didn’t look at these posters and see just how wrong everything was with it. Some of them are subtle, sure, but others literally have their hatred for Jews in big, bold lettering – and these would be posted in the middle of towns and marketplaces!

People need to see these posters; and thankfully, the author, who is a child of two Holocaust survivors, collected them and is sharing them in this collection. I know we have to understand our past, in order to (hopefully) not repeat it in our future, but so many people love to turn a blind eye to things that don’t directly involve them, or are upset and need someone to push their anger onto.

*Thank you Publishers Weekly and Second Story Press for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection / John Green

/ Alisha Helms / Leave a comment 
Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection
By: John Green
Genre: Nonfiction, History
Number of Pages: 198
Published: March 18, 2025
Publisher: Crash Course Books
Dates Read: July 12, 2025 - July 14, 2025
Format: Library Book / Audiobook

John Green talks about tuberculosis’ history and how it’s connected to many things.

This book goes beyond statistics by putting a name to a patient, Henry, a young tuberculosis patient at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone, and humanizing the experience of living with TB. 

Green isn’t wrong that everything is tuberculosis – is some of it stretched a little bit to make the connection? Sometimes, but for how long this disease has been around, it’s bound to be connected to everything in some way, shape, or another.

I do applaud Green for calling out big pharmaceutical companies (cough cough Johnson&Johnson) for having such high prices for medicine for no other reason than greed – because if you heal a patient, that’s one less person using your medicine. 

“What’s different now from 1804 or 1904 is that tuberculosis is curable, and has been since the mid-1950s. We know how to live in a world without tuberculosis. But we choose not to live in that world.”

But also the fact that TB becomes drug resistant because it’s constantly evolving into different strains is INSANE.

Overall, I knew I would enjoy this book – I like anything John Green writes to be honest. This is definitely a crash course in tuberculosis, but it’s an amazing starting point for people.

Flamboyants: The Queer Harlem Renaissance I Wish I’d Known / George M. Johnson, Charly Palmer (Illustrator)

/ Alisha Helms / Leave a comment 
Flamboyants: the Queer Harlem Renaissance I Wish I’d Known
By: George M. Johnson, Charly Palmer (Illustrator)
Genre: Nonfiction, YA
Number of Pages: 144
Published: September 24, 2024
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Dates Read: December 9, 2024 - December 10, 2024
Format: Library Book / Hardcover / Audiobook

Through 14 personal essays, George M. Johnson talks about writers, performers, and activists from the 1920s who were both Black and Queer. Mixed together with personal narrative, poetry, and illustrations from Charly Palmer, Flamboyants looks at parts of icons’ history that are not always celebrated in their entirety.

I loved how Johnson put his own wittiness into the essays and didn’t sugarcoat the history. He called out the inner homophobia that some people had and how some thoughts and feelings that people were having over 100 years ago, are still happening today. Throughout the minibiographies, Johnson talked about himself to make personal connections with the reader – which was kind of a pro and con all in one, sometimes I just wanted to hear about the person being highlighted.

This book serves as a wonderful introduction for young readers to the artists of the Harlem Renaissance. Some won’t be so well known, while others are, but it will definitely open the door for readers to do more research.