The commitment, tenacity, and empathy of the users, activists, and advocates Shuler meets is a stark corrective to the disdain and dehumanization typical of policy and practice in this area. The title forcefully claims this story for Ohio, a statistical center, but addiction reaches all places, and this book is strongly recommended for readers anywhere who are interested in systemic change and the power of the grassroots. [See Prepub Alert, 3/4/20.]
Hobbs arranges dozens of vignettes of these boys and their friends, foregrounding their experiences and centering their voice in a beautifully rendered group portrait of adolescents and of adolescence itself.
Menkedick uses her platform to seek justice in raising awareness of the complexity and depth of motherhood along with perinatal mental health disorders, and reclaiming motherhood as a powerful state. Her compelling book deserves a wide audience, from cheering mothers to chastened experts.
Though it might have been more effective at half the length, this is an important contribution to the debate on economic inequality and of note to policymakers, activists, and scholars.