The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson
$16.00 Paperback
»» Indigenous women have, from time immemorial, steadfastly protected biodiversity in the face of capitalist agriculture and climate change. They are the guardians of our natural world, champions of the environment, heroes to look up to and emulate.
The Seed Keeper, a novel by Diane Wilson, is a story of return and reawakening, of feminine strength and the importance of protecting legacy. Orphaned as a young child, Rosalie Iron Wing returns to her birth home as a grieving widow and single mother. Her pain is fresh, yet presents an opportunity for Rosalie to confront past traumas in order to embrace a fruitful future.
This catharsis educates Rosalie as she strives to learn about, and embrace, herself. A chorus of voices (both ancestral and contemporary) provide personal and historical context for Rosalie’s pursuit; to continue the legacy of Indigenous women Earth guardians, to protect her family and to strengthen Indigenous action and knowledge for the future.
Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker
$17.00 Paperback
»» Mental illness affects more than 3 million Americans, and over 80 million worldwide. There is little understanding of diagnosed Schizophrenia today, and back in the mid-twentieth century there was even less knowledge to be had.
Now, imagine you have just moved to a new town with your new spouse. As you try to adjust to this new life, you conquer personal fears and adapt. Over time your family grows, you have 12 children, 10 boys and two girls. Of this bountiful brood, six of the boys develop severe cases of Schizophrenia, manifesting in tragic, destructive, abhorrent behavior. There is pain, concern and confusion for which few answers exist and fewer people who can help.
Such is the history of the Galvin family, as told by Robert Kolker in Hidden Valley Road. Behind the facade of this all-American family, the Galvins struggled for decades as Schizophrenia tore the family (and family image) apart.
Hidden Valley Road is also the history of an illness. Kolker dives into the origins of scientific study in regards to mental instability, highlighting the schism between Freud and Jung that was a direct result of their differing interpretations of psychiatric struggle and diagnosis. Kolker finds heroes in modern medicine as well, these doctors and researchers gave Mimi and Don Galvin (the parents) some semblance of hope in the darkest of times.
The Galvin family became a macabre lynchpin for the scientific community, a focal point from which the understanding of mental illness gained tremendously important ground. Without the pain and confusion endured by the Galvins, who knows what progress would have been made towards our understanding of mental illness.
Reviews by Joel
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