At times, David Egger’s thrilling nonfiction story, “The Monk of Mokha” is more exciting and unbelievable than any fiction novel.

The main character of the book, a Yemeni-American man named Mokhtar Alkhanshali, struggles to find his calling in life while growing up poor in the Tenderloin of San Francisco — a particularly violent neighborhood. After losing the money and resources he needed for college, Mokhtar drops out after his first year and takes a job as a doorman at the fancy apartment building that his brother works for. This is where he finds his calling in life.

When he looks across the street from work and sees a 20 foot statue of a Yemeni man drinking coffee, he is inspired to explore the history of the drink. After realizing that it originated in Yemen, he decides he’s going to bring Yemeni coffee to the United States. It is clear that his desire to do this stems from his pride and love for Yemen. He sees his people being discriminated against and looked down upon by Americans, and believes that making Yemen coffee a staple in the United States could be a step toward fixing these problems.

It is no secret that coffee is a widely beloved commodity. College students would find late-night study sessions impossible to get through without it. A survey done by the National Coffee Association reported that 64 percent of Americans over age 18 said they drank a cup of coffee the previous day. The intrigue of coffee’s history — and Yemen’s place in it — is enough to make this book a good read. However, readers are in for much more than a book about coffee.

As recent news has reported, Yemen is a country that is currently in complete disarray; civil war is breaking out and bombs are reigning down. Once he gathered his coffee, Mokhtar has to find his way out of Yemen while dodging bombs, escaping kidnappers and paddling his way across the Red Sea in a dingy fishboat with no motor.

In one instance, he and his comrades had been kidnapped by masked men with AK-47s. On the brink of certain death, Mokhtar is rescued by a friend — they had to leave that instant before they were found out. The first thing out of Mokhtar’s mouth upon escape was, “My samples. They’re in a black Samsonite. I can’t leave without them.” He is referring to his coffee beans. It was clear to those around him how absurd this idea was — risking life and limb to retrieve coffee beans. “It’s my whole life,” he says to their blank stares. It is then decided that they cannot leave without his coffee samples, no matter how dangerous it might be to retrieve them.

There are many social, political and cultural implications surrounding this book. The author touches on the travel ban, racism, bias, elitism, terrorism, cultural inequality and so many other relevant topics, yet none of them overtake the story. Instead, they are naturally woven within Mokhtar’s journey throughout Yemen.

Readers experience these injustices as obstacles to Mokhtar’s dream. Racism is clear in the airport when he is trying to catch a flight to America and is stopped and questioned an excessive amount of times because of his appearance. Cultural inequality is seen through the terrible working conditions that the coffee sorters in Yemen have to deal with. Terrorism is experienced when Mokhtar is kidnapped and threatened with death multiple times because one of his comrades looked like a “Houthis” — a group of Yemeni Muslims who overthrew the Yemen government in 2014.

This book tells the story of a man who felt that coffee could change his world, and while it isn’t set up to teach, readers can learn a lot from it.

“The Monk of Mokha” is an inspiring, informative and beautiful coming of age story that will make readers fall in love with coffee and Yemen’s role in it.

While explaining his story with words that he thought might be his last, Mokhtar said,“We have the chance to make coffee great, to show the world we have more than civil war.”

The post Review: David Egger’s ‘The Monk of Mokha’ tells the story of coffee and Yemen appeared first on Emerald Media.

Bob Woodward’s new book, “Fear,” depicts what life is like inside Trump’s White House. One of the many people Woodward interviewed was former Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, who gave insight on what working for the president was really like.

Trump was a guy who “never went to class. Never got the syllabus. Never took a note. Never went to a lecture,” Bannon said. “The night before the final, he comes in at midnight from the fraternity house, puts on a pot of coffee, takes your notes, memorizes as much as he can, walks in at 8 in the morning and gets a C.”

Woodward’s meticulous ‘inside scoop’ is told in narrative format with dialogue tags from the major players inside the White House. Woodward also provides thoughts, imagery and action, some of which are confirmed through interviews, the rest left to Woodward’s word. These details flesh out the political world in a way that news articles often don’t. It makes the daily activities of the presidency feel much more real and lifelike.

The reader is able to see and understand how the decision making process is currently working in the White House right now — and it is terrifying.

The accuracy of Trump’s portrayal as a college student is almost comical. We see this when Trump’s cabinet members trip over themselves while trying to explain to people who are unfamiliar with Trump how they should interact with him. In one instance, Bannon explains to a candidate for the national security adviser position that he shouldn’t “lecture Trump” because he “doesn’t like intellectuals.” Bannon leaves McMaster with one more piece of advice: “Show up in your uniform.”

McMaster showed up in a suit. In addition, he went on for 20 minutes explaining his different theories of the world. At the end of the interview, Woodward said one of the first things that came out of Trump’s mouth was: “I thought you told me he was in the Army.” When it is confirmed to Trump that the candidate is in the army, Trump said, “He’s dressed like a beer salesman.”

We see another bleak example of Trump’s preparedness for presidency when Woodward recounts discussions surrounding the dynamics of our economy. Chief Economic Advisor Gary Cohn was trying to explain basic principles about the American economic system, and Trump’s answer for many problems was to simply “print money.”

Woodward doesn’t try to characterize Trump. Instead, he simply lays out Trump’s interactions for us to read and interpret for ourselves. For college students reading, Trump’s decision-making process might feel alarmingly similar to when one has to explain during a test a complex topic with only surface level knowledge. Sometimes it works out, but more often than not it doesn’t.

“They were trying to make policy on a string of one sentence cliches,” Woodward said regarding Trump and Bannon.

It is clear that those in Trump’s inner circle are often not taking his orders; they even go so far — as in Cohn’s case — to steal letters off of Trump’s desk in the name of national security. John Kelly, Trump’s current chief of staff, said in one of the the more popular quotes from the book:

“It’s pointless to try to convince [Trump] of anything. He’s gone off the rails. We’re in crazytown. I don’t even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I’ve ever had.”

But, the book also sheds light on the president’s more relatable aspects, and reminds us that he is just another person. For example, Woodward recounts a time when Trump spoke with the family members about their son who died during combat.  

“‘I’ve got the record here,’ Trump said. ‘There are reports here that say how much he was loved. He was a great leader.’”

While there were copies of the service reports that explained what generals thought of the fallen soldier, Trump didn’t have them. He was simply making these statements up. “He knew what the families wanted to hear,” Woodward writes.

Woodward gives a refreshing look at Trump through a broadened scope. His writing attempts to capture all aspects of the president by looking at him through a multidimensional lens.

It is clear how thoroughly documented the book is by the detail-oriented way that Woodward writes throughout it — and in the 28 pages of source notes at the end. “Fear” feels like a nonpartisan account of Trump’s white house, and instead of characterizing the man himself, Woodward let’s the words of Trump’s peers speak for themselves.

The post Review: ‘Fear’ gives readers an inside scoop into the White House appeared first on Emerald Media.

When a band of prominent business people are endorsing a book that dissects artificial intelligence, there is no doubt that it is a must-read. The director of AI research at Facebook, the CEOs of Microsoft, Salesforce and O’Reilly media, and the former CEO of Apple have all publicly affirmed Kai-Fu Lee’s most recent publish.

Lee, the former president of Google China, lives up to the hype with his book, “AI Superpowers.” Beginning with an insightful and nuanced look at how AI will impact the world around us and ending with a serious examination of what it means to be human.

“It’s one of those books you read and think, why are people reading any other book right now when this is so clearly the one they need to be reading?” said Arianna Huffington, HuffPost founder.

While AI is a flashy topic in the news right now, in general, it is not well understood — China’s position in the whole ordeal being even less so.

According to Lee, it is a well known belief within the tech industry that American innovation sets the standard for the rest of the world. China will often take new technologies created by American companies, copy them, and sell them as Chinese products — usually under a very similar name and near identical design. Because of this strategy, American tech companies often see Chinese companies as cheap knock-offs and view their practices as dishonorable and untasteful. Lee argues that America’s attitude toward the situation contributes to the reason they can’t stay in Chinese markets for very long. He asserts that this is one reason among many that China will dominate the the developing AI market and emerge as the new technological world leader.

Lee acknowledges that Chinese companies unabashedly copy American ideas, but he also states that China’s culture, in which copying is not viewed as socially distasteful, breeds an extremely cut-throat startup market. In this situation, the brilliance or originality of the product matters less than how hardworking and dedicated the entrepreneurs striving to further their company are.

“Wang Xing didn’t succeed because he’d been a copycat. He triumphed because he’d become a gladiator,” Lee said of the CEO of the highly successful startup Meituan-Dianping.

Lee calls American companies lazy and argues that they can’t keep up with the cutthroat nature of Chinese business culture. He believes their laziness is the reason they can’t seem to make an impact on Chinese markets. According to Lee, America needs to be worried about China taking over the AI industry.

Though the repercussions of China’s domination are much more complex than a simple matter of brands fighting over markets, Lee believes that AI’s impact on the world will be equivalent — or greater — to the impact of the industrial revolution. Unfortunately, Lee and many other experts in the field believe that the future is looking grim. Lee predicts that 40 to 50 percent of jobs will be automated by AI within the next few decades.

Because so many people are displaced and unemployed, Lee questions how much vocation contributes to an individual’s identity. Is one’s occupation not what gives them a sense of purpose and accomplishment in life? How will 40 to 50 percent of the workforce deal with layoffs — not only economically, but more importantly, psychologically.

Lee’s expertise on the subject of AI, paired with his disturbingly bleak look at the future, makes this book difficult to put down — the ending makes it impossible.

In a time when an industrial revolution-type shift in culture makes robots and algorithms that are better at doing jobs than humans, one might begin to wonder what people will do when robots can do everything? What, then, does it mean to be human?

As if straight out of a movie, Lee believes to have found this answer at a monastery after being diagnosed with stage four lymphoma, and the answer feels almost too easy — love. Lee, a man who has lived his life by inputs, outputs and calculations, finally understands the difference between mankind and machines, and believes this difference is the key to our humanity. Machines will never be capable of compassion, empathy, kindness or love.

“AI Superpowers” surpasses the hype that surrounds it. It predicts the future and explains ethically and technologically complex ideas, all while pulling one’s heart strings.

So, in the words of Huffington, “Why are people reading any other book right now, when this is so clearly the one they need to be reading?”

The post Review: Kai-Fu Lee’s ‘AI Superpowers’ unpacks artificial intelligence appeared first on Emerald Media.

Within the first chapter of “Silicon States,” author Lucie Greene sets herself up as a journalist who is in the business of predicting the future, and, in particular, the way that tech is going to inevitably destroy the lives of the future generations.

“Silicon States” is a non-fiction book that analyzes how tech giants such as Facebook, Google and Apple will affect the future. What started out as an intriguing and relevant topic soon turned into an attack on millenials paired with circular reasoning, chaotic organization and shallow arguments.

Greene points most of her criticism toward Silicon Valley, except in her language, the word doesn’t represent three counties in California, but a large set of big tech companies — Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google — some of which are located in California, others not. Each chapter of the book focuses on a specific industry (education, healthcare, politics, etc.) and explains how Silicon Valley wishes to take it over, and why it could potentially ruin our future if they were to succeed.

While many of these arguments are worth exploring and pertinent to today’s issues of trust and privacy in digital media, the author lacked supporting evidence in most of her assertions. Often times deeper analysis was replaced by examples of what the future might look like if tech giants were to have control.

In chapter three, Greene contemplated how Silicon Valley might change the media.  “Would global news correspondents and bureaus be replaced by virtual reality, headset-wearing avatars, transported to natural disasters as cartoon characters…,” she said.

Greene brings to the surface the notion that Silicon Valley is credited with being the spearhead for innovation, when really, according to Greene, their technological advances began when they worked for the government as innovators for programs like NASA. Greene sarcastically remarks, “but this fact can’t compete with the mythology of bootstrapping Silicon Valley deities leaping on unicorns and saving the world.”

The term “unicorn” and its relation to Silicon Valley is brought up many times throughout the book, but isn’t explained until page 191 — over halfway through the total 288 pages.

“Unicorns in Silicon Valley have historically been defined by being an anomaly, a quick phenomenon that takes off sensationally,” Greene said.  

The term would have been helpful to know upon first mention.

Greene tends to introduce topics or people without explaining their significance until much later in the text — if at all. By doing this, Greene misses opportunities to add credibility to her arguments.

She often introduces the reader to a person that they don’t know, inserts a quote, explains the quote and then proceeds to tell the reader who the person is. This forces the reader to go back and re-read the quote to understand its meaning in conjunction with the individual’s credentials. And more often than not, the credentials don’t do enough to explain why the reader should trust what the individual is telling them.

In this particular quote, “‘Myspace was really diverse in terms of gender and race,’ says Debra Cleaver, founder and CEO of Vote.org,” it is unclear why the CEO of Vote.org is qualified to explain Myspace’s diversity. Greene fails to elaborate.

When broadening to the scope of the overall layout of the book, it is clear that credentials aren’t the only subjects that are misplaced and under-explained. For example, the “Connecting the World” chapter seems disconnected and unorganized. Greene skips around to places as large and influential as China in one moment, and dashes to somewhere as remote as Cuba the next without thoroughly explaining the importance of these places or their connection to Silicon Valley. Greene leans on beautiful prose to guide the reader through many of these scenes, but such prose does little to persuade the reader if it is not accompanied by an adequate argument.

To make matters worse, instead of delving into the multifaceted source of this issue, Greene seeks to blame most of what is happening on millenials.

Greene discussed the consequences of computerization in the workforce by saying, “amid the high-flying urban millennials using on-demand driverless flying cars, after all, countless workers will lose jobs from automation.”

She goes on to explain how millenials’ positive outlook toward big tech companies is what is contributing to Silicon Valley’s national takeover.

In addition, Greene alienates many millennial readers by belittling them. When discussing a millennial-concentrated festival put on by Airbnb called “Airbnb Open,”  she says, “Suffice it to say, irony and humor, much less self-awareness, is in short supply. It’s all incredibly earnest. Why wouldn’t you want to sit in a tent, indoors, and journal with a crayon about that time you had a cup of tea near Ayers Rock?”

This book felt much more like a bitter letter one might write to someone who has angered them, instead of a nuanced look at the way tech is changing the future.

In this case, an angry baby-boomer is writing to a “high-flying urban millennial” whom they feel is ruining the world. Much like this book, these types of letters normally come out disorganized, uninsightful and crass. The difference between these types of letters and this book is that Greene forgot that she was supposed to throw it away once she finished writing it.

The post Review: Lucie Greene’s ‘Silicon States’ falls flat in its attempt to explain the problems with big tech appeared first on Emerald Media.

When comparing Elevation Bouldering Gym to other climbing gyms throughout the Northwest, 10-year climbing veteran Jennifer Vargo said that Elevation “opens climbing up to a lot of people because it is less intimidating and people don’t have to learn ropes.”

Elevation Bouldering Gym is a place for every level of climber to come and work on their skills without a harness. They opened their doors on Nov. 27, 2017, and offer a wide range of climbing obstacles ranging from their beginning colors, blue, pink, purple, to their most advanced colors, red, grey and black.

Their maximum wall height goes up to 15 feet and they have a soft padded floor below the walls to cushion falls. This allows for more time to be focused on climbing and a freer range of motion as opposed to gyms that primarily use ropes. This also makes it is easy for beginners to get started; all they have to do is sign a waiver, purchase a day pass, $15 for adults and $13 for students, and rent climbing shoes, $4.

“Students are dedicating their lives towards education and don’t have time for a full-time job,” Elevation’s manager Phil Morton said adding that his gym provided a discount to make climbing financially possible for students.

In addition to a free climb, elevation also offers classes. Classes are broken up into three categories each designed to help climbers attain the body that they want. The three categories are body composition, strength and flow. Body composition is designed to help climbers attain a leaner, more fit body, higher stamina and muscular balance. The classes in the strength category target core strength, shoulder strength, finger and pull strength, stability and are for climbers who consistently climb red “problems.” Flow classes are geared towards balance, coordination and flexibility. Classes are free with a membership, which is $55 monthly. The class schedule can be found on the business’ website.

A newer climber, Jerrik Keller first started climbing when Elevation opened in November. He says that his friend helped get him involved and that climbing is “super amazing for building strength.”

Elevation offers a free class to all new climbers. It demonstrates what is special about bouldering, how to enjoy it, how to minimize risk while doing it and how to improve. You should bring comfortable clothes and as the website states an “adventurous attitude.” Climbing shoes and chalk are available for rental at an additional rate. Children under 12 must be accompanied by a guardian and they do offer a dedicated youth area that caters to children three to 12 years old.

“Climbing is a fascinating, lifelong activity that anyone can enjoy,” Morton said.

Find more info about Elevation below:

Rates:

Adult: $15

Student: $13

Youth (10-years and  younger): $10

Monthly Membership Fee:

Adult: $65

Student: $55

Youth: $45

Member Benefits:

Unlimited Bouldering

Climb Smart and Climb Fit Classes

Access to special events

15% off retail

20% off at Backcountry Gear

One guest pass per month

Self-check-in

Hours:

Monday-Sunday

9 a.m. – 11 p.m.

Website:

https://elevationgym.com/rates/

The post Eugene’s largest bouldering gym offers heights for veterans and newcomers alike appeared first on Emerald Media.

“A Higher Loyalty” by James Comey is a memoir spanning from Comey’s childhood to his days post-FBI. Detractors believe it to be a book based on bashing Donald Trump, because of his abrupt firing of Comey in May last year. But it is more about leadership, more specifically how to be an ethical leader, and how not to be.

With Comey spending much of his professional life in the White House, he is accustomed to being around leaders. He served the George W. Bush, Obama and finally the Trump administrations and spends much of the book comparing and contrasting the differences between each. “A Higher Loyalty” is an inside look at how certain factions within the U.S. government function and how they have evolved throughout the three administrations.

What really gives this book life is the high regard Comey places on the truth, a trait expected of an FBI Director. What Comey actually delivers is a surprise: he remembers and is haunted by the lies that he told, no matter how small. Comey, who stands at a towering at 6’8”, often told people he played basketball to avoid explaining a prohibitive knee injury. The book’s prose when describing this white lie is shameful; the former FBI director eventually emailed the truth to everyone he told.

This is just one example of Comey’s ethics. It’s easy to see in the way that he handles situations that he would rather come under fire. He would rather risk losing his job than do something he believes is unethical.

This, of course, is exactly what happened.

Nearly everyone remembers the Hillary Clinton email fiasco. The FBI investigative case was opened, closed, reopened and re-closed within an election year. Comey knew that he would come under fire from both political parties for re-opening and re-closing the case. But because he and high ranking members of the FBI deemed that it was the right thing to do ethically, he took the bullet — twice. He did it to protect the “reservoir of trust” that the FBI has earned from the American people.

Under the three administrations that Comey served, he trusted one leader over the rest: President Obama. They had a short meeting after Obama announced his nomination for FBI Director. Comey went into the meeting with preconceived notions based on past presidents.

Comey claims that many presidents do not understand the importance of keeping the FBI separate from the White House. Because the FBI is often tasked to investigate the administration, in order to better ensure objectivity in these investigations, the FBI remains disconnected and independent from the White House. Obama, however, understood this, so he hired someone politically different from him. Comey is not a Democrat, and also previously served under former president George W. Bush.

“I don’t want help from the FBI on policy,” Obama said in the book. “I need competence and independence. I need to sleep at night knowing the place is well run and the American people protected.”

In contrast, Comey compares Trump’s leadership to that of a mob boss.

“The silent circle of assent. The boss in complete control. The loyalty oaths. The us-versus-them worldview,” Comey writes. “The lying about all things, large and small, in service to some code of loyalty that put the organization above morality and above the truth.”

After buttering Comey up over a few phone calls and meetings Trump invited him over for dinner — just the two of them — and asked Comey for loyalty. It seemed that Trump wanted the FBI close, and proved so by asking for personal favors later on. Comey wasn’t going to compromise and upon the second request for loyalty Comey replied:

“You will always get honesty from me,” he writes.

The post Review: Former FBI director James Comey profiles leadership in ‘A Higher Loyalty’ appeared first on Emerald Media.

“Educated” by Tara Westover is a riveting memoir that brings up hard topics that are important to consider for everyone, but in particular, college students. The book, a coming of age story, captures Westover’s life as she slowly grows out of her radicalized Mormon upbringing. She does so through means of education. The memoir encompasses what it is like to be confronted with new ideas, and what it means to shift your beliefs and opinions while also knowing the way back home.

This book is gripping, combining masterful storytelling ability with honesty and page-turning prose. The result is a read that’s impossible to put down.

While living in the mountains of Idaho, the Westover family didn’t believe in traditional medicine, so all cuts, burns, concussions, broken limbs etc. were treated at home with herbalism. It also meant that they didn’t believe in public education so Tara, and her brothers, received very little to no schooling before the age of 17.Westover was taught growing up that a woman’s place was in the home, and more specifically the kitchen.

As the story opens, She prescribes to the way of life on the mountain. Her father believed the world was going to end, that public school is run by the Illuminati and that women should be subservient to men. Tara did as well. It is frustrating for the reader to listen to young Tara buy into her family’s doctrine, but what is even more frustrating is that she uses their lens to view herself, and specifically what it looks like for her to be a woman.

Tara’s abusive brother calls her a whore and her father comments on how women in their church who are simply bending over are sinning. Tara struggles with how to bend over without looking sexual. At points she feels disgusted by her maturing body.When her boyfriend tries to merely touch her hand, she shrinks away.

The memoir’s depiction of abuse is brutal, complex and honest. Tara’s brother relentlessly beats her throughout her childhood; nearly breaking her wrist simply because she spoke with a boy he didn’t like. Yet he comes into her room,and apologizes and calls her special immediately afterward. And instead of being angry with him, Tara asks him to keep her from becoming a “worldly woman.” Without even realizing it Tara has lost her self-worth:she puts her fears of becoming a sinful woman over her personal safety.

Tara finds solace from her abusive family situation through education. As she makes her way through school, starting BYU at 17, she is shocked at how little her parents taught her about the world. She is confronted with topics like the Holocaust, the Civil Rights Movement, slavery, racism and feminism. Through this exposure she begins to build a new identity. Although, when she goes back to the mountain her new identity is in direct contrast to her old self, that same self that thought it was okay for her brother to beat her. Now, she is a different person defined by the things she learned. Tara’s two identities are unable to co-exist. Her inner turmoil as she struggles to balance who she used to be and who she is becoming forms the books central conflict.

“Educated” introduces difficult topics and questions about what it means when who you are contrasts who you used to be, who your family knew you as and how you think of yourself. Westover doesn’t necessarily answer these questions, but she tells a story highlights the struggle of this change and shows the beauty and emotional magnificence of maturing and evolving through education.  

The post Review: Tara Westover’s ‘Educated’ shows the struggle and beauty of maturing through education appeared first on Emerald Media.

I don’t often read historical fiction. I would rather know the truth about an event that happened or be lost in a world that never existed. But I loved Amy Bloom’s “White Houses,” which follows the romance between first lady Eleanor Roosevelt and reporter Lorena Hickok (whose friends call her “Hick”).

Bloom’s author’s note, stated at the end of the novel, says: “To the best of my ability, I have worked from the particulars and facts of geography, chronology, customs, and books by actual historians. But this is a work of fiction, from beginning to end.”

This is beautiful in and of itself. Readers trust that many of the facts outside the romance in this novel are true which makes the novel so much more intriguing. These two characters are real women who were already some of the more interesting people in American history. Adding in this new piece of a part-fictional, part-true romance is what gives this book its intrigue. I was constantly looking up events and facts that are stated in the novel, and I wasn’t disappointed to find that the author stayed true to the history books for much of it.

The relationship between Eleanor and Hick was an open secret in the White House, which gives the book its historical grounding. Bloom is able to craft beautiful prose, complex characters, deep and emotionally profound relationships while also staying true to the characters as the public knows them. Eleanor is strict with herself and those around her and always expects the best out of people in the most kind hearted way possible.

But what makes this book come alive is the loveable voice of Hickok, the narrator. Hickok, who grew up in poverty, sees the world in a drastically different view than her lover. Hickok is frank in her worldview. Eleanor often looks at the world through rose-colored glasses. As a reader, this makes it hard to relate to Eleanor’s character, and even FDR shares that sentiment. The novel makes it clear that their relationship was of mutual respect and not of love. “Eleanor was a Great Lady, and what man in Christ’s name wanted to be married to that?” Hickok says in the book.

Along with her no-nonsense, frank and insightful commentary, Hick wins over hearts because we are able to watch her grow through her journey from rags to the White House. She remains herself, she remains Hick through her first job as a hired girl to her job as a reporter. Bloom has won over her readers with Hick’s character development, and this is what has made this book go from average to something that readers will remember for a long time. Plot lines and events make up a story, but characters give it life.

The post Review: Eleanor Roosevelt’s lover Lorena Hickok makes Amy Bloom’s historical fiction book ‘White Houses’ come to life appeared first on Emerald Media.