SONGS MY MOTHER TAUGHT ME: Why the Artist Must Take Sides, truth told, action called for

SONGS MY MOTHER TAUGHT ME: Why the Artist Must Take Sides
SAUL WILLIAMS
Haymarket Books (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$9.99 ebook, avaiable now

The Independent Press Top 40 Bestsellers: Non-Fiction For the week ending September 16, 2026

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: Award-winning poet and performer Saul Williams explores how artists today must respond to systemic violence and injustice—in the words of Paul Robeson, by choosing sides.

Songs My Mother Taught Me is Williams’ clear-eyed exploration of the role of the artist in these times by answering the question: what radicalized you? He answers by examining how his role models—writers and artists, from Amiri Baraka to local musicians in Brazilian bars to Palestinian hip-hop heads—have responded to imperialist violence, oppression, and genocide. Riffing on Paul Robeson’s famous declaration, Williams builds a provocative case for why today’s artists cannot remain neutral in the face of injustice. “We need songs that crumble empires,” he writes, “films that teach, remind, and inspire, poems that would make a despot revoke your citizenship.”

The radical artists of the Vanguard Series offer new poetry and prose to answer the question, What does poetry have to do with politics?

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: What does poetry have to do with anything, demands my inner poetry-averse Philistine. What all art has to do with politics, answers reasonable me.

Everything. Just as Reverend Jedidiah, here, says it does.

I was inclined to listen to the words of the Reverend from Sinners because everything he's saying in these barely-200 pages is so exactly what I'd like you to hear...art matters or "They" would not try to censor it, take it away from you, hide it if "They" don't approve of it...search engine enshittification is more complicated than a ban, but also flies under your radar and has built-in plausible deniability.

You are what you consume. Go light on the empty, sweet-tasting, pretty but pointless stuff for a healthy mind/body/spirit (health is the enemy of bullshit on every measurable axis). Reverend Jedidiah says so too, out of his complicated mind and mouth. I'm very impressed by Author Saul's meditations on the promises and beauties in spirituality being bait (my word) for the hook of obedience and deference to authority. It's deeply saddening, but true as even a brief glance at the world shows you. Taking sides in the culture wars is often hardest for people who see the misuse of their source of joy and consolaion in the world. So much of the noise in the world is, and always has been, intended to make it hard for you to focus for very long. Breaking through the noise is best done by listening to it, looking for what it's pushing you to accept. Advertising, for example, is pushing you to accept the "blessing" of capitalism...look at this maginificent abundance of stuff! see what an amazing life you can have!...without looking at the wages no one can live on, the cost of the plastic it's wrapped in, the fact that it's flimsy and will break. Begin your journey at church...why would Jesus say it's fine to rip kids away from parents, to take fathers from their families to be shipped away not even where they came from and might have needed to escape, when a huge part of the christian message is "love thy neighbor?" All very obvious. But the noise, the shouting, the struggle to afford all the brummagem gauds makes the obvious recede into shadows so it won't bother you with its obviousness.

"They" don't need to lie to you if "They" can distract you from the stone-cold obvious truth.

Author Saul follows in the footsteps of truly great souls, from Paul Robeson to his mother. He distills into readable, relatable prose the truths that can feel threatening to acknowledge, accept, and act on: You, no matter how "small" or "insignificant" you think you are, must take sides. You can't afford not to. There is too much at stake, too much happening that we can not let go on as it is.

Take comfort in reading Author Saul's wisdom. No, it's not easy. It never is.

It's necessary instead.

OUTER SPACE IS CLOSER THAN ANTARCTICA: And Other Things I Learned While Falling in Love at the Bottom of the World

OUTER SPACE IS CLOSER THAN ANTARCTICA: And Other Things I Learned While Falling in Love at the Bottom of the World
MICHELLE OTT
Chronicle Books (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$19.95 hardcover, $15.99 ebook, available now

Rating: 4.5* of five

The Publisher Says: This beautifully illustrated memoir tells artist Michelle Ott’s true story of falling in love and discovering her place in the universe on a remote research station in Antarctica.

In 2004, feeling burned out and dissatisfied, Michelle Ott left her high-profile gallery job in New York to work as a janitor at McMurdo Station in Antarctica: the coldest, windiest, driest place on Earth. There, she fell in love—not only with her future partner, but with the raw, inhospitable, incomparable beauty of the continent itself.

She took trips to nowhere on the Antarctic ice and mapped out the most romantic date locations on a remote research base where the sun never sets.
She witnessed the bright green aurora australis at -30°F, cried in response to its beauty, and found her eyes frozen shut by her tears.
She learned about (literally) breathtaking katabatic winds, ventifacts, and what it was like to bake cookies for 1000.
She dropped a piece of glacier ice into a glass of booze and consumed the ancient air bubbles that were trapped within it.

In this emotional blend of art, science, and deeply personal stories, Ott shares the wisdom and wonder gleaned from her four trips to the southernmost continent. Complete with hand-drawn maps and diagrams, accessible scientific explanations, and the realizations that can only come from turning your life upside down, Outer Space Is Closer Than Antarctica is an ode to explorers and dreamers, scientists and artists, and anyone curious enough to brave the unknown.

FOR THE EXPLORER AND THE DREAMER: Who hasn't fantasized about quitting their job, leaving city life behind, and running away to the wilderness? We might not all choose Antarctica as our dream destination, but Michelle Ott's brave, open-hearted approach to life still speaks to that nagging impulse to flip your world upside down. Her story of finding friendship, love, and an appreciation for life's simplest joys reminds us that sometimes that impulse is worth acting on.

ART + SCIENCE: This well-researched memoir presents scientific principles and research in an engaging combination of art and prose. Learn about volcanoes, stardust, Katabatic winds, the polar vortex, ventifacts, glaciers, and other Antarctic phenomena through Ott’s illustrations, maps, diagrams, and descriptions.

THE WONDER OF ANTARCTICA: Antarctica is a place of superlatives—driest, highest, coldest, windiest, biggest—and extremes. Its closest continental neighbor is 774 miles away. The Kármán line, the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space, is only 62 miles above sea level. When you are standing on any other landmass on Earth, you are nearer to outer space than to Antarctica. Science enthusiasts, creative thinkers, and armchair travelers will all find something to relish in this remarkable volume.

Perfect for:

Fans of illustrated nonfiction and memoirs

Anyone who’s ever daydreamed about moving away from the city and starting fresh

Designers, artists, visual thinkers, and other creatives

Adults and teens who are curious about geology, geography, and earth sciences

Scientists, researchers, and environmentalists

Fans of introspective nature writing and authors like Katherine May and Helen Macdonald

Romantics and readers who enjoy unconventional love stories

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: I felt curiously removed from this memoir; because it is very much a vibes book about a very rigidly regimented world, it came across as curiously...out of phase for me.

Author Ott is not a scientist, so of course she isn't going to talk about the science she's been doing. She's there because she's fascinated by Antarctica, as who isn't. (If you're not, whyever not?) It is the most extreme place on the planet, moreso than the Arctic. Colder, icier, all the superlatives there are for weird and cold and Other. Sounds great to me.

It sounded great to Author Ott, too. Off she went to have an adventure, to reassess her life, to shake things up. It worked...she met her partner there, she got to introspect in a way not really possible in the midst of life as we live it. Along the way she became a real professional at cookie-baking, becoming slightly overaware (at least for my taste) of how important round cookies are as morale boosters...bar shaped tray bakes are not as...personal...apparently. I've never been as isolated, as regimented (like being imprisoned) as she has in Antarctica.

It's just an incredible place...it drew her back four times over the years, and her vibes-based narrative really accentuates why. I don't always like reading memoirs of people's experiences that center their private world over their surroundings, but felt the balance was struck well in this book.

The balancing of desires versus requirements as shown above is something I feel provides the very best clue to this book's ideal giftee: A young person, obviously most important for a young woman, who is about to launch a course of study leading to a career, launch the career itself, or who is stuck in unfulfilling circumustances. Many of us are, at all stages of life; the book ill work its encouraging magic on all ages. I think it will offer a lot to a younger person who's not sure about a STEM career.

It's clear that no one who fancies extreme experiences shouls pass this experiential memoir by. I think your experience of the art will be superior in a tree book format, though the ebook is by no meeans a poor choice...if you have a good tablet to read it on.

The way of the world *can* give you what you need. It's a lovely and powerful message. It all comes down to taking action, taking responsibility, accepting risk...all those things that an extreme environment like Antarctica requires of you. Since most of us can't emulate her geographical journey, reading about it and learning from the act of reading is a good second-best lesson.