America Redux: Visual Stories from Our Dynamic History by Ariel Aberg-Riger

Visual stories?  Yes, please!  However this book starts with a written four page preface and an opening chapter on the history of the United Daughters of the Confederacy,  and thus is unlikely to draw in the average Passages student reader.   But that’s a shame because some will want to get to Aberg-Riger’s last chapter, “We The People” which begins with a quote from June Jordan, devotes four pages to the Young Lords, and then makes connections to other marginalized groups who came together to speak up for their needs in the face of discrimination, and ends with a quote from Iris Morales.  

Educators and confident readers may wish to dip into America Redux’s jumble of 21 chapters to whet students’ curiosity on the history of colt guns and their rise to prominence in the US, the AIDS crisis, and America’s involvement with eugenics and forced sterilization.  

Full color collage and a handwritten style font will appeal to some visual learners who find a way in,  although that style may be a barrier for some readers with dyslexia.

Educators and book group facilitators can download a publisher-supplied educator's guide by shea wesley martin here.  --Jessica Fenster-Sparber