csmonitor--2020-08-31--The reasons why democracy is in decline around the world

Back in another time , journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Anne Applebaum and her husband , Radosław Sikorski , threw a high-spirited New Year ’ s Eve party at their manor house in rural Poland to celebrate the turn of the millennium .
Sikorski was then a deputy minister in the country ’ s center-right government , and his native homeland had become his American wife ’ s adopted one .
The guests , a klatch of journalists , diplomats , and civil servants , belonged to a highbrow conservative crowd that shared a set of common beliefs : They @ @ @ @ @ @ @ supported Poland ’ s entrance into the European Union .
Twenty years later , in her compelling new book “ Twilight of Democracy : The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism , ” Applebaum writes that “ I would now cross the street to avoid some of the people who were at my New Year ’ s Eve party .
They , in turn , would not only refuse to enter my house , they would be embarrassed to admit they had ever been there.
” While the author and her husband have held tight @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of their guests drifted further right to the nationalist Law and Justice party .
The party ’ s standard-bearer , Andrzej Duda , just narrowly won reelection to a second term as Polish president after appealing to anti-immigrant , anti-EU , and anti-gay sentiment ; during his first term , Law and Justice instituted antidemocratic measures that have gravely undermined the independence of the country ’ s judiciary and its media .
The question that animates this slim volume is personal for the author : Why have her former friends embraced Duda ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the followers of authoritarian movements is that they live on the fringes , having been left behind by economic , demographic , and technological change .
Her erstwhile acquaintances in Poland , however , are worldly , educated , and employed .
Applebaum is aware that , as she puts it , authoritarians “ need members of the intellectual and educated elite ... who will help them launch a war on the rest of the intellectual and educated elite.
” Why , though , do the elites accept the gig ?
Poland , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ country experiencing a rise in illiberal and antidemocratic political movements , and Applebaum extends her analysis to include Hungary , Spain , Britain , and yes , the United States .
There is no single reason that liberal democracy is in such a precarious state , Applebaum notes .
In crisp , elegant prose , she explores several explanations , some of which readers may find familiar .
She describes the emotional power of conspiracy theories and of simple narratives that encourage national unity against a common enemy , even if that enemy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In Hungary , for instance , the government of autocratic prime minister Viktor Orbán demonizes Muslim immigrants even though the country hardly has any thanks to exceedingly restrictive immigration laws .
Applebaum also cites the easy lure of a certain type of nostalgia , one that papers over the ambivalent legacies of the past .
Nostalgists “ want the cartoon version of history , and more importantly , they want to live in it , right now , ” she writes .
She sees this type of longing as pivotal to the success @ @ @ @ @ @ @ whose proponents were fixated on returning England to its former preeminence on the global stage .
Finally , she observes that the intense fracturing of the media landscape , which encourages people to get their information from hyper-partisan and polarizing news sources , facilitates movement away from the political center .
Many sources traffic in false stories and propaganda .
“ People have always had different opinions , ” she notes .
“ Now they have different facts.
” But for elites , Applebaum suggests , the support for illiberal democracies can often @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Poland who ’ ve stuck with Duda have seen their loyalty rewarded with lucrative and influential positions .
Describing the director of Polish state television , she writes that he is less an ideologue than “ a man who wants the power and fame that he feels he has been unjustly denied.
” The same dynamics are at play in America , according to Applebaum .
She writes about her onetime acquaintance Laura Ingraham , who started out as a speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan ’ s administration and later swapped a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ media , where she pined for her own television show .
Reagan famously spoke of America as a shining city on a hill , whereas President Donald Trump , asked on Fox News about his praise of Russian president Vladimir Putin , shot back , “ You think our country ’ s so innocent ?
” Applebaum believes Ingraham has undergone a similar transition in thought , writing that “ at some point her Reaganite optimism disappeared and slowly hardened into the apocalyptic pessimism shared by so many others.
” For Ingraham , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be that if the America she sees – increasingly godless , losing its soul to immigrants , with no useful leadership role to play in the world – is no longer exceptional , why not look out for No .
1 ?
Ingraham was an early and ardent supporter of Trump , and in 2017 she finally got her Fox show .

Back in another time, journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Anne Applebaum and her husband, Radosław Sikorski, threw a high-spirited New Year’s Eve party at their manor house in rural Poland to celebrate the turn of the millennium. Sikorski was then a deputy minister in the country’s center-right government, and his native homeland had become his American wife’s adopted one. The guests, a klatch of journalists, diplomats, and civil servants, belonged to a highbrow conservative crowd that shared a set of common beliefs: They were anti-Communist and pro-democracy, and they supported Poland’s entrance into the European Union.
Twenty years later, in her compelling new book “Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism,” Applebaum writes that “I would now cross the street to avoid some of the people who were at my New Year’s Eve party. They, in turn, would not only refuse to enter my house, they would be embarrassed to admit they had ever been there.”
While the author and her husband have held tight to their core convictions, a number of their guests drifted further right to the nationalist Law and Justice party. The party’s standard-bearer, Andrzej Duda, just narrowly won reelection to a second term as Polish president after appealing to anti-immigrant, anti-EU, and anti-gay sentiment; during his first term, Law and Justice instituted antidemocratic measures that have gravely undermined the independence of the country’s judiciary and its media.
The question that animates this slim volume is personal for the author: Why have her former friends embraced Duda’s authoritarianism? The crude stereotype of the followers of authoritarian movements is that they live on the fringes, having been left behind by economic, demographic, and technological change. Her erstwhile acquaintances in Poland, however, are worldly, educated, and employed.
Applebaum is aware that, as she puts it, authoritarians “need members of the intellectual and educated elite ... who will help them launch a war on the rest of the intellectual and educated elite.” Why, though, do the elites accept the gig? Poland, of course, is not the only country experiencing a rise in illiberal and antidemocratic political movements, and Applebaum extends her analysis to include Hungary, Spain, Britain, and yes, the United States.
There is no single reason that liberal democracy is in such a precarious state, Applebaum notes. In crisp, elegant prose, she explores several explanations, some of which readers may find familiar. She describes the emotional power of conspiracy theories and of simple narratives that encourage national unity against a common enemy, even if that enemy is often more imagined than real. In Hungary, for instance, the government of autocratic prime minister Viktor Orbán demonizes Muslim immigrants even though the country hardly has any thanks to exceedingly restrictive immigration laws.
Applebaum also cites the easy lure of a certain type of nostalgia, one that papers over the ambivalent legacies of the past. Nostalgists “want the cartoon version of history, and more importantly, they want to live in it, right now,” she writes. She sees this type of longing as pivotal to the success of the Brexit campaign, some of whose proponents were fixated on returning England to its former preeminence on the global stage.
Finally, she observes that the intense fracturing of the media landscape, which encourages people to get their information from hyper-partisan and polarizing news sources, facilitates movement away from the political center. Many sources traffic in false stories and propaganda. “People have always had different opinions,” she notes. “Now they have different facts.”
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But for elites, Applebaum suggests, the support for illiberal democracies can often come down to simple opportunism. Those in Poland who’ve stuck with Duda have seen their loyalty rewarded with lucrative and influential positions. Describing the director of Polish state television, she writes that he is less an ideologue than “a man who wants the power and fame that he feels he has been unjustly denied.”
The same dynamics are at play in America, according to Applebaum. She writes about her onetime acquaintance Laura Ingraham, who started out as a speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan’s administration and later swapped a career in law for one in right-wing media, where she pined for her own television show. Reagan famously spoke of America as a shining city on a hill, whereas President Donald Trump, asked on Fox News about his praise of Russian president Vladimir Putin, shot back, “You think our country’s so innocent?” Applebaum believes Ingraham has undergone a similar transition in thought, writing that “at some point her Reaganite optimism disappeared and slowly hardened into the apocalyptic pessimism shared by so many others.” For Ingraham, Applebaum speculates, the calculation seems to be that if the America she sees – increasingly godless, losing its soul to immigrants, with no useful leadership role to play in the world – is no longer exceptional, why not look out for No. 1? Ingraham was an early and ardent supporter of Trump, and in 2017 she finally got her Fox show.


csmonitor--2020-08-31--Black Britain’s biggest festival hit pause. But the music didn’t stop.

When Halina Edwards , who was born in Jamaica and raised in the Midlands of England , moved to London in 2014 , the carnival felt like a warm bath full of community love .
“ It felt like a nice and safe place .
But it ’ s also a moment to remind us why we ’ re here and the long history we have.
” This year , like so many community events around the globe , the Notting Hill Carnival has been canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic .
Organizers instead held a “ digital carnival @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recent years , the official parade has featured more than 25,000 people dressed extravagantly , from colorful bikinis with feathers to mas , or costume , gowns , while performing in steel bands and dance groups on the elaborately decorated floats .
The Notting Hill Carnival , held annually this month in West London , is the second-largest carnival in the world , attracting over a million people each year .
The carnival showcases Black excellence , and celebrates and empowers Black beauty , in any shape or form .
And it ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which is manifested by the many different generations that attend , organize , participate , and celebrate the carnival .
When Josephine Julien arrived in Britain by boat from the Caribbean island of Grenada in 1956 , she remembers encountering hostility from locals toward Black people .
She saw written notices in the windows with slogans such as , “ No Blacks , no Irish , no dogs.
” But Mrs. Julien was able to find a home in the Notting Hill neighborhood in West London , one of the few areas of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ apartments to rent .
So too , she says , were four young men who had formed a steel band on the same boat from Grenada .
And in the 1960s , they went on to help start what was to become Britain ’ s largest annual Black cultural event , the Notting Hill Carnival .
Now , 54 years later , it is the second-largest carnival in the world , attracting over a million people each year .
For Black Britons , even to those who aren ’ t of Caribbean heritage @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This is evident through the productions that take months of preparation and commitment .
It also celebrates and empowers Black beauty , in any shape or form .
And it ’ s deeply rooted in community , which is manifested by the many different generations that attend , organize , participate , and celebrate the carnival .
This year , like so many community events around the globe , the Notting Hill Carnival was canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic .
Organizers instead held a “ digital carnival ” this past weekend @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Julien , now 82 , couldn ’ t attend the Notting Hill Carnival .
But the event remains a fixture for her children , grandchildren , and most of the close to 600,000 people of Caribbean heritage in Britain .
“ It ’ s not only a celebration of our culture , ” she says , “ it ’ s our cultural heritage.
” There are varying personal accounts and narratives on the origins of the Carnival .
It is generally believed there were several Trinidadian bands and masqueraders who paraded the streets @ @ @ @ @ @ @ There was also an indoor Caribbean Carnival organized by human rights activist Claudia Jones in 1959 , in response to rising racial tensions in London .
Major incidents included rioting by white young men in Notting Hill in August 1958 , and the murder of Antiguan expat Kelso Cochrane by three white men a year later .
This led to several initiatives being organized within the British Caribbean community that eventually all merged into what is now known as the Notting Hill Carnival .
It is a celebration that is important to Mrs. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lot .
This is the one time of the year we get to be openly proud of our culture and customs.
” In recent years , over 25,000 people dress extravagantly , from colorful bikinis with feathers to “ mas ” ( costume ) gowns , while performing in steel bands and dance groups on the elaborately decorated floats that form the official parade .
The diverse and hyped crowds dance along with the soca beats blasting from the floats along the 3.5-mile route .
The parade itself is surrounded by sound systems @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Caribbean food stalls adds a flavorful barbecue smell to the festival .
The cancellation means the city of London missed out on about $ 130 million that the weekend would have added to its economy .
But the cancellation of the parade due to COVID-19 doesn ’ t mean it will pass by unnoticed .
Debi Gardner , who is of mixed Guyanese heritage and is a director of the carnival , says bands recorded their performances without an audience during the past month , which were broadcast during the online event @ @ @ @ @ @ @ full-time job as a housing associate manager , gives her entire life to the carnival and the community that goes with it .
She plays with the famous Mangrove Steel Band , named after the West London restaurant known for its fight against racial injustice in the 1970s .
She ’ s been a steel band player since the early 1990s and is also a part of their management team .
The band practices twice a week throughout the year and , pre-pandemic , used to travel all over to perform .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ throughout the year for young people , and within the creative arts , ” Mrs. Gardner explains .
“ So not being able to do that has been disappointing.
” “ It ’ s a moment to remind us why we ’ re here ” The pandemic may have put a temporary stop to the carnival , but it is not the only challenge that the event has been facing .
Since its launch , media narratives around the carnival weekend have focused on crime and arrests .
Organizers , participants , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Data shows incidents are comparable to festivals attended by a more white audience , such as the famous Glastonbury Festival .
And Notting Hill is shifting toward a largely white and affluent demographic , one that is less keen about having the parade at their front doors .
Halina Edwards , who was born in Jamaica and raised in the Midlands of England , hopes that education can help remedy that .
“ In my school , we only had one lesson on Black history , ” she says , “ and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I don ’ t think they realized how insensitive that was.
” This year , Ms. Edwards joined the social enterprise The Black Curriculum as a researcher , and hopes to contribute to changing the way Black people are represented and spoken about .
The project focuses on delivering Black history programs for young people , and has created a magazine focusing on the Notting Hill Carnival .
When she moved to London in 2014 , the carnival felt like a warm bath full of community love .
“ It felt like a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s also a moment to remind us why we ’ re here and the long history we have , ” she says .
“ If people had a better understanding of the context and the history of why it started there , they might understand there is a reason why we go onto the streets and celebrate this.
” It ’ s still too early to say if there will be a lasting impact on the carnival now that it ’ s not happening for the first time in its history .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mrs. Gardner , who has seen the carnival become a more diverse and inclusive event in the 25 years she ’ s actively been involved .
One thing is certain : The community can not wait for 2021 .
Mrs. Julien walked around Notting Hill this past weekend to pay tribute to the long history of the carnival .
“ It ’ s not only us losing out when it ’ s not happening .
The carnival has always been a bridge between different communities.
” Editor ’ s note : As a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is free .
No paywall .

The pandemic is forcing the cancellation of many community-defining celebrations. One of the biggest was to have taken place this past weekend: West London's Caribbean-flavored festival, the Notting Hill Carnival.
When Halina Edwards, who was born in Jamaica and raised in the Midlands of England, moved to London in 2014, the carnival felt like a warm bath full of community love. “It felt like a nice and safe place. But it’s also a moment to remind us why we’re here and the long history we have.”
This year, like so many community events around the globe, the Notting Hill Carnival has been canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Organizers instead held a “digital carnival” this past weekend. But in recent years, the official parade has featured more than 25,000 people dressed extravagantly, from colorful bikinis with feathers to mas, or costume, gowns, while performing in steel bands and dance groups on the elaborately decorated floats.
The Notting Hill Carnival, held annually this month in West London, is the second-largest carnival in the world, attracting over a million people each year. The carnival showcases Black excellence, and celebrates and empowers Black beauty, in any shape or form. And it’s deeply rooted in the community, which is manifested by the many different generations that attend, organize, participate, and celebrate the carnival.
When Josephine Julien arrived in Britain by boat from the Caribbean island of Grenada in 1956, she remembers encountering hostility from locals toward Black people. She saw written notices in the windows with slogans such as, “No Blacks, no Irish, no dogs.”
But Mrs. Julien was able to find a home in the Notting Hill neighborhood in West London, one of the few areas of the city where Black people could find apartments to rent.
So too, she says, were four young men who had formed a steel band on the same boat from Grenada. And in the 1960s, they went on to help start what was to become Britain’s largest annual Black cultural event, the Notting Hill Carnival.
Why We Wrote This The pandemic is forcing the cancellation of many community-defining celebrations. One of the biggest was to have taken place this past weekend: West London's Caribbean-flavored festival, the Notting Hill Carnival.
Now, 54 years later, it is the second-largest carnival in the world, attracting over a million people each year. For Black Britons, even to those who aren’t of Caribbean heritage, the carnival showcases Black excellence. This is evident through the productions that take months of preparation and commitment. It also celebrates and empowers Black beauty, in any shape or form. And it’s deeply rooted in community, which is manifested by the many different generations that attend, organize, participate, and celebrate the carnival.
This year, like so many community events around the globe, the Notting Hill Carnival was canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Organizers instead held a “digital carnival” this past weekend. It was the first time Mrs. Julien, now 82, couldn’t attend the Notting Hill Carnival.
But the event remains a fixture for her children, grandchildren, and most of the close to 600,000 people of Caribbean heritage in Britain. “It’s not only a celebration of our culture,” she says, “it’s our cultural heritage.”
Costumes and rhythms
There are varying personal accounts and narratives on the origins of the Carnival. It is generally believed there were several Trinidadian bands and masqueraders who paraded the streets of Notting Hill in those years. There was also an indoor Caribbean Carnival organized by human rights activist Claudia Jones in 1959, in response to rising racial tensions in London. Major incidents included rioting by white young men in Notting Hill in August 1958, and the murder of Antiguan expat Kelso Cochrane by three white men a year later.
This led to several initiatives being organized within the British Caribbean community that eventually all merged into what is now known as the Notting Hill Carnival. It is a celebration that is important to Mrs. Julien: “We have suffered a lot. This is the one time of the year we get to be openly proud of our culture and customs.”
In recent years, over 25,000 people dress extravagantly, from colorful bikinis with feathers to “mas” (costume) gowns, while performing in steel bands and dance groups on the elaborately decorated floats that form the official parade. The diverse and hyped crowds dance along with the soca beats blasting from the floats along the 3.5-mile route. The parade itself is surrounded by sound systems at different locations. The never-ending variety of Caribbean food stalls adds a flavorful barbecue smell to the festival. The cancellation means the city of London missed out on about $130 million that the weekend would have added to its economy.
Yui Mok/PA/AP View caption Hide caption Juliana Campos poses in her carnival costume in the Notting Hill neighborhood of London, on what would have been the weekend of the Notting Hill Carnival, Aug. 30, 2020. The carnival held a "digital" version instead, which featured steel bands and dancers performing online.
But the cancellation of the parade due to COVID-19 doesn’t mean it will pass by unnoticed. Debi Gardner, who is of mixed Guyanese heritage and is a director of the carnival, says bands recorded their performances without an audience during the past month, which were broadcast during the online event.
Mrs. Gardner, who has a full-time job as a housing association manager, gives her entire life to the carnival and the community that goes with it. She plays with the famous Mangrove Steel Band, named after the West London restaurant known for its fight against racial injustice in the 1970s. She’s been a steel band player since the early 1990s and is also a part of their management team.
The band practices twice a week throughout the year and, pre-pandemic, used to travel all over to perform. “We also do a lot of activities throughout the year for young people, and within the creative arts,” Mrs. Gardner explains. “So not being able to do that has been disappointing.”
“It’s a moment to remind us why we’re here”
The pandemic may have put a temporary stop to the carnival, but it is not the only challenge that the event has been facing. Since its launch, media narratives around the carnival weekend have focused on crime and arrests. Organizers, participants, and attendees feel it is an unfair portrayal. Data shows incidents are comparable to festivals attended by a more white audience, such as the famous Glastonbury Festival. And Notting Hill is shifting toward a largely white and affluent demographic, one that is less keen about having the parade at their front doors.
Halina Edwards, who was born in Jamaica and raised in the Midlands of England, hopes that education can help remedy that. “In my school, we only had one lesson on Black history,” she says, “and they put on the movie Roots. I don’t think they realized how insensitive that was.”
This year, Ms. Edwards joined the social enterprise The Black Curriculum as a researcher, and hopes to contribute to changing the way Black people are represented and spoken about. The project focuses on delivering Black history programs for young people, and has created a magazine focusing on the Notting Hill Carnival.
When she moved to London in 2014, the carnival felt like a warm bath full of community love. “It felt like a nice and safe place. But it’s also a moment to remind us why we’re here and the long history we have,” she says. “If people had a better understanding of the context and the history of why it started there, they might understand there is a reason why we go onto the streets and celebrate this.”
It’s still too early to say if there will be a lasting impact on the carnival now that it’s not happening for the first time in its history. But change is inevitable, according to Mrs. Gardner, who has seen the carnival become a more diverse and inclusive event in the 25 years she’s actively been involved.
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empower and uplift daily. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads.
One thing is certain: The community cannot wait for 2021. Mrs. Julien walked around Notting Hill this past weekend to pay tribute to the long history of the carnival. “It’s not only us losing out when it’s not happening. The carnival has always been a bridge between different communities.”
Editor’s note: As a public service, all our pandemic coverage is free. No paywall.


csmonitor--2020-08-31--Young workers hit hardest in global downturn. What’s the answer?

“ You kind of just want to give up , ” says Ms. LoPresti .
“ But getting out of that funk is really important , because while it ’ s horrible right now , the pandemic isn ’ t going to be forever.
” The positive experiences are important , as some research has made a link between heightened youth unemployment and diminishing self-confidence and negative social behaviors .
Nations are seeking answers .
China is easing exam rules so more people can work as rural doctors .
Germany is leaning on its strong school-to-work pipelines to keep youth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the U.S. , some groups like the YMCA of Greater Boston are trying to boost the quality of the youth jobs they offer , if they can ’ t boost the quantity .
Around the world , unemployment has surged due to the coronavirus pandemic , hitting workers age 15 to 24 especially hard .
Colombia and Sweden have youth jobless rates of about 30 % .
And historically , the effects on young people ’ s income can last long after a recession ends .
Gina LoPresti , a recent college graduate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ restaurant job in March .
Her plans to transition to a job in teaching or nonprofit work have been put on a long and indefinite hold .
It seemed , at first , like a joke .
“ It was like , ‘ Ha ha , we all lost our jobs because of COVID ; we ’ ll be back in two weeks , ’ ” recalls Gina LoPresti , who lost her restaurant job in March .
Then reality sank in for the recent college graduate .
She wasn ’ t asked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ moved back in with her parents in Holland , Pennsylvania .
While she still has savings from her job and no student debt , her plans to work and save up before transitioning to the job she really wants – as a teaching assistant or at a nonprofit – have been put on a long and indefinite hold .
“ The past month , I haven ’ t even applied to jobs , ” she says , “ mostly because a lot of places due to COVID either aren ’ t hiring at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for people that have ... experience that I know I don ’ t have.
” Juliana Quiñones , a Colombian millennial , left her job in social work on Colombia ’ s northern coast in December , hoping to find something new in the field of environmental development in Bogotá .
Then , in late March , after a surge of coronavirus cases , the entire country shut down .
Businesses closed .
And youth employment soared to nearly 30 % , one of the highest rates among nations that the Organization for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ranks as industrialized .
Young women were especially hard hit : More than 1 in 3 are now jobless .
“ Let ’ s just say it was bad timing , ” Ms. Quiñones says of her job search .
Today she ’ s trying to launch an eco-fashion shoe line from her parent ’ s home .
Around the world , from Colombia to Sweden , China to the United States , high-income nations have seen unemployment rise as they ’ ve locked down their economies .
Joblessness has hit workers age @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the country , youth unemployment is running double or even triple the jobless rate for the general population .
And the effects may last long after the coronavirus is brought under control .
If the pandemic-led recession mimics previous downturns , young workers now looking for their first job could see depressed earnings for as long as a decade and more frequent joblessness over a lifetime .
And there are concerns about the mental impact joblessness can have on young people .
“ Each country will be in a slightly different context @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a global situation , ” says Ronald McQuaid , professor of work and employment at the University of Stirling in Britain .
Time for tax incentives for hiring the young ?
Will this generation of young workers be any different than the millennials a decade ago , when they started their job search in the teeth of the Great Recession and endured reduced earnings and more unemployment , as a result ?
Part of the answer lies with the pandemic itself .
If a resurgence causes new lockdowns in nations , the economic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ workforce in 2020 or 2021 , says Jesse Rothstein , professor of public policy and economics at the University of California at Berkeley .
His research shows that in the U.S. , those who start looking for work during a downturn earn 2 % less for up to a decade and experience longer bouts of joblessness than those who join the workforce during normal times .
Some studies put the damage to incomes higher still .
Even if the past turns out to be prologue , “ there will always be exceptions , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ is a propensity , not a predestination.
” In fact , part of the answer also lies with what governments and private agencies decide to do to alleviate the situation .
Most immediately , that involves fiscal stimulus to offset the effects of the downturn , economists say .
Longer-term solutions involve everything from job training to tax cuts and even military recruitment .
Some job-training directors are also aiming to boost the quality of jobs that organizations are offering youth .
Sweden addressed its high youth unemployment in 2007 with a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ workers 26 years old or younger .
For the eight years that it ran , the program not only boosted youth employment , its effect doubled near the end of the program and continued even after the tax cut was eliminated , according to one 2019 study .
“ Large payroll tax cuts aimed at youth could be a useful policy as we come out of this [ COVID-19 ] crisis that has hit the young particularly hard , ” writes Emmanuel Saez , director of the Center for Equitable Growth at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an email .
“ It is possible that a large shock like COVID reverses the gains , and that a new special policy toward the young will be needed to speed the recovery.
” At nearly 29 % , Sweden has the fourth-highest youth unemployment rate in the industrialized world , behind Spain , Greece , and Colombia .
The Colombian government is taking several steps to address the problem .
That includes programs to pay school fees for low-income students in an effort to keep them enrolled in the education system , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ workers on the payroll , and doubling down on existing efforts , like making it easier for citizens to apply for entrepreneurial licenses .
Civil society has stepped up , as well .
Futbol Con Corazon ( Soccer with Heart ) , a nongovernmental organization based in Barranquilla , works through soccer to empower disadvantaged youths , age 5 to 17 , in communities across the country .
One of the central parts of the program is to help them create life plans , envisioning options like higher education or professional careers .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ a new initiative in partnership with Atlético Nacional , one of Colombia ’ s biggest professional soccer clubs , that will train former participants to become program coaches and mentors .
Masses of unemployed young people cost a nation far beyond jobless subsidies and lost payroll taxes .
“ When a young person can ’ t be in the education system and can ’ t find employment , they become easy recruits for illegal activities and groups , or they become victims or victimizers , ” says Juan Sebastián Arango , a presidential @ @ @ @ @ @ @ illegal industries that have long plagued the nation like trafficking and illegal mining .
“ We have to put youth at the center of these policies.
” One feature of youth unemployment is that it swells every summer as high school and college students graduate .
Nowhere is that stress larger than in China , where a record 8.7 million young people completed college and university this year .
That ’ s the equivalent of adding the population of Switzerland to China ’ s workforce every year .
And this year , it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for them as the economy slows .
Recruiters were seeking 2.5 million fewer graduates in the first quarter of this year , compared with last year .
The unemployment rate for young workers peaked at 13.8 % in April , with a slight drop in July .
That ’ s double the overall national unemployment rate , which is based on the urban workforce and does not reflect joblessness among China ’ s rural population , including roughly 300 million migrant workers .
In China , new jobs as soldiers or rural doctors @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stepped-up army recruitment – are underway to open up opportunities for graduates .
For example , China ’ s state Cabinet in June approved a pilot in 16 provincial areas that will allow Chinese college students majoring in clinical medicine to apply to work as rural doctors without a time-consuming exam process .
Easing the requirement will also alleviate a shortage of rural physicians .
A similar program will open doors for graduating veterinarians .
“ We must remove such unreasonable barriers to job entry and ... help with the employment of college @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Keqiang at a June 24 Cabinet meeting , according to the official China Daily newspaper .
Some of China ’ s large tech and communications companies are launching recruiting drives .
The Chinese internet giant Tencent is seeking to hire 5,000 graduates this year , the most in the company ’ s history , and a 40 % increase over last year .
In Hong Kong , the number of job openings for the territory ’ s 30,000 new university graduates plummeted more than 40 % in the first four months of 2020 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ year .
Luke Chu , an experienced digital marketing specialist , just completed a master ’ s degree in Hong Kong .
But after sending out dozens of resumes , he is still waiting for an interview .
“ I ’ ll try to lower my salary expectations , ” Mr. Chu was quoted as saying in China Daily .
After two pandemic-related layoffs in Germany , Lena at least still has a job , although for reduced hours and at lower pay .
The young bilingual émigré from China , who didn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for privacy reasons , had worked in fashion retail for 40 hours a week in Düsseldorf .
Then the pandemic hit .
“ For two months everybody was closed , ” she recalls .
“ Only supermarkets were hiring.
” Now she works part time at an H & M store , earning a third of what she used to .
Her income , now diminished to 600 euros a month , pays food and rent while she finishes a degree in fashion marketing .
She ’ s already worried about finding solid @ @ @ @ @ @ @ industry is lacking a pulse right now , ” she says .
To combat youth unemployment , Germany decided to focus on propping up the country ’ s vocational education and training system .
Available to all who complete compulsory schooling , this system is historically the most important gateway into the labor market , used by two-thirds of Germans , says Werner Eichhorst , head of research at the IZA Institute of Labor Economics , a nonprofit research group in Bonn .
The current generation of teens can use the help .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ suffer lasting negative effects , ” says Dr. Eichhorst .
The program matches young people into temporary jobs at participating companies , overlaid with vocational training , in an arrangement that typically leads to permanent employment after three years .
During the pandemic , realizing that vocational apprenticeships might take a back seat in company priorities , Germany ’ s federal government has worked to offer one-time bonuses to firms that stepped up training or took over apprenticeships from other , more strapped companies .
“ And it looks like the market is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Eichhorst .
“ Most [ new graduates ] should find an opportunity , ” he says .
“ I ’ m quite optimistic that in Germany , at least , young people will not suffer a lot.
” Germany ’ s youth unemployment is holding steady at about 5.6 % , the lowest among all industrialized countries except Japan , according to OECD data .
Big gap to fill in the U.S .
The situation in the United States looks more dire , despite some improvement since the spring .
Youth unemployment peaked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ July had dropped to 18.5 % .
That ’ s still the highest youth unemployment for a July since the economy was emerging from the Great Recession a decade earlier .
And it has received little attention from the federal government .
“ It ’ s a really serious issue .
But there has not been any policy – period – to assist new job entrants , ” says Susan Houseman , vice president and director of research at the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research , a nonprofit research organization in Kalamazoo , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they can , but the economic squeeze has slashed the number of jobs they can offer .
Newly minted college graduate Matthew McLeod-Warrick planned to teach English abroad , but as the pandemic made its way around the globe , the programs offering him a position began canceling .
“ I was really disappointed , ” says Mr. McLeod-Warrick , who moved back in with his dad in Lynn , Massachusetts .
“ There are certain jobs that are hiring that I know I could get into , so I know I might @ @ @ @ @ @ @ [ But ] I want to be doing something ... that ’ s going to help me in terms of my long-term goals .
And that might not happen.
” Last summer , the YMCA of Greater Boston employed 725 teens ; this summer , it ’ s closer to 425 .
But there ’ s a silver lining , says President and CEO James Morton .
“ There ’ s more emphasis today to making sure that young people get meaningful experience and not just busywork.
” The YMCA , which has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ year because of the downturn , has put its teen employees in charge of packing and distributing the food .
“ Young people are bagging groceries that they know will feed a family in the community , ” Mr. Morton says .
The positive experiences are important , as some research has made a link between heightened youth unemployment and diminishing self-confidence and negative social behaviors .
“ You kind of just want to give up , ” says Ms. LoPresti , the unemployed restaurant worker in Pennsylvania .
“ But getting out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ because while it ’ s horrible right now , the pandemic isn ’ t going to be forever.
” Reporting for this article was done by Laurent Belsie and Jules Struck in the Boston metro area , Ann Scott Tyson in Seattle , Whitney Eulich in Mexico City , and Lenora Chu in Berlin .
Editor ’ s note : As a public service , we have removed our paywall for all pandemic-related stories .

“You kind of just want to give up,” says Ms. LoPresti. “But getting out of that funk is really important, because while it’s horrible right now, the pandemic isn’t going to be forever.”
The positive experiences are important, as some research has made a link between heightened youth unemployment and diminishing self-confidence and negative social behaviors.
Nations are seeking answers. China is easing exam rules so more people can work as rural doctors. Germany is leaning on its strong school-to-work pipelines to keep youth joblessness low at 5.6%. In the U.S., some groups like the YMCA of Greater Boston are trying to boost the quality of the youth jobs they offer, if they can’t boost the quantity.
Recessions often land hardest on the youngest generation of workers. The pandemic downturn is following that pattern, and its severity and global scope may call for new policies in response.
Around the world, unemployment has surged due to the coronavirus pandemic, hitting workers age 15 to 24 especially hard. Colombia and Sweden have youth jobless rates of about 30%. And historically, the effects on young people’s income can last long after a recession ends.
Gina LoPresti, a recent college graduate in Holland, Pennsylvania, lost her restaurant job in March. Her plans to transition to a job in teaching or nonprofit work have been put on a long and indefinite hold.
It seemed, at first, like a joke.
“It was like, ‘Ha ha, we all lost our jobs because of COVID; we’ll be back in two weeks,’” recalls Gina LoPresti, who lost her restaurant job in March.
Then reality sank in for the recent college graduate. She wasn’t asked to return to the restaurant. She moved back in with her parents in Holland, Pennsylvania. While she still has savings from her job and no student debt, her plans to work and save up before transitioning to the job she really wants – as a teaching assistant or at a nonprofit – have been put on a long and indefinite hold.
Why We Wrote This Recessions often land hardest on the youngest generation of workers. The pandemic downturn is following that pattern, and its severity and global scope may call for new policies in response.
“The past month, I haven’t even applied to jobs,” she says, “mostly because a lot of places due to COVID either aren’t hiring at the moment or they’re looking for people that have ... experience that I know I don’t have.”
Juliana Quiñones, a Colombian millennial, left her job in social work on Colombia’s northern coast in December, hoping to find something new in the field of environmental development in Bogotá. Then, in late March, after a surge of coronavirus cases, the entire country shut down. Businesses closed. And youth employment soared to nearly 30%, one of the highest rates among nations that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) ranks as industrialized. Young women were especially hard hit: More than 1 in 3 are now jobless.
“Let’s just say it was bad timing,” Ms. Quiñones says of her job search. Today she’s trying to launch an eco-fashion shoe line from her parent’s home.
Around the world, from Colombia to Sweden, China to the United States, high-income nations have seen unemployment rise as they’ve locked down their economies. Joblessness has hit workers age 15 to 24 especially hard. Depending on the country, youth unemployment is running double or even triple the jobless rate for the general population. And the effects may last long after the coronavirus is brought under control. If the pandemic-led recession mimics previous downturns, young workers now looking for their first job could see depressed earnings for as long as a decade and more frequent joblessness over a lifetime. And there are concerns about the mental impact joblessness can have on young people.
“Each country will be in a slightly different context [but] it seems to be a global situation,” says Ronald McQuaid, professor of work and employment at the University of Stirling in Britain.
Time for tax incentives for hiring the young?
Will this generation of young workers be any different than the millennials a decade ago, when they started their job search in the teeth of the Great Recession and endured reduced earnings and more unemployment, as a result?
Part of the answer lies with the pandemic itself. If a resurgence causes new lockdowns in nations, the economic damage could last beyond those entering the workforce in 2020 or 2021, says Jesse Rothstein, professor of public policy and economics at the University of California at Berkeley. His research shows that in the U.S., those who start looking for work during a downturn earn 2% less for up to a decade and experience longer bouts of joblessness than those who join the workforce during normal times. Some studies put the damage to incomes higher still.
Even if the past turns out to be prologue, “there will always be exceptions,” says Professor McQuaid. The trend “is a propensity, not a predestination.”
In fact, part of the answer also lies with what governments and private agencies decide to do to alleviate the situation. Most immediately, that involves fiscal stimulus to offset the effects of the downturn, economists say. Longer-term solutions involve everything from job training to tax cuts and even military recruitment. Some job-training directors are also aiming to boost the quality of jobs that organizations are offering youth.
Sweden addressed its high youth unemployment in 2007 with a payroll tax cut for companies that hired workers 26 years old or younger. For the eight years that it ran, the program not only boosted youth employment, its effect doubled near the end of the program and continued even after the tax cut was eliminated, according to one 2019 study.
“Large payroll tax cuts aimed at youth could be a useful policy as we come out of this [COVID-19] crisis that has hit the young particularly hard,” writes Emmanuel Saez, director of the Center for Equitable Growth at the University of California at Berkeley, in an email. “It is possible that a large shock like COVID reverses the gains, and that a new special policy toward the young will be needed to speed the recovery.”
At nearly 29%, Sweden has the fourth-highest youth unemployment rate in the industrialized world, behind Spain, Greece, and Colombia.
Crisis and response in Colombia
The Colombian government is taking several steps to address the problem. That includes programs to pay school fees for low-income students in an effort to keep them enrolled in the education system, federal contributions to help companies keep formal workers on the payroll, and doubling down on existing efforts, like making it easier for citizens to apply for entrepreneurial licenses.
Civil society has stepped up, as well. Futbol Con Corazon (Soccer with Heart), a nongovernmental organization based in Barranquilla, works through soccer to empower disadvantaged youths, age 5 to 17, in communities across the country. One of the central parts of the program is to help them create life plans, envisioning options like higher education or professional careers. This year, the group is launching a new initiative in partnership with Atlético Nacional, one of Colombia’s biggest professional soccer clubs, that will train former participants to become program coaches and mentors.
Masses of unemployed young people cost a nation far beyond jobless subsidies and lost payroll taxes.
“When a young person can’t be in the education system and can’t find employment, they become easy recruits for illegal activities and groups, or they become victims or victimizers,” says Juan Sebastián Arango, a presidential adviser on Colombian youth, ticking off illegal industries that have long plagued the nation like trafficking and illegal mining. “We have to put youth at the center of these policies.”
China Daily/Reuters View caption Hide caption People attend a job fair for college graduates in Bozhou, China, on June 18, 2020. A record 8.7 million young people completed college and university this year, yet recruiters were seeking 2.5 million fewer graduates in the first quarter of this year, compared with last year.
One feature of youth unemployment is that it swells every summer as high school and college students graduate. Nowhere is that stress larger than in China, where a record 8.7 million young people completed college and university this year. That’s the equivalent of adding the population of Switzerland to China’s workforce every year.
And this year, it will be especially tough to find jobs for them as the economy slows. Recruiters were seeking 2.5 million fewer graduates in the first quarter of this year, compared with last year. The unemployment rate for young workers peaked at 13.8% in April, with a slight drop in July. That’s double the overall national unemployment rate, which is based on the urban workforce and does not reflect joblessness among China’s rural population, including roughly 300 million migrant workers.
In China, new jobs as soldiers or rural doctors
Government and private-sector initiatives – together with stepped-up army recruitment – are underway to open up opportunities for graduates. For example, China’s state Cabinet in June approved a pilot in 16 provincial areas that will allow Chinese college students majoring in clinical medicine to apply to work as rural doctors without a time-consuming exam process. Easing the requirement will also alleviate a shortage of rural physicians. A similar program will open doors for graduating veterinarians.
“We must remove such unreasonable barriers to job entry and ... help with the employment of college graduates,” said Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at a June 24 Cabinet meeting, according to the official China Daily newspaper.
Some of China’s large tech and communications companies are launching recruiting drives. The Chinese internet giant Tencent is seeking to hire 5,000 graduates this year, the most in the company’s history, and a 40% increase over last year.
In Hong Kong, the number of job openings for the territory’s 30,000 new university graduates plummeted more than 40% in the first four months of 2020, compared with the same period last year. Luke Chu, an experienced digital marketing specialist, just completed a master’s degree in Hong Kong. But after sending out dozens of resumes, he is still waiting for an interview. “I’ll try to lower my salary expectations,” Mr. Chu was quoted as saying in China Daily.
“Only supermarkets were hiring”
After two pandemic-related layoffs in Germany, Lena at least still has a job, although for reduced hours and at lower pay. The young bilingual émigré from China, who didn’t want her last name used for privacy reasons, had worked in fashion retail for 40 hours a week in Düsseldorf. Then the pandemic hit. “For two months everybody was closed,” she recalls. “Only supermarkets were hiring.”
Now she works part time at an H&M store, earning a third of what she used to. Her income, now diminished to 600 euros a month, pays food and rent while she finishes a degree in fashion marketing. She’s already worried about finding solid work after graduation.
“The fashion industry is lacking a pulse right now,” she says.
Vocational gateways that work in Germany
To combat youth unemployment, Germany decided to focus on propping up the country’s vocational education and training system. Available to all who complete compulsory schooling, this system is historically the most important gateway into the labor market, used by two-thirds of Germans, says Werner Eichhorst, head of research at the IZA Institute of Labor Economics, a nonprofit research group in Bonn. The current generation of teens can use the help.
“They are disproportionately affected, they suffer lasting negative effects,” says Dr. Eichhorst. The program matches young people into temporary jobs at participating companies, overlaid with vocational training, in an arrangement that typically leads to permanent employment after three years.
During the pandemic, realizing that vocational apprenticeships might take a back seat in company priorities, Germany’s federal government has worked to offer one-time bonuses to firms that stepped up training or took over apprenticeships from other, more strapped companies. “And it looks like the market is functioning quite nicely,” says Dr. Eichhorst. “Most [new graduates] should find an opportunity,” he says. “I’m quite optimistic that in Germany, at least, young people will not suffer a lot.”
Germany’s youth unemployment is holding steady at about 5.6%, the lowest among all industrialized countries except Japan, according to OECD data.
Big gap to fill in the U.S.
The situation in the United States looks more dire, despite some improvement since the spring. Youth unemployment peaked at 26.9% in April and by July had dropped to 18.5%.
That’s still the highest youth unemployment for a July since the economy was emerging from the Great Recession a decade earlier. And it has received little attention from the federal government.
“It’s a really serious issue. But there has not been any policy – period – to assist new job entrants,” says Susan Houseman, vice president and director of research at the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, a nonprofit research organization in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Private groups are doing what they can, but the economic squeeze has slashed the number of jobs they can offer. Newly minted college graduate Matthew McLeod-Warrick planned to teach English abroad, but as the pandemic made its way around the globe, the programs offering him a position began canceling.
“I was really disappointed,” says Mr. McLeod-Warrick, who moved back in with his dad in Lynn, Massachusetts. “There are certain jobs that are hiring that I know I could get into, so I know I might not be unemployed for that long. [But] I want to be doing something ... that’s going to help me in terms of my long-term goals. And that might not happen.”
Last summer, the YMCA of Greater Boston employed 725 teens; this summer, it’s closer to 425. But there’s a silver lining, says President and CEO James Morton. “There’s more emphasis today to making sure that young people get meaningful experience and not just busywork.”
The YMCA, which has dramatically ramped up its nutrition programs this year because of the downturn, has put its teen employees in charge of packing and distributing the food. “Young people are bagging groceries that they know will feed a family in the community,” Mr. Morton says.
The positive experiences are important, as some research has made a link between heightened youth unemployment and diminishing self-confidence and negative social behaviors.
“You kind of just want to give up,” says Ms. LoPresti, the unemployed restaurant worker in Pennsylvania. “But getting out of that funk is really important, because while it’s horrible right now, the pandemic isn’t going to be forever.”
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Reporting for this article was done by Laurent Belsie and Jules Struck in the Boston metro area, Ann Scott Tyson in Seattle, Whitney Eulich in Mexico City, and Lenora Chu in Berlin.
Editor’s note: As a public service, we have removed our paywall for all pandemic-related stories.


csmonitor--2020-08-31--‘Natural History’ is a beautiful, challenging puzzle

Costa Rican writer Carlos Fonseca ’ s latest book begins with a simple premise : The narrator , a curator in a natural history museum in New Jersey , receives a call from Giovanna Luxembourg , a prominent fashion designer , who proposes a collaborative project .
They are both intrigued by natural patterns and colors that provide camouflage .
Obscurity isn ’ t the usual métier of a designer , but that anomaly only hints at the depth of subterfuge that unfolds in the pages of this wonderfully enigmatic novel .
The two do meet – many times , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a few years .
During their rambling conversations , Giovanna spills intriguing hints about her life and her family , mysterious stories devoid of identifying detail , tales that she never authenticates .
“ One of these days I ’ ll show you the papers , ” she promises .
But she never does .
And no exhibition ever comes into focus for the pair before Giovanna succumbs to an unspecified illness .
It is only years later that the curator begins to untangle the facts .
His pursuit , which Fonseca lays @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the book , unwinds into a tale that challenges commonly held perceptions about identity , obscurity , and interpretation – and that ’ s just to start .
The journey begins when the curator accepts delivery of a package that contains a stack of manila envelopes .
Carefully tied with string , each envelope holds files – Giovanna ’ s archives for the proposed project .
Each file is meticulously detailed and organized in a manner that defies the evasiveness she had always conveyed in their conversations .
The archive becomes the curator @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rigor , he embarks on an adventure to verify the mysterious wisps of the designer ’ s stories , and maybe discern what is real , too .
He follows a trail that reaches across continents and decades , touching on political movements and popular culture .
It introduces a colorful collection of characters , including a prominent fashion photographer , a conceptual artist put on trial for the repercussions of her work , and an apparent prophet hidden away in a South American jungle .
So does he learn the truth ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ would depend on one ’ s perspective .
People don ’ t see from a singular point of view , after all , so how do we decide what is genuine , what is true ?
Fiction “ truly begins with the one who holds the camera , ” he writes .
The narrator does learn facts about Giovanna ’ s family members and the lives they lived .
But he begins to grasp that his understanding of these details is at the mercy of someone else ’ s telling , whether they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a news story or conveyed in photographs .
Does learning about past events in this way really provide him with a clearer picture of Giovanna , or is he merely accepting someone else ’ s fiction ?
“ Natural History ” delivers a conundrum of a story , one that depends upon neither events nor characters for its substance .
Reading each page requires unwinding a riddle of themes to discover hints and clues hidden in familiar history .
Fonseca presses the reader to grapple with such issues as authenticity and subterfuge , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ know about the world and its inhabitants .
It ’ s helpful to remember that the story begins with a shared appreciation of naturally occurring camouflage .
With lush prose that owes a debt to translator Megan McDowell , Fonseca weaves the fictional threads of Giovanna ’ s life into a fabric of real history , grounding his story in events ranging from Sherman ’ s March to the Sea to the legal battle between sculptor Constantin Brâncuși and the American government that redefined “ art ” at the turn of the 20th @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mention .
Yet no matter how seemingly obscure a reference may appear to be , no detail in this book is superfluous .
Fonseca ties each one into recurring motifs that illustrate his interpretation of perception and reality , faith and irony , tragedy and farce .
Though sometimes inscrutable , he presses the reader to consider the ways that societies communicate – and how , in turn , perspectives shape perceptions in the arts and in politics .

Costa Rican writer Carlos Fonseca’s latest book begins with a simple premise: The narrator, a curator in a natural history museum in New Jersey, receives a call from Giovanna Luxembourg, a prominent fashion designer, who proposes a collaborative project. They are both intrigued by natural patterns and colors that provide camouflage. Obscurity isn’t the usual métier of a designer, but that anomaly only hints at the depth of subterfuge that unfolds in the pages of this wonderfully enigmatic novel.
The two do meet – many times, in fact, over the course of a few years. During their rambling conversations, Giovanna spills intriguing hints about her life and her family, mysterious stories devoid of identifying detail, tales that she never authenticates. “One of these days I’ll show you the papers,” she promises. But she never does. And no exhibition ever comes into focus for the pair before Giovanna succumbs to an unspecified illness.
It is only years later that the curator begins to untangle the facts. His pursuit, which Fonseca lays out in the next four sections of the book, unwinds into a tale that challenges commonly held perceptions about identity, obscurity, and interpretation – and that’s just to start.
The journey begins when the curator accepts delivery of a package that contains a stack of manila envelopes. Carefully tied with string, each envelope holds files – Giovanna’s archives for the proposed project. Each file is meticulously detailed and organized in a manner that defies the evasiveness she had always conveyed in their conversations.
The archive becomes the curator’s treasure map. With academic rigor, he embarks on an adventure to verify the mysterious wisps of the designer’s stories, and maybe discern what is real, too. He follows a trail that reaches across continents and decades, touching on political movements and popular culture. It introduces a colorful collection of characters, including a prominent fashion photographer, a conceptual artist put on trial for the repercussions of her work, and an apparent prophet hidden away in a South American jungle.
So does he learn the truth? Fonseca seems to argue that the answer would depend on one’s perspective. People don’t see from a singular point of view, after all, so how do we decide what is genuine, what is true? Fiction “truly begins with the one who holds the camera,” he writes.
The narrator does learn facts about Giovanna’s family members and the lives they lived. But he begins to grasp that his understanding of these details is at the mercy of someone else’s telling, whether they’re shared in the words of a news story or conveyed in photographs. Does learning about past events in this way really provide him with a clearer picture of Giovanna, or is he merely accepting someone else’s fiction?
“Natural History” delivers a conundrum of a story, one that depends upon neither events nor characters for its substance. Reading each page requires unwinding a riddle of themes to discover hints and clues hidden in familiar history. Fonseca presses the reader to grapple with such issues as authenticity and subterfuge, challenging the idea that anyone can truly know about the world and its inhabitants. It’s helpful to remember that the story begins with a shared appreciation of naturally occurring camouflage.
Get stories that
empower and uplift daily. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads.
With lush prose that owes a debt to translator Megan McDowell, Fonseca weaves the fictional threads of Giovanna’s life into a fabric of real history, grounding his story in events ranging from Sherman’s March to the Sea to the legal battle between sculptor Constantin Brâncuși and the American government that redefined “art” at the turn of the 20th century. Even Andy Warhol gets a mention.
Yet no matter how seemingly obscure a reference may appear to be, no detail in this book is superfluous. Fonseca ties each one into recurring motifs that illustrate his interpretation of perception and reality, faith and irony, tragedy and farce. Though sometimes inscrutable, he presses the reader to consider the ways that societies communicate – and how, in turn, perspectives shape perceptions in the arts and in politics.


csmonitor--2020-08-31--Why the future of elder care may be fewer nursing homes

Geriatrician Bill Thomas , who founded the Green House movement to reimagine nursing homes , hopes to see a generational shift .
What COVID-19 has done , he says , is change the velocity : “ Instead of hoping to make something happen in 10 years we ’ re trying to make it happen in 10 months.
” Some advocates say the root of the industry ’ s problems is not money or policy but social attitudes .
In an age-stratified society , caring for the old isn ’ t a common goal but a headache to solve , so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by low-paid carers .
Smaller-scale , better-staffed elder care appears to have done better during the pandemic .
The greater prize , though , is letting seniors age in their homes and communities , providing a sense of belonging .
Models vary , from publicly-funded day centers to small modular houses that can be added to existing properties or built in clusters .
Today , more than half of Medicaid dollars are spent on home- and community-based services .
The pandemic has shined a spotlight on the often-obscured lives of Americans in nursing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them .
But even before COVID-19 , alternatives to institutional care were expanding in many states – and now , advocates see a chance to help more Americans age the way they want to .
When geriatrician Bill Thomas first sat down to reimagine American nursing homes , the risk of a deadly pandemic wasn ’ t on his mind .
His vision was of elder-directed care on a human scale , an alternative to the “ big box ” homes staffed and run like hospitals .
Nearly two decades on , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to 300 homes in 32 states .
And when COVID-19 hit , its design features – clusters of small buildings with private rooms and bathrooms – helped to reduce infections , even in hard-hit cities like Boston and Detroit .
Dr. Thomas says these features provide a sense of belonging which most nursing homes lack .
And they lead to better health outcomes .
“ If you fix the broken heart it ’ s also good for the body , and it ’ s good for preventing infections , ” he says .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ have attempted to improve nursing homes .
They have built alternative models – less institutional , smaller scale , better staffed – that appear to have done better during the pandemic .
But the greater prize is to help more elders age in their homes and communities .
As COVID-19 roils the nursing home industry and the federal spending behind it , that goal may be in reach , reformers say .
“ Most people would prefer to age in place , at home , if at all possible .
The COVID epidemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ safer at home , ” says Anne Montgomery , co-director of elder care improvement at Altarum Institute , a nonprofit health consultancy .
The vast majority of Americans aged 65 and older currently live at home .
But seniors who require support services often end up in nursing homes because they rely on Medicaid to pay for long-term care .
In recent years , alternatives to institutional care have expanded in many states , using Medicaid waivers .
More than half of Medicaid dollars are spent on home- and community-based services today .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the often-obscured lives of around 1.5 million Americans , with more than a third of deaths coming in nursing homes .
The pandemic has upended the finances and reputations of home operators .
It has disrupted the profitable flow of new residents discharged from hospitals .
And it has forced the industry more generally to defend its poor record on infection control and other measures of quality and safety .
“ The compact that people have made is to trade away certain freedoms and autonomy , and even respect and dignity , in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ safety .
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed that they [ nursing homes ] have not been able to fulfill that , ” says Kavan Peterson , a Seattle-based advocate and co-founder with Dr. Thomas of ChangingAging .
Nursing homes have pushed back against critics , pointing to the rapid spread of COVID-19 in urban areas where hard-hit homes were located .
They also say public-health officials failed to provide needed equipment and guidance .
Regardless , the challenges they face are significant .
“ Nursing homes have been set up to fail .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ says Michael Barnett , assistant professor of health policy and management at the Harvard T.H .
Chan School of Public Health .
“ They have workers who are underpaid and are largely immigrants and minorities who live in communities that are the worst affected.
” Alternatives to traditional nursing homes vary from $ 4,000-a-month private assisted-living facilities to publicly-funded adult day centers to at-home visits by carers .
PACE Centers , which already provide a wide array of services to the elderly and disabled in 31 states , are another path to expanding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to independent senior living is cost .
“ Not everyone is going to be able to afford to pay people for basic assistance to age in place and stay at home , ” says Ms. Montgomery of the Altarum Insititute .
One modest solution is a new federal program , Community Care Corps .
It recently awarded $ 2.4 million in grants to 23 nonprofits nationwide .
The nonprofits will deploy volunteers to support family caregivers , seniors , and people with disabilities living independently .
Altarum Institute is helping to evaluate its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of volunteerism .
We need more volunteers , ” says Ms. Montgomery , also a former policy adviser to the Senate Special Committee on Aging .
For his part , Dr. Thomas wants to reimagine what that home looks like .
Only 10 % of U.S. housing is considered age-friendly .
His vision is a home that is age-friendly , affordable , and woven into a community of all ages so that elders can sustain the connections that he sees as essential to longevity .
He ’ s designed a small modular house @ @ @ @ @ @ @ added to existing properties or built in clusters to create new communities .
The houses can be as small as 330 square feet , but are designed for the elderly and their needs .
Affordable housing can also be set aside for young renters who can help seniors with daily tasks .
In the Netherlands , city planners have added housing for students in buildings and courtyards with seniors , as well as making it easier for families to build add-ons for the elderly .
Dr. Thomas hopes such innovations can spur a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nursing homes as inevitable .
That shift is already underway , as home and community care grows more popular , and policymakers grapple with the costs of long-term care .
What COVID-19 has done , he says , is to change the velocity : “ Instead of hoping to make something happen in 10 years we ’ re trying to make it happen in 10 months.
” Dene Peterson , age 91 , has spent the pandemic in her Appalachian co-housing community in Abingdon , Virginia , which has around 40 seniors .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ that set down some ground rules : social distancing , no house visits , masks required outside .
As a result , she says , “ We ’ ve had no contamination here at all.
” While Ms. Peterson misses aqua aerobics class at the local pool , she has learned to socialize with her neighbors via Zoom .
The app was introduced by “ the young people ” – the 60-year-olds .
The former nun founded ElderSpirit in 2006 as a way to age in place together , and her mixed-income , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ thrives on mutual support .
“ One of the best things is the fact that we manage ourselves , ” she says .
“ We ’ ve set up so that everybody has a chance to be useful.
” Those with heightened medical needs can choose to move to assisted living , or arrange family caregivers or home health care in the comfort of their residence .
Ms. Peterson plans on the latter .
“ It ’ s one of the best ways of growing old that I know , ” she says @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Even the most ardent critics of “ big box ” homes accept the need for nursing homes in an aging society .
Over the last decade , the number of 65-and-older Americans has grown by a third to 54 million , according to Census Bureau data .
Home-based care is harder to regulate than nursing facilities and providers face similar challenges in recruiting low-paid carers .
In tough economic times , families also find it harder to care for their elders ; caregivers already face the burden of lost earnings and reduced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nursing care as a safety net , eligibility for home and community services varies by state .
Nursing home operators have long complained that reimbursements from Medicaid , averaging $ 200 a day , are too low to pay for the skilled nursing that residents need .
Many homes use Medicare payments for post-acute short-term care to cross-subsidize their long-term beds .
This funding structure is one reason why few new nursing homes were being built , even before COVID-19 , relative to the growing elderly population .
In 2003 , Steve McAlilly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Tupelo , Mississippi .
The organization he leads , Methodist Senior Services , now has 19 homes statewide .
All are built to Dr. Thomas ’ s design of small buildings with individual rooms , staffed by nurse aides who also cook and clean and are known as shahbaz , denoting a higher status than normal aides .
( Dr. Thomas is no longer formally involved with the Green House Project , which is based in Linthicum , Maryland . )
Mr. McAlilly ’ s nonprofit also operates a traditional 60-bed nursing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ local nursing homes last month , he took all precautions to protect his residents .
In the 60-bed home , 26 residents tested positive and 3 died , and 20 staff were also sickened , he says .
By contrast , only one Green House had a small outbreak and nobody died .
“ The same management , the same culture .
The only difference is the design , ” he says .
Susan Ryan , senior director of the Green House Project , says only six residents in 245 homes surveyed nationwide @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was one factor .
Another was staffing : The shahbaz model means residents don ’ t see a cadre of nurses , aides , and other workers .
“ The direct care staff that is providing care to the elders are also doing the cooking and cleaning , and that means there are fewer people coming to do those activities , ” she says .
Green Houses cost more to build and most are run by nonprofits , while the rest of the nursing-industry mostly follows a model that is more like a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for-profit operator in Arkansas has begun to build more Green Houses , rather than expand other types of care homes , says Mr. McAlilly .
The pandemic has made families rethink traditional nursing facilities .
The developer “ believes this is the future , ” he says .
Developers tend to build large nursing homes because scale is seen as necessary in an industry that relies on federal reimbursement that operators say hasn ’ t kept pace with costs .
Those costs have risen during the pandemic , while income from both long-term @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Still , some advocates say the root of the problem exposed by the pandemic is not money or policy but social attitudes .
In an age-stratified society , caring for the old isn ’ t a common goal but a headache to solve , so vulnerable elders are sent to homes staffed by low-paid carers .
In polls , around half of Americans over 40 say that “ almost everyone ” is likely to need long-term care , but only 25 % believe this applies to them .
Advocates say this mismatch @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to reform the nursing-home sector .
“ We have ageism and we have racism and that has had a tremendous impact on what we ’ re seeing .
As a society we have accepted what some call warehousing .
We have almost dehumanized elders , they have been the Other , ” says Ms. Ryan of the Green House Project .
She adds : “ If we don ’ t take this pandemic and learn from it , shame on us.
” Editor ’ s note : As a public service , we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stories .

Geriatrician Bill Thomas, who founded the Green House movement to reimagine nursing homes, hopes to see a generational shift. What COVID-19 has done, he says, is change the velocity: “Instead of hoping to make something happen in 10 years we’re trying to make it happen in 10 months.”
Some advocates say the root of the industry’s problems is not money or policy but social attitudes. In an age-stratified society, caring for the old isn’t a common goal but a headache to solve, so vulnerable elders are sent to homes staffed by low-paid carers.
Safety, familiarity, community – for many of us, those are key to aging well. So why does so much elder care struggle to provide them? Advocates for nursing care reform hope changes can align our systems with our values.
Smaller-scale, better-staffed elder care appears to have done better during the pandemic. The greater prize, though, is letting seniors age in their homes and communities, providing a sense of belonging. Models vary, from publicly-funded day centers to small modular houses that can be added to existing properties or built in clusters. Today, more than half of Medicaid dollars are spent on home- and community-based services.
The pandemic has shined a spotlight on the often-obscured lives of Americans in nursing homes, and the industry that runs them. But even before COVID-19, alternatives to institutional care were expanding in many states – and now, advocates see a chance to help more Americans age the way they want to.
When geriatrician Bill Thomas first sat down to reimagine American nursing homes, the risk of a deadly pandemic wasn’t on his mind. His vision was of elder-directed care on a human scale, an alternative to the “big box” homes staffed and run like hospitals.
Nearly two decades on, the Green House movement he birthed has spread to 300 homes in 32 states. And when COVID-19 hit, its design features – clusters of small buildings with private rooms and bathrooms – helped to reduce infections, even in hard-hit cities like Boston and Detroit.
Dr. Thomas says these features provide a sense of belonging which most nursing homes lack. And they lead to better health outcomes. “If you fix the broken heart it’s also good for the body, and it’s good for preventing infections,” he says.
Why We Wrote This Safety, familiarity, community – for many of us, those are key to aging well. So why does so much elder care struggle to provide them? Advocates for nursing care reform hope changes can align our systems with our values.
For decades, reformers like Dr. Thomas have attempted to improve nursing homes. They have built alternative models – less institutional, smaller scale, better staffed – that appear to have done better during the pandemic.
But the greater prize is to help more elders age in their homes and communities. As COVID-19 roils the nursing home industry and the federal spending behind it, that goal may be in reach, reformers say.
“Most people would prefer to age in place, at home, if at all possible. The COVID epidemic might strengthen that, as people feel safer at home,” says Anne Montgomery, co-director of elder care improvement at Altarum Institute, a nonprofit health consultancy.
The vast majority of Americans aged 65 and older currently live at home. But seniors who require support services often end up in nursing homes because they rely on Medicaid to pay for long-term care. In recent years, alternatives to institutional care have expanded in many states, using Medicaid waivers. More than half of Medicaid dollars are spent on home- and community-based services today.
Now COVID-19 has shined a spotlight on the often-obscured lives of around 1.5 million Americans, with more than a third of deaths coming in nursing homes. The pandemic has upended the finances and reputations of home operators. It has disrupted the profitable flow of new residents discharged from hospitals. And it has forced the industry more generally to defend its poor record on infection control and other measures of quality and safety.
“The compact that people have made is to trade away certain freedoms and autonomy, and even respect and dignity, in return for a promise of security and safety. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed that they [nursing homes] have not been able to fulfill that,” says Kavan Peterson, a Seattle-based advocate and co-founder with Dr. Thomas of ChangingAging.
Nursing homes have pushed back against critics, pointing to the rapid spread of COVID-19 in urban areas where hard-hit homes were located. They also say public-health officials failed to provide needed equipment and guidance.
Regardless, the challenges they face are significant.
“Nursing homes have been set up to fail. They have extremely vulnerable populations,” says Michael Barnett, assistant professor of health policy and management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “They have workers who are underpaid and are largely immigrants and minorities who live in communities that are the worst affected.”
New vision
Alternatives to traditional nursing homes vary from $4,000-a-month private assisted-living facilities to publicly-funded adult day centers to at-home visits by carers. PACE Centers, which already provide a wide array of services to the elderly and disabled in 31 states, are another path to expanding non-institutional care options.
A major impediment to independent senior living is cost. “Not everyone is going to be able to afford to pay people for basic assistance to age in place and stay at home,” says Ms. Montgomery of the Altarum Insititute.
One modest solution is a new federal program, Community Care Corps. It recently awarded $2.4 million in grants to 23 nonprofits nationwide. The nonprofits will deploy volunteers to support family caregivers, seniors, and people with disabilities living independently. Altarum Institute is helping to evaluate its effectiveness. “This is the age of volunteerism. We need more volunteers,” says Ms. Montgomery, also a former policy adviser to the Senate Special Committee on Aging.
For his part, Dr. Thomas wants to reimagine what that home looks like. Only 10% of U.S. housing is considered age-friendly.
His vision is a home that is age-friendly, affordable, and woven into a community of all ages so that elders can sustain the connections that he sees as essential to longevity. He’s designed a small modular house he calls a Minka that can be added to existing properties or built in clusters to create new communities. The houses can be as small as 330 square feet, but are designed for the elderly and their needs. Affordable housing can also be set aside for young renters who can help seniors with daily tasks.
In the Netherlands, city planners have added housing for students in buildings and courtyards with seniors, as well as making it easier for families to build add-ons for the elderly.
Dr. Thomas hopes such innovations can spur a generational shift in the U.S. away from nursing homes as inevitable. That shift is already underway, as home and community care grows more popular, and policymakers grapple with the costs of long-term care.
What COVID-19 has done, he says, is to change the velocity: “Instead of hoping to make something happen in 10 years we’re trying to make it happen in 10 months.”
Dene Peterson, age 91, has spent the pandemic in her Appalachian co-housing community in Abingdon, Virginia, which has around 40 seniors. Her ElderSpirit Community formed a task force that set down some ground rules: social distancing, no house visits, masks required outside.
As a result, she says, “We’ve had no contamination here at all.”
While Ms. Peterson misses aqua aerobics class at the local pool, she has learned to socialize with her neighbors via Zoom. The app was introduced by “the young people” – the 60-year-olds.
The former nun founded ElderSpirit in 2006 as a way to age in place together, and her mixed-income, multifaith community for ages 55 and up thrives on mutual support.
“One of the best things is the fact that we manage ourselves,” she says. “We’ve set up so that everybody has a chance to be useful.”
Those with heightened medical needs can choose to move to assisted living, or arrange family caregivers or home health care in the comfort of their residence. Ms. Peterson plans on the latter. “It’s one of the best ways of growing old that I know,” she says. “You’re not lonely.”
Doing the math
Even the most ardent critics of “big box” homes accept the need for nursing homes in an aging society. Over the last decade, the number of 65-and-older Americans has grown by a third to 54 million, according to Census Bureau data. Home-based care is harder to regulate than nursing facilities and providers face similar challenges in recruiting low-paid carers.
In tough economic times, families also find it harder to care for their elders; caregivers already face the burden of lost earnings and reduced pensions. While Medicaid pays for traditional nursing care as a safety net, eligibility for home and community services varies by state.
Nursing home operators have long complained that reimbursements from Medicaid, averaging $200 a day, are too low to pay for the skilled nursing that residents need. Many homes use Medicare payments for post-acute short-term care to cross-subsidize their long-term beds.
This funding structure is one reason why few new nursing homes were being built, even before COVID-19, relative to the growing elderly population.
In 2003, Steve McAlilly built the first Green House nursing home in Tupelo, Mississippi. The organization he leads, Methodist Senior Services, now has 19 homes statewide. All are built to Dr. Thomas’s design of small buildings with individual rooms, staffed by nurse aides who also cook and clean and are known as shahbaz, denoting a higher status than normal aides. (Dr. Thomas is no longer formally involved with the Green House Project, which is based in Linthicum, Maryland.)
Mr. McAlilly’s nonprofit also operates a traditional 60-bed nursing home. When COVID-19 began spreading in local nursing homes last month, he took all precautions to protect his residents. In the 60-bed home, 26 residents tested positive and 3 died, and 20 staff were also sickened, he says. By contrast, only one Green House had a small outbreak and nobody died.
“The same management, the same culture. The only difference is the design,” he says.
Susan Ryan, senior director of the Green House Project, says only six residents in 245 homes surveyed nationwide have died of COVID-19. Facility layout was one factor. Another was staffing: The shahbaz model means residents don’t see a cadre of nurses, aides, and other workers.
“The direct care staff that is providing care to the elders are also doing the cooking and cleaning, and that means there are fewer people coming to do those activities,” she says.
Key moment
Green Houses cost more to build and most are run by nonprofits, while the rest of the nursing-industry mostly follows a model that is more like a hospital than a home.
But a for-profit operator in Arkansas has begun to build more Green Houses, rather than expand other types of care homes, says Mr. McAlilly. The pandemic has made families rethink traditional nursing facilities. The developer “believes this is the future,” he says.
Developers tend to build large nursing homes because scale is seen as necessary in an industry that relies on federal reimbursement that operators say hasn’t kept pace with costs. Those costs have risen during the pandemic, while income from both long-term residents and short-term Medicare-funded stays has declined.
Still, some advocates say the root of the problem exposed by the pandemic is not money or policy but social attitudes. In an age-stratified society, caring for the old isn’t a common goal but a headache to solve, so vulnerable elders are sent to homes staffed by low-paid carers.
In polls, around half of Americans over 40 say that “almost everyone” is likely to need long-term care, but only 25% believe this applies to them. Advocates say this mismatch helps explain why policymakers have been slow to reform the nursing-home sector.
“We have ageism and we have racism and that has had a tremendous impact on what we’re seeing. As a society we have accepted what some call warehousing. We have almost dehumanized elders, they have been the Other,” says Ms. Ryan of the Green House Project.
She adds: “If we don’t take this pandemic and learn from it, shame on us.”
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Staff writer Sarah Matusek contributed reporting.
Editor’s note: As a public service, we have removed our paywall for all pandemic-related stories.


csmonitor--2020-08-31--The earliest female sports superstars paved the way for women who followed

Before Serena Williams and Megan Rapinoe , there was Lottie Dod and Alice Marble .
The latter were well known in the late 19th and early 20th century , and as media sensations they paved the way for female sports superstars today .
Dod ( 1871-1960 ) was a British tennis prodigy , golf champion , and all-around athlete .
At the tender age of 11 , she began challenging adults and “ leaving their tennis in tatters.
” By age 21 , she had racked up five Wimbledon wins ; her first win at age 15 earned her the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ champion .
Her story is chronicled in “ Little Wonder : The Fabulous Story of Lottie Dod , the World ’ s First Female Sports Superstar ” by Sasha Abramsky .
Yet , at the peak of her power , Dod left tennis .
She craved a new challenge .
Throughout her 20s and 30s , she bounced from sport to sport , achieving a string of successes not just in tennis and golf , but also in hockey , ice skating , tobogganing , and mountain climbing .
She closed out her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in archery at the 1908 Olympics .
Dod challenged the prevailing image of the “ delicate ” female athlete , who was considered inferior to her male counterparts .
She was vocal in her belief that women could be just as successful in sports as men .
After her death , The Guardian called Dod “ one of the most remarkable sportswomen of the 19th century.
” Abramsky presents a well-researched account of a woman whose rare losses were almost more newsworthy than her consistent victories .
American tennis player Alice Marble ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ attention and multiple titles beginning in the mid-1930s .
As detailed in Robert Weintraub ’ s “ The Divine Miss Marble : A Life of Tennis , Fame , and Mystery , ” Marble possessed a great deal of innate talent , but it wasn ’ t until coach Eleanor “ Teach ” Tennant agreed to instruct her that she morphed into a champion .
The road to the top wasn ’ t easy .
Several health crises threatened to end her career , and she left the circuit for two years to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in 1936 , when she won the U.S. National Championships ( now known as the U.S. Open ) .
Her comeback story along with her televised matches made the public fall in love with Marble .
Her friendships with movie stars such as Carole Lombard and Clark Gable gave her a reputation of rubbing elbows with Hollywood royalty .
She became a glamorous figure in her own right and gained a platform for her other projects , including sportswear design .
Much of Marble ’ s life remains shrouded in mystery .
Though @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , questions persist .
Was she married to an officer who died in World War II ?
Did she serve as a spy ?
Weintraub uses Marble ’ s memoirs as the foundation of his research , and his discoveries turn this sports biography into a page-turning thriller .
These two biographies serve not only as opportunities to marvel at the accomplishments of these women , but also as reminders that some things haven ’ t changed .
For example , Dod and Marble were criticized for how they dressed , accused of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their progressive political views .
These books are celebrations of women ’ s progress , but they also show how much work is left to be done .

Before Serena Williams and Megan Rapinoe, there was Lottie Dod and Alice Marble. The latter were well known in the late 19th and early 20th century, and as media sensations they paved the way for female sports superstars today.
Dod (1871-1960) was a British tennis prodigy, golf champion, and all-around athlete. At the tender age of 11, she began challenging adults and “leaving their tennis in tatters.” By age 21, she had racked up five Wimbledon wins; her first win at age 15 earned her the still-unbroken record for youngest ladies’ singles champion. Her story is chronicled in “Little Wonder: The Fabulous Story of Lottie Dod, the World’s First Female Sports Superstar” by Sasha Abramsky.
Yet, at the peak of her power, Dod left tennis. She craved a new challenge. Throughout her 20s and 30s, she bounced from sport to sport, achieving a string of successes not just in tennis and golf, but also in hockey, ice skating, tobogganing, and mountain climbing. She closed out her impressive career by winning a silver medal in archery at the 1908 Olympics.
Why We Wrote This Elite female athletes are not just a recent phenomenon. In the early 20th century, two women rose to the top of their sports and achieved fame. Their stories have been forgotten – until now. Two biographies capture the excitement of their achievements and also the challenges they faced in a male-dominated society. Today's sports superstars stand on their shoulders.
Dod challenged the prevailing image of the “delicate” female athlete, who was considered inferior to her male counterparts. She was vocal in her belief that women could be just as successful in sports as men. After her death, The Guardian called Dod “one of the most remarkable sportswomen of the 19th century.”
Abramsky presents a well-researched account of a woman whose rare losses were almost more newsworthy than her consistent victories.
The tennis world’s comeback kid
American tennis player Alice Marble (1913-1990) captured the world’s attention and multiple titles beginning in the mid-1930s. As detailed in Robert Weintraub’s “The Divine Miss Marble: A Life of Tennis, Fame, and Mystery,” Marble possessed a great deal of innate talent, but it wasn’t until coach Eleanor “Teach” Tennant agreed to instruct her that she morphed into a champion.
The road to the top wasn’t easy. Several health crises threatened to end her career, and she left the circuit for two years to recover. She made a triumphant return in 1936, when she won the U.S. National Championships (now known as the U.S. Open).
Her comeback story along with her televised matches made the public fall in love with Marble. Her friendships with movie stars such as Carole Lombard and Clark Gable gave her a reputation of rubbing elbows with Hollywood royalty. She became a glamorous figure in her own right and gained a platform for her other projects, including sportswear design.
Get stories that
empower and uplift daily. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads.
Much of Marble’s life remains shrouded in mystery. Though she wrote not one but two memoirs, questions persist. Was she married to an officer who died in World War II? Did she serve as a spy? Weintraub uses Marble’s memoirs as the foundation of his research, and his discoveries turn this sports biography into a page-turning thriller.
These two biographies serve not only as opportunities to marvel at the accomplishments of these women, but also as reminders that some things haven’t changed. For example, Dod and Marble were criticized for how they dressed, accused of playing like men, and berated for their progressive political views. These books are celebrations of women’s progress, but they also show how much work is left to be done.