Review_NONFICTION
60 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JANUARY 27, 2020
Helen Hamilton Gardener, pictured here at her swearing-in ceremony for the U.S. Civil Service
Commission, is the focus of Kimberly Hamlin’s Free Thinker (reviewed on p. 66).Brother Robert:
Growing Up with Robert Johnson
Annye C. Anderson, with Preston Lauterbach.
Da Capo, $28 (224p) ISBN 978-0-306-84526-0
In conversation with journalist
Lauterbach (Bluff City), Anderson offers
vivid, personal glimpses of her stepbrother,
legendary blues musician Robert Johnson
(1911–1938), providing a colorful picture
of the bluesman while attempting to
debunk the myths surrounding him. In her
earliest memory, an 18-year-old Johnson
scoops up the three-year-old Anderson and
carries her up the stairs to their new house
in Memphis. She writes that her father
taught the seven-year-old Johnson to play
the guitar and recalls how much Johnson
loved movies, especially Westerns, and that
he wore a Stetson hat like his hero, actor
Tom Mix. Anderson addresses the legend
of Johnson selling his soul to the devil at
the crossroads to become the world’s
greatest blues guitarist, arguing that the
mythical event could never have taken
place because her brother was a devout
Baptist. Anderson also relays sordid stories
of how two musicologists—Steve LaVere
and Mack McCormick—swindled
Anderson and her family out of Johnson’s
royalties, as well as family photos. She
shares Johnson’s deathbed prophecy (“I
know that my Redeemer liveth and that
He Will call me from the Grave”), and
believes it “came true,” since his reputation
became bigger after his death. Anderson’s
earnest and enlightening memoir will
please Johnson’s fans. (June)Decoding Your Cat: The Ultimate
Experts Explain Common Cat
Behaviors and Reveal How to
Prevent or Change Unwanted Ones
Edited by Meghan E. Herron, Debra F. Horwitz,
and Carlo Siracusa. Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt, $27 (368p) ISBN 978-1-328-48990-6
In this savvy guide from members of
the American College of Veterinary
Behaviorists, readers are nudged toward
better understanding, and thus coexisting
with, their feline companions. A chart in
the first chapter interprets common
emotional cues, from the set of cats’ ears
(semi-rotated outward, flattened, or
relaxed) or their eyes (closed, gazingcasually, or slowly blinking). The authors
cover everything from temperament testing
(not very successful for kittens, more so
for adult cats) to, in the most fascinating
section, enriching a bored cat’s environ-
ment to negate bad behavior. Since cats like
to view their surroundings from above,
the authors suggest creating a raised perch
placed safely above the human fray. And
as cats are hunters by instinct, owners can
provide food-dispensing toys that allow
cats to “catch” their meals while working
off excess energy. The book also covers
auditory stimulation, artificial pheromones,
creating play areas and DIY cat toys, and
making sure the litter box gets used.
Reading this highly informative book will
be a good start on the road to making cats
happier and more fulfilled at home. (June)Empty: A Memoir
Susan Burton. Random House, $27 (288p)
ISBN 978-0-8129-9284-7
This American Life producer Burton
debuts with an unfiltered discussion of
how binge eating and anorexia plagued
her throughout her adolescence and into
her 20s and turned her into a “desperate
wreck.” Around the time she entered
puberty, Burton began worrying about
getting fat; she started controlling her
portions and took “perverse pleasure in
[her] smallness.” Burton ably recreates her
anxiety-filled youth, when she struggledwith her parents’ divorce, her mother’s
alcoholism, and with eating disorders. She
offers raw descriptions of binging late at
night in her kitchen as a teen, eating ice
cream, muffins, and power bars to fill a
void (“This was tearing things, a frenzy”),
then, later in life, starving herself to the
point that she developed osteoporosis, all
in an effort to feel “light” and “empty.”
Burton traces her issues with food back to
her grandmother, who obsessed about
weight, but offers no easy answers about
what ultimately drove her own behavior.
Physically healthy now, she writes that
she remains “inflexible, paranoid, and
self-loathing about food,” and is still on
the road to recovery, aided by therapy,
writing, and family support. Burton
convincingly conveys the desperation and
darkness of eating disorders. (June)★ The Fixed Stars: A Memoir
Molly Wizenberg. Abrams, $32 (256p)
ISBN 978-1-4197-4299-6
In this intimate memoir, Wizenberg
(A Homemade Life) shares the story of her
changing sexual orientation, the dissolu-
tion of her marriage, and the challenges of
coming out to her friends and family. While
serving on a jury as a 36-year-old married
mother of a toddler, Wizenberg became
captivated by a female attorney she met.
Soon after the trial, she shared her new-
found feelings and confusion with her chefNonfiction