SUNDAY, MAY 15 , 2022. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ BD B7land’s Eastern Shore; taking in the Martin
Luther King Jr. Day parade in downtown
Baltimore and being distressed when a small
pile of dung from a police horse mars a
section of the route — makes clear that the
phenomenon remains real.
Jackson renders all of this, along with
some nuanced and well-researched Balti-
more and Maryland history, with a literary
flair. The essays at times have an almost
stream-of-consciousness feel. There are plac-
es where Jackson jumps from the past to the
present, and from describing events to shar-
ing thoughts running through his mind.
In one passage where he is describing a
visit with his son to a neighborhood church, a
campaign poster he encounters causes him to
marvel at the “surgically drawn” gerryman-
dering engineered by the state’s Democratic
legislators. T he lawmakers left Homeland out
of Baltimore’s largely Black 7th Congres-
sional District and put it in another Demo-
cratic district that stretches 30 miles south to
Annapolis.
In other parts of the book, Jackson
wanders down side streets to discuss his
woodworking and gardening projects that
produce good — but not professional —
results. At first, I found it a bit distracting
and struggled to figure out where Jackson
was going. But once I settled into the book, I
found his style effective. And a lot of the
book’s humor is found on the side streets he
chose to traverse.
In describing a project to build permanent
shelving in his home, he recounts using a
router to make a groove in one of his boards
and hearing the tool emit a deep moan. It
turns out his blade has loosened, and he has
cut a “deep, irregular trough, half an inch
lower than the design.” Sadly, he concludes,
“the shelf w ill be imperfect, e xactly like all m y
other furniture. Gut shot, I am slow to
regroup.”with backbreaking Black labor and initially
kept White by racial covenant. Now, its
exclusivity is maintained not by racial code
but mainly through economic inequality,
even if the racial impact is not that different.
Certainly, Homeland represented “ the oth-
er Baltimore” when Jackson was coming of
age. It was not one of the redlined, crime-rid-
den and wealth-draining rowhouse commu-
nities he and generations of his family were
familiar with, but a verdant, prosperous
redoubt of money managers, doctors, lawyers
and academics seemingly hidden just a few
miles across town.
But living in Homeland has come with
complications, and Jackson struggles to
make peace with what many people would
call his success. When someone from the old
neighborhood remarks that “not all of us can
live here,” Jackson does not shrug it off as a
stray comment. “He means I am an Uncle
To m, the sort of black person willing to erase
any vestige of their ethnicity to win white
approval,” he writes.
Later, in an essay that examines some of
the contradictions of famed Marylander
Frederick Douglass, Jackson writes with
anguish, “I did wonder if the Homeland
house and my pressing desire to raise my
children in the undisputed middle class was
connected to an unseemly fondness for
ancient white power.”
To be sure, Jackson does his part to bridge
his worlds. He describes his visits to his
childhood church in the heart of West
Baltimore, as well as his work to make the
resources and scholarship of Hopkins more
accessible to Baltimore’s Black majority.
Well over a century ago, W.E.B. Du Bois
invoked the term “double-consciousness” to
describe the phenomenon many Black folks
experience of looking at themselves through
the eyes of others — mainly White people.
And the anecdotes Jackson deploys — having
a White man address him as “buddy” as he
clumsily boarded a rented boat on Mary-B
altimore’s hardscrabble Park Heights
neighborhood is maybe five miles from
stately Homeland, but when it comes to
lived reality it is a world away. The same
could be said of Brooklyn’s Brownsville and
Park Slope, Washington’s Congress Heights
and Capitol Hill, and countless other neigh-
borhoods in countless American cities deeply
divided by race and class.
Those divisions are a consequence of a
shared but unequal history that persists,
even for t hose with the good fortune to “move
up” from one world to the other. That theme
underlies “Shelter: A Black Ta le of Homeland,
Baltimore,” the penetrating new book by
Johns Hopkins University professor Law-
rence Jackson.
“Shelter” is a memoir of Jackson and his
hometown. The story is told in wide-ranging
essays that touch on subjects including the
joys and challenges of Black fatherhood, the
overlooked history of his new, mostly White
neighborhood of Homeland, his connection
to his childhood church, the perils of Black
upward mobility, the pain of divorce, and
the everyday challenges of homeownership.
The book is by turns searing, informative
and funny, as Jackson explores both serious
issues and absurdities of his life and his city.
Jackson is a historian, biographer and
fourth-generation Baltimorean who grew up
in nearly all-Black Park Heights, a working-
class section of the city that in recent decades
has fallen on hard times. After going off to
college and graduate school and launching
his a cademic career, h e returned to B altimore
in 2016 for a job as a distinguished professor
at Hopkins, a university widely regarded as
one of the nation’s finest even as it maintains
a distant and difficult relationship with Black
Baltimore.
When Jackson came back, he chose to buy
in Homeland, a beautiful community with
stone houses, winding streets, tall trees, and
a series of ponds and fountains known as the
Lakes. It is also a community that was builtFICTION1 SEA OF TRANQUILITY (Knopf, $25). By
Emily St. John Mandel. The author of
“Station Eleven” and “The Glass Hotel”
explores the psychological implications of
time travel for characters from different
centuries.2 THE CANDY HOUSE (Scribner, $28). By
Jennifer Egan. A sequel to the Pulitzer Prize-
winning “A Visit From the Goon Squad”
continues the story of tech mogul Bix
Bouton.3 THE BOOK OF NIGHT (Tor, $27.99). By Holly
Black. A woman stumbles across a mangled
corpse while being watched by a man with
shadows where his hands should be.4 TIME IS A MOTHER (Penguin Press, $24). By
Ocean Vuong. Poems about living through
grief from the award-winning poet and
novelist.5 LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY (Doubleday, $29).
By Bonnie Garmus. A midcentury scientist
becomes a sensation while hosting a
feminist cooking show.6 TRUST (Riverhead, $28). By Hernan Diaz. An
excessively wealthy family with a secret is
the catalyst for examining how stories can
shape the truth.7 THE PARIS APARTMENT (Morrow, $28.99).
By Lucy Foley. A woman investigating her
brother’s disappearance suspects that his
neighbors might have been involved.8 WHEN WOMEN WERE DRAGONS
(Doubleday, $28). By Kelly Barnhill. When
many 1950s-era housewives become
dragons, society must reckon with newfound
female power and autonomy.9 THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY (Viking, $26). By
Matt Haig. A regretful woman lands in a
library where she gets to play out her life had
she made different choices.10 THE LINCOLN HIGHWAY (Viking, $30). By
Amor Towles. Four boys on a road trip take
an unplanned journey.NONFICTION1 ATLAS OF THE HEART (Random House,
$30). By Brené Brown. An exploration of 87
emotions to help people make more
meaningful connections.2 THIS WILL NOT PASS (Simon & Schuster,
$29.99). By Jonathan Martin and Alexander
Burns. Two reporters chronicle the
tumultuous 2020 election and the discord
during the first year of the Biden presidency.3 CRYING IN H MART (Knopf, $26.95). By
Michelle Zauner. A Korean American indie-
rock star chronicles her relationship with her
late mother and their shared culture.4 FINDING ME (HarperOne, $28.99). By Viola
Davis. The award-winning actor and
producer describes overcoming dire
challenges in her upbringing, allowing her to
find her life’s purpose.5 THE BOY, THE MOLE, THE FOX AND THE
HORSE (Harper One, $22.99). By Charlie
Mackesy. The British illustrator brings fables
about unlikely friendships to life.6 HALF BAKED HARVEST EVERY DAY
(Clarkson Potter, $29.99). By Tieghan
Gerard. The food blogger offers plant-
forward recipes to satisfy cravings and
nourish both body and soul.7 THE PALACE PAPERS (Crown, $35). By Tina
Brown. The journalist and chronicler of the
British monarchy delves into the triumphs
and tragedies over the last 25 years in the
House of Windsor.8 THE COMPLETE MAUS (Pantheon, $35). By
Art Spiegelman. The award-winning graphic-
novel series about the Holocaust, combined
into a single volume.9 FREEZING ORDER (Simon & Schuster,
$28.99). By Bill Browder. A former financial
executive uncovers a $230 million tax
refund conspiracy benefitting Vladimir Putin.10 ATOMIC HABITS (Avery, $27). By James
Clear. How to make small changes that have
a big impact.Rankings reflect sales for the week ended May 8. The charts may
not be reproduced without permission from the American
Booksellers Association, the trade association for independent
bookstores in the United States, and indiebound.org. Copyright
2022 American Booksellers Association. (The bestseller lists
alternate between hardcover and paperback each week.)Washington Post
H ardcover Bestsellers
COURTESY OF THE AMERICAN
BOOKSELLERS ASSOCIATION Bestsellers at washingtonpost.com/books15 SUNDAY | 10 A.M. Headliner Carl Bernstein
discusses “Chasing History: A Kid in the Newsroom,”
and other authors discuss their books, at the Books in
Bloom festival at Color Burst Park, 6100 Merriweather
Dr., Columbia. 410-964-4984.
16 MONDAY | 5 P.M. Peter Heller discusses “The
Guide,” streamed through Lewes Library at
lewes.lib.de.us.
7 P.M. Sayantani Dasgupta discusses “Debating Darcy”
with Chelsea Clinton , streamed through Politics and
Prose Live at politics-prose.com/events.
8 P.M. Maggie Shipstead discusses “You Have a Friend
in 10A: Stories,” streamed through Books and Books,
Harvard Book Store, and Politics and Prose Live.
17 TUESDAY | 5 P.M. Kathy Hunt discusses “Luscious,
Tender, Juicy: Recipes for Perfect Texture in Dinners,
Desserts, and More,” streamed through Lewes Library.
6:30 P.M. Christina Lauren discusses “Something
Wilder” with Ali Hazelwood and Kate Clayborn for East
City Bookshop at Miracle Theatre, 535 Eighth St. SE.
202-400-3210.7 P.M. Eliza Knight and Evie Hawtrey discuss “The
Mayfair Bookshop” and “And By Fire,” streamed through
onemorepagebooks.com and in person at One More
Page Books, 2200 N. Westmoreland St. #101. Arlington.
703-300-9746.
8 P.M. Phil Klay discusses “Uncertain Ground:
Citizenship in an Age of Endless, Invisible War” with Kori
Schake , streamed through Books & Books, Harvard
Book Store, and Politics and Prose Live.
18 WEDNESDAY | 6 P.M. To ni Bentley discusses
“Serenade: A Balanchine Story” with Christopher
D’Amboise , streamed through Politics and Prose Live.
7 P.M. Jennifer Dugan discusses “Melt With You” with
Alyson Derrick and Rachael Lippincott , streamed
through East City Bookshop at eastcitybookshop.com.
19 THURSDAY | 6 P.M. Lindsay Eagar presents and
signs “Patron Thief of Bread” at Bards Alley, 110 Church
St. NW, Vienna. 571-459-2653.
20 FRIDAY | 1 P.M. Elise Broach discusses “Duet,”
streamed through Politics and Prose Live.6 P.M. Putsata Reang discusses “Ma and Me” with
Charles Yu , streamed through Politics and Prose Live.
7 P.M. Thea Prieto discusses “From the Caves” with
Michael Kaufman , streamed through Lost City Books at
lostcitybookstore.com.
21 SATURDAY | 10:15 A.M. Dhonielle Clayton
discusses “The Marvellers” at the Gaithersburg Book
Festival, held at Bohrer Park at Summit Hall Farm, 506
S. Frederick Ave., Gaithersburg. 301-258-6350.
12:15 P.M. Peter H. Reynolds discusses “Our Table” at
the Gaithersburg Book Festival.
1:15 P.M. Jocelyn Nicole Johnson discusses “My
Monticello” at the Gaithersburg Book Festival.
2:15 P.M. Rep. Adam Schiff discusses “Midnight in
Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and
Still Could” at the Gaithersburg Book Festival.
3:15 P.M. Jacquelyn Mitchard discusses “The Good
Son” at the Gaithersburg Book Festival.
For more literary events, go to wapo.st/literarycal.LITERARY CALENDARMay 15 - 21Book WorldSHELTER
A Black Tale of
Homeland,
Baltimore
By Lawrence
Jackson
Graywolf.
329 pp. $17.Michael A. Fletcher is a senior writer for ESPN.As in other
American
cities,
Baltimore’s
neighborhood
s — divided
along racial or
economic
lines — can
feel like
separate
worlds.MEMOIR REVIEW BY MICHAEL A. FLETCHERJULIO CORTEZ/ASSOCIATED PRESSA Black professorin Baltimore,b ridging two worlds