Truth in Fiction

Interested in reading more books with the topics covered in
If Not the Whole Truth?

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A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult—a tense tale of a gunman and hostage standoff in a women’s clinic that asks the questions: How do we balance the rights of pregnant women with the rights of the unborn they carry? What does it mean to be a good parent?
American Woman by Susan Choi—Pulitzer Prize finalist, based on the 1974 kidnapping of Patty Hearst by the Symbionese Liberation Army,a thought-provoking mediation on themes of race, identity, and class.

All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren—Nothing ever changes when it comes to corruption! This book
portrays the 1930s dramatic and theatrical political rise of governor Willie Stark, an idealistic but underhanded populist in a fictional state very much like Louisiana. The novel is narrated by Jack Burden, a political reporter who evolves into Governor Stark's right-hand man. The trajectory of Stark's career is intertwined with Burden's slowly revealed backstory and philosophical reflections, particularly about history. Beautiful, descriptive writing. Inspired by the life of U.S. Senator and Louisiana Governor Huey P. Long, who was assassinated in 1935, it won the Pulitzer Prize in 1947. See my review.

All You Have to Do Is Call by Kerri Maher—based on the real-life Jane Collective, an underground women's health organization in Chicago that provided reproductive counseling and safe, illegal abortions in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

An American Tune by Barbara Shoup—Moving between the 1960s past and the at the beginning of the Iraq War; set in Bloomington, Indiana and the Indiana University campus. A young woman gets tangled up in a deadly bombing and changes her identity, becoming a wife and mother living a quiet life in northern Michigan until forced to revisit her past. Illuminates the irrevocability of our choices and how those choices impact our lives.

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones—commentary on race and injustice in 21st-century America, exploring the devastating impact of mass incarceration. See my review.

Arcadia by Lauren Groff—Set in Upstate New York during the 1960s and 70s, and depicts a utopian commune through the eyes of the settlement's first-born child, Bit. A post-apocalyptic future ravaged by global warming. Loosely modeled after the history of Steve Gaskin’s The Farm commune in Summertown, Tennessee.

Becoming Madame Mao by Anchee Min—Details the life of Jiang Qing, the unwanted daughter of a concubine and Shanghai actress who became Madame Mao after her marriage to Mao Zedong and a formidable political force during the Cultural Revolution.

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton--a contemporary psychological thriller and eco-satire set in New Zealand that follows a guerilla gardening collective called Birnam Wood. The group's members get caught in a web of deceit after forming a questionable partnership with a secretive American tech billionaire. The novel draws inspiration from Shakespeare's play, with the collective named after the famous forest. See my review.

Cinnamon Girl by Trish Macenulty—A 15-year-old runs away with a draft-dodger in 1970 after her step-grandmother dies thinking she's on the road to adventure and romance. Instead she's embroiled in a world of underground Weathermen, Black Power revolutionaries, snitches and shoot-first police.

Coyote Weather, a novel of the 1960s by Amanda Cockrell—Set in 1967 southern California, the impact of the Vietnam war and a wave of change on a group of teens. See my review.

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid—The whirlwind rise of an iconic 1970s rock group and their beautiful lead singer coming of age in the late 60s/early 70s, told in an interview style.

Dissident Gardens by Jonathan Lethem—The American left through three generations of a family, starting with the Jewish communists of the 1930s and tracing their legacy through the counterculture of the 1960s and into the modern-day Occupy movement. The story focuses on the family's quest for self-reinvention and explores the intersection of personal and political lives amidst societal shifts.

Drop City by T.C. Boyle—Epic about a band of hippies who attempt to establish themselves deep in the wilderness of Alaska only to find their utopia already populated by other young homesteaders. When the two communities collide, unexpected friendships and dangerous enmities are born as everyone struggles with the bare essentials of life: love, nourishment, and a roof over one’s head.

Far Out, Poems of the 60’s edited by Wendy Barker & Dave Parsons—80 poet anthology that reflects on the decade's pivotal events and cultural shifts. 

Kingdom of No Tomorrow by Fabienne Josaphat—Follows a young Haitian immigrant as she joins the Black Panther Party in 1960s Oakland. The book explores themes of activism, social justice, gender inequality within the movement, and the personal costs of revolution. See my review.

Her Sister's Tattoo by Ellen Meeropol (wife of Robert Rosenberg whose parents were convicted and executed for conspiracy to commit espionage, and specifically for passing secrets of the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union)—Two sisters estrange after a 1968 protest; explores the consequences of political activism, family loyalty, and personal beliefs during the Vietnam War era.

Like a Complete Unknown by Anara Guard—Set in 1970 Chicago’s counterculture, an extremely naive teenage runaway and a widowed gynecologist form a happenstance bond as they both struggle find the path through the times.

Minor Characters by Joyce Johnson—Beat Generation memoir uncovers the hidden female characters (overshadowed by men such as Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac) who played pivotal roles in the progression of the 1950’s literary movement.

Revolutionaries by Joshua First—A long, strange trip through the heart of the sixties and beyond, a deeply personal portrait of a father and son and a profound allegory for America, where we’ve been and where we’re going.

So Long, Bobby by Lillah Lawson—Three generations of women, Bobbi, Ella, and Kasey from 1968, 1995, and 2018 in Athens, Seattle, and Colbert, Georgia in an elegy to America's past, its sins, and our constant drive to do better. A novel about how no matter what time period, we’re all more alike than we are different.

Summer of '69 by Elin Hilderbrand—Four siblings face a turbulent Nantucket summer filled with life-altering events against the backdrop of the Vietnam War and other cultural upheavals. Misunderstandings, secrets, and wrong choices litter their paths to maturity and happiness.

The Ash Family by Molly Dektar—A young woman joins a seemingly idyllic, off-the-grid commune in the North Carolina mountains, only to discover the hidden, and ultimately deadly, cost of belonging

The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer—Explores the dynamics of women’s ambition, mentorship, and power across generations. It centers on college freshman and daughter of hippies Greer Kadetsky, who finds her life changed after meeting a celebrated second-wave feminist icon.

The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner—A revolutionary book about the New York art world of the seventies, Italian class warfare, and youth's blind acceleration into the unknown.

The Fourteenth of September by Rita Dragonette—Set during the peak of the Vietnam War in 1969, a 19-year-old is attending college on an army scholarship but secretly joins the campus's anti-war movement.

The Girls by Emma Cline—Loosely inspired by the Manson Family and the 1969 murder of actress Sharon Tate. A coming-of-age story that explores themes of female vulnerability, manipulation, and the desperate desire for acceptance.

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros—Told in a series of poignant and lyrical vignettes, the story follows a young Latina girl growing up in a working-class neighborhood in Chicago. for a year of her life as she grapples with her identity, dreams, and the realities of her community.

The Nix by Nathan Hill—From the suburban Midwest to New York City to the 1968 riots that rocked Chicago and beyond. Love, betrayal, politics and pop culture.

The Outside Lands by Hannah Kohler—A family swept along in events larger than themselves in 1960s America; follows a brother and sister coming to terms with their mother’s death and the wider tragedy of the Vietnam War as social customs and traditional values are overturned. A story about choice and opinion, resistance and acceptance. 

The Sometimes Daughter by Sherri Wood Emmons— Mostly set in Indianapolis, explores the complex bond between a daughter born at Woodstock in 1969 with her eternal hippie  bi-polar mother and mainstream father. 

The Unmooring by Ken Fireman—Rejection of a family’s conservative lifestyle  in 1961 takes a young man to the front lines of the civil rights struggle and Vietnam in a landscape like today’s, scarred by polarization, social conflict, deep racial fissure, official deceit, and generational tensions.

The Women by Kristin Hannah—A view of the Vietnam War and its fallout from an army nurse perspective. See my review.

The World Played Chess by Robert Dugoni—A young man's pivotal summer in 1979, where he learns life-changing lessons from two Vietnam veterans. Forty years later, with his own son leaving for college, the lessons of that summer―breaking away, shaping a life, and seeking one’s own destiny―come back into play.

The Wrong Kind of Woman by Sarah McCraw Crow—A widow challenges her traditional identity and embraces the women's movement after her professor husband's sudden death. The story is told through multiple perspectives, exploring themes of grief, feminism, and social change.

Trio by William Boyd—Summer 1968, and the world is reeling from war and assassinations, protests and riots. In a sunny British seaside town, a producer, a novelist, and an actress are enduring their own more private crises on the set of a disaster-plagued movie. All are leading secret lives. Pressures—and that’s before the FBI and CIA get involved. Asks the questions: What makes life worth living? And what do you do if you find it isn’t?

Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell— Four talented, mismatched musicians form a band in the 1967 London psychedelic scenethat rapidly rises from small Soho clubs to American tours. It’s about the families we choose and the ones we don’t; of voices in the head, and the truths and lies they whisper; of music, madness, and idealism. Can we really change the world, or does the world change us?
The book explores themes of creativity, identity, fame, idealism, madness, and grief.

You are Free by Danzy Senna—At the intersection of race and family life, stories richly nuanced, often funny, provocative.