A Rotten Crowd
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A look at how much, and how little, has changed about class in America One century ago, F. Scott Fitzgerald invited us into the lives of the ?rotten crowd,? Jazz Age Americans with far more money than morals. In ?A Rotten Crowd?: America, Wealth, and One Hundred Years of The Great Gatsby, John Marsh welcomes us back to Fitzgerald?s world to examine the rich and their reckless approach to human relationships, their poor taste in friends, and the harm they cause. Marsh leads us to wonder: What kinds of waste?economic, environmental, emotional?accompany a culture of wealth? What kinds of relationships do the wealthy form with those they rely upon to maintain their power?and how does capitalism and the need for the accumulation of wealth influence the bonds the rest of us form? On a surface level, how do the clothes people wear signal their status?and how do those fashions trickle down to the rest of us? And on a deeper level, how does racism drive a wedge between those who might otherwise stand up to the rich? As we move between 2025 and 1925 to consider how much?or little?has changed in the interim, A Rotten Crowd helps us discover what we can do about the obscene concentration of wealth in America today.
A Trick of the Mind
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From a groundbreaking neuroscientist, a book that will reshape the way we understand how our brain perceives the world around us--for readers of Adam Grant's Think Again and Lisa Genova's Remember. How does your brain decide what it's seeing, from the physical world to other people? For decades, scientists have tried to understand how our brains work, not realizing that the answer lies much closer to home. New research in neuroscience and psychology suggests that the brain is doing the same thing that the scientists are: using past experiences to build theories of how the world works, and using these models to predict and make sense of it. Through this process, your brain constructs the reality that you live in. Daniel Yon takes the research one step further, uncovering how your brain colors your perception of the world, the judgements you make about other people, and the beliefs you form about yourself. These mental processes help us navigate the world--but can also lead us astray, causing us to believe outlandish conspiracy theories or to see things that aren't really there. By understanding the ways each of our brains construct our realities, we can better engage with other communities and make more informed approaches about mental illness. With cutting-edge research and transformative practical applications, A Trick of the Mind will revolutionize the way you think.
Algospeak
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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From linguist Adam Aleksic, known as @etymologynerd on social media, comes a captivating exploration of how internet algorithms are transforming language and communication in unprecedented ways. "Packed with fascinating facts, of-the-moment observations, and a sparkling voice, Algospeak is a gift to any word nerd. Deftly covering everything from emoji etymologies and trendbait to Taylor Swift fanilects... Adam Aleksic is the wise, yet accessible internet linguistics oracle we need."--Amanda Montell, author of The Age of Magical Overthinking and Cultish From "brainrot" memes and incel slang to the trend of adding "-core" to different influencer aesthetics, the internet has ushered in an unprecedented linguistic upheaval. We're entering an entirely new era of etymology, heralded by the invisible forces driving social media algorithms. Thankfully, Algospeak is here to explain. As a professional linguist, Adam Aleksic understands the gravity of language and the way we use it: he knows the ways it has morphed and changed, how it reflects society, and how, in its everyday usage, we carry centuries of human history on our tongues. As a social media influencer, Aleksic is also intimately familiar with the internet's reach and how social media impacts the way we engage with one another. New slang emerges and goes viral overnight. Accents are shaped or erased on YouTube. Grammatical rules, loopholes, and patterns surface and transform language as we know it. Our interactions, social norms, and habits--both online and in person--shift into something completely different. As Aleksic uses original surveys, data, and internet archival research to usher us through this new linguistic landscape, he also illuminates how communication is changing in both familiar and unexpected ways. From our use of emojis to sentence structure to the ways younger generations talk about sex and death (see unalive in English and desvivirse in Spanish), we are in a brand-new world, one shaped by algorithms and technology. Algospeak is an energetic, astonishing journey into language, the internet, and what this intersection means for all of us.
America's Impressionism
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A beautifully illustrated account of the Impressionist experiment in the United States--showing how the French style was put to distinctly American use From the late 19th century to the Second World War, American painters adapted Impressionism to their own ends, shaping one of the most enduring, complex, and contradictory styles of art ever produced in the United States. This comprehensive book presents an original and nuanced history of the American engagement with the French style, one that was both richer and more ambivalent than mere imitation. Showcasing key works from public and private collections across the United States, this expansive catalogue contextualizes celebrated figures, such as Claude Monet (1840-1926) and William Merritt Chase (1849-1916), among their unduly overlooked--and often female--counterparts, such as Lilla Cabot Perry (1848-1933), Emma Richardson Cherry (1859-1954), and Evelyn McCormick (1862-1948). Essays from leading scholars of the movement expand upon the geography and chronology of Impressionism in America, investigating regional variants and new avenues opened by the experiment. Beautifully illustrated, this volume is a landmark event in the understanding of an important era in American art. Distributed for the Brandywine River Museum of Art, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, and the San Antonio Museum of Art Exhibition Schedule: Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, TN (January 23-May 9, 2021) San Antonio Museum of Art (June 11-September 5, 2021) Brandywine River Museum of Art, Chadds Ford, PA (October 9, 2021-January 9, 2022)
Anatomy of a con Artist
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These are the 14 red flags to identify the scammer in your life before they con you-from a victim-turned-vigilante and host of the hit podcast Queen of the Con. "Johnathan Walton has written a master class on how to spot scammers, con artists, grifters, and thieves. And his storytelling reads like a crime novel. . . . A must-read."-Joe Navarro, FBI special agent (ret.) and author of the international bestseller Dangerous Personalities "Some people play golf on the weekends," Johnathan Walton says. "I hunt con artists." Con artists are everywhere-your new boyfriend or girlfriend, your new neighbor or coworker, your new friend-and they don't outsmart you; they out-feel you to get their hands on your money. In Anatomy of a Con Artist, Walton lays out "the tells" based on hundreds of real-life cases he's investigated, including- Red Flag #1-A Stranger Offering Help- Someone new and overly helpful insinuates themselves into your life. Red Flag #3-Drama, Drama, Drama- Constant dramatic "emergencies" to pull you in. Red Flag #8-Beak Wetting- Faux generosity-gifts, money, or favors to bring your guard down. After being scammed out of nearly $100,000 by a devious con artist, Walton was turned away by police. Infuriated and armed with the investigative skills he'd gained from years as a TV reporter, Walton launched his own investigation and built a compelling criminal case authorities could not ignore. Walton got his con artist charged, prosecuted, and convicted, then devoted his life to helping other victims do the same. This book packs in all he has learned. Some con artists scheme for money, some for attention, some just for the thrill of lying. And if you think it can't happen to you, then you are exactly the kind of "mark" a professional con artist is looking for. With this insightful guide in your hands, you are far less likely to get conned and far more likely to spot these nefarious manipulators from a mile away-and cross the street when you see them coming.
Asian Americans at the Margins
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As the United States wrestles with the rising tide of hate crimes, Asian Americans have been disproportionately victimized. From the infamous Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 to contemporary attempts to restrict Asian land ownership, Asian Americans continue to be regarded as different, aliens in their own country. Why are they still regarded as outsiders, despite their scientific, cultural and other contributions to U.S. society? This book exposes the origin and current perceptions of myths and stereotypes about Asian Americans, with a look at prospects for their recognition and acceptance by the dominant white society.
Burma to Myanmar
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Showcasing a stunning selection of spectacular objects that have not been widely published or on regular display before, international scholars integrate Myanmar's material cultures with their histories from a Myanmar-centric point of view. From influential superpower to repressive regime; Myanmar - also known as Burma - has seen dramatic fluctuations in fortune over the past 1; 500 years.Interconnected yet isolated; rich in natural resources such as jade; rubies and teak but with many of its peoples living below the poverty line; Myanmar is a country that defies categorization. Its cultures have been shaped by their engagements with religious networks; expansionist empires and global trade routes from India and China to Africa; the Middle East and Europe. It was once home to different kingdoms; principalities and chiefdoms that interacted with one another and further afield. The colonial period under British rule saw dramatic changes and upon independence in 1948; the various parts of the country were brought together; many for the first time; into a single nation state. Since then Myanmar has been engulfed by long running civil wars.This beautiful book explores Myanmar's complexities; focusing on the extraordinary and innovative arts of its diverse peoples to create a long history of the region. Featuring objects such as sparkling gems; sumptuous court dress; intricately carved furniture; elaborate silver vessels; satirical cartoons and contemporary art; from the 400s CE to the present day; this book is a testament to the creativity and variety of Myanmar's many peoples.
Culture Strike
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A leading activist museum director explains why museums are at the center of a political storm In an age of protest, cultural institutions have come under fire. Protestors have mobilized against sources of museum funding, as happened at the Metropolitan Museum, and against board appointments, forcing tear gas manufacturer Warren Kanders to resign at the Whitney. That is to say nothing of demonstrations against exhibitions and artworks. Protests have roiled institutions across the world, from the Abu Dhabi Guggenheim to the Akron Art Museum. A popular expectation has grown that galleries and museums should work for social change. As Director of the Queens Museum, Laura Raicovich helped turn that New York muni- cipal institution into a public commons for art and activism, organizing high-powered exhibitions that doubled as political protests. Then in January 2018, she resigned, after a dispute with the Queens Museum board and city officials. This public controversy followed the museum's responses to Donald Trump's election, including her objections to the Israeli government using the museum for an event featuring Vice President Mike Pence. In this lucid and accessible book, Raicovich examines some of the key museum flashpoints and provides historical context for the current controversies. She shows how art museums arose as colonial institutions bearing an ideology of neutrality that masks their role in upholding conservative, capitalist values. And she suggests ways museums can be reinvented to serve better, public ends.
Daughters of the Bamboo Grove
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NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE * The heartrending story of twin sisters torn apart by China's one-child policy and the rise of international adoption--from the author of the National Book Award finalist Nothing to Envy "Remarkable . . . Barbara Demick movingly traces this history of overseas Chinese adoptions and their ripple effects on both sides of the Pacific."--The Wall Street Journal On a warm day in September 2000, a woman named Zanhua gave birth to twin girls in a small hut behind her brother's home in China's Hunan province. The twins, Fangfang and Shuangjie, were welcome additions to her family but also not her first children. Living under the shadow of China's notorious one-child policy, Zanhua and her husband decided to leave one twin in the care of relatives, hoping each toddler on their own might stay under the radar. But, in 2002, Fangfang was violently snatched away. The family worried they would never see her again, but they didn't imagine she could be sent as far as the United States. She might as well have been sent to another world. Following stories she wrote as the Beijing bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times, Barbara Demick embarks on a journey that encompasses the origins, shocking cruelty, and long-term impact of China's one-child rule; the rise of international adoption and the religious currents that buoyed it; and the exceedingly rare phenomenon of twin separation. Today, Esther--formerly Fangfang--lives in Texas, and Demick brings to vivid life the Christian family that felt called to adopt her, unaware that she had been kidnapped. Through Demick's indefatigable reporting, will the long-lost sisters finally reunite--and will they feel whole again? A remarkable window into the volatile, constantly changing China of the last half century and the long-reaching legacy of the country's most infamous law, Daughters of the Bamboo Grove is also the moving story of two sisters torn apart by the forces of history and brought together again by their families' determination and one reporter's dogged work. "Excellent . . . entrancing and disturbing . . . [Demick] is one of our finest chroniclers of East Asia. . . . [Her] characters are richly drawn, and her stories, often reported over a span of years, deliver a rare emotional wallop."--The New York Times
Empire of AI
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An Instant New York Times Bestseller "A bestselling page-turner that has made waves not just in Silicon Valley but around the world . . . With Empire of AI, Hao is fundamentally shaping many people's perceptions and understanding of the company at the center of the AI revolution." --TIME Magazine, "TIME100 AI 2025" "Excellent and deeply reported." --Tim Wu, The New York Times "Startling and intensely researched . . . an essential account of how OpenAI and ChatGPT came to be and the catastrophic places they will likely take us." --Vulture "Hao's reporting inside OpenAI is exceptional, and she's persuasive in her argument that the public should focus less on A.I.'s putative 'sentience' and more on its implications for labor and the environment." --Benjamin Wallace-Wells, New Yorker From a brilliant longtime AI insider with intimate access to the world of Sam Altman's OpenAI from the beginning, an eye-opening account of arguably the most fateful tech arms race in history, reshaping the planet in real time, from the cockpit of the company that is driving the frenzy When AI expert and investigative journalist Karen Hao first began covering OpenAI in 2019, she thought they were the good guys. Founded as a nonprofit with safety enshrined as its core mission, the organization was meant, its leader Sam Altman told us, to act as a check against more purely mercantile, and potentially dangerous, forces. What could go wrong? Over time, Hao began to wrestle ever more deeply with that question. Increasingly, she realized that the core truth of this massively disruptive sector is that its vision of success requires an almost unprecedented amount of resources: the "compute" power of high-end chips and the processing capacity to create massive large language models, the sheer volume of data that needs to be amassed at scale, the humans "cleaning up" that data for sweatshop wages throughout the Global South, and a truly alarming spike in the usage of energy and water underlying it all. The truth is that we have entered a new and ominous age of empire: only a small handful of globally scaled companies can even enter the field of play. At the head of the pack with its ChatGPT breakthrough, how would OpenAI resist such temptations? Spoiler alert: it didn't. Armed with Microsoft's billions, OpenAI is setting a breakneck pace, chased by a small group of the most valuable companies in human history--toward what end, not even they can define. All this time, Hao has maintained her deep sourcing within the company and the industry, and so she was in intimate contact with the story that shocked the entire tech industry--Altman's sudden firing and triumphant return. The behind-the-scenes story of what happened, told here in full for the first time, is revelatory of who the people controlling this technology really are. But this isn't just the story of a single company, however fascinating it is. The g forces pressing down on the people of OpenAI are deforming the judgment of everyone else too--as such forces do. Naked power finds the ideology to cloak itself; no one thinks they're the bad guy. But in the meantime, as Hao shows through intrepid reporting on the ground around the world, the enormous wheels of extraction grind on. By drawing on the viewpoints of Silicon Valley engineers, Kenyan data laborers, and Chilean water activists, Hao presents the fullest picture of AI and its impact we've seen to date, alongside a trenchant analysis of where things are headed. An astonishing eyewitness view from both up in the command capsule of the new economy and down where the real suffering happens, Empire of AI pierces the veil of the industry defining our era.
Fashion Buying
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What do fashion buyers do? How do they think? What does forecasting trends or planning a range actually entail? How can they shape the future of fashion? Featuring new interviews and analysis of the most up-to-date industry figures and trends, this 3rd edition has all you need to get up-to-speed on the people, processes and practicalities of buying in the fashion industry today. Illustrated with colour diagrams and fashion photographs, five to-the-point chapters break down the key areas of fashion buying: the role of the buyer; buying inspiration; suppliers and sourcing; range and merchandise planning; and current industry trends. Tips, summaries, questions and activities help you apply your knowledge throughout the book. All-new case studies and interviews put each chapter into professional context, giving an insight into the leaders in the global fashion trade. You'll also find new coverage of the changing retail landscape, as well as additional coverage of pricing and costing supported with in-depth exercises. The book concludes by looking to future trends, including sustainability, social media and AI, fashion technology and digital fashion. Bringing together the authors' more than 40 years' combined industry experience, this introduction is ideal for students of fashion design, marketing, buying and management ready to shape the future of fashion.
Horace Pippin, American Modern
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A nuanced reassessment that transforms our understanding of this self-taught artist Arguably the most successful African American artist of his day, Horace Pippin (1888-1946) taught himself to paint in the 1930s and quickly earned international renown for depictions of World War I, black families, and American heroes Abraham Lincoln, abolitionist John Brown, and singer Marian Anderson, among other subjects. This volume sheds new light on how the disabled combat veteran claimed his place in the contemporary art world. Organized around topics of autobiography, black labor, artistic process, and gift exchange, it reveals the range of references and critiques encoded in his work and the racial, class, and cultural dynamics that informed his meteoric career. Horace Pippin, American Modern offers a fresh perspective on the artist and his moment that contributes to a more expansive history of art in the 20th century. Featuring over 60 of Pippin's paintings, this volume also includes two previously unknown artist's statements--"The Story of Horace Pippin as told by Himself" and "How I Paint"--and an exhibition history and list of artworks drawn from new research.
If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies
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INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER | The scramble to create superhuman AI has put us on the path to extinction--but it's not too late to change course, as two of the field's earliest researchers explain in this clarion call for humanity. "May prove to be the most important book of our time."--Tim Urban, Wait But Why In 2023, hundreds of AI luminaries signed an open letter warning that artificial intelligence poses a serious risk of human extinction. Since then, the AI race has only intensified. Companies and countries are rushing to build machines that will be smarter than any person. And the world is devastatingly unprepared for what would come next. For decades, two signatories of that letter--Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares--have studied how smarter-than-human intelligences will think, behave, and pursue their objectives. Their research says that sufficiently smart AIs will develop goals of their own that put them in conflict with us--and that if it comes to conflict, an artificial superintelligence would crush us. The contest wouldn't even be close. How could a machine superintelligence wipe out our entire species? Why would it want to? Would it want anything at all? In this urgent book, Yudkowsky and Soares walk through the theory and the evidence, present one possible extinction scenario, and explain what it would take for humanity to survive. The world is racing to build something truly new under the sun. And if anyone builds it, everyone dies. "The best no-nonsense, simple explanation of the AI risk problem I've ever read."--Yishan Wong, Former CEO of Reddit
Images and Translations
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Professor Larissa Bonfante's great gift was the ability to evoke, in a fresh, immediate, and convincing way, the experiences, beliefs, and thoughts of people living more than two thousand years ago. Her final publication, Images and Translations: The Etruscans Abroad, communicates the sensations of other times and places, from the day-to-day to the solemnly ritualistic. The world of the Etruscans, sophisticated and pleasure-loving, radiated throughout a vast area of the ancient world - a world very different from our own. Relying on a wealth of creative works, Images and Translations examines the expertise and productions of the artists who made them, the tastes of those who used them, and the sometimes surprising results of the exchanges between creators and buyers. Just as the French demand for Chinese ceramics in the seventeenth century gave birth to the unprecedented famille colors, so the production of Greek ceramics for the Etruscan market produced singularly expressive depictions. Humorous, pious, or erotic to the buyers, they could be shocking to the culture that made them. Images and Translations explores areas in much closer economic and cultural contact than is usually recognized. The volume finds threads of connection not only between Italy and Greece, but between Italy and northern Europe--today's France and Germany--as well as between Italy and the Near East. Etruscan influence runs through Western history, into the Renaissance, and emerges in imagery still evocative today.
In This Economy?
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The book Jon Stewart (The Daily Show) hailed as "essential reading" for anyone who wants to "make informed decisions" and "have a basic understanding of the economy": an illustrated guide to economics from one of the internet's favorite financial educators. "Few people can communicate how the economy actually works better than Kyla Scanlon."--Morgan Housel, author of The Psychology of Money Is our national debt really a threat? What is a "mild" recession, exactly? If you're worried about your bank account balance, job security, or mortgage rate, what data should you be keeping tabs on? For anyone trying to make sense of disorienting headlines, there's no better interpreter than Kyla Scanlon. Through her trademark blend of witty illustrations, creative analogies, and insights from behavioral economics, literature, and philosophy, Scanlon breaks down everything you need to know about how money and markets really work. This indispensable handbook reveals the hidden forces driving key economic outcomes, the most common myths to steer clear of, and the dusty, outdated assumptions that constrain our political imagination, offering a bold new path to building a prosperous society that works for everyone.
Love Is a War Song
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AN INSTANT USA TODAY BESTSELLER ∙ THREADS SUMMER BOOK CLUB PICK ∙ AN AMAZON EDITOR'S PICK FOR ROMANCE! A Muscogee pop star and a cowboy who couldn't be more different come together to strike a deal in this new romantic comedy by Danica Nava, USA Today bestselling author of The Truth According to Ember. Pop singer Avery Fox has become a national joke after posing scantily clad on the cover of Rolling Stone in a feather warbonnet. What was meant to be a statement of her success as a Native American singer has turned her into a social pariah and dubbed her a fake. With threats coming from every direction and her career at a standstill, she escapes to her estranged grandmother Lottie's ranch in Oklahoma. Living on the rez is new to Avery--not only does she have to work in the blazing summer heat to earn her keep, but the man who runs Lottie's horse ranch despises her and wants her gone. Red Fox Ranch has been home to Lucas Iron Eyes since he was sixteen years old. He has lived by three rules to keep himself out of trouble: 1) preserve the culture, 2) respect the horses, and 3) stick to himself. When he is tasked with picking up Lottie's granddaughter at the bus station, the last person he expected to see is the Avery Fox. Lucas can't stand what she represents, but when he's forced to work with her on the ranch, he can't get her out of his sight--or his head. He reminds himself to keep to his rules, especially after he finds out the ranch is under threat of being shut down. It's clear Avery doesn't belong here, but they form a tentative truce and make a deal: Avery will help raise funds to save the ranch, and in exchange, Lucas will show her what it really means to be an Indian. It's purely transactional, absolutely no horsing around...but where's the fun in that?
Movements in Art Since 1945
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This standard introduction to visual art since 1945 has been revised, updated and redesigned for the first time since 2001. Movements, trends and individual artists from abstract expressionism to the present day are summarized, with detailed coverage of major developments such as pop art, conceptual and performance work, minimal art, neo-expressionist and figurative painting, the YBAs and the globalized art scene of the twenty-first century. A new chapter on art since 2000 includes discussion of work by Banksy and Ai Weiwei, as well as recent trends in art from Russia and Eastern Europe. Writing with exceptional clarity and a strong sense of narrative, Edward Lucie-Smith demystifies the work of dozens of artists, revealing how the art world has interacted with social, political and environmental concerns. Nearly 300 images of key artworks range from the paintings of Jackson Pollock via graffiti from 1980s New York and land art of the 1970s to contemporary painting from China and video from Japan. The book is as global in its reach as art has become in the 21st century.
One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This
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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD * SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2025 PALESTINE BOOK AWARDS * From award-winning novelist and journalist Omar El Akkad comes a powerful reckoning with what it means to live in a West that betrays its fundamental values. "[A] bracing memoir and manifesto." --The New York Times "I can't think of a more important piece of writing to read right now. I found hope here, and help, to face what the world is now, all that it isn't anymore. Please read this. I promise you won't regret it." --Tommy Orange, bestselling author of Wandering Stars and There There On October 25, 2023, after just three weeks of the bombardment of Gaza, Omar El Akkad put out a tweet: "One day, when it's safe, when there's no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it's too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this." This tweet has been viewed more than 10 million times. As an immigrant who came to the West, El Akkad believed that it promised freedom. A place of justice for all. But in the past twenty years, reporting on the War on Terror, Ferguson, climate change, Black Lives Matter protests, and more, and watching the unmitigated slaughter in Gaza, El Akkad has come to the conclusion that much of what the West promises is a lie. That there will always be entire groups of human beings it has never intended to treat as fully human--not just Arabs or Muslims or immigrants, but whoever falls outside the boundaries of privilege. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This is a chronicle of that painful realization, a moral grappling with what it means, as a citizen of the U.S., as a father, to carve out some sense of possibility in a time of carnage. This is El Akkad's nonfiction debut, his most raw and vulnerable work to date, a heartsick breakup letter with the West. It is a brilliant articulation of the same breakup we are watching all over the United States, in family rooms, on college campuses, on city streets; the consequences of this rupture are just beginning. This book is for all the people who want something better than what the West has served up. This is the book for our time.
Picturing the Artist's Studio, from Delacroix to Picasso
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This richly diverse study examines the evolving image and contested status of the artist in late nineteenth-century France through the lens of the artist's studio, which became a central theme in art and literature, stretching from Balzac to Proust and from Corot to Picasso. The studio was a hybrid space that blurred the distinctions between public and private, professional and domestic, artistic production and display. Besides a material space for art making, the studio was a social and commercial nexus and an extension of the artist's persona. Drawing on paintings, prints, photographs, and primary sources ranging from memoirs to popular journals, this book sheds new light on the modern studio's heightened significance as a laboratory of creative struggle and a platform for self-expression and the staging of artistic identity. It elucidates how the concept of the studio as a creative space emblematic of artistic identity, first theorized in the Renaissance, was reinvented and popularized after mid-century as debates about the role of art and the status of the artist intensified. Breaking new ground in focusing on the intersecting issues of artistic identity and the evolving role of the studio as creative arena, social and commercial locus, and informal exhibition space, McPherson allows us to participate in the popular ritual of visiting the artist's studio.
Raiding the Heartland
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Across the United States, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) upends small towns and rural communities by staging dramatic raids and rounding up hundreds of people in a single day. These worksite raids fracture families, devastate local economies, and spread fear and trauma that lingers for years. Yet in the wake of these devastating raids, immigrant communities exhibit resistance, resilience, creativity, and an extraordinary determination to rebuild. In this powerful follow-up to his best-seller Separated: Family and Community in the Aftermath of an Immigration Raid, William D. Lopez brings us into the heart of communities targeted by large-scale ICE enforcement under the Trump administration. These are places where immigrant workers, many of whom have lived in the United States for decades, are suddenly torn from their families and livelihoods. Based on extensive fieldwork, this book highlights the voices of those who have endured these raids: the teachers left to comfort traumatized children, the faith leaders who opened their doors to families in crisis, the organizers who mobilized relief efforts overnight, and the workers and their families who fought for their right to remain. As raids continue to increase across the country, this book is an urgent and deeply human portrait of what these raids leave behind--and the fierce, often unexpected ways communities come together across class, race, and immigration status in their aftermath.
Reading, Writing, and Talk
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"Souto-Manning once again demonstrates that it is never too early to help our students understand the complexities of inequity. This is the text that early childhood educators need."--Gloria Ladson-Billings, author of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy "A timely and powerful reminder. We need this second edition more than ever before." --H. Richard Milner IV, Vanderbilt University "This compelling new edition is a must-read for all early childhood teachers." -- Lester W. Young Jr., chancellor, NYS Board of Regents This new edition of the bestseller Reading, Writing, and Talk responds to the urgent need for creating language and literacy pathways that are inclusive, intentional, and center wholeness and belonging. The authors explain, show, and offer critical reflections on the development, teaching, and learning of reading, writing, and talk from preschool through the early grades--across language practices, dis/abilities, and contexts. This second edition troubles whose reading, writing, and talk belongs in schools, offering insights into and examples of fostering belonging in the classroom. It elucidates the racialization of academic language and analyzes school-sponsored language and literacy curricula to demonstrate the power of expansive literacies and linguistic justice in practice. Readers will enter classrooms where teachers learn from and alongside children, families, and communities about identities, practices, values, funds of knowledge, and more. This thorough update of the popular text offers a wealth of knowledge and examples to help educators truly and fully teach reading, writing, and talk for equity and justice. Book Features: Offers a warm invitation to shift mindsets and consider possibilities for furthering language and literacy development with young children. Brings to light powerful concepts like linguistic justice and communicative belonging through powerful classroom scenarios. Centers Black, Indigenous, and other children, teachers, families, and communities of color. Explains how oral language, reading, and writing develop and can be taught in the early grades across languages (bilingual, multilingual), abilities, and contexts. Focuses on constructing classrooms that foster belonging and on teaching for equity and justice.
Russia's Foreign Policy
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This clear and comprehensive text explores the past thirty years of Soviet/Russian international relations, comparing foreign policy formation under Gorbachev, Yeltsin, Medvedev, and Putin. Challenging conventional views of Moscow's foreign policy, Andrei Tsygankov shows that definitions of national interest depend on visions of national identity and is rooted both in history and domestic politics. Yet the author also highlights the role of the external environment in affecting the balance of power among competing domestic groups. Drawing on both Russian and Western sources, Tsygankov shows how Moscow's policies have shifted under different leaders' visions of Russia's national interests. He gives an overview of the ideas and pressures that motivated Russian foreign policy in six different periods: the Gorbachev era of the late 1980s, the liberal "Westernizers" era under Kozyrev in the early 1990s, the relatively hardline statist policy under Primakov, the more pragmatic course of limited cooperation under Putin and then Medvedev, and the assertive policy Putin has implemented since his return to power, most importantly in his invasion of Ukraine which began in 2022.
Secular Muslim Feminism
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For over a century, Muslim women have championed their own brand of feminism, rooted in human rights principles and a deep understanding of their diverse cultural contexts. Yet, secular Muslim feminism remains shrouded in misunderstanding and contention. This book boldly confronts the complexities and controversies surrounding this contested concept, offering a nuanced exploration of its potential to bridge divides and empower women. The book challenges the simplistic portrayals of Muslim women, dismantling the harmful narratives of oppression and victimhood propagated by both Western and Islamist agendas. It critiques the selective glorification of religious agency by some feminists, recognizing how this can inadvertently reinforce patriarchal ideologies. Additionally, it exposes the hijacking of the secular Muslim feminist movement by the far-right, disguised as advocates for women's rights but fueled by anti-Muslim sentiments. Drawing on over two decades of personal observations and interactions with diverse organizations in the Middle East and Europe, the book delves into the heart of secular Muslim feminism, dissecting its nuances and potential to reconcile divergent perspectives. It amplifies these voices, challenging the misrepresentation and limitations imposed by external agendas. Secular Muslim Feminism emerges as a bold and transformative force, redefining the boundaries of equality and empowering women to shape their destinies. It offers a nuanced and critical framework for understanding the complex realities of Muslim women's lives, paving the way for a more just and equitable future.
Seeing Is Disbelieving
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Factual misinformation is spread in conflict zones around the world, often with dire consequences. But when is this misinformation actually believed, and when is it not? Seeing is Disbelieving examines the appeal and limits of dangerous misinformation in war, and is the go-to text for understanding false beliefs and their impact in modern armed conflict. Daniel Silverman extends the burgeoning study of factual misinformation, conspiracy theories, and fake news in social and political life into a crucial new domain, while providing a powerful new argument about the limits of misinformation in high-stakes situations. Rich evidence from the US drone campaign in Pakistan, the counterinsurgency against ISIL in Iraq, and the Syrian civil war provide the backdrop for practical lessons in promoting peace, fighting wars, managing conflict, and countering misinformation more effectively.
Serving the Public
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A revealing account of what we feed our citizens in schools, hospitals and prisons. Access to good food is the litmus test of a society's commitment to social justice and sustainable development. This book explores the 'good food revolution' in public institutions, asking what broader lessons can be learned. In schools the book examines the challenge of the whole school approach, where the message of the classroom is being aligned with the offer of the dining room. In hospitals it looks at the struggle to put nutrition on a par with medicine and shape a health service worthy of the name. And in prisons it shows how good food can bring hope and dignity to prisoners, helping them to rehabilitate themselves. Drawing on evidence from the UK, US and Sweden, Serving the public highlights how public institutions are harnessing the power of purchase to secure public health, social justice and ecological integrity. The quest for good food in these institutions is an important part of the struggle to redeem the public sphere and repair the damage wrought by forty years of neoliberalism.
Silent Talk
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In our extroverted school cultures of today, there is an emphasis on quantity of speech and constant social interaction, often leading introverted students to feel misjudged and overlooked. Silent Talk:Setting the Stage for Introverts to Thrive in the Classroom and Beyond offers research-based strategies to create inclusive classrooms where introverts are as valued as their extroverted counterparts for their potential to learn and lead. This book reimagines traditional notions of classroom participation, incorporates silence as a prelude to talk, and rescues solitude with quiet times and spaces. Filled with actionable advice, Silent Talk is an essential guide for educators seeking to nurture quiet leaders.
Summer of Our Discontent
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An incisive, culturally observant analysis of the evolving mores, manners and taboos of social justice ("anti-racist") orthodoxy, which has profoundly influenced how we think about diversity and freedom of expression, often with complex or paradoxical consequences. "Summer of our Discontent [is] a gift: a way of understanding what happened to us that preserves the humanity of all parties and points the way forward toward renewal." --Jonathan Haidt, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Anxious Generation In this provocative book, Thomas Chatterton Williams, one of the most revered and reviled social commentators of our time, paints a clear and detailed picture of the ideas and events that have paved the way for the dramatic paradigm shift in social justice that has taken place over the past few years. Taking aim at the ideology of critical race theory, the rise of an oppressive social media, the fall from Obama to Trump, and the twinned crises of COVID-19 and the murder of George Floyd, Williams documents the extent to which this transition has altered media, artistic creativity, education, employment, policing, and, most profoundly, the ambient language and culture we use to make sense of our lives. Williams also decries how liberalism--the very foundation of an open and vibrant society--is in existential crisis, under assault from both the right and the left, especially in our predominantly networked, Internet-driven monoculture. Sure to be highly controversial, Summer of Our Discontent is a compelling look at our place in a radically changing world.
The Big One
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An urgent, gripping, and prescient warning about the inevitable next worldwide pandemic-and what we must do to prepare ourselves-from the New York Times bestselling authors of Deadliest Enemy. The Covid-19 pandemic has been the most devastating natural event the world has experienced in the last century. Millions have been stricken, many with lasting debilitating effects; more than 7 million have died around the globe; millions more are out of work, scrambling for basic resources; companies and businesses across the country have failed; social and racial inequities have been brought to the surface and amplified; and the global economy has plummeted. And yet, as horrifying as the Covid-19 pandemic has been, we must realize that it is not actually "the Big One"-the pandemic prospect that haunts the nightmares of epidemiologists and public health officials everywhere, a catastrophe with the potential to alter life across the world on every meaningful level-unless we are properly prepared to deal with it. In The Big One, founding director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy Dr. Michael T. Osterholm and acclaimed author Mark Olshaker examine the lessons of past pandemics, show how the United States and other countries failed to apply those lessons and the emerging science in confronting Covid-19, and look to the future, projecting what the next pandemics might look like and the strategies to mitigate them. The Big One is a comprehensive, compelling, and much-needed wake-up call and reality check from a disease detective who has been on the front lines of outbreak investigations, was one of the first to call Covid-19 a pandemic, and has been consistently correct and accurate about the impact of coronaviruses. The Big One strips away the myths, misinformation, and wishful thinking, such as our ability to prevent a deadly pandemic spread through the air. This book, instead, provides a prescription to survive such a cataclysm with our lives and social order intact. Fail to act, and the Big One could make the devastation of Covid-19 pale in comparison. This is a book about virus versus humanity, hubris versus humility, lofty vision versus dreams that can turn into nightmares, and what we can do in an ideal world versus the reality of what we must do in the one we all live in.
The Bookshop
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A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Goodreads Choice Award Winner in History & Biography One of Time's 100 Must-Read Books of 2024 "A spirited defense of this important, odd and odds-defying American retail category." --The New York Times "It is a delight to wander through the bookstores of American history in this warm, generous book." --Emma Straub, New York Times bestselling author and owner of Books Are Magic An affectionate and engaging history of the American bookstore and its central place in American cultural life, from department stores to indies, from highbrow dealers trading in first editions to sidewalk vendors, and from chains to special-interest community destinations Bookstores have always been unlike any other kind of store, shaping readers and writers, and influencing our tastes, thoughts, and politics. They nurture local communities while creating new ones of their own. Bookshops are powerful spaces, but they are also endangered ones. In The Bookshop, we see the stakes: what has been, and what might be lost. Evan Friss's history of the bookshop draws on oral histories, archival collections, municipal records, diaries, letters, and interviews with leading booksellers to offer a fascinating look at this institution beloved by so many. The story begins with Benjamin Franklin's first bookstore in Philadelphia and takes us to a range of booksellers including the Strand, Chicago's Marshall Field & Company, the Gotham Book Mart, specialty stores like Oscar Wilde and Drum and Spear, sidewalk sellers of used books, Barnes & Noble, Amazon Books, and Parnassus. The Bookshop is also a history of the leading figures in American bookselling, often impassioned eccentrics, and a history of how books have been marketed and sold over the course of more than two centuries--including, for example, a 3,000-pound elephant who signed books at Marshall Field's in 1944. The Bookshop is a love letter to bookstores, a charming chronicle for anyone who cherishes these sanctuaries of literature, and essential reading to understand how these vital institutions have shaped American life--and why we still need them.
The Canadian Regime
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Using a traditional historical-institutional approach, The Canadian Regimeintroduces students to the idea of the regime, which is a lens through which they can see how institutions interact with the basic principles of the political order. The authors explain how the Canadian liberal democratic regime was founded on the fundamental principles of liberty, equality, and consent and discuss the ways in which Canada's institutions have developed and operate in accordance with these principles. The authors also examine how the regime has at times failed to follow these principles, particularly with respect to Canada's Indigenous peoples in Canada, and how reforms to Canada's governing institutions challenge historical assumptions concerning parliamentary government and federalism. Now in its seventh edition, The Canadian Regimecontinues to provide the most accessible introduction to Canadian politics, making Canada's unique government and systems clear to students. This edition is updated with the results of the 2019 federal election.
The Collapse of Global Liberalism
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In the 1990s, a vision emerged of a frictionless world of globalization in which the West would become ever richer on the basis of a tech-based service economy, all underpinned by a rules-based liberal international order. It became the basis for the mainstream politics of centre-left and right. Philip Pilkington argues that this vision was always delusional and is now dying. It is based on a doctrinaire and unrealistic form of liberalism and has given rise to hollowed-out financialised economies and disintegrating societies that can barely even reproduce their population or meet their energy needs. The US and UK find themselves ill-equipped to compete with China and other non-liberal states within an emerging post-liberal order in which what really matters is industrial capacity, realpolitik and military strength. Only by abandoning our liberal delusions and advancing our own brand of hard-headed post-liberalism can the West survive. No clear-sighted observer of contemporary geopolitics can afford to miss this bracing diagnosis of the West's malaise and bold agenda for renewal.
The Intelligence Explosion
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With the rapid rise of generative artificial intelligence, both existential fears and uncritical enthusiasm for AI systems have surged. In this era of unprecedented technological growth, understanding the profound impacts of AI -- both positive and negative -- is more crucial than ever. In The Intelligence Explosion, James Barrat, a leading technology expert, equips readers with the tools to navigate the complex and often chaotic landscape of modern AI. This compelling book dives deep into the challenges posed by generative AI, exposing how tech companies have built systems that are both error-prone and impossible to fully interpret. Through insightful interviews with AI pioneers, Barrat highlights the unstable trajectory of AI development, showcasing its potential for modest benefits and catastrophic consequences. Bold, eye-opening, and essential, The Intelligence Explosion is a must-read for anyone grappling with the realities of the technological revolution.
The Littlest Library
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A heartwarming literary-themed novel about a woman who turns an ordinary red phone box into the littlest library in England and brings together a struggling town. A little red telephone box full of stories, a chance to change her life... Jess Metcalf is perfectly content with her quiet, predictable life. But when her beloved grandmother passes away and she loses her job at the local library, Jess' life is turned upside down. Determined to pick up the pieces, Jess decides it's time for a new beginning. Unable to part with her grandmother's cherished books, she packs them all up and moves to a tiny cottage in the English countryside. To her surprise, Jess discovers that she's now the owner of an old red phone box that was left on the property. Missing her job at the local library, Jess decides to give back to her new community--using her grandmother's collection to turn the ordinary phone box into the littlest library in England. It's not long before the books are borrowed and begin to work their literary magic--bringing the villagers together... and managing to draw Jess' grumpy but handsome neighbor out of his shell. Maybe it's finally time for Jess to follow her heart, let go of her old life, and make the village her home? But will she be able to take the leap?
The Moral Vision of Pope Francis
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A thoughtful reflection on how the "Francis revolution" can address the practical concerns of ordinary Catholics on a range of contemporary issues The papacy of Pope Francis has ushered in remarkable changes for the Roman Catholic Church. From a new emphasis on collegiality in ecclesial governance to a transformed set of public priorities for the global Church, Francis's unique model of pontifical leadership has far-reaching implications for virtually every aspect of Catholic practice. Catholic moral theology--particularly in the United States--has still not grappled fully with the emphases of Francis's pontificate. To address this lacuna, The Moral Vision of Pope Francis brings together a range of Catholic ethicists to reflect on Pope Francis's implicit approach to moral theology, establishing the unique insights of this first Jesuit pope. This evaluation of Pope Francis's teachings and actions draws out the moral vision animating his work and demonstrates how his moral vision should apply to Catholic ethical reflection on a range of contemporary issues. The Moral Vision of Pope Francis shows how the "Francis revolution" meaningfully addresses the practical concerns of Catholics in the United States.
The Queen
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#1 New York Times bestselling biographer Andrew Morton provides the definitive, most comprehensive account of Queen Elizabeth II's legendary reign. Painfully shy, Elizabeth Windsor's personality was well suited to her youthful ambition of living quietly in the country, raising a family, and caring for her dogs and horses. But when her uncle, King Edward VIII, abdicated, she became heir to the throne--embarking on a journey that would test her as a woman and queen. Ascending to the throne at only 25, this self-effacing monarch navigated endless setbacks, family conflict, and occasional triumphs throughout her 70 years as the Queen of England. As her mettle was tested, she endeavored to keep the monarchy relevant culturally, socially, and politically, often in the face of resistance from inside the institution itself. And yet the greatest challenges she faced were often inside her own family, forever under intense scrutiny; from rumors about her husband's infidelity, her sister's marital breakdown, Princess Diana's tragic death, to the recent departure of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Now in The Queen, renowned biographer Andrew Morton takes an in-depth look at Britain's longest reigning monarch, exploring the influence Queen Elizabeth had on both Britain and the rest of the world for much of the last century. From leading a nation struggling to restore itself after the devastation of the second World War to navigating the divisive political landscape of the present day, Queen Elizabeth was a reluctant but resolute queen. This is the story of a woman of unflagging self-discipline who will long be remembered as mother and grandmother to Great Britain, and one of the greatest sovereigns of the modern era.
The Shape of Wonder
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In this captivating, insightful book, acclaimed physicists Alan Lightman and Martin Rees illuminate the life and work of numerous scientists in order to demystify the scientific process and show that scientists are concerned citizens, just like the rest of us. "Remarkable. . . . Illuminating with refreshing clarity the ordinary and sometimes extraordinary work of scientists. This book is essential reading." -Jennifer Ackerman, bestselling author of What an Owl Knows In an age of rapid scientific discovery and technological advancement, it's understandable that many feel uneasy about the future. While we might have confidence in these new developments when we go to the hospital for a medical procedure, fly in an airplane, or take an elevator to the top floor of a building, the motivations and lives of scientists themselves feel shrouded from public view. There is a growing sense that scientists are not to be trusted-that they may be guided by political or financial interests, or beholden to governments, or state institutions. This growing mistrust of scientists is an urgent problem. With the onset of climate change, the imminent threats of pandemic or nuclear war, and rapid acceleration in the fields of artificial intelligence and DNA sequencing, innovations in science have the potential to change the world. It's crucial that we not only gain a better understanding of science as a field, but also reestablish trust with its practitioners. The Shape of Wonder guides us through the fascinating lives and minds of scientists around the world and throughout time, from a young theoretical physicist who works as a research assistant professor at the University of Washington and rock climbs in their free time; to German physicist Werner Heisenberg in his early life, when he was a student of music and philosophy; to Govind Swarup, an Indian astronomer whose work on radio telescopes was profoundly important. We get an inside peek at what makes scientists tick-their daily lives, passions, and concerns about the societies they live in. In this brilliant and elucidative work, Lightman and Rees pull back the curtain on the field of science, revealing that scientists are driven by the same sense of curiosity, wonder, and responsibility towards the future that shapes us all.
The Thinkers
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Increasingly, political parties have adopted not only different policies, but different sets of facts. As E.J. Fagan argues, partisan think tanks have helped create these alternate realities in their capacity as de facto formal party organizations. Through the analyses generated by aligned think tanks, political elites on both the left and right frequently offer radically different assessments of a policy's consequences, such as the effect of tax cuts on deficits or the impact of environmental regulations on economic growth. In The Thinkers, Fagan tells the story of how partisan think tanks--such as the Heritage Foundation and Center for American Progress--displaced non-partisan experts to become the closest policy advisors to the Republican and Democratic Parties. He explores their history, how they influence policymakers, and how their influence impacts the polarization of American politics. More broadly, Fagan shows that the rise of partisan think tanks tracks closely with the increase in political polarization since the 1970s. Because they are funded and staffed by strong ideologues, partisan think tanks seek to move their party's preferences to the left or right of center. When they are successful, parties take more extreme positions than if they had only drawn information from non-partisan sources, which increases polarization. A powerful account of the impact of partisan think tanks on American democracy, The Thinkers will reshape our understanding of the fundamental drivers of the US's polarized political system.
Truth-Seeking in an Age of (Mis)Information Overload
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Offers a thorough, multidisciplinary picture of the informational challenges of our media ecosystem, as well as collaborative strategies for addressing them. The unprecedented spread of false and misleading information is the flip side of the Internet's promise of universal access and information democratization. This volume features original contributions from scholars working on the challenge of misinformation across a wide range of STEM, humanities, and art disciplines. Modeling a collaborative, multidisciplinary "convergence approach," Truth-Seeking in an Age of (Mis)Information Overload is structured in three parts. Part 1, "Misinformation and Artificial Intelligence," confronts the danger of outsourcing judgement and decision-making to AI instruments in key areas of public life, from the processing of loan applications to school funding, policing, and criminal sentencing. Part 2, "Science Communication," foregrounds the need to rethink how scientific findings are communicated to the public, calling on scientists to cooperate with colleagues in other disciplines and community representatives to help minimize the negative effects of mis/disinformation in such vital areas as climate change science and public health. Part 3, "Building Trust," further advocates for and explores instances of trust-building initiatives as a necessary precondition of both community-oriented scholarly activity and effective intervention strategies in high impact areas such as public health. This book is freely available in an open access edition thanks to the generous support of the Humanities Institute at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. It can also be found in the SUNY Open Access Repository.
Unpalatable
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The cookbook genre is highly conventional with an orientation toward celebration and success. From glossy photographs to heartwarming stories and adjective-rich ingredient lists, their tradition primes readers for pleasure. Yet the overarching narrative of the region is often one of pain, loss, privation, exploitation, poverty, and suffering of various kinds. While some cookbook writers go to great lengths to avoid reminding readers of this painful past, others invoke that pain as a marker of southern authenticity. Still others use stories of southern suffering as an opportunity to make space for reconciliation, reparation, or apology for past wrongs. In Unpalatable: Stories of Pain and Pleasure in Southern Cookbooks, author Carrie Helms Tippen attempts to understand the unique rhetorical situation of the southern cookbook as it negotiates a tension between the expectations of the genre and the prevailing metanarratives of the southern experience, one focused on pleasure and the other rooted in pain. Through an analysis of commercially published "southern" cookbooks from the 1990s to the present, Tippen examines the range of rhetorical purposes and strategies writers have employed, some of which undermine the reality of a painful past and cause harm or violence, and others which serve as tools for truth and reconciliation.
Vera, or Faith
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NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A poignant, sharp-eyed, and bitterly funny tale of a family struggling to stay together in a country rapidly coming apart, told through the eyes of their wondrous ten-year-old daughter, by the bestselling author of Super Sad True Love Story and Our Country Friends "Pull up a beach chair: The book of the summer is here. . . . A poignant Harriet the Spy-esque delight."--People (Book of the Week) "Genius . . . [a] miracle."--The Washington Post "A novel you can read in one sitting that will stay with you forever."--Karen Russell "Very funny, very sad, very sharp, and completely delightful."--Elif Batuman "A brilliant fable about childhood, and so much more, in our broken country."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "A must-read."--The Los Angeles Times "Shteyngart is one of the best comedians in literature today."--BookPage (starred review) A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK: The New York Times, Time, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Bustle, Vulture, Town & Country, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Book Riot, Publishers Weekly, Literary Hub, AV Club, Hey Alma The Bradford-Shmulkin family is falling apart. A very modern blend of Russian, Jewish, Korean, and New England WASP, they love one another deeply but the pressures of life in an unstable America are fraying their bonds. There's Daddy, a struggling, cash-thirsty editor whose Russian heritage gives him a surprising new currency in the upside-down world of twenty-first-century geopolitics; his wife, Anne Mom, a progressive, underfunded blue blood from Boston who's barely holding the household together; their son, Dylan, whose blond hair and Mayflower lineage provide him pride of place in the newly forming American political order; and, above all, the young Vera, half-Jewish, half-Korean, and wholly original. Observant, sensitive, and always writing down new vocabulary words, Vera wants only three things in life: to make a friend at school; Daddy and Anne Mom to stay together; and to meet her birth mother, Mom Mom, who will at last tell Vera the secret of who she really is and how to ensure love's survival in this great, mad, imploding world. Both biting and deeply moving, Vera, or Faith is a boldly imagined story of family and country told through the clear and tender eyes of a child. With a nod to What Maisie Knew, Henry James's classic story of parents, children, and the dark ironies of a rapidly transforming society, Vera, or Faith demonstrates why Shteyngart is, in the words of The New York Times, "one of his generation's most exhilarating writers."
Where Are You Really From
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*A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2025 BY LITHUB, THE OC REGISTER, THE MILLIONS AND MORE * NAMED A BEST BOOK OF AUGUST 2025 BY PEOPLE MAGAZINE * NAMED A MUST-READ BOOK BY THE CHICAGO REVIEW OF BOOKS * THE STRAND'S AUGUST 2025 PICK-OF-THE-MONTH * SELECTED AS AN AUGUST 2025 READ BY VULTURE * "Scintillating ... These expressive and atmospheric tales mesmerize" --Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Chou is gifted at storytelling with a surrealistic bent ... Sharp storytelling that bends and blurs genre expectations." --Kirkus (starred review) From the critically-acclaimed author of Disorientation, a multi-genre story collection that explores the limits and possibilities of storytelling A mail order bride from Taiwan is packed up in a cardboard box and sent via express shipping to California, where her much older husband awaits her. Two teenage girls meticulously plan how to kill and cook their downstairs neighbor. An American au pair moves to Paris to find herself, only to find her actual French doppelgänger. A father reunites with his estranged daughter in unusual circumstances: as a background actor on the set of her film. A writer's affair with a married artist tests the line between fact and fiction, self-victimization and the victimization of others. In these six singular stories and a novella that pivot from the terrible to the beautiful to the surreal, Elaine Hsieh Chou confronts the slipperiness of truth in storytelling. With razor-sharp precision and psychological acuity, she peels back the tales we tell ourselves to peer beneath them: at our treacherous desires, our self-deceptions and our capacity for cruelty, both to ourselves and each other. Expansive and provocative, Where Are You Really From is a visionary achievement.
Working for Debt
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In the early twentieth century, wage loans became a major source of cash for workers all over the United States. From Black washerwomen to white foremen, Illinois roomers to Georgia railroad men, workers turned to labor income as collateral for borrowing capital. Networks of companies started profiting from payday and property advances, exposing debtors to the grim prospects of garnishments of their wages and possessions in order to mitigate the risk of default. Progressive and later New Deal reformers sought to eradicate these practices, denouncing "loan sharks" and "financial slavery" as major threats to a new credit democracy. They proposed fair credit as a universal solution to move past industrial poverty and boost consumer freedom--but in doing so, reformers, lenders, and bankers limited credit access to the white middle-class constituencies seen as worthy of protection against extortion. Working for Debt explores how the fight against wage loans divided the American credit market along class, race, and gender lines. Simon Bittmann argues that the moral and political crusades of Progressive Era reformers helped create the exclusionary credit markets that favored white male breadwinners. The politics of credit expansion served to obscure the failures of U.S. capitalism, using the "loan shark" as a scapegoat for larger, deeper depredations. As credit became a core feature of U.S. capitalism, the association of legitimate borrowing with white middle-class households and the financial exclusion of others was entrenched. Blending economic sociology with business, labor, and social history, this book shows how social stratification shaped credit markets, with enduring consequences for class, race, and gender inequalities.