New Books in Public Policy
Episodes
Gabriel Thompson, “America’s Social Arsonist: Fred Ross and Grassroots Organizing in the Twentieth Century” (U of California Press, 2016)
16 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
“A good organizer is a social arsonist who goes around setting people on fire.” This axiom encapsulates both the approach and dedication exhibited...
Pedro Garcia de Leon, “Data Source: Education GPS”
04 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Pedro Garcia de Leon, Policy Analyst for Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), joins New Books in Education to discuss the or...
Linsey McGoey, “No Such Thing as a Free Gift: The Gates Foundation and the Price of Philanthropy” (Verso, 2015)
04 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In No Such Thing as a Free Gift: The Gates Foundation and the Price of Philanthropy (Verso Books, 2015), Linsey McGoey proposes a new way of discussin...
Peter K. Enns, “Incarceration Nation: How the United States Became the Most Punitive Democracy in the World” (Cambridge UP, 2016)
02 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Peter K. Enns is the author of Incarceration Nation: How the United States Became the Most Punitive Democracy in the World (Cambridge University Press...
Kathleen Holscher, “Religious Lessons: Catholic Sisters and the Captured Schools Crisis in New Mexico” (Oxford UP, 2012)
30 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In New Mexico, before World War Two, Catholic sisters in full habits routinely taught in public schools. In her fascinating new book, Religious Lesson...
Mark Schuller, “Humanitarian Aftershocks in Haiti” (Rutgers UP, 2016)
28 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The earthquake that shook Haiti on January 12, 2010 killed and destroyed the homes of hundreds of thousands of people. Mark Schuller‘s book Humanita...
Lawrence Jacobs and Desmond King, “Fed Power: How Finance Wins” (Oxford UP, 2016)
27 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Lawrence Jacobs and Desmond King are the authors of Fed Power: How Finance Wins (Oxford UP, 2016). Jacobs is the Walter F. and Joan Mondale Chair for ...
David Grazian, “American Zoo: A Sociological Safari” (Princeton UP, 2015)
20 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Urban zoos are both popular and imperiled. They are sites of contestation, but what are those contests about? In his new book, American Zoo: A Sociolo...
Keenanga-Yamahtta Taylor, “From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation” (Haymarket Books, 2016)
20 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Few social justice struggles have captivated recent political history like the broad Black Lives Matter movement. From the streets of Ferguson and Bal...
Thomas G. Weiss, “Humanitarian Intervention: Ideas in Action” (Polity Press, 2016 )
19 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
How are humanitarian intervention and the responsibility to protect changing in the current international political scene? In Humanitarian Interventio...
Jefferson Cowie, “The Great Exception: The New Deal and the Limits of American Politics” (Princeton UP, 2016)
18 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Jefferson Cowie is the James G. Stahlman professor of history at Vanderbilt University. His book The Great Exception: The New Deal and the Limits of A...
Eben Kirksey, “Emergent Ecologies” (Duke UP, 2015)
18 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Eben Kirksey new book asks and explores a series of timely, important, and fascinating questions: How do certain plants, animals, and fungi move among...
Wendell Potter and Nick Penniman, “Nation on the Take: How Big Money Corrupts Our Democracy” (Bloomsbury, 2016)
18 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Wendell Potter and Nick Penniman are the authors of Nation on the Take: How Big Money Corrupts Our Democracy (Bloomsbury, 2016). Potter is a former he...
Lenz, Wells and Kingston, “Transforming Schools: Using Project-Based Learning, Performance Assessment, and Common Core Standards” (Jossey-Bass 2015)
18 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
All of us are familiar with multiple-choice tests. They may be the one thing that you can find in kindergarten classrooms, college courses, and workpl...
Howard P. Chudacoff, “Changing the Playbook: How Power, Profit, and Politics Transformed College Sports” (U of Illinois Press, 2015)
11 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
March Madness is big business. Each year the NCAA collects $700 million for television rights to the men’s college basketball tournament, under the ...
Benjamin Castleman, “The 160-Character Solution: How Text Messaging and Other Behavioral Strategies Can Improve Education” (Johns Hopkins UP, 2015)
03 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Teenagers live in their phones. As an educator you can try to pull them away or meet them where they are. The 160-Character Solution: How Text Messagi...
Erika Christakis, “The Importance of Being Little: What Preschoolers Really Need from Grownups” (Viking, 2016)
31 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Everyone hates being underestimated. We want to feel included without others showing us condescension. At the same time, no one wants to be overestima...
Mike Lanza, “Playborhood: Turn Your Neighborhood into a Place for Play” (Free Play Press, 2012)
22 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
When adults today look back on their time as children, many of their memories may come from moments when they were engaged in free play with kids in t...
John M. Chamberlain, “Medical Regulation, Fitness to Practice and Revalidation: A Critical Introduction” (Policy Press, 2015)
10 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
How is the medical profession regulated in a ‘risk society’. This is the core question of John M. Chamberlain‘s Medical Regulation, Fitness to ...
Nadim Bakhshov, “Against Capitalist Education: What is Education for?” (Zero Books, 2015)
02 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Nadim Bakhshov joins the New Books in Network to discuss his book Against Capitalist Education: What is Education for? (Zero Books, 2015). The book po...
Geoffrey Baker, “El Sistema: Orchestrating Venezuela’s Youth” (Oxford UP, 2014)
02 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
El Sistema, the massive Venezuelan youth orchestra program, has been hailed in some quarters as the next big idea in music education (if not as the sa...
Adam Seth Levine, “American Insecurity: Why Our Economic Fears Lead to Political Inaction” (Princeton UP, 2015)
24 Feb 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Adam Seth Levine has written American Insecurity: Why Our Economic Fears Lead to Political Inaction (Princeton University Press, 2015). Levine teaches...
Nicola Rollock et al. “The Colour of Class: The Educational Strategies of the Black Middle Classes” (Routledge, 2014)
22 Feb 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The experience of the African American middle class has been an important area of research in the USA. However, the British experience has, by compari...
Nikhil Goyal, “Schools on Trial: How Freedom and Creativity Can Fix Our Education Malpractice” (Doubleday, 2016)
22 Feb 2016
Contributed by Lukas
There is no shortage of talk about our public schools being broken. Some critics say we need to embrace a reform agenda that includes more standardize...
Jessica Martucci, “Back to the Breast: Natural Motherhood and Breastfeeding in America” (U of Chicago Press, 2015)
03 Feb 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Jessica Martucci‘s fascinating new book traces the emergence, rise, and continued practice of breastfeeding in America in the twentieth and twenty-f...
Dale Jamieson, “Reason in a Dark Time: Why the Struggle Against Climate Change Failed – and What It Means for Our Future” (Oxford UP, 2014)
21 Jan 2016
Contributed by Lukas
How are we to think and live with climate change? In Reason in a Dark Time: Why the Struggle Against Climate Change Failed – and What It Means for O...
William C. Smith, ed., “The Global Testing Culture: Shaping Education Policy, Perceptions, and Practice” (Symposium Books, 2016)
18 Jan 2016
Contributed by Lukas
William C. Smith (ed.), senior associate with RESULTS Educational Fund, joins New Books in Education to discuss The Global Testing Culture: Shaping Ed...
Christopher Faricy, “Welfare for the Wealthy: Parties, Social Spending, and Inequality in the United States” (Cambridge UP 2015)
18 Jan 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Christopher Faricy has written Welfare for the Wealthy: Parties, Social Spending, and Inequality in the United States (Cambridge University Press, 201...
S. Matthew Liao, “The Right to be Loved” (Oxford UP, 2015)
05 Jan 2016
Contributed by Lukas
It seems obvious that children need to be loved, that having a loving home and upbringing is essential to a child’s emotional and cognitive developm...
Jennifer Mittelstadt, “The Rise of the Military Welfare State” (Harvard UP, 2015)
10 Dec 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Have you seen those Facebook memes floating around, arguing that we shouldn’t support a 15-dollar -per-hour minimum wage for service sector workers ...
Robert Stoker, et al., “Urban Neighborhoods in a New Era: Revitalization Politics in the Postindustrial City” (U of Chicago Press, 2015)
23 Nov 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Robert Stoker is the co-author (with Clarence Stone, John Betancur, Susan Clarke, Marilyn Dantico, Martin Horak, Karen Mossberger, Juliet Musso, Jeffr...
Garret Keizer, “Getting Schooled: The Reeducation of an American Teacher” (Metropolitan Books, 2014)
12 Nov 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Whatever its current prestige in our society, teaching is undoubtedly complex work. Like physicians and therapists, teachers work with people, rather ...
Sara Bronin and Ryan Rowberry, “Historic Preservation in a Nutshell” (West Academic Publishing, 2014)
08 Nov 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Historic Preservation in a Nutshell (West Academic Publishing, 2014), co-authored by Sara Bronin and Ryan Rowberry provides the first-ever in-depth su...
Lisa Tessman, “Moral Failure: On the Impossible Demands of Morality” (Oxford UP, 2015)
01 Nov 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Moral theories are often focused almost exclusively on answering the question, “What ought I do?” Typically, theories presuppose that for any part...
Daniel Geary, “Beyond Civil Rights: The Moynihan Report and Its Legacy” (U of Pennsylvania Press, 2015)
27 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel Geary is the Mark Pigott Associate Professor in U.S. History at Trinity College Dublin. His book Beyond Civil Rights: The Moynihan Report and I...
Paul Bonin-Rodriguez, “Performing Policy” (Palgrave, 2014)
20 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
How has American cultural and artistic policy changed over the last 25 years? Performing Policy: How Contemporary Politics and Cultural Programmes Red...
Miriam Solomon, “Making Medical Knowledge” (Oxford, 2015)
15 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
How are scientific discoveries transmitted to medical clinical practice? When the science is new, controversial, or simply unclear, how should a docto...
Dana Suskind, “Thirty Million Words: Building a Child’s Brain”
13 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
We may disagree about whether phonics or whole language is the better approach to reading instruction or whether bilingual education or English immers...
Ron Berger, “Leaders of Their Own Learning: Transforming Schools Through Student-Engaged Assessment” (Jossey-Bass, 2014)
06 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Many of us went through school not fully knowing what we were supposed to be learning or how our teachers were measuring our progress. These prioriti...
Joseph M. Reagle, “Reading the Comments: Likers, Haters and Manipulators at the Bottom of the Web” (MIT Press, 2015)
02 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
What do we know about the individuals who make comments on online news stories, blogs, videos and other media? What kind of people take the time to po...
Stephen Macedo, “Just Married: Same-Sex Couples, Monogamy, and the Future of Marriage” (Princeton University Press, 2015)
01 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
There has been a lot of talk in the United States recently about same-sex marriage. One obvious question is sociological: What are the implications of...
Jessica Baldwin-Philippi, “Using Technology, Building Democracy: Digital Campaigning and the Construction of Citizenship” (Oxford UP, 2015)
28 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Jessica Baldwin-Philippi is the author of Using Technology, Building Democracy: Digital Campaigning and the Construction of Citizenship (Oxford Univer...
Isabelle Dussauge, Claes-Fredrik Helgesson, and Francis Lee, “Value Practices in the Life Sciences and Medicine” (Oxford UP, 2015)
26 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Valuation is a central question in contemporary social science. Indeed the question of value has a range of academic projects associated with it, whet...
Leonard Cassuto, “The Graduate School Mess: What Caused It and How We Can Fix It” (Harvard UP, 2015)
22 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The discontented graduate student is something of a cultural fixture in the U.S. Indeed theirs is a sorry lot. They work very hard, earn very little, ...
Ronald P. Formisano, “Plutocracy in America” (Johns Hopkins UP, 2015)
21 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Ronald P. Formisano has written Plutocracy in America: How Increasing Inequality Destroys the Middle Class and Exploits the Poor (Johns Hopkins UP, 20...
Ryan Craig, "College Disrupted: The Great Unbundling of Higher Education" (Palgrave McMillan, 2015)
21 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
AirBnB has dramatically altered the landscape for the hotel, tourism, and real estate sectors. Uber and Lyft have done the same to transportation. But...
Suzanna Reiss, “We Sell Drugs: The Alchemy of U.S. Empire” (University of California Press, 2014)
14 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Though the conventional history of the U.S.-led “War on Drugs” locates the origins of this conflict in a reaction to the domestic culture of exces...
Eric Nadelstern, “Ten Lessons from New York City Schools: What Really Works to Improve Education” (Teachers College Press, 2013)
09 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
With 40 years of public school experience, from teacher to high-ranking official of one of the largest school systems in the US, Eric Nadelstern has a...
Justin S. Vaughn and Jose D. Villalobos, “Czars in the White House: The Rise of Policy Czars as Presidential Management Tools” (U of Michigan Press, 2015)
07 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Justin S. Vaughn and Jose D. Villalobos have written Czars in the White House: The Rise of Policy Czars as Presidential Management Tools (University o...
Alec Patton, “Work That Matters: The Teacher’s Guide to Project-Based Learning” (Paul Hamlyn Foundation, 2012)
04 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Every year, thousands of teachers visit San Diego to understand project-based learning and find inspiration in the work done by students at High Tech ...
Natalia Molina, “How Race is Made in America: Immigration, Citizenship, and the Historical Power of Racial Scripts” (University of California Press, 2014)
02 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
“America is a nation of immigrants.” Either this common refrain, or its cousin the “melting pot” metaphor is repeated daily in conversations a...
Cass Sunstein, “Choosing Not to Choose: Understanding the Value of Choice” (Oxford UP, 2015)
01 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The political tradition of liberalism tends to associate political liberty with the individual’s freedom of choice. The thought is that political fr...
Thomas Holyoke, “The Ethical Lobbyist: Reforming Washington’s Influence Industry” (Georgetown UP, 2015)
31 Aug 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Thomas Holyoke is the author of The Ethical Lobbyist: Reforming Washington’s Influence Industry (Georgetown UP, 2015). Holyoke is associate professo...
William Davies, “The Happiness Industry: How the Government and Big Business Sold Us Well-Being” (Verso, 2015)
18 Aug 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Are you happy? In his new book The Happiness Industry: How the Government and Big Business Sold Us Well-Being (Verso, 2015), William Davies, a senior ...
Alexandra Minna Stern, “Telling Genes: The Story of Genetic Counseling in America” (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012)
10 Aug 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Due in part to lobbying efforts on behalf of the human genome project, human genes tend to be thought of in light of the present–genetic components ...
MK Czerwiec, et al., “Graphic Medicine Manifesto” (Penn State UP, 2015)
24 Jul 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Physician/author Ian Williams coined the term “graphic medicine” to “denote the role that comics can play in the study and delivery of healthcar...
William Elliott III and Melinda Lewis, “Real College Debt Crisis” (Praeger, 2015)
20 Jul 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. William Elliott III, associate professor in the School of Social Welfare at the University of Kansas, and Melinda Lewis, associate professor of pr...
Winnifred F. Sullivan, “A Ministry of Presence: Chaplaincy, Spiritual Care and the Law” (University of Chicago Press, 2014)
12 Jul 2015
Contributed by Lukas
As patterns of religiosity have changed in the United States, chaplains have come to occupy an increasingly important place in the nation’s public i...
Julian E. Zelizer, “The Fierce Urgency of Now: Lyndon Johnson, Congress, and the Battle for the Great Society” (Penguin, 2015)
06 Jul 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Julian E. Zelizer is the author of The Fierce Urgency of Now: Lyndon Johnson, Congress, and the Battle for the Great Society (Penguin Press, 2015). Ze...
Nicholas R. Parrillo, “Against the Profit Motive: The Salary Revolution in American Government, 1780-1940” (Yale UP, 2013)
02 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In this podcast I discuss Profit Motive: The Salary Revolution in American Government, 1780-1940 (Yale University Press, 2013) with author Nicholas R....
Beatrix Hoffman, “Health Care for Some: Rights and Rationing in the United States since 1930” (U of Chicago, 2012)
28 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Disputes over the definitions or legality of ‘rights’ and ‘rationing’ in their various guises have animated much of the debate around the Unit...
Jon L. Mills, “Privacy in the New Media Age” (University Press of Florida, 2015)
25 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
That privacy in the digital age is an important concept to be discussed is axiomatic. Cameras in mobile phones make it easy to record events and post ...
Todd Meyers, “The Clinic and Elsewhere: Addiction, Adolescents, and the Afterlife of Therapy” (U of Washington Press, 2013)
22 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Todd Meyers‘ The Clinic and Elsewhere: Addiction, Adolescents, and the Afterlife of Therapy (University of Washington Press, 2013) is many things, a...
Julian E. Zelizer, “The Fierce Urgency of Now: Lyndon Johnson, Congress, and the Battle for the Great Society” (Penguin Press, 2015)
22 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In recent decades, as Democrats and Republicans have grown more and more polarized ideologically, and gridlock has becoming increasingly standard in C...
Lee Drutman, “The Business of America is Lobbying” (Oxford UP, 2015)
12 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Lee Drutman is the author of The Business of America is Lobbying: How Corporations Became Politicized and Politics Became More Corporate (Oxford UP 20...
J. Bronsteen, C. Buccafusco, and J. S. Masur, “Happiness and the Law” (U Chicago Press, 2014)
12 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In their new book Happiness and the Law (University of Chicago Press 2014), John Bronsteen, Christopher Buccafusco, and Jonathan S. Masur argue throug...
Finis Dunaway, “Seeing Green: The Use and Abuse of American Environmental Images” (
11 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Oil-soaked birds in Prince William Sound. The “crying Indian” in a 1970s anti-littering ad. A lonely polar bear on an Arctic ice floe. Such enviro...
Kevin Dougherty and Rebecca Natow, “The Politics of Performance Funding for Higher Education” (Johns Hopkins UP, 2015)
25 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Funding for higher education in the U.S. is an increasingly divisive issue. Some states have turned to policies that tie institutional performance to ...
Louis DeSipio and Rodolfo de la Garza, “U.S. Immigration in the Twenty-First Century” (Westview Press, 2015)
12 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In this week’s podcast, we hear from an author and an editor. First, Louis DeSipio and Rodolfo de la Garza are authors of U.S. Immigration in the Tw...
Kimberly Phillips-Fein, “Invisible Hands: The Businessmen’s Crusade Against the New Deal” (W. W. Norton, 2010)
08 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Today we’ll focus on the history of resistance to the New Deal. In her book Invisible Hands: The Businessmen’s Crusade Against the New Deal (W. W....
Pasi Sahlberg, “Finnish Lessons 2.0: What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Finland?” (Teachers College Press, 2014)
03 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In late 2001 Finland became the darling of the education and policy communities, as its students toped the reading literacy, mathematics, and science ...
Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, “Classroom Wars: Language, Sex, and the Making of Modern Political Culture” (Oxford University Press, 2015)
26 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The intersection between Spanish-bilingual education and sex education might not be immediately apparent. Yet, as Natalia Mehlman Petrzela shows in he...
Christina Dunbar-Hester, “Low Power to the People: Pirates, Protest, and Politics in FM Radio Activism” (MIT Press, 2014)
25 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
For the past few decades a major focus has been how the Internet, and Internet associated new media, allows for greater social and political participa...
Robert Putnam, “Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis” (Simon and Schuster, 2015)
23 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Robert Putnam is the author of Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis (Simon and Schuster, 2015). Putnam is the Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of P...
James A. Holstein, Richard S. Jones, George Koonce, Jr., “Is There Life After Football? Surviving the NFL” (New York UP, 2014)
17 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The health of former NFL players has received plenty of attention in recent years. The suicides of Junior Seau and Dave Duerson, along with stories of...
Thomas Leitch, “Wikipedia U: Knowledge, Authority, and Liberal Education in the Digital Age” (Johns Hopkins UP, 2014)
04 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Wikipedia is one of the most popular resources on the web, with its massive collection of articles on an incredible number of topics. Yet, its user wr...
Diana Hess and Paula McAvoy, “The Political Classroom: Evidence and Ethics in Democratic Education” (Routledge, 2014)
23 Feb 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Contemporary American political culture is arguably more divisive than ever before. Blue states are bluer, red states are redder, and purple states ar...
Joseph M. Gabriel, “Medical Monopoly: Intellectual Property Rights and the Origins of the Modern Pharmaceutical Industry” (U Chicago Press, 2013)
19 Feb 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Commercial interests are often understood as impinging upon the ethical norms of medicine. In his new book, Medical Monopoly: Intellectual Property Ri...
Emilie Cloatre, “Pills for the Poorest: An Exploration of TRIPS and Access to Medication in Sub-Saharan Africa” (Palgrave, 2013)
09 Feb 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Emilie Cloatre‘s award-winning book, Pills for the Poorest:An Exploration of TRIPS and Access to Medication in Sub-Saharan Africa (Palgrave, 2013), ...
Elena Conis, “Vaccine Nation: America’s Changing Relationship with Immunization” (University of Chicago, 2014)
02 Feb 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The 1960s marked a “new era of vaccination,” when Americans eagerly exposed their arms and hind ends for shots that would prevent a range of every...
Frank R. Baumgartner and Bryan D. Jones, “The Politics of Information: Problem Definition and the Course of Public Policy in America ( U Chicago Press, 2014)
19 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Frank R. Baumgartner and Bryan D. Jones are the authors of The Politics of Information: Problem Definition and the Course of Public Policy in America ...
Kenneth Prewitt, “What Is Your Race?: The Census and Our Flawed Efforts to Classify Americans” (Princeton University Press 2013)
13 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The US Census has been an important American institution for over 220 years. Since 1790, the US population has been counted and compiled, important fi...
Stephen Goldsmith and Susan Crawford, “The Responsive City: Engaging Communities Through Data-Smart Governance” (Jossey-Bass, 2014)
01 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Without a doubt, the paramount duty of a municipality, of any size, is the delivery services to its constituents. These services range from the season...
Jeff Smith, “Ferguson in Black and White” (Kindle Single, 2014)
22 Dec 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Jeff Smith is the author of Ferguson in Black and White (Kindle Single, 2014). Smith is assistant professor of political science at The New School’s...
Robert Hewison, “Cultural Capital: The Rise and Fall of Creative Britain” (Verso, 2014)
19 Dec 2014
Contributed by Lukas
How did a golden age of cultural funding in UK turn to lead? This is the subject of a new cultural history by Robert Hewison. Cultural Capital: The Ri...
Christopher Lubienski and Sarah Lubienski, “The Public School Advantage” (University of Chicago Press, 2013)
15 Dec 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Conventional thinking tells us that private school education is better than public schooling in the US. Why else would parents pay the hefty price tag...
Janet K. Shim, “Heart-Sick: The Politics of Risk, Inequality, and Heart Disease” (NYU Press, 2014)
27 Nov 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Janet K. Shim‘s new book juxtaposes the accounts of epidemiologists and lay people to consider the roles of race, class, and gender (among other thi...
Jeremy A. Greene, “Generic: The Unbranding of Modern Medicine” (Johns Hopkins UP, 2014)
26 Nov 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Is there any such thing as a generic drug? Jeremy A, Greene‘s new book Generic: The Unbranding of Modern Medicine (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2...
Paul Loeb, “The Impossible Will Take a Little While” (Basic Books, 2014)
18 Nov 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Paul Loeb is well known in sociology as the author of Soul of a Citizen: Living With Conviction in Challenging Times, and for the previous edition of ...
Alon Peled, “Traversing Digital Babel: Information, E-Government, and Exchange” (MIT Press, 2014)
07 Nov 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Failure by government agencies to share information has had disastrous results globally. From the inability to prevent terrorist attacks, like the 9-1...
Darrell M. West, “Billionaires: Reflection on the Upper Crust” (Brookings Institution Press, 2014)
20 Oct 2014
Contributed by Lukas
So how many billionaires are there in the world? And what do they have to do with politics? Darrell M. West has answered those questions in Billiona...
Kara W. Swanson, “Banking on the Body: The Market in Blood, Milk, and Sperm in Modern America” (Harvard UP, 2014)
20 Oct 2014
Contributed by Lukas
How did we come to think of spaces for the storage and circulation of body parts as “banks,” and what are the consequences of that history for the...
Matthew Huber, “Lifeblood: Oil, Freedom, and the Forces of Capital” (U of Minnesota Press, 2013)
17 Oct 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Lifeblood: Oil, Freedom, and the Forces of Capital (University of Minnesota Press, 2013) is an incisive look into how oil permeates our lives and hel...
Anthony Santaro, “Exile & Embrace: Contemporary Religious Discourses on the Death Penalty” (Northeastern UP, 2014)
14 Oct 2014
Contributed by Lukas
The death penalty is a subject that can easily inflame emotions. However, in his book, Exile & Embrace: Contemporary Religious Discourses on the Deat...
Andrea Louise Campbell, “Trapped in America’s Safety Net: One Family’s Struggle” (University of Chicago Press, 2014)
13 Oct 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Andrea Louise Campbell is the author of Trapped in America’s Safety Net: One Family’s Struggle (University of Chicago Press, 2014). Campbell is pr...
Ajay K. Mehrotra, “Making the Modern American Fiscal State” (Cambridge UP, 2013)
07 Oct 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Prior to the passage of the Sixteenth Amendment, the United States did not have a national system of taxation–it had a regional system, a system lin...
Heather Menzies, “Reclaiming the Commons for the Common Good: A Memoir and Manifesto” (New Society Publishers, 2014)
06 Oct 2014
Contributed by Lukas
The Canadian author and scholar, Heather Menzies, has written a book about the journey she took to the highlands of Scotland in search of her ancestr...
Robert J. Pekkanen et al., “Nonprofits and Advocacy” (Johns Hopkins UP, 2014)
06 Oct 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Robert J. Pekkanen, Steven Rathgeb Smith, and Yutaka Tsujinaka are the authors of Nonprofits and Advocacy: Engaging Community and Government in an Era...
Philip Kretsedemas, “Migrants and Race in the US: Territorial Racism and the Alien/Outside” (Routledge, 2014)
29 Sep 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Philip Kretsedemas is the author of Migrants and Race in the US: Territorial Racism and the Alien/Outside (Routledge, 2014). Kretsedemas is associate ...
Mark Carnes, “Minds on Fire: How Role-Immersion Games Transform College” (Harvard UP, 2014)
24 Sep 2014
Contributed by Lukas
“All classes are sorta boring” (p. 19). This statement is one that college students might believe, along with many of their professors, but not Dr...